Verbs: Present Active Indicative
The Present Active Indicative verbs are the foundation for all Greek verbs. So let’s take it one step at a time.
Verbs are the words of action.
The Greek verb has following grammatical categories: tense, voice, mood, person and number.
Tense
Scholars propose three uses of tenses in Greek: Aktionsart,[1] aspect,[2] and time. Some argue that tenses strictly belong to one of these categories, while others propose a mixed use of tenses.
The beginning learner first should focus on the temporal side of the tense, namely, the time. A student should also distinguish a linear (ongoing, progressive) and punctiliar (whole, complete) types of action.
The time of the action applies only to the indicative mood. It can be either present, past, or future. Tenses are divided into two classes: primary and secondary.
- Primary tenses express the present (present, perfect) and future times (future, future perfect)
- Secondary or historical tenses (aorist, imperfect, pluperfect) express the past time and are marked by the prefixed augment (shown later in the upcoming chapters).
Voice
There are three voices in Greek: active, passive and middle. The voice shows the direction of the action.
Active voice indicates that the subject carries out the action. It originates from the subject.
Passive voice indicates that the action is done on or to the subject. It is directed at the subject.
Middle voice indicates that the subject carries out the action directed at itself.
Active God forgives sins.
Passive Sinners are forgiven by God.
Middle He washed his hands.
In Matt.27:24, ἀπενίψατο τὰς χεῖρας (washed his hands) lacks the possessive pronoun “his” (it is added by translators. The middle voice of the verb ἀπενίψατο helps to see that the action is directed at Pilate himself or benefits him. Hence, he washed his own hands.
Mood
Mood refers to the manner in which the speaker relates the verbal idea to reality.
There are four moods in Greek:
Indicative mood affirms the actuality of the statement: God loves the world.
Imperative mood expresses a command: Love your neighbor.
Subjunctive mood expresses contingency: If you love God…
Infinitive mood expresses a verbal idea without indicating person and number: To love is good.
Thus, present active indicative shows that the action happens in the present time, that the subject carries out the action, and that it is a true statement.
The Greek verb can change in person and number. To understand this better, we need to learn one more term: inflection.
Inflection
The word inflection comes from Latin inflecto “I bend.” See how “bending” occurs in English:
| Singular | Plural | |
| First Person | I have | We have |
| Second Person | You have | You have |
| Third Person | He, she, it has | They have |
The verb “have” becomes “has” in the third person singular. What English does in only one form, Greek can do in all six forms (modern Spanish, German, and Russian do the same through inflection).
Let’s look at the inflection of the verb λύω “I loose”:
| Singular | Plural | |||
| First Person | λύω | I loose | λύομεν | We loose |
| Second Person | λύεις | You loose | λύετε | You loose |
| Third Person | λύει | He, she, it looses | λύουσι(ν) | They loose |
By removing –ω from the dictionary form we obtain the present stem (the part of the word that doesn’t change). In the table above, it is λυ–.
Examples:
λέγω “I speak” has a stem λέγ–
γράφω “I write” has a stem γράφ–
In the Greek language, the personal endings contain information about the person and number. When translating, add a respective personal pronoun (I, you, he/she/it, we, they) if the subject of the verb is absent.
Thus, inflection the present active indicative verbs occurs by adding personal endings to the stem.
| Sing. | Plur. | |
| 1. | –ω I | –ομεν we |
| 2. | –εις you | –ετε you |
| 3. | –ει he, she, it | –ουσι(ν) they |
Note that there is a connecting vowel between the stem and the personal suffixes. Before μ and ν it is always –ο–, in front of other letters it is –ε–. This connecting vowel transforms the endings to the forms you see in the table above; thus, for educational purposes it is better to consider it as part of the endings and memorize them all together.
Finally, the letter ν is added to the third person plural if the following word starts with a vowel. This is similar to the English article a (an).
Examples:
a tree, an apple.
Ἀπόστολοι λύουσιν ἄνθρωπον. Apostles liberate a man.
Present Active Indicative verbs can be translated as simple “I write” or continuous “I am writing” depending on the context. However, the first option should be continuous (progressive).
Vocabulary:
| βλέπω | 132 | I see |
| γινώσκω | 222 | I know |
| γράφω | 191 | I write |
| διδάσκω | 97 | I teach |
| ἔχω | 708 | I have |
| λαμβάνω | 258 | I take, receive |
| λέγω | 2353 | I speak |
| λύω | 42 | I loosen, release |
| δὲ | 2642 | but |
Exercises:
Translate from the Greek NT:
- ἔχομεν Ἀβραάμ (Matt 3:9)
- καὶ βλέπω (John 9:15)
- δὲ θεὸς γινώσκει (Luke 16:15)
- λέγεις καὶ διδάσκεις (Luke 20:21)
- Why are λύετε τὸν πῶλον (the donkey)? (Jn 21:13)
Translate into English:
βλέπεις γινώσκετε γράφει βλέπομεν
λαμβάνομεν βλέπετε διδάσκουσι ἔχει
διδάσκει ἔχεις ἔχομεν λέγετε
λαμβάνουσι γινώσκεις βλέπουσι γινώσκει
λαμβάνεις λέγει βλέπει γράφετε
λύουσι γινώσκομεν λέγεις λύει
[1]Aktionsart shows a kind of action: durative, punctiliar, or a state of completion. Durative indicates an ongoing action: βλέπω = I am seeing. Punctiliar indicates an action occurring at a certain point: ἐδίδαξα = I taught. State of completion indicates a completed action which state is still remaining at present: ἐγήγερται = he has been raised (the act of resurrection is completed, and the state of being raise is still continues).
[2]Aspect shows internal or external viewpoint of the described action. Thus, the present and the imperfect describe the action from inside, from within, up-close; whereas, the aorist looks at the action as a whole, from outside, from afar. The future is considered the aspect vague, however, some view it as aorist – distant and remote. The perfect is the most significant point of discourse.
Another way to look at tenses is by describing them as discourse levels: the background (aorist – complete and distant), the foreground (present, imperfect – up-close and ongoing), and the frontground (perfect, pluperfect – the central focus of a discourse)