Summary of Greek Moods

Moods indicate the relation of the action of the verb to reality.

INDICATIVE – the mood of reality

• Latin indicatus, past participle of indicare, from in- + dicare to proclaim
• “constituting a verb form that represents the denoted act or state as an objective fact” (Webster)
• The Indicative Mood is the mood of reality
• We have studied only the Indicative Mood thus far.
  
  
  
  • whether making a statement, or asking a question about what is factual and real.



• This does not mean that everything stated in the Indicative Mood is true, but only that it is being stated
  
  
  
  • as opposed to being wished for, hoped for, commanded, considered a possiblity, etc.
  
  
  • If someone says “Jesus was just a good teacher”, he is making a statement about reality, from his point of view. Therefore it is Indicative, though it is not actually true.



• This is the only mood which has time significance. All the other moods have significance of aspect only

SUBJUNCTIVE – the mood of possibility

• Latin subjunctivus, from subjunctus, past participle of subjungere to join beneath, subordinate
• “constituting a verb form that represents a denoted act or state not as fact but as contingent or possible” (Webster)

OPTATIVE – the mood of wish

• Latin optativus, from optare to wish
• “constituting a verbal mood that is expressive of wish or desire” (Webster)

IMPERATIVE – the mood of command

• Latin imperativus, from imperatus, past participle of imperare to command
• “constituting the grammatical mood that expresses the will to influence the behavior of another” (Webster)

Imperatives

• The mood of command
  • A direct command, as to a subordinate
  • When addressing a superior, such as God, Imperative of Entreaty, e.g. Matt 6.10 – ἐλθέτω ἡ βασιλεία σου
• Tense: occurs in the Present (Continuous aspect), the Aorist (Simple aspect) and rarely in the Perfect (33.19) (Completed aspect)
  • as with all non-indicative moods, the tense of the Imperative has no time significance, only aspect
• Person: occurs in both the 2nd person(direct command), and 3rd person.
  • 2nd person, e.g. “See!”
  • 3rd person, e.g. “Let him see” or “He must see”
• Formation of the Imperative (33.5,8)
  • Present: Present Stem + Connecting Vowel + Imperative Morpheme
  • Aorist: (Unaugmented) Aorist Stem + Tense Formative (σα/θη) + Imperative Morpheme
  • 2nd Aorist: (Unaugmented) 2nd Aorist Stem + Imperative Morpheme
    • Morpheme is same as Present in Active and Middle
    • Morpheme is same as 1st Aorist in Passive, but no Tense Formative (θη)
  • Morphemes should be memorized. Everything else is quite regular

Particple Morphemes – learn from the following chart (33.6-7)

Imperative

(See Master Non-indicative Verb Chart (BBG p.358, also pp. 373-374)

• Deponent verbs have deponent imperatives
• Review the paradigm (33.8)
• Contract verbs contract regularly (stem vowel + connecting vowel) for Present Imperatives (33.11, p.373)
• εἰμί Present Imperatives are built off of εσ (33.12)
• Ambiguous forms – 2nd person plural, Active and Middle, are the same in the Imperative as in the Indicative (33.9)
  • Present: ετε, εσθε – context must determine
    • e.g. John 14.1 – Μὴ ταρασσέσθω ὑμῶν ἡ καρδία· πιστεύετε εἰς τὸν θεὸν καὶ εἰς ἐμὲ πιστεύετε
    • e.g. Mark 11.22 – καὶ ἀποκριθεὶς ὁ Ἰησοῦς λέγει αὐτοῖς· ἔχετε πίστιν θεοῦ.
  • Aorist: σατε, σασθε – the Imperative will have no temporal augment
  • 2nd person singular Aorist Active Imperative looks like Aorist Infinitive
    • e.g. λῦσαι

Six ways to express prohibition (33.17,18)

1. οὐ + Future Indicative = a general prohibtion, e.g. “You shall not steal”
2. μή + Aorist Subjuctive = Stronger prohibition (“No!”)
3. οὐ μή + Aorist Subjuctive = Even Stronger prohibition (“Certainly Not! Never!”)
4. μή + Aorist Imperative = simple prohibition, usually for a specific case, e.g. “Stop talking during class”
5. μή + Present Imperative = prohibits a continuous action, usually attitude or general precept/conduct, e.g. “Do not gossip”
6. μή + Optative = strong negative wish, e.g. μή γένοιτο (“May it never be!”) in Rom 6.1-2

Exegetical Insights

New Vocabulary

Scripture Memory for next class

Gen. 1.3 – καὶ εἶπεν ὁ θεός γενηθήτω φῶς καὶ ἐγένετο φῶς

Assignments

• Weekly Memorization: Gen. 1.3 – καὶ εἶπεν ὁ θεός γενηθήτω φῶς καὶ ἐγένετο φῶς
• Review past passages
• Complete workbook exercise 33 on Imperatives
• Prepare for quiz next week on chapter 33 – Imperatives
• Read chapter 34 on μι verbs and the Indicative of δίδωμι
• Make plans to acquire the required texts for the 2nd half of the semester
• Continue your life habit of reading Greek aloud from the Greek New Testament
• Continue taking your Greek NT to church with you, and follow along as you are able

The Lord’s Prayer

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 δοξα εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας.
ἀμήν.

χάρις ὑμῖν καὶ εἰρήνη,   Διδάσκαλος Ἀνδρέας Ἀέρος     :-)