Transcript The Greek Verb System

The Greek Verb System:
A Bird’s Eye View
Chapter 2
Greek Language
Inflection
Unlike English, Greek verbs,
nouns, pronouns, adjectives,
participles, et al, are highly
inflected, i.e., they undergo
changes to indicate gender, case,
number, etc.
Rather than Inflection, English
verbs depend on Independent
Pronouns to indicate number,
gender, etc.
Singular
Plural
1st Person
I have
We have
2nd Person
You have
Y’alI have
3rd Person
He, she, it has They have
Greek verbs, however, to indicate
gender, number, etc., are inflected.
e[cw
I have
e[comen
We have
e[ceiV
You have
e[cete
Y’all have
e[cei
He has
e[cousi
They have
All finite Greek verbs have 2 parts: a stem
and one or more affixes (in the form of a
prefix, suffix, or infix).
English Grammar
• Verb – a word that describes action or state of being.
– I am studying Greek.
– Greek is the language of the New Testament.
• Person
– First (I, we)
– Second (you)
– Third (he, she, it, they)
• Number – either singular or plural
– I am the teacher.
– You are the students.
• Agreement – A verb must agree with its subject in
person and number.
English Grammar
• Mood – Indicates the manner in which an assertion is
made
• Tense – In English, tense refers to time of action
– I study – present tense
– I will study – future tense
– I studied – past tense
Note: the time of the verb is from the standpoint of the
speaker/writer, not the reader.
• Aspect - What is the difference between:
– I studied last night.
– I was studying last night.
– The difference is in the kind of action: completed versus
continuous.
English Grammar
• Voice – refers to the relationship between
the subject and the verb.
– Active – the subject does the action of the
verb.
• Bill hit the ball.
– Passive – the subject receives the action of
the verb.
• Bill was hit by the ball.
Greek Verbs- Moods
Mood is the way a
speaker/writer chooses to
affirm the reality or unreality of
an action
Greek Verbs- Moods
• Indicative [affirmation]
• Imperative [command]
• Subjunctive [contingency]
• Infinitive [verbal expression w/o
limits of person & number]
• Optative [request or desire] (not
widely used in NT)
Greek Verbs- Voice
Voice is the way in which the
speaker/writer chooses to relate the
grammatical subject of a verb to the
action of the verb.
Greek Verbs- Voice
•Active – Action completed by the
subject of the verb
•Passive – Subject receives the
action of the verb
•Middle - The subject acts in some
way upon itself or to itself.
Greek Tense
“Unlike English, the most significant
feature of tense in Greek is kind of
action. A secondary consideration is . .
. time of action [and this only in the
indicative mood].”
As a result, much more significant in
Greek is how a speaker/writer portrays
the action as it relates to aspect and,
secondarily, time.
Aspect
“. . . The view of the action that the
speaker/writer chooses to present to
the hearer.”
Greek Tenses
Tense
Active Voice
Passive Voice
Present
I study
I am being studied
Future
I will study
I will be studied
Imperfect
I was studying
I was being studied
Aorist
I studied
I was studied
Perfect
I have studied
I have been studied
Pluperfect
I had studied
I had been studied
Future
Perfect
I will have
studied
I will have been
studied
Greek Aspects
“. . . The view of the action that the speaker/writer
chooses to present to the hearer.”
• Imperfective
–Focus: process or duration of action
• Perfective
–Focus: state or condition resulting
from a completed action
• Aoristic
–Focus: entire verbal idea, w/o
comment on process or result of action
Note: “The aoristic is the normal . . . aspect in Greek. A deviation from the
aoristic to another aspect is generally exegetically significant.” (p. 13)
Greek Tense (Aspect)
Time of Action
Kind of Action
Past
Present
Future
Imperfective
Imperfect
I was loving
Present
I am loving
Future
I will be loving
Aoristic
Aorist
I loved
Present
I love
Future
I will love
Perfective
Pluperfect
I had loved
Perfect
I have loved
Future Perfect
I will have loved
Essentially, there are 3 tenses in
Greek: Past, Present, and Future.
All others are variations of one of
these 3, depending on how the
writer/speaker wishes to
communicate the kind of action
taking place.