Χαίρετε!
In Introduction to Attic Greek by Dr. Mastronarde, the top of page 191 states,
"In the second and third person sing. imperf. act. of τίθημι, ἵημι, and δίδωμι, the
endings in Attic are borrowed from the ω-conjugation, and contraction has
taken place. (E.g., ἐτίθεις is from *ἐτίθεες; ἐδίδου is from *ἐδίδοε.)
Why is the imperfect first person of δίδωμι ἐδίδουν and not ἔδιδον? Does a theme vowel slip into the first person also?
Is the present stem διδ-, διδο-, or διδω- ? (Here’s a hint: the verb stem is either δο or δω). Once you apply the thematic vowel to the correct stem, you’ll have your answer!
So there is a theme vowel with the first person.
With the indicative and Aorist, there seems to be a ton of exceptions with μι verbs. How does everyone remember all the rules?
-μι verbs that survive (rather than turning into -ω verbs) are all common and as such are easily remembered, just as I am You are She is are remembered in English. There’s less leveling. But imperfect is regular, and so is aorist in its own way.
εὐχαριστῶ!