tense

Suedaleg at aol.com Suedaleg at aol.com
Wed Jun 28 03:17:24 EDT 2000


I would advise anyone trying to fit the Greek tenses into English to 
recognise that the idea of tense is not the same.  In English tense relates 
primarilly with time, (past - present - future) .  In Greek it seems that 
tense includes a thought to time but duration and effect is more important.

The present generally refers to continous action or state, usually occuring 
now.

The aorist generally refers to a single event of undefined (aorist=undefined 
or invisible) duration, and sometimes (usually?) speaks of an event which 
occured only once.

The perfect (I kmow you did not ask) speaks of an event which has continuing 
consequences.  Sometimes (often with Paul) the aorist is used where the 
context implies that the meaning could be perfect.

THe imperfect shows continuing action in the past; and the future shows 
continuous action in the future.

This is all generally true for the indicative.  The subjunctive, imperative, 
and other moods indicate even less temporal implication.  The aorist 
pariciple is often used to show sequence of events or conditions.

I figured this out after learning the nature of the  Hebrew tenses which have 
even less (no?) relation to time.  It appears to me that Greek tense's sense 
of time is somewhere between that and English's strict adherence to time.

If I am misunderstanding this I hope someone will streighten me out, but I 
think that as you continue reading and translating you will see where this 
understanding of tense in duration and time becomes important.

Dale Greenlee



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