The Greek verb system

How the panel reads a verb

In the last two lessons you met person, number and the present tense. Now let us step back and draw the whole map. When you tap a verb in the 원어 panel it gives a line such as "verb, present, active, indicative, 3rd, singular". Each slot answers a different question.

Here is one verb in three tenses, "to believe", πιστεύω. You do not need to learn the forms yet; just see how each is labelled. In John 3:16, πιστεύων ("pis-TEW-ohn") is "believing", and the panel calls it present, active. In John 2:11, ἐπίστευσαν is "they believed": aorist, active, indicative, 3rd, plural. In John 11:27, πεπίστευκα is "I have believed": perfect, active, indicative, 1st, singular.

The three forms share the stem πιστευ-, but their beginnings and ends differ. One gains an ἐ- in front (we will see that in the imperfect and aorist lessons), another doubles its first letter as πε- (the perfect). You need not memorise the changes today. What matters is that the panel tells you the difference through its labels.

Tense is first of all viewpoint

In English, tense is about time: did it happen yesterday, is it happening now? Greek tense is mainly about viewpoint, how the speaker looks at the action. This course uses the following rule of thumb.

The present and the imperfect view an action as ongoing. The aorist views it as a whole, one complete event seen from the outside. The perfect views it as finished with a lasting result. So πεπίστευκα has the flavour "I have come to believe, and I still do", which suits Martha's confession in John 11:27.

Where does time come from? In the indicative, the tense usually gives time as well: the present is normally "now", the imperfect and aorist are normally past, and the future is, well, future. Outside the indicative, tense is chiefly about viewpoint. Scholars do debate the details here, and what is said above is a learner's rule of thumb. We will use it for every tense that follows.

Mood is the speaker's attitude to what is said. The indicative is the mood of statements and questions, and most Greek sentences are indicative. John 2:11 states that the disciples believed. The other moods, the subjunctive and the imperative, will each get a lesson. So will the participle, "believing", as in πιστεύων, and the infinitive, "to believe". Participles and infinitives usually show no person, which we will also explain then.

The lexicon form

Greek verbs change shape a great deal between tenses. ἔλαβον ("EL-ab-on") in John 1:12 means "they received", yet it looks quite unlike its lexicon form λαμβάνω, "to take, to receive". The lexicon form is what ties them together as one word. The panel and the vocabulary lists always give the lexicon form of a verb, which is normally the 1st person singular present, ending in -ω.

Other verbs show this too. μένω "to stay" appears in 1 John 2:19 as μεμενήκεισαν, "they would have remained", a pluperfect, a form you will meet later. And φέρω "to bring, bear" is easy to recognise in φέρει "it bears (fruit)" in John 12:24, but in John 21:10 ἐνέγκατε "bring!" (an aorist) looks like a different word. When a form puzzles you, do not hurry. Tap it, read the lexicon form, and you are back on familiar ground.

The three verbs of this lesson are common: λαμβάνω about 260 times, μένω about 120 and φέρω about 70.

Summary

Every verb in the panel is labelled for tense, voice, mood, person and number. Tense is mainly a viewpoint: ongoing, whole, or finished with a lasting result. In the indicative it also gives time. The indicative is the mood of statements and questions. When a form looks strange, look up the lexicon form.

Words in this lesson

• λαμβάνωlambanōto take258 times in the NT
• μένωmenōto stay118 times in the NT
• φέρωpherōto bear/lead66 times in the NT

Practice