VOICE describes the relation of the subject to the verb.
There are three voices in Greek:
active:
the subject performs the action
("I freed the prisoner:)
passive:
the
action is performed on the subject ("the prisoner was freed")
middle:
the subject acts reflexively upon itself ("the prisoner freed himself")
or in its own interest ("I freed the prisoner for myself")
the middle voice often corresponds to the
English intransitive:
("I stop the wagon" [active]; "I stop"
[middle, i.e. "I stop myself"])
The same forms are used for both middle and passive in the present, imperfect, perfect and pluperfect.
There are different forms for the middle and passive in the aorist and future.
There are different forms
for the active in all tenses.
DEPONENT VERBS are middle
in form (more rarely passive) but active
in meaning
(e.g. gi/gnomai,
"I become")
when a dictionary entry is middle/passive in form (e.g. gi/gnomai), this indicates that the verb is deponentsome verbs are semi-deponent, i.e. some of their tenses are deponent and others are not (e.g. o(ra/w, o)/yomai, ei)Vdon, "I see, I will see [deponent], I saw")