[B-Greek] Re: Understanding Greek Verb Tense/Aspect

Carl W. Conrad cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
Fri Apr 9 08:15:09 EDT 2004


At 5:00 AM -0700 4/9/04, Eddie Mishoe wrote:
>I think I will be asking a very naive question with
>this, but how could one argue that the Greek of the
>New Testament does not have "time" in the Indicative?
>I just assume all languages use "past" tense verbs in
>ways that are not exclusively (restricted to) "past,"
>and the same for present tense verbs (and I guess
>futures for that matter).

NO. It is in the indicative especially that the tenses DO, under most
ordinary circumstances, represent time: the imperfect, aorist, and
pluperfect indicate past events/happenings/conditions; the perfect
indicates present time status. The present tense is less strictly
associated with actual time inasmuch as it may represent a past event in
narrative as if it were happening now ("Caesar arrives on the scene, grasps
what is happening, and takes decisive action"), or it may represent a
future event or expectation as if it were occurring now ("I'm going to town
tomorrow")

There are thus exceptions to an assertion that the indicative tense forms
are indicative of time relative to a point of reference; nevertheless it is
generally the caase that they DO indeed indicate time relative to a point
of reference.
-- 

Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University (Emeritus)
1989 Grindstaff Road/Burnsville, NC 28714/(828) 675-4243
cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
WWW: http://www.ioa.com/~cwconrad/



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