Lesson 1 | The Greek Verbal System
Review
This lesson introduced you to Greek verbs. You learned that:
1. Koine Greek verbs have six parts
- Stem: The verb’s lexical core that communicates its meaning (λύω)
- Tense-form: How the speaker portrays the verb’s action. Remember, Greek verbs communicate time only in the indicative mood.
- Present (λύω - I am untying)
- Imperfect (ἔλυον - I was untying)
- Aorist (ἔλυσα - I untied)
- Future (λύσω - I will untie)
- Perfect (λέλυκα - I have untied)
- Pluperfect (ἐλελύκειν - I had untied)
- Voice: The subject’s relationship to the verb’s action
- Active - The subject does the verb’s action (He hits the ball).
- Middle - The subject is affected by the verb’s action (He hits himself).
- Passive - The subject receives the verb’s action (He was hit by the ball).
- Mood: How the speaker portrays the verb’s relationship to reality
- Indicative - The speaker portrays the verb’s action as a reality (He did this).
- Subjunctive - The speaker portrays the verb’s action as a possibility (He might do this).
- Imperative - The speaker portrays the verb’s action as a command (Do this!).
- Optative
- Person: The speaker’s relation to the verb’s subject
- First Person (ἔγω/ἡμεῖς)
- Second Person (σύ/ὑμεῖς)
- Third Person (all other nouns and pronouns)
- Number: The number of the verb’s subject
- Singular (ἔγω/σύ/αὐτός)
- Plural (ἡμεῖς/ὑμεῖς/αὐτοί)
2. The Koine Greek verbal system has three aspects
- Imperfective: Describes part of the action as it is happening.
- Perfective: Describes the whole action (from beginning to end), that it happened.
- Stative: Focuses on the results of the action, that it has happened.