Σύνθετα ρήματα
Many words in Greek are formed from a base verb with prefixes attached to the
beginning. These prefixes are relatively few, and are listed in the table below.
The root verbs are sometimes regular verbs like γράφω and θέτω (put, place),
other times they are only suffixes like -βάλλω (throw) and -δίδω (give).
| Prefix |
Meaning |
Example |
| αμφί |
both, two, (Eng. ambi-) |
αμφιβάλλω (I am unsure) |
| ανά |
up, later |
αναμένω (I expect) |
| αντί |
against, back, (Eng. anti-) |
αντιγράφω (I copy) |
| από |
from, back |
απομένω (I remain) |
| διά |
through, between, removal, (Eng. inter-) |
διαθέτω (I dispose, provide) |
| εις |
into |
εισβάλλω (I invade) |
| εκ (εξ) |
out of, process |
εκβάλλω (I eject) |
| εν |
in |
εγγράφω (I enrol) |
| επί |
on |
επιμένω (I demand) |
| μετά |
with, change, (Eng. meta- and trans-) |
μεταβάλλω (I alter) |
| παρά |
beside |
παραμένω (I remain) |
| περί |
around |
περιμένω (I wait) |
| προ |
before, (Eng. pre-) |
προβλέπω (I foresee) |
| πρός |
towards |
προσθέτω (I add) |
| συν |
with, togetherness, totality, (Eng. con-) |
συνθέτω (I compose) |
| υπέρ |
above, super, better, (Eng. hyper-) |
υπερβάλλω (I exaggerate) |
| υπό |
below, under, worse, (Eng. hypo-) |
υπογράφω (I sign) |
In many cases, you can guess the meaning of the words by breaking down the
prefixes and the root verb, e.g. παραμένω, προβλέπω, συνθέτω. Some other
connections are more difficult to see, e.g. αμφιβάλλω, υπογράφω, επιμένω; and
others cannot be understood by breaking down the prefixes, e.g. παράγραφος.
(This is perhaps similar to the case in English: the meaning of pick up is
clear, but look up or eat up are less so.)
Many such prefixes can appear in words as well, e.g. εμπεριέχω (contain),
αντιπαραθέτω
(contrast).