I agree. After all, I have no idea why it is "receive" but "believe" except that it is "'i' before 'e' except after 'c'". The perennial question about the ending of the 2nd person singular in the present indicative (and future, etc.) for example ("Why is 'ς' shown as the ending when it is really 'ις'?) is explained by Mounce as follows:cwconrad wrote:As a now-long-retired teacher of Greek, I'm of two minds about this claim that it is "important to remember" these factors; I'm now inclined to think that these are matters of interest and value only to antiquarians of the language and that new learners should simply learn the paradigms as they are spelled out conventionally. My experience is that, although I am myself fascinated by the "archaeology of the Greek language", exposing beginners to these factors is more confusing than useful.
I can tell you for sure that neither I nor those who are studying Introductory Greek with me are all that worried about whether the sigma fell off and jumped back on, or whether it "underwent metathesis". Just remember it is "ις" in the present indicative. Contraction, on the other hand, is a bit different because you do have to understand something of the mechanics of the process in order to resolve the contracting vowels/diphthongs correctly.Mounce, BBG, 3rd Edition, Ch. 16, pg. 133, note 7. wrote:The personal ending actually is σι. The sigma dropped out and was evidently added back on to the end (λυεσι ▸ λυει ▸ λύεις). This is the explanation in Smyth (#463b). It seems easier to think that the sigma and iota underwent metathesis, i.e., they switched places. Just remember that the ending is sigma and the connecting vowel changes.