LESSON TWO: Introduction to the Greek Verbs AND study of Present tense in Indicative mood and Active Voice (Present Indicative, Active forms)

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1 LESSON TWO: Introduction to the Greek Verbs AND study of Present tense in Indicative mood and Active Voice (Present Indicative, Active forms) Vocabulary: Exercise two (you do not need to memorize the cognates provided; just note them for now) ὰγαπάω βάλλω βλέπω γινώσκω γράφω δικαιόω διώκω ἔχω ζάω καθαρίζω καλέω κρύπτω λαλέω λέγω λυω µαρτυρέω µέλλω πείθω περιπατέω πιστεύω πλανάω πληρόω ποιέω σταυρόω φανερόω φιλέω χαλάω I love, make sacrifice for (αγαπη - love; αγαπητος - beloved) I throw, cast I see, look I know, have knowledge of (γνωσις - knowledge) I write (γραφη - writing, Scripture) I make righteous (δικαιος - just, δικαιωσις - justification) I pursue, persecute (διωκτης - persecutor) I have I live (ζωη - life) I cleanse (καθαρισµος - purification, καθαρος - pure) I call I conceal, hide, cover I say, speak, give forth sound I say, tell, give expression to I loose, set free (same means destroy in some contexts) I bear witness (µαρτυρια - witness, testimony) I intend I persuade, convince (πειθος - persuasive) I walk (figuratively, live, conduct oneself ) I believe (πιστις - faith, πιστος - faithful) I lead astray (figurative, mislead, deceive ) (πλανη - deceit) I fill, make full, fulfil (πληρωµα - fullness) I do, make I crucify (σταυρος - cross) I make known, reveal (φανερος - plain, clear) I love, have affection for (φιλια - friendship, φιλος - friend) I let down, lower I. Introduction A. The verb in Greek has six tenses: 1. Present tense I go, I am going (present continuous idea) 2. Future tense I will go, I will be going (has future in view) 3. Imperfect tense I used to go, I was going (past continuous idea) 4. Aorist tense I went (simple past) 5. Perfect tense I have gone (past action with results now) 6. Pluperfect tense I had gone (past action with results in a past time) 1

2 B. There are four moods proper (the first four in the list below) and two moods improper (the last two). Not all moods are found in every tense. What is shown below, as tenses associated with each mood, focuses on the primary occurrences as found in New Testament Greek. 1. Indicative mood found in all the six tenses. Basic 1 function: make statement or ask question. For example, I love God or Do you love God? 2. Imperative mood found in the present and aorist tenses. Basic function: give a command. For example, Love God. 3. Subjunctive mood primarily 2 found in the present and aorist tenses. Basic idea: Mood of probability. For example, They may love money more than they love God. 4. Optative mood found in the present, future, and aorist tenses. Basic idea: Express wish. If only you could love God, with the context capturing a wish on the part of the speaker. 5. Infinitive found in present, future, aorist, and perfect tenses. Translated with a to For example, I desire to love God more and more. 6. Participle found in present, future, aorist, and perfect tenses. Translated with a -ing, etc. For example, The one loving God always loves his fellow human beings C. Each verb can be expressed in either of three voices: 1. Active voice if the subject is performing the action in the verb e.g. I love 2. Passive voice if the subject is receiving the action expressed in the verb e.g. I am loved. 3. Middle voice if the subject shares in the advantage or disadvantage of the action expressed by the verb. For example, if I say I am eating, this is an action in my advantage. An author may choose to put it in middle form, if he or she desires the advantage to be part of the focus. D. Thus, a single verb will have a tense, a mood, and a voice. In addition to these three, those in the moods proper will also indicate the person who did it (first, second, or third persons) and the number (I or we, you [singular] or you [plural] and he/she/it or they). Such a verb will therefore have tense, mood, voice, person 1 We use the term basic here to warn ourselves that each of these moods capture more than what is presented here. While the basic idea covers the majority of their usage, other usages will be introduced in the course of study of Greek. 2 When such words as οιδα which is perfect but is always used with present meaning takes a subjunctive mood (see for example, 1 John 5:13) this is a special case. The same also applies when we have a periphrastic construction, with the subjunctive mood form being that of the verb to be. 2

3 and number. When one is asked to parse a Greek verb these are the details being asked for. A sixth detail needed in this kind of exercise is the vocabulary form in which the word would be found in the lexicon. For Greek verbs, this is normally, the first person singular form. This will become clear as we proceed. II. Verb Forms: Present Indicative Active (that is, present tense in basic form) In this lesson, we will focus on the present tense form of majority of verbs. We will deal with them in the basic mood (indicative) and the basic voice (active). That is, present, indicate, active. A. Relationship of Greek to the languages we know 1. Illustration from Kiswahili language (using the verb kwenda ) a. Forms Singular Plural 1 st person Ni/na/kwenda Tu/na/kwenda 2 nd person U/na/kwenda M/na/kwenda 3 rd person A/na/kwenda Wa/na/kwenda b. Observations: Kwenda is the stem of the verb and is found in each of the six forms The two prefixes before kwenda (for example, ni-na-) have a function within each form. The first part tells us the person (ni [I] u [you, singular etc.) and the second tells us the tense (when the action is done). While we have na in these forms, if we want the tense to be past, we would replace the na with a li and if we want future we would have ta. 2. While not equating the two in every way, we need to keep in mind that, as a general principle, the same thing happening with Kiswahili verb is what is happening in the Greek verb. B. The Most Basic forms of the Greek verbs (verbs ending with -ω following a consonant) 1. The present, indicate, active form of λύω (I loose, untie) is the first forms to learn. See, for examples, Wenham, p. 25; Duff p. 21, Summers, p. 12; Kubo, p. 11; Jay p. 17]. These forms are: Singular Plural Translation for both singular and plural forms 1 st person λύω λύοµεν I loose/am loosing, we loose/are loosing 2 nd person λύεις λύετε you loose, you (plural) loose/are loosing 3 rd person λύει λύουσι(ν) she/he/it looses, they loose/are loosing 3

4 2. Observations: a. Each form here has two parts. These are referred to as the stem and the ending. b. The stem is λυ throughout and the endings are: -ω, εις, and -ει in the singular column and -οµεν, ετε, and -ουσι(ν) in the plural column. c. The translation of these forms would be: I loose, you loose, and he/she/it looses for the singular. The plural will be, we loose, you loose, and they loose. I am loosing, you are loosing, etc., would also do. d. If you are given the above forms and asked to identify the stem, all you need to do is to leave out the ending. e. In the third person plural, there is a ν placed in brackets. This is because it may be there or not (thus, the label, movable/optional nu [ν]). As a general rule, the ν is used when the word that follows begins with a vowel or when the verb form in the 3 rd person plural ends a sentence. The ν may be left out (not a rule as the exceptions are many) if the word that follows begins with a consonant. In John 2:3, we have ἔχουσιν (from ἔχω, I have ) as final word in the sentence (they do not have wine); In John 6:15, µέλλουσιν (from µέλλω, intend, followed by ἔρχεσθαι (that is, word beginning with a vowel). Mark 2:4 (χαλῶσι from χαλάω, I let down ) is an example of 3 rd person plural without ν 3. Of the verbs listed in the vocabulary above, such verbs as βάλλω, βλέπω, γινώσκω γράφω, διώκω, ἔχω, καθαρίζω, κρύπτω, λέγω, µέλλω, and πείθω have the common feature in that they end with -ω which follows a consonant (see comment below for the ones whose stem end with a vowel) and all that is needed to form the different parts is to add the appropriate endings shown above for λυω, after the last consonant (see exercise 2:1) 4. Verbs agree with their subject in number. For example, if men (plural noun) are doing action, the verb it goes with must be in the plural. However, there is an exception to this rule, and that is in relation to neuter plural. Neuter plural nouns take singular verbs, viewing the plural noun collectively. In 1 John 3:12, we read: ὅτι τὰ ἔργα αὐτοῦ πονηρὰ ἦν... (because his works were evil ). The noun ἔργα ( works, discussed under second declension neuter nouns) is plural but the verb ἦν is singular (the imperfect singular of verb to be εἰµί, I am full forms to be learned later) C. Verbs ending with -ω but following a vowel As noted above, a number of verbs have something in common, that is, their stems end with a consonant. A second category of verbs has the stem ending with a 4

5 vowel. Within the Greek New Testament study, there are three groups in this category: those whose stem ends with ε (for example, φιλέω - I love, have affection for), those with stem ending with α (for example, ἀγαπάω - I love, make sacrifice for), those with stem ending in ο (for example, δικαιόω - I justify, treat as righteous). 1. Verbs ending with -εω (for example, φιλέω) see Wenham, pp ; Duff, p. 24; Summers, p. 116; Jay, p. 110; Kubo, pp The important thing to remember is that when the different endings learned under λύω above (note that the endings also begin with a vowel) are added to these stems the vowels combine with some effect, usually referred to as contraction. The summary of the effect for εω verbs (generally speaking, note an exception in appearance in Wenham, p. 171; Duff, 221) is as follows: ε + ε = ει ε + ο = ου ε + long vowel or diphthong (two vowels together), the ε disappears. Note Of the verbs listed in the vocabulary above, it means that καλέω, λαλέω, µαρτυρέω, περιπατέω, ποιέω, and φιλέω would follow this pattern of contraction (see Exercise 2.2) 2. Verbs ending with αω (for example, ἀγαπάω) see Wenham, p. 171; Duff, p. 220; Kubo, pp ; Jay, p. 110; Summers, p A summary of the contraction patterns for this group of verbs is: α + O-sound (ο, ω, ου) = ω α + E-sound (ε or η) = α α + any combination containing ι, = αι (with the iota being subscript [ᾳ]) Note Of the verbs listed in the vocabulary above, it means that verbs like ἀγαπάω, πλανάω, and χαλάω would follow this pattern of contraction (see exercise 2.3) 3. Verbs ending with οω (like φανερόω, - see Wenham, p. 171; Duff, p. 220; Jay, p. 110; Summers, p A summary of the contraction pattern for this group of verbs is: 5

6 ο + long vowel = ω ο + short vowel or ου = ου ο + a combination containing ι = οι Note Of the verbs listed in the vocabulary above, it means that verbs like δικαιόω, πληρόω, σταυρόω, and φανερόω would follow this pattern of contraction (see exercise 2.4) D. Special Note On All Categories of Greek Verbs In addition to verbs ending in ω, εω, αω, and οω (all of which may be referred to as -ω verbs since they all have ω at the end) we do also have verbs that have their ending in µι (referred to as µι verbs in view of their ending). Though they are not many in number the frequency of their usage in the New Testament calls for their study. The most common three are τίθηµι (I place), δίδωµι (I give), and ἵστηµι (I stand) found in Wenham, pp ; Duff, pp ; Jay, pp ; Summers, pp ; Kubo, pp , and others. Study of the -µι verbs will be delayed until the basic forms of all tenses have been examined. Exercise 2 Exercise 2.1 (most basic forms following λυω) A. Give (in the three persons) the present, indicative, active forms for the following verbs, and translate accordingly. Follow the listing of forms of λυω (see above) as a guide: 1. βάλλω (I throw) 2. βλέπω (I see) 3. λέγω (I say) B. Give the person and number of each of the following verbs (they are all indicative mood and active voice) from 1 John. 1. ἀπαγγέλλοµεν (from ἀπαγγέλλω - I proclaim) in 1:2 2. γράφοµεν (from γράφω - I write) in 1:4 3. καθαρίζει (from καθαρίζω - I cleanse) in 1:7 4. ἔχετε (from ἔχω - I have) in 2:20 5. γινώσκει (from γινώσκω - I know) in 3:20 Exercise 2.2 (verbs ending with εω, like φιλεω) A. Give the six forms of each verbs below, together with the translation 6

7 1. ἀδικέω (I do wrong/injure) 2. ἀκολουθέω (I follow) B. Give the person and number of the following verbs in 1 John and observe what contraction has taken place: 1. µαρτυροῦµεν (from µαρτυρέω - I bear witness) in 1:2 2. ποιοῦµεν (from ποιέω - I do) in 1:6 3. περιπατεῖ (from περιπατέω - I walk) in 2:11 4. ποιεῖ (from ποιέω - I do) in 3:4 5. λαλοῦσιν (from λαλέω - I say) in 4:5 Exercise 2.3 (verbs ending with αω like ἀγαπάω) A. Give the six forms of the following verbs, together with the translation 1. ζάω (I live) 2. πλανάω (I lead astray) B. Parse and observe what contraction has taken place in ἀγαπ γαπᾷ (from ἀγαπάω - I love) of 2:15 Exercise 2.4 (verbs ending with οω like πληρόω) Give the six forms and translation of: 1. δικαιόω (I justify) 2. πληρόω (I fill or fulfil) 3. σταυρόω (I crucify) 4. φανερόω (I make known or reveal) Samuel M. Ngewa Africa International University 7