12.77 Forms of the Future Middle Indicative

Make sure you read Croy section 77 carefully. You need to make sure that you understand that in the future tense, the middle and passive forms are not the same. In this section, you will learn the forms of the future middle only. You will not learn the future passive forms until Lesson 16.

As you might expect, the present middle endings and future middle endings are identical, just as the present active and future active endings are identical.

Here is the verb ἄρχομαι (second principal part: ἄρξομαι), with the present and future tenses shown side by side:

With the middle endings the same question arises: if the endings are the same for the present and the future, how can you tell the difference between a present tense verb and a future tense verb? You can only tell the difference by looking at the stem. If the stem is the first principal part, the present active stem, then it is a present tense verb. If the stem is the second principal part, the future active stem, then it is a future tense verb.

In order to recognize the future tense of a verb, you have to learn the future tense stem, which is the second principal part of the verb. Here is a Principal Parts Chart showing you the principal parts of the verbs you have learned so far.