Part of what is hard to grasp about this difference is really more about the different ways of describing this than the way the language works.
When grammarians say the
aorist presents an action "viewed as a whole," they mean the action is seen
from the outside,
without focusing on its internal development. It is like taking a
snapshot of the entire event rather than recording a video of it unfolding.
The
imperfect, by contrast,
zooms in: it shows the action
in progress,
unfolding over time, or
repeatedly happening.
In modern linguistics, these ideas are called
aspect.
The
aorist shows
perfective aspect: it presents the action
as a complete whole.
The
imperfect shows
imperfective aspect: it presents the action
as ongoing, incomplete, or habitual.
Different grammarians, writing in different eras, describe this contrast with slightly different vocabulary — but they are mostly talking about the same basic idea. Here is how they often put it:
- Smyth (1920) says the imperfect expresses "continued or repeated action," while the aorist expresses "a single act or simple fact."
- Robertson (1914) says the imperfect shows "process" (what was happening), while the aorist shows "occurrence" (what happened).
- Funk (1973) says the imperfect highlights "internal unfolding," and the aorist presents the event "in summary."
- Cambridge Grammar (2019) says the imperfect describes "an event in progress," and the aorist describes "a past event as a complete whole."
- Modern Linguistics says the imperfect shows "imperfective aspect" and the aorist shows "perfective aspect."
Older grammars like Smyth and Robertson tend to use
storytelling terms — "single act" versus "continuous action."
Newer grammars like Funk and Cambridge, and modern linguists, use
aspectual terms — "perfective" versus "imperfective."
This shift partly reflects how
linguistics has changed over the last 200 years. Earlier grammarians mainly used
logical and narrative categories (facts, acts, continuity). Modern grammarians use
aspect theory, where verb forms show
how an action is viewed, not just when it happened.
But despite the changes in vocabulary, the core idea remains the same:
The aorist sees the action completed (like a whole event at once); the imperfect sees it happening (like an action in progress).