[B-Greek] English vs Greek Perfect
Bert de Haan
b_dehaan at sympatico.ca
Sat Nov 12 13:19:49 EST 2005
This question concerns itself with English grammar but I think there is a
enough of a connection with Greek grammar to make it suitable for this list.
I am reading through C.F.D. Moule's 'an Idiom Book of New Testament Greek.'
In the section where he describes the perfect tense (page 13) he says that
"[the Greek Perfect] differs slightly from the English Perfect, which 'is
used of any past action between which and the time of speaking the speaker
does not intend distinctly to interpose an interval'. I.e. the Greek tense
is concerned with result, while the English tense is concerned solely with
the absence (from the immediate interests of the speaker) of an interval."
I understand the part of the Greek Perfect being result-oriented but I don't
know what he means when he speaks about the absence of interval.
Can someone explain this please?
Bert de Haan.
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