Imperfect & Aorist Active Indicative “Past Tense” Chapter 7

1. Imperfect & Aorist Active Indicative“Past Tense”Chapter 7

2. The Greek Past Tense • There are three tenses in Greek that are used for the English past tense. • Imperfect • Aorist • Pluperfect (rare; only 28 verbs in the NT appear 86 times as a pluperfect [Mounce, 237])

3. Greek Tense (Aspect) Remember: Kind of action, rather than time of action, is more important in Greek verb translation.

4. Primary Tenses

5. Secondary Tenses

6. The Imperfect, Aorist, and Pluperfect are considered to be Secondary Tenses. So, to distinguish between the primary active indicative tenses and the secondary active indicative tenses, Greek uses a set of secondary suffixes.

7. Primary Active Indicative Suffixes Secondary Active Indicative Suffixes Note: the initial vowels are for connecting purposes only. They are not considered part of the suffix.

8. But wait my pistoiv maqetaiv ! Not only do the secondary active indicative tenses require a suffix, they also require a prefix (augment), usually appearing as ej.

9. Imperfect Act. Indicative of luvw ej+ lu +o+n • augment the present stem • add connecting vowel • add secondary active suffix

10. Imperfect Present Act. Ind. Act. Ind. Sg lu,w e;luon lu,eij e;luej lu,ei e;lue (n) lu,omen e;luomen Pl lu,ete e;luete lu,ousin e;luon

11. What if the verb begins with a short vowel? The vowel lengthens a becomes h e becomes h o becomes w

12. Augments can do strange things to verbs, sometimes. (cf. 47) • additive morpheme – an augment added to a word that begins with a consonant • luvw becomes e[luon • process morpheme – an augment added to a word that begins with a short vowel • ajkouvw becomes h[kouon • zero morpheme – an augment added to a word that begins with a long vowel or dipthong (sometimes, the 1st vowel of the dipthong is lengthened) • eijrhneuvw becomes eijrhvneuon

13. Translating the Imperfect • Generally, the imperfect tense describes continuing past action “I was loosing” • continuing past action, stated more emphatically “I kept loosing”(progressive imperfect) • describes habitual past action “I used to loose”(customary imperfect) • describes attempted past action “I tried to loose”(conative imperfect) • desribes initiated past action “I began to loose”(inceptive imperfect)

14. Forming the Aorist “Tenses”

15. The 1st Aorist Active Indicative differs from the Imperfect Active Indicative by the addition of what is called the “aoristic aspect morpheme” to the present stem of the verb, along with the augment and secondary suffix. This is similar to the formation of the Future Active Indicative. Aoristic Aspect Morphemesa

16. 1st Aorist Act. Indicative of luvw ej+ lu +sa+- • augment the present stem • add aoristic aspect morpheme • add secondary active suffix

17. 1st Aorist Present Act. Ind. Act. Ind. Sg lu,w e[lusa lu,eij e[lusaV lu,ei e[luse(n) lu,omen ejluvsamen Pl lu,ete ejluvsate lu,ousin e[lusan

18. The 2nd Aorist Active Indicative differs from the Imperfect Active Indicative by the stem of the verb. Instead of using the present tense stem, the stem changes in 2nd Aorist verbs. The 2nd Aorist tense is formed on the second aorist stem, not the present stem, by adding the augment and secondary suffix. Most Greek verbs have 1st Aorist forms, however.

19. Note: • Most verbs have 1st Aorist forms. Some have 2nd Aorist forms. Only occasionally will a verb have both. • 1st & 2nd Aorists differ in form only. There is no difference in translation.

20. 2nd Aorist Act. Indicative of leivpw ej+ lip+o + n • augment the aorist stem • add connecting vowel • add secondary active suffix

21. 2nd Aorist Imperfect leivpw Act. Ind. Act. Ind. Sg e[leipon e[lipon e[leipeV e[lipeV e[leipe(n) e[leipe(n) ejleivpomen ejlivpomen Pl ejleivpete ejlivpete e[leipon e[lipon

22. Sometimes, Greek verbs take a double augment (cf. 47). a[gwbecomes h[gagon a[gw becomesagag(now the stem has changed) ej + agag becomeshgag +on Therefore, h[gagon is 2nd Aorist Act. Ind. 1st Sing. (or 3rd Plural) of a[gw

23. Translating the Aorist (1st or 2nd) • Generally, the aorist tense describes simple past action, with no indication of the kind of action “I loosed” • past action in its totality, “temple was built”(constative aorist) • emphasis of beginning of past action “Christ died and lived”(ingressive aorist) • concluded past action “I have learned to be content”(effective aorist)

24. Context, along with tense used, will determine translation.

25. Translation help: Many more aorist past tense forms appear in the New Testament than do imperfect. Therefore, it is usually exegetically significant when a New Testament author chooses the imperfect rather than the aorist.

26. Parsing help: The Imperfect, Aorist, and Pluperfect are considered to be Secondary Tenses. 1. All Secondary Tenses have an augment.2. Secondary suffixes indicate a secondary tense, which will always be a past tense form.