Discourse function of Imperfective Tense (Mark: 1:4-8)

Iver Larsen iver_larsen at sil.org
Sun Dec 29 04:40:30 EST 2002


>
> [Moon]
> So, would you suggest that the aorist tense moves the reference
> time of the  discourse forward, while the imperfect describes some
> relevant  situation with respect to the current reference time?

Sort of, but not quite. I would say that the reference time for the
discourse is set by the initial time expression: PRWI ENNUCA LIAN - Very
early at night. The various aorist verbs then moves the story forward one
event at a time. First he went out (from the house) and then he went away to
a desolate place. Then comes the imperfect: And there he prayed.

As I said the imperfective aspect - which is shared by the imperfect and
present tense in Greek - has a number of different related senses. It may be
helpful to think of this aspect as an action that is described as unbounded
or unfinished. Sort of like when you leave the person there praying while
you go to a different scene to describe what happened in that other place.
It appears that he also prayed for a long time. When Simon got up, he
noticed that Jesus had gone from the house, so he started looking for him,
while Jesus was still out there where the narrator left him praying.

Does that help?
Iver Larsen

> For another example, consider:
>
> Mark 1:35:
>   And in the morning, a great while before day, he rose and went out to a
> lonely place, and there he prayed.
>
> Here "he prayed" is in the imperfect, while the other two verbs are in the
> aorist. Would you say that the imperfect tense here describes a "prolonged
> process" of Jesus' praying?  But still I do not get the point of using
> the imperfect in this context. What would the point of the imperfect tense
> in this context?
>
> Moon]




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