Lesson 1 | The Greek Verbal System
[3] Verbs and Aspect
The second thing you should know about Greek verbs is the phenomenon of aspect.
Aspect and Greek Verbs
For Greek verbs, aspect is the dominant feature (although time is part of Greek verbs in the indicative mood). Aspect is viewpoint. It is the way that an author invites us to view the verb’s action. Koine Greek scholars are divided right now over the number of aspects in Koine Greek. Most argue that there are three aspects (perfective, imperfective, and stative). Others argue that there are only two aspects (perfective and imperfective). This class takes the view that there are three aspects: perfective, imperfective, and stative. Once you learn Koine Greek, I encourage you to read Chapter 5 in Dr. Con Campbell’s Advances in the Study of New Testament Greek to learn more, as well as Chapter 7 in Going Deeper with New Testament Greek by Dr. Andreas Kostenberger, Dr. Benjamin Merkle, and Dr. Rob Plummer.
An author used perfective aspect to describe the action as a whole. The author invites us to view the action from the outside. He shows us that the action happened, and so we see the whole action with its beginning, middle, and end.
An author used imperfective aspect to describe the action as it is happening. With imperfective aspect, the author invites us to view the action from within. We do not see the whole action from start to finish. Instead, we see part of the action as it is happening.
An author used stative aspect to describe the state that resulted from an action. With stative aspect, the author invites us to focus on the results of what has happened.
Perfective aspect is like seeing that the hour hand on a clock moved. Imperfective aspect is like looking at a clock from the inside and watching the gears grind while the hour hand is moving. Stative aspect is like hearing the clock chime because the hour hand has moved.
In the indicative mood, the Koine Greek tense-forms communicate aspect as well as time. Remember though, Greek verbs communicate time only in the indicative. This table explains how each tense-form communicates aspect and time in the indicative mood.
You do not need to master this table now. However, you do need to be aware that Greek tense-forms communicate aspect. You also need to start identifying a tense-form with its aspect (i.e., the present tense-form is imperfective).
Note
Are you wondering why the perfect is “non-past?” There are two reasons. First, Greek verbs communicate past time only in the indicative mood through an augment at the beginning of the word. This usually takes the form of an ε. You can see this ε in all the past time tense-forms in the chart. The perfect does not have an augment, and so it is not marked for past time. Second, the stative aspect focuses on the resulting state of the verb’s action. The Greek perfect tense-form is non-past (even if we think of the verb’s action as a past event in English) because its aspect focuses us on the resulting state. In the perfect indicative, this resulting state is non-past. In the pluperfect, it is past.
Advances in the Study of Greek: New Insights for Reading the New Testamentby Constantine R. Campbell
Going Deeper with New Testament Greek: An Intermediate Study of the Grammar and Syntax of the New Testamentby Andreas J. Köstenberger, Benjamin L. Merkle, and Robert L. Plummer