
I'm talking about the third plural form of medium/passive perfect, in Ancient Greek.


My grammar explains that some very simple verb like παιδεύω *may* be inflected that way :



```
1S πεπαίδευ-μαι  > πεπαίδευμαι
2S πεπαίδευ-σαι  > πεπαίδευσαι
3S πεπαίδευ-ται  > πεπαίδευται
1P πεπαιδεύ-μεθα > πεπαιδεύμεθα
2P πεπαίδευ-σθε  > πεπαίδευσθε
3P πεπαίδευ-νται > πεπαίδευνται
2D πεπαίδευ-σθον > πεπαίδευσθον
3D πεπαίδευ-σθον > πεπαίδευσθον

```

Things become more interessant for radicals with an occlusive like βλέπω :



```
1S βεβλεπ-μαι > βέβλεμμαι
2S βεβλεπ-σαι > βέβλεψαι    
3S βεβλεπ-ται > βέβλεπται
1P βεβλεπ-μεθα> βεβλέμμεθα
2P βεβλεπ-σθε > βέβλεφθε
3P βεβλεπ-νται> ?
2D βεβλεπ-σθον> βέβλεφθον
3D βεβλεπ-σθον> βέβλεφθον

```

I know the rules explaining all these forms but the 3P. Obviously, as stated [here](http://cosmosmaestrojuandeavila.files.wordpress.com/2013/09/perfecto-y-pluscuamperfecto-copia.pdf), the hypothetical 3P form would be difficult to pronounce and was replaced by "βεβλεμμένοι εἰσί". **But what was this hypothetical form ? What are the phonetic laws applying here to -πντ- ?**


addendum : I find [here](http://www.betsymccall.net/edu/ling/mediopassive.pdf) (p. 5) the interessant form λελειφαται, alas without any reference.


addendum #2 : [τετρίφαται in Herodot 2.93](http://perseus.uchicago.edu/perseus-cgi/citequery3.pl?dbname=GreekFeb2011&getid=0&query=Hdt.%202.93)



[what would be the hypothetic result of *βεβλεπνται in Ancient Greek?](/questions/7090/what-would-be-the-hypothetic-result-of-%ce%b2%ce%b5%ce%b2%ce%bb%ce%b5%cf%80%ce%bd%cf%84%ce%b1%ce%b9-in-ancient-greek)
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It would be βεβλέπαται. The [n] between consonants would be syllabic, and syllabic [n] went to [a] in Greek. This is the origin of the -αται 3pl. ending in the forms you mention, and also of 3pl. -ατο in the pluperfect. In some verbs these endings were retained, especially outside of Attic (e.g. Homer or Herodotus); but in Attic, these forms were replaced by periphrases. (Although there are Attic examples of -αται: e.g. Thucydides has τετάχαται, ἐτετάχατο.) Presumably this happened because -αται/-ατο don't look much like 3pl. endings, since they don't have a nasal.


