1. Imperfect & Aorist Active Indicative “Past Tense” Chapter 7 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) Time of Action Kind of ActionPastPresentFuture 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 Remember: Kind of action, rather than time of action, is more important in Greek verb translation.

4. Primary Tenses Time of Action Kind of ActionPastPresentFuture 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

5. Secondary Tenses Time of Action Kind of ActionPastPresentFuture 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

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. 1s -w 2s -eiV 3s -ei 1p -omen 2p -ete 3p -ousi(n) Primary Active Indicative Suffixes Secondary Active Indicative Suffixes 1s -on 2s -eV 3s -e(n) 1p -omen 2p -ete 3p -on Note: the initial vowels are for connecting purposes only. They are not considered part of the suffix.

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

9. ej + lu + o + n Imperfect Act. Indicative of luvw 1.augment the present stem 2.add connecting vowel 3.add secondary active suffix

10. Present lu,w lu,eij lu,ei Sg lu,ome n lu,ete lu,ousi n Pl Act. Ind. e;luon e;luej e;lue (n) e;luome n e;luete e;luon Imperfect Act. Ind.

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 1 st 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” Time of Action Kind of ActionPastPresentFuture 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

15. Aoristic Aspect Morpheme sa 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.

16. ej + lu + sa + - 1 st Aorist Act. Indicative of luvw 1.augment the present stem 2.add aoristic aspect morpheme 3.add secondary active suffix

17. Present lu,w lu,eij lu,ei Sg lu,ome n lu,ete lu,ousi n Pl Act. Ind. e[lusa e[lusaV e[luse(n) ejluvsam en ejluvsate e[lusan 1 st Aorist Act. Ind.

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 2 nd Aorist verbs. The 2 nd Aorist tense is formed on the second aorist stem, not the present stem, by adding the augment and secondary suffix. Most Greek verbs have 1 st Aorist forms, however.

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

20. ej + lip + o + n 2 nd Aorist Act. Indicative of leivpw 1.augment the aorist stem 2.add connecting vowel 3.add secondary active suffix

21. Imperfect e[leipon e[leipeV e[leipe(n) Sg ejleivpo men ejleivpet e e[leipon Pl Act. Ind. e[lipon e[lipeV e[leipe(n ) ejlivpom en ejlivpete e[lipon 2 nd Aorist Act. Ind. leivp w

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

23. Translating the Aorist (1 st or 2 nd ) 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.