Imperative mood

Verbs which express a command or request are said to be in the  imperative mood.


 * They exist only in 2nd and 3rd person since one does not (normally) give a command to oneself.
 * English doesn't really have a 3rd person imperative. In translating from Greek, this is usually rendered as something like "let him do!"
 * They exist in both present and aorist tenses. There is no time significance, only aspect:
 * The present connotes an imperfective action (difficult to translate over): don't be doing this, don't continue to do this.
 * The aorist connotes a perfective action: don't do this!

Formation and endings

 * Present imperative = present tense stem + connecting vowel + imperative ending
 * Aorist imperative = aorist tense stem (no augment) + tense formative (σα) + imperative ending

1st Aorist Active imperative

 * Note that at least the 2P sg. looks like a typical 1st Aorist indicative verb but without the augment
 * Otherwise, note how clearly the tense formative shows up.

Present Passive imperative

 * Same as middle!

1st Aorist Passive imperative

 * For the passive note the -θη morpheme from the 6th principal part takes over from the -σα of the 3rd principal part. But still the endings are well behaved and regular.