φησί (phesi)

φησί is an Ancient Greek form of φημί, meaning “to say, declare, claim”. It is the 3rd person singular present active indicative.

Found 2,576 times in the Ancient Greek texts on Socratos.

Where it is used

Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War 6.84.3: τὰ μὲν γὰρ ἐκεῖ καὶ αὐτοὶ ἀρκοῦμεν πρὸς τοὺς πολεμίους, καὶ ὁ Χαλκιδεύς, ὃν ἀλόγως ἡμᾶς φησὶ δουλωσαμένους τοὺς ἐνθάδε ἐλευθεροῦν, ξύμφορος ἡμῖν ἀπαράσκευος ὢν καὶ χρήματα μόνον φέρων, τὰ δὲ ἐνθάδε καὶ Λεοντῖνοι καὶ οἱ ἄλλοι φίλοι ὅτι μάλιστα αὐτονομούμενοι.

Diogenes Laertius, Vitae philosophorum 1.prol.2: … ἅλωσιν ἔτη γεγονέναι πεντακισχίλια· Ξάνθος δὲ ὁ Λυδὸς εἰς τὴν Ξέρξου διάβασιν ἀπὸ τοῦ Ζωροάστρου ἑξακισχίλιά φησι, καὶ μετʼ αὐτὸν γεγονέναι πολλούς τινας Μάγους κατὰ διαδοχήν, Ὀστάνας καὶ Ἀστραμψύχους καὶ Γωβρύας καὶ Παζάτα …

Plutarch, De fraterno amore 3: … εφυκότας. ὅθεν ὁ Μένανδρος ὀρθῶς οὐκ ἐκ πότων καὶ τῆς καθʼ ἡμέραν τρυφῆς ζητοῦμεν ᾧ πιστεύσομεν τὰ τοῦ βίου ʽ φησἴ, πάτερ; οὐ περιττὸν οἴετʼ ἐξευρηκέναι ἀγαθὸν ἕκαστος, ἂν ἔχῃ φίλου σκιάν; σκιαὶ γάρ εἰσιν ὄντως αἱ πολλαὶ φιλ …

All forms of φημί (conjugation table)

Source: Socratos (socratos.org), a free reader for Ancient Greek and Latin. Grammar from the Perseus Treebank and Morpheus; dictionary entries from Liddell-Scott-Jones, A Greek-English Lexicon (Perseus Digital Library, CC BY-SA). Counts are from the texts on Socratos.