The Greek Language

Greek Verb Forms

The microcosm of a language can be found in its verbs. To understand Greek verbs, their forms, and their translation is a significant portion of the language. The following is a list of the person, tense, time, aspect, voice, and mood a verb assumes take on. I translate the verb “to study” in each form to give an example of how to see the verb change as it goes through Greek morphology.

Person

There are three persons: the first, second, and third.

•First person is the person speaking (“I” in the singular and “we” in the plural).

•Second person is the person being spoken to (“you” in the singular and “you all” in the plural. The ELV makes a point to translate the second person plural as “you all” in as many instances as grammatically possible).

•Third person is the person or thing being spoken about (“he,” “she,” “it” in the singular and “they” in the plural).

Tense

Tense refers both to the aspect and time of a verb. For example, the aorist tense describes an undefined action (aspect) that normally occurs in the past (time). The tenses in Greek are:

•Present. The present tense indicates a continuous or undefined action generally occurring in the present time. The ELV translates this as “I study” or “I am studying”.

•Future. The future tense describes an action that will occur in the future. The ELV translates this as “I will study”. In older English when the future is used in the first-person singular, traditionally it is translated as “shall,” but the ELV does not follow this procedure.

•Imperfect. The imperfect tense describes a continuous action usually occurring in the past. The ELV translates this as “I was studying”.

•Aorist. The aorist tense describes an undefined action usually occurring in the past. The ELV translates this as “I studied”.

•Perfect. The perfect tense describes an action that was brought to completion and whose effects are felt in the present. The ELV translates this as “I have studied”.

•Pluperfect. The pluperfect is used to describe an action that was completed and whose effects are felt at the time after the completion but before the time of the speaker. The ELV translates this as “I had studied”.

Aspect

The aspect of a Greek verb indicates what type of action it describes.

•Continuous. The continuous aspect means the action of the verb is thought of as an ongoing process. The ELV translates this as “I am studying”.

•Undefined. The undefined aspect means that the action of the verb is thought of as a simple event, without commenting on whether or not it is a process. The ELV translates this as “I studied”.

•Perfect. The perfect aspect means that the action of the verb is thought of as completed in the past but felt in the present. The ELV translates this as “I have studied”.

Voice

Voice refers to the relationship between the subject and the verb.

•Active. A verb is in the active voice if the subject does the action of the verb. The ELV translates this as “I study”.

•Passive. A verb is in the passive voice if the subject receives the action of the verb. The ELV translates this as “I am studied”.

•Middle. A verb is in the middle voice if the action of the verb in some way affects the subject. This happens in two ways. In the Indirect Middle, the subject does the action of the verb to the direct object, but the participation of the subject is emphasized. The ELV translates this as “I study for myself”. In the Reflexive Middle, the subject does the action of the verb and also receives the action. The ELV translates this as “I study myself”.

•Deponent. This is a verb that is middle or passive in form but active in meaning. The ELV translates this as “I study”. Notice how it is translated just like the active, to convey its active meaning.

Mood

Mood refers to the relationship between the verb and reality.

•Indicative. A verb is in the indicative mood if it describes something that is as opposed to something that may or might be. The ELV translates this as “I study”.

•Subjunctive. The subjunctive does not describe what is, but what may be. It is the mood of possibility. The ELV translates this as “I may study”.

•Infinitive. An infinitive is a verbal noun. It is most-easily recognized as a verb proceeded by the word “to”. The ELV translates this as “to study”.

•Imperative. A verb is in the imperative mood when it makes a command. The ELV translates this as “study!” When a verb is in the imperative mood, it will be underlined for the reader's convenience. Sometimes the verb will be preceded by “let” with no underline which also indicates an imperative mood.

•Optative. The optative is the mood of “wish.” The subjunctive is one step removed from reality whereas the optative is two. The ELV translates this as “I wish to study”.

Participles

Participles are verbal adjectives. As such, they perform one of two basic functions depending on whether they emphasize a verbal or adjectival aspect.

•If it is an adjectival participial, the action described by the participle primarily directs towards the verb. The ELV translates this as “while studying”.

•If it is an adverbial participial, the action described by the participle primarily modifies a noun or pronoun. The ELV translates this as “studying”.

GRAMMATICAL CONSTRUCTS

Negation

There are multiple ways the Greek uses negation that cannot be conveyed into English and requires footnotes.

•Implied answers. A Greek speaker may ask a question while also answering it in the same statement. If a question begins with οὐ, the author implies the answer will be “yes”. If a question begins with μή, the author implies the answer will be “no”.

There are five constructs of negation listed below.

1. οὐ + future indicative - simple negation not footnoted.

2. μή + present imperative - prohibits continuous action, attitude, or conduct.

3. μή + aorist imperative - prohibits undefined action not footnoted.

4. μή + aorist subjunctive - more emphatic than number 1 and footnoted as a “second degree negation”.

5. οὐ μή + aorist subjunctive - most emphatic negation footnoted as “the highest level of negation available in Greek”.

Conditional Sentences

Conditional sentences are separated into two parts and three classes. The two parts are the “if” clause and the “then” clause.

•Protasis. This is the “if” clause and it is the only conditional part of the sentence.

•Apodosis. This is the “then” clause which must be true if the protasis is true.

The three classes are listed below. There are actually four in Greek, but the NT has no complete example of the fourth.

•First class. This is also called “conditions of fact”. These sentences are saying that if something is true, and assuming for the sake of argument that it is, then such and such will occur.

•Second class. This is also called “contrary to fact”. These sentences say that if something is true - even though it is not - then such and such would occur. The falseness of the protasis is assumed in the argument.

•Third class. The third class has two divisions, the “future more probable” and the “present general”. In the future more probable, a future condition says that if something might happen, then something else will definitely happen. The speaker is thinking of a specific event in the future. A present general is stating a general truth, an axiomatic truth. The subjunctive is appropriate because the truth of the statement is timeless.