Perseus analyses of ἔφατ':

ἔφατο,φημί (say, affirm, assert): imperf ind mp 3rd sg
ἔφατε,φημί (say, affirm, assert): imperf ind act 2nd pl

LSJ entry

φημί

φημί, φῄς, φηις PCair.Zen. 316.1 (iii B. C.), PSI 7.846.7 (Pap. of Ar. (?), ii/iii A. D.), cf. Hdn.Gr.2.147, 419; φησί (apocop. φή Anacr. 40); pl. φᾰμέν, φᾰτέ, φᾱσί; Dor. φᾱμί, φᾱσί or φᾱτί (Ar. Ach. 771, Anon. in PSI 9.1091.11, 18), 3pl. φαντί; Aeol. φᾶμι Sapph. 32, 2sg. φαῖσθα Alc. Supp. 20.6, 3sg. φαῖσι ib.26.5, Sapph. 66, 3pl. φαῖσι Sapph. Supp. 5.2: aor. 2 ἔφην, Ep. φῆν Il. 18.326; ἔφησθα 1.397, al., Ar. Lys. 132, X. An. 1.6.7, Pl. Cra. 438a, Aeschin. 3.164, etc. (rarely ἔφης Il. 22.280, X. Cyr. 4.1.23), Ep. φῆσθα Il. 21.186, Od. 14.149 (v.l. φῇσθα) , φῆς Il. 5.473, Od. 7.239 (v.l.); ἔφη, Ep. φῆ, Dor. φᾶ Pi. I. 2.11; 1pl. ἔφᾰμεν Isoc. 3.26 (ἔφημεν A.D. Adv. 184.7, Gal. 1.158, Papp. 524.16, Choerob. in Theod. 2.341 H.); 2pl. ἔφᾰτε And. 2.25; 3pl. ἔφασαν, Ep. φάσαν Il. 2.278, also ἔφᾰν, φάν, 3.161, 6.108; imper. φαθί (on the accent v. Hdn.Gr.1.431, al., A.D. Synt. 264.4; φάθι is found in codd. of Pl. Grg. 475e, al.); subj. φῶ, φῇς, φῇ, Ep. φῇσιν Od. 1.168, φήῃ 11.128, 23.275; Dor. 3pl. subj. φᾶντι Tab.Heracl. 1.116; opt. φαίην, 1pl. φαῖμεν Il. 2.81, 24.222, Pi. N. 7.87, 3pl. φαῖεν Th. 3.68, etc.; inf. φάναι, Hdt. 1.27, etc., poet. φάμεν Pi. N. 8.19; part. φάς Il. 9.35, Hdt. 1.63, 141, SIG 279.18 (Zeleia, iv B. C.), φᾶσα Hdt. 6.135, pl. φάντες Il. 3.44, 14.126, Pl. Alc. 2.139b: fut. φήσω, Dor. φασῶ Ar. Ach. 739, etc.; 1pl. φασοῦμες Diotog. ap. Stob. 4.1.133: aor. 1 ἔφησα Cratin. in PSI 11.1212.9, Hdt. 3.153, PCair.Zen. 19.3 (iii B. C.) (ἔφασεν is dub. ib.140.7); Dor. 3sg. φᾶσε Pi. N. 1.66; 2sg. subj. (Dor.) φάσῃς [ᾱ] Simon. 32 (φήσῃς etc. codd. Stob., corr. Bgk.); opt. φήσειε Hdt. 6.69, A. Pr. 503, part. φήσας X. Mem. 3.11.1, Isoc. 12.239, inf. φῆσαι Thphr. Char. 2.7:—Med. (chiefly poet. in early writers), impf. and aor. 2 ἐφάμην, ἔφατο (also SIG 437.6 (Delph., iii B. C.), PCair.Zen. 343.8 (iii B. C.), PSI 4.437.8 (iii B. C.), Parth. 4.5, etc.), Ep. φάτο Il. 20.262, φάσθε Od. 6.200, 10.562, ἔφαντο, Ep. φάντο 24.460; imper. φάο 16.168, 18.171, φάσθω, φάσθε; inf. φάσθαι; part. φάμενος (also Archim. Spir. Prooem., Eratosth.Prooem. , SIG 364.83 (Ephesus, iii B. C.), PCair.Zen. 236.4 (iii B. C.), PHamb. 4.14 (i A. D.), J. AJ 17.12.2, Gal. 6.228, etc.): Dor. fut. φάσομαι [ᾱ] Pi. N. 9.43:—Pass., pf. 3sg. πέφαται A.R. 2.500; 3sg. imper. πεφάσθω Pl. Ti. 72d; but part. πεφασμένος Il. 14.127, A. Pr. 843 shd. be referred to φαίνω: aor. ἐφάθην (ἀπ-, κατ-) Arist. Int. 18b39. The pres. indic. φημί is enclit., exc. in 2sg. pres. φῄς: φαμέν is 1pl. pres., φάμεν poet. inf.: φαντί is 3pl., φάντι part.

II. φάσκω supplied all moods of pres. except the indic., also impf. ἔφασκον; cf. ἠμί. [ᾰ , except in φᾱσι, and in masc. and fem. part. φάς, φᾶσα: in inf. φάναι ᾰ always; φᾶναι is corrupt in Eub. 119.11 codd. Ath.]:—

A. say, affirm, assert, either abs., or folld. by inf., e. g. Λυσίθευς Μικίωνα φιλῖν ( = -εῖν) φησι IG 12.924, cf. 57.48, or acc. et inf.; the inf. is freq. omitted, σὲ κακὸν καὶ ἀνάλκιδα φήσει (sc. εἶναι) Il. 8.153; also Κορινθίους τί φῶμεν; what shall we say of them? X. HG 3.5.12; φ. πρός τινα, πρὸς ξεῖνον φάσθαι ἔπος ἠδʼ ἐπακοῦσαι Od. 17.584: less freq. c. dat., αὐτοῖς Ev.Matt. 13.28; κατά τινος φ. to speak against him, X. Ap. 25: sts. folld. by ὡς, Lys. 7.19, v.l. in X. HG 6.3.7; by ὅτι, Pl. Grg. 487d, Corn. ND 30; by an interrog. clause, μή ποτε φάσῃς ὅ τι γίνεται αὔριον Simon. l.c.; by part., dub. in Pl. Grg. 481c (fort. leg. θῶμεν); also parenthetic, τίνες, φῄς, ἦσαν οἱ λόγοι; Pl. Phd. 59c.

b. since what one says commonly expresses a belief or opinion, think, deem, suppose, φῆ γὰρ ὅ γʼ αἱρήσειν Πριάμου πόλιν Il. 2.37; φαίης κε ζάκοτόν τέ τινʼ ἔμμεναι ἄφρονά τε you would say, would think, he was . . , 3.220; ἶσον ἐμοὶ φάσθαι to say he is (i. e. fancy himself) equal to me, 1.187, 15.167; μὴ . . φαθὶ λεύσσειν think not that you see, Theoc. 22.56; τί φῄς; what say you? i.e. what think you? (v. infr. II.5); λέγʼ ἀνύσας ὅ τι φῄς Ar. Pl. 349 :—so φ. δεῖν, φ. χρῆναι, deem it right, And. 3.34, Isoc. 3.48.

c. say, i.e. write, of an author, ὡς ἔφημεν Gal. 1.158, etc.—The Med. has all these senses as well as the Act.

II. Special Phrases:

3. in repeating dialogues the Verb commonly goes before its subject, ἔφην ἐγώ, ἔφη ὁ Σωκράτης, said I, said S., but the order is sts. inverted, ἐγὼ ἔφην, ὁ Σωκράτης ἔφη, I said, S. said.

5. τί φημί; S. OT 1471, and τί φῄς; Ph. 804, E. Hel. 706 (dub.), are used extra metrum, as exclamations.

7. Οἰδίπουν . . ἂν μόνον φῶ if I only mention Oedipus, Antiph. 191.6, cf. Pl. Cra. 411a, 435a.

III. like κατάφημι, say yes, affirm, assert, καὶ τοὺς φάναι and they said yes, Hdt. 8.88; καί φημι κἀπόφημι S. OC 317; ἔγωγέ φημι Pl. Grg. 526c; φάναι τε καὶ ἀπαρνεῖσθαι Id. Tht. 165a: c. inf., φῂς ἢ καταρνεῖ μὴ δεδρακέναι τάδε; S. Ant. 442; but οὔ φημι means say no, deny, refuse, c. inf., ἡ Πυθίη οὐκ ἔφη χρήσειν said she would not . . , Hdt. 1.19, cf. 8.2; οὐκ ἔφασαν ἐπιτρέψαι Lys. 13.15, 47 (leg. -τρέψειν): c. acc. et inf., οὔ φημʼ Ὀρέστην σʼ ἐνδίκως ἀνδρηλατεῖν A. Eu. 221, cf. Hdt. 2.63: abs., κἂν μὲν μὴ φῇ if he says no, Ar. Av. 555 (anap.); ἢ φάθι ἢ μὴ ἃ ἐρωτῶ answer me yes or no, Pl. Grg. 475e; so in answers, φημί or οὕτως φημί yes, Id. Phdr. 270c, al., Grg. 500e; οὐκ ἔφη he said no, Id. Phd. 118a.— In this sense Att. writers, besides pres., mostly use fut. φήσω and aor. ἔφησα, but in impf., inf., and part. pres., to avoid ambiguity, they prefer ἔφασκον, φάσκειν, φάσκων (v. φάσκω): φάναι is distd. fr. φάσκειν, e.g. ἔφη σπουδάζειν he said he was in haste, ἔφασκε σπουδάζειν he alleged he was in haste; but ἔφησθα is found in this sense, X. An. 1.6.7.

IV. command, order, ἔφην τῷ Ὀρθοβούλῳ ἐξαλεῖψαί με Lys. 16.13 (so ἔφασαν, v. l. for ἔφρασαν in X. Cyr. 4.6.11).