[B-Greek] Re: Understanding Greek Verb Tense/Aspect
Carl W. Conrad
cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
Fri Apr 9 14:52:54 EDT 2004
At 9:33 AM -0700 4/9/04, waldo slusher wrote:
>The drawing for the lottery is tomorrow, but as far as
>I am concerned, I've won it. It's a done deal.
>
>Here are "past tense" verbs being used of a future
>event. If your linguistic approach cannot admit any
>exceptions (if one rule must explain all known
>occurrences), then "past tense" verbs must be
>abandoned. That is an extreme approach, but if one
>only slightly varies from that, then their conclusions
>will only slightly vary from that.
Waldo, these sentences don't quite "prove" what you're claiming nor do they
really provide an adequate analogy for Greek usage. Both sentences, "I've
won it" and "It's a done deal" are, in effect, perfect tenses and carry a
stative sense; the first is comparable to John 16:33 EGW NENIKHKA TON
KOSMON, the second to John 19:30 TETELESTAI. These are statements of
assurance of the finality of things as the statements are offered, even if,
as you might claim, they both refer to future events, Christ's ultimate
eschatological victory and his death's final fulfillment of his mission.
The perfect tense often carries this constative force--indicating the sure
conviction of the consummation of what is asserted. But on the other hand,
(a) it's never been claimed that the Perfect tense (in Greek, at least) is
a PAST tense; rather it is a PRESENT tense; the PAST tenses in the
indicative are the imperfect, aorist, and pluperfect; some would argue that
it is precisely the augment that these indicatives normally bear
(pluperfects of more than a couple syllables are sometimes exceptions) that
is the indication that they are past tenses--and the augment comes only on
the indicative forms of these tenses.
Unquestionably in your context your sentences refer to something that
hasn't yet happened (and I'll warrant that you STILL haven't won the
lottery!); your sentences express extreme confidence, assurance--some might
call it the sheer folly of the addicted gambler--but they are statements of
attitude, not of fact.
--
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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