Lesson 4 | Aorist Indicatives
[5] Aorist Passive Indicatives
In this final grammar point, we will learn about aorist passive indicatives. Note that second aorist passive indicatives are not nearly as common, so we will focus more on first aorist passive indicatives. Let’s start by looking at the four key features paradigm with the aorist passive indicatives added:
Now let’s look at λύω as an aorist passive indicative:
| λύω in the passive indicative | |||||||||
| 1st Aorist | |||||||||
| Singular | First | ἐλύθην | |||||||
| Second | ἐλύθης | ||||||||
| Third | ἐλύθη | ||||||||
| Plural | First | ἐλύθημεν | |||||||
| Second | ἐλύθητε | ||||||||
| Third | ἐλύθησαν | ||||||||
- The Augment: Since aorist indicatives communicate past time, aorist passive indicatives have the augment.
- The Stem: As with active and middle, first aorist passive stems are typically the same as present. However, some verbs like λέγω and καλέω have distinct stems for their first aorist passive indicative forms. (English does this too with words like go/went.) You will have to memorize some of these forms. However, as you learn and read more Greek, you will naturally pick up on many of these stems.
- Tense-Former: The θη tense-former (or η tense-former for the less common second aorist) is the distinctive tense-former for aorist passive indicatives. Also, like scheming σ, θ can sometimes change the letters around it. If you remember the effects of scheming σ, you can usually spot the changes caused by θ:
- π/β + θ = φ
- κ/γ + θ = χ
- τ/δ + θ = σ For example, διδάσκω forms as ἐδιδάχθην in the first aorist passive. Notice how the θ changed the κ from the stem (διδακ) into a χ: ἐδιδάχθην.
4. Ending: Unexpectedly, the aorist passive indicative endings follow the secondary active verb pattern (with the η from the tense former replacing the first letter of the ending). The exception is the third plural where the ending is σαν.
Practice
Examples from the Greek NT
Ἰακὼβ δὲ ἐγέννησεν τὸν Ἰωσὴφ τὸν ἄνδρα Μαρίας, ἐξ ἧς ἐγεννήθη Ἰησοῦς ὁ λεγόμενος Χριστός. Now Jacob fathered Joseph, the husband of Mary. From her, Jesus, the one who is called “Messiah” was born. —Matthew 1:16
In this verse, we get to see the aorist active and passive indicative forms of the same verb, γεννάω:
ἐγέννησεν (active)
ε+γεννα+σα+ε(ν)
[Augment]
[Stem]
[Tense-Former]
[Ending]
ἐγεννήθη (passive)
ε+γεννα+θη+ε(ν)
[Augment]
[Stem]
[Tense-Former]
[Ending]
By comparing these two forms, you can see how first aorist passive indicatives differ from first aorist active indicatives. The major difference is the θη tense-former instead of the σα tense-former (which is actually a σε in this case since it is a third person singular). Also, note how the verb’s voice affects how we translate. With an active voice verb like ἐγέννησεν, the subject does the verb’s action to the direct object: “Ἰακὼβ δὲ ἐγέννησεν τὸν Ἰωσὴφ/Now, Jacob fathered Joseph.” With a passive voice verb, the subject receives the verb’s action: “ἐξ ἧς ἐγεννήθη Ἰησοῦς/From her Jesus was born.”
ἔλεγον οὖν αὐτῷ· πῶς οὖν ἠνεῴχθησάν σου οἱ ὀφθαλμοί; Then, they were saying to him: “How then were your eyes opened?” —John 9:10
We have two main verbs: ἔλεγον and ἠνεῴχθησάν. ἔλεγον is an imperfect, active, indicative, third person, plural from λέγω: “They were saying.”
Now let’s focus in on ἠνεῴχθησάν. Although we do not initially know the verb, we can still use the other three key features to parse this verb. With the augment, ending, and tense-former, we can confidently parse ἠνεῴχθησάν as an aorist, passive, indicative, third person, plural. Now, we need to do some detective work:
- First, let’s remove the augment: ἠνεῴχθησάν becomes ἀνεῴχθησάν.
- Next, let’s remove the tense-former and ending. Remember that θ affects the final letter of the stem. Since we see a χ next to the θ from the tense-former, we know that this stem could be either ανεῳκ or ανεῳγ.
- We still do not have a stem we recognize. But there’s one more solution. This could be a compound verb, which means that the augment would come between the preposition and the stem. Once we remove that augment, we get ανοιγ from ανοιγω. We have found our stem!
ε+αν+ε+οιγ+θη+σαν
[Augment]
[Stem]
[Tense-Former]
[Ending]
That was a lot of work! Ανοιγω is particularly troublesome because it sometimes adds its augment in two places as you saw here. This is not normal.
We can finally translate it as: “they were opened.” Note how the perfective aspect summarizes the entire action of John 9:1–7.
Parsing Practice: Aorist Passive Indicatives
That final example was quite difficult. Ανοιγω is a troublesome word. Most of the time, knowing the four key features and your vocabulary should allow you to parse aorist passive indicatives without too much trouble. Let’s practice: