Notes On Koine Greek: Part 13

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1. Memorizing the Present-Active Indicative of “eimi”: As I noted in the

previous set of Notes (#12), I am making installations 12-15 deal with
memorization tips. We’ve already looked at tips for the Present-Active Indicative
Suffix Morpheme, so, now, we’re going to work with “eimi”.
2. Mnemonic Tips:

SG PL *Take note once more of the

1 eimi esmen “movable “nu”. Recall the
rule concerning these letters
2 ei este
from Pt. 4 of my notes!
3 esti (n) eisi (n)

Tip #1: One way to remember this table with a little more ease is to note that the first two letters of the first two terms
in each set match the first to letters of the third term in each set. You can see this via the matched colors above.

Tip #2: As I noted in my previous “Notes”, one thing that I Tip #4: Perhaps the following image
am beginning to find helpful for memorizing different is something that will help you internalize
paradigms is the way that I set up my tables. So as to keep the Present Active Indicative suffix
from getting my verb & noun tables confused, I have started morphemes:
setting up my verb tables in a 3x3 fashion whereas my noun
tables are built in a 2x9 fashion (see previous notes for
examples).

Tip #3: I am in large part, a visual learner. So, visual aids or

cartoons or stories with odd or vivid images that I can see or
hear help me a lot, even ones that I can imagine in my head.
For example, this is a vivid story I made up and is something
I find helpful. You try it: In your mind’s eye, visualize this:
There are 2 bees looking at the English alphabet. All of a
sudden, the letter a catches fire. Flames are all over it. You
hear loud sirens in the background and a fire engine pulls up,
screeching its wheels. Firemen jump out and get a big blue Source: Visual Greek
hose. One yells “Aim E”. Another yells “No, A.” They
take off their uniforms and start fist fighting. One of them
grabs the letter “S” and the number “10” and hits the other
one with it, breaking his nose. He looks at the other guy and
says, “That’s what happens when you mess with ‘S-Men’.”
He holds up the letter “S” in one hand and the letter “T” in
another hand. As the letters melt into puddles of water he
thinks to himself, “Have I committed ‘A Sin’?” | Now, to
see if it worked, without looking at this paragraph, try to tell
the story back. If you can, you’ve also memorized the
Present Active Indicative of eimi and its meaning.