Home » Class Notes » BBG 21: Imperfect Indicative
BBG 20: Verbal Roots and Other Forms of the Future « Previous
•
Next » BBG 22: 2nd Aorist
χαῖρετε μαθηταί
Review and Addenda
- Review of English Verb in Mounce p. 353
- Download Verb Paradigms Chart
Review of Verbal Roots and Tense Stems (20.2-5)
- The Verbal Root is most basic form of a verb, it is not the same as the Verbal Tense Stem
- The Verbal Root is given in the vocabulary when you learn a new verb, e.g. *αγαπα
- Memorize the verbal root of a verb, as well as the lexical form
- The Tense Stem is basic form of the verb in a particular tense
- The different Tense Stems (Present, Future, Aorist…) are all derived from the Verbal Root
- it is critical that you grasp this, or you will become quite confused and make things much more difficult
- The Present Tense Stem may be the same as the Verbal Root, e.g. λυ → λυ but often it is altered, e.g. βαλ → βαλλ – Again, all the Tense Stems are derived from the Verbal Root, not from the Present Tense Stem
- In fact, the Present Tense Stem is the most irregular of all the Tense Stems
- Note the example of βάλλω (20.5)
Review of Four patterns for the Future
- Memorize the patterns for the 1st Principal Part (Present Tense Stem)
- Root not modified (20.6), i.e. the Present Tense Stem is the same as the Verbal Root
- Verbal Roots ending in iota or upsilon, e.g. ἀκου -» ἀκούω
- Contract Verbs
- Roots ending in a stop
- Present Tense Stem is normally the same as Future Tense Stem
- Different Roots (20.7)
- Linguistic consolidation of verbs
- e.g. ὁράω, ὄψομαι – the future or the former stopped being used, as did the present of the latter, so they combined
- See other examples in 20.7
- happens often when one Tense is deponent and another isn’t
- You must memorize both roots
- Liquid Futures (20.8-18)
- Liquid verbs are those whose verbal stem ends in a liquid (λ,μ,ν,ρ)
- Tense stem is usually different than the present, e.g. Present βαλλ and Future βαλ
- Tense Formative for Liquid Futures is εσ instead of plain σ
- Sigma does not like to stand between 2 vowels, so it drops out
- The remaining epsilon of the Tense Formative contracts with the Connecting Vowel
- Always has circumflex accent over the contracted vowel, except in 1st Plural Middle, e.g. μενούμεθα
- Learn the Liquid Future paradigms in 20.11-14
- Note that Liquid Futures look the same as Present of epsilon Contract Verbs – so you must distinguish them by knowing the lexical form (20.15)
- Present Liquids have no contraction
- “Consonants carry the meaning of words, not vowels+ (20.23) cf. Lexical Aids pp. 76-77 (Grimm’s Law)
- Verbal Root Modified Regularly (20.20-24)
- Root endings in a stop (20.21)
- stems ending in dentals ιζω / αζω verbs, e.g. βαπτιδ → βαπτίζω in which final δ changes to ζ for euphony
- dental drops out before Tense Formative σ according to the Square of Stops
- stems ending in velars, ασσω verbs, e.g. ταραχ → ταράσσω
- velar + sigma forms ξ according to the Square of Stops
- originally consonantal iota was added to root to from the Present Tense Stem (20.27)
- stems ending in dentals ιζω / αζω verbs, e.g. βαπτιδ → βαπτίζω in which final δ changes to ζ for euphony
- Double consonants, e.g βαλ → βαλλω (20.22)
- Letter(s) added to form the Present Tense, which are not added in other tenses (20.23)
- Iota eg. αρ → αἴρω
- metathesis = switching the order of the letters
- (ι)σκ e.g. αποθαν → ἀποθνᾐσκω
- Iota eg. αρ → αἴρω
- Ablaut (20.24)
- Root endings in a stop (20.21)
- See pp 370 ff. for most common verbs – forms to be memorized are in blue, or underlined
- Work through verbs on p. 177 in the Summary
Overview of the the Rest of the semester (pp.180-181)
- Learn all remaining tenses in the Indicative Mood (Imperfect, Aorist, Perfect)
- Reminder: the essence of the Greek verb is usually Aspect, not Time
- Imperfect – Continuous aspect in Past time (augment, secondary endings)
- Aorist – Undefined aspect in Past time (augment, secondary endings)
- 2 forms: 1st Aorist and 2nd Aorist
- Perfect – Completed aspect, whose effects are felt in Present time (of the speaker), e.g. “I have studied” i.e. I am presently in the state of having studied
- The six Principal Parts: Present Active, Future Active, Aorist Active, Perfect Active, Perfect Middle/Passive, Aorist Passive
Imperfect Indictative
- Imperfect Tense: Aspect = Continuous, Time = Past
- As you would expect, there are 3 different Greek tenses which express action in past time, one for each aspect: Imperfect (Continuous), Aorist (Simple), and Pluperfect (Completed) [rarely used]
- Aspect is usually the most important element of the Greek verb. The Future Tense is the exception to this rule.
- The Imperfect tense occurs only in the Indicative Mood
- Formed with: Augment (ε) + Present Tense Stem + Connecting Vowel + Secondary endings
- Augement ε (21.3)
- The Augment prefix in Greek is similar to the -ed suffix in English, in that it indicates Past Time.
- When tense stem begins with a vowel, the initial vowel lengthens, e.g. ἠγάπων. (21.10 b)
- When tense stem begins with diphthong, the initial vowel lengthens, or it remains unchanged. (21.10 c)
- In compound verbs the Augment comes after the preposition, e.g ἐκέβαλλον
- if the preposition ends with a vowel, that final vowel will usually drop out. (21.20)
- Preposition ἐκ changes to ἐξ before the Augment ε
- Present Tense Stem (1st Principal Part)
- Verbs that are deponent in the Present are also in the Imperfect, since they use the same stem
- Connecting Vowel ο/ε (same as Present and Future) – follow the same rules – almost always visible in Imperfect
- Secondary Personal Endings (Active or Middle/Passive)
- Augement ε (21.3)
- Note similarities between Primary and Secondary personal endings. See 12.15
- 2nd Sing. Middle/Passive contracts similar to Present e.g. ἐλυ ε σο → ἐλύου
- Learn the Imperfect Paradigms in 21.7, 21.9 and 21.22 (Contract)
- Memorize the Imperfect of εἰμί in 21.23
- The Imperfect forms, if they occur, are listed in parentheses in the vocabulary.
- Read Exegetical Insight — different uses of the Imperfect. See Wallace for detail.
- See Smyth on the Present and Imperfect Systems of the Verb
Master Indicative Verb Chart (BBG p.354)
Verb Tense | Augment/ Reduplication |
Tense Stem |
Tense Formative |
Connecting Vowel |
Personal Endings |
1st Person Singular |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Present Active | — | Present | — | ο/ε | Primary Active | λύω |
Present Middle/Passive | — | Present | — | ο/ε | Primary Middle/Passive | λύομαι |
Imperfect Active | ε | Present | — | ο/ε | Secondary Active | ἔλυον |
Imperfect Middle/Passive | ε | Present | — | ο/ε | Secondary Middle/Passive | ἐλυόμην |
Future Active | — | Future Active | σ | ο/ε | Primary Active | λύσω |
Liquid Future Active | — | Future Active | εσ | ο/ε | Primary Active | μενῶ |
Future Middle | — | Future Active | σ | ο/ε | Primary Middle/Passive | πορεύομαι |
Liquid Future Middle | — | Future Active | εσ | ο/ε | Primary Middle/Passive | μενοῦμαι |
1st Future Passive | — | Aorist Passive | θησ | ο/ε | Primary Middle/Passive | λυθήσομαι |
2nd Future Passive | — | Aorist Passive | ησ | ο/ε | Primary Middle/Passive | ἀποσταλήσομαι |
1st Aorist Active | ε | Aorist Active | σα | — | Secondary Active | ἔλυσα |
1st Aorist Middle | ε | Aorist Active | σα | — | Secondary Middle/Passive | ἐλυσάμην |
1st Aorist Passive | ε | Aorist Passive | θη | — | Secondary Active | ἐλύθην |
Liquid Aorist Active | ε | Aorist Active | α | — | Secondary Active | ἔμεινα |
2nd Aorist Active | ε | Aorist Active | — | ο/ε | Secondary Active | ἔλαβον |
2nd Aorist Middle | ε | Aorist Active | — | ο/ε | Secondary Middle/Passive | ἐγενόμην |
2nd Aorist Passive | ε | Aorist Passive | η | — | Secondary Active | ἐγράφην |
1st Perfect Active | λε | Perfect Active | κα | — | Primary Active | λέκυκα |
2nd Perfect Active | λε | Perfect Active | α | — | Primary Active | γέγονα |
Perfect Middle/Passive | λε | Perfect Passive | — | — | Primary Middle/Passive | λέκυμαι |
Verb endings
- You have now learned all the personal endings for the verbs, so you can choose:
- Either learn around 200 verb paradigms by rote, or
- Learn these 4 sets of endings, and the 6 principal parts
- Verb forms using Primary Endings do not use an augment
- Verb forms using Secondary Endings do use an augment
- Therefore you can determine whether or not a verb has an augment, by learnooking at which ending it is using. This is very helpful in parsing.
Master Verb Ending Chart (BBG p.352)
Voice | Primary Tenses |
Secondary Tenses |
|||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Active | |||||
λύ ω | (-) | ἔ λυ ο ν | (ν) | ||
λύ εις | (ς) | ἔ λυ ε ς | (ς) | ||
λύ ει | (ι) | ἔ λυ ε(ν) | (-) | ||
λύ ο μεν | (μεν) | ἐ λύ ο μεν | (μεν) | ||
λύ ε τε | (τε) | ἐ λύ ε τε | (τε) | ||
λύ ουσι(ν) | (νσι) | ἐ λυ ο ν | (ν) | ||
Middle & Passive |
|||||
λύ ο μαι | (μαι) | ἐ λυ ό μην | (μην) | ||
λύ ῃ | (σαι) | ἐ λύ ου | (σο) | ||
λύ ε ται | (ται) | ἐ λύ ε το | (το) | ||
λυ ό μεθα | (μεθα) | ἐ λυ ό μεθα | (μεθα) | ||
λύ ε σθε | (σθε) | ἐ λύ ε σθε | (σθε) | ||
λύ ο νται | (νται) | ἐ λύ ο ντο | (ντο) |
Review New Vocabulary
- Note the compound verbs, and identity their Imperfect forms
- Reminder: Read the footnotes, e.g 17 concerning the monothelite heresy.
Assignments
- Continue your life habit of reading Greek aloud from the Greek New Testament
- Quiz next week on chapter 21
- Study chapter 21, and complete workbook exercise 21
- Read chapter 22 on 2nd Aorist Indicative Active/Middle
- Lexical Aids: Appendix II pp 79-85 on compound verbs. Part I pp.1-10 – make sure you know all words with NT occurrences > 150. Pay special attentive to the derivatives
- Continue taking your Greek NT to church with you, and follow along
- Memory Passage: Romans 8.1-2
Οὐδὲν ἄρα νῦν κατάκριμα τοῖς ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ. ὁ γὰρ νόμος τοῦ πνεύματος τῆς ζωῆς ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ ἠλευθέρωσέν σε ἀπὸ τοῦ νόμου τῆς ἁμαρτίας καὶ τοῦ θανάτου.
The Lord’s Prayer (Listen)
Πάτερ ἡμῶν ὁ ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς·
ἁγιασθήτω τὸ ὄνομά σου· ἐλθέτω ἡ βασιλεία σου· γενηθήτω τὸ θέλημά σου, ὡς ἐν οὐρανῷ καὶ ἐπὶ γῆς·
τὸν ἄρτον ἡμῶν τὸν ἐπιούσιον δὸς ἡμῖν σήμερον· καὶ ἄφες ἡμῖν τὰ ὀφειλήματα ἡμῶν, ὡς καὶ ἡμεῖς ἀφήκαμεν τοῖς ὀφειλέταις ἡμῶν·
καὶ μὴ εἰσενέγκῃς ἡμᾶς εἰς πειρασμόν, ἀλλὰ ῥῦσαι ἡμᾶς ἀπὸ τοῦ πονηροῦ.
ὅτι σοῦ ἐστιν ἡ βασιλεία καὶ ἡ δύναμις καὶ ἡ δόξα εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας. ἀμήν.
χάρις ὑμῖν καὶ εἰρήνη