Aorist ˈ eɪ ə r ɪ s t.
Attic greek aorist tense.
This is the most common tense for referring to.
The aorist tense always conveys a single discreet action i e.
Ancient greek verbs have four moods indicative imperative subjunctive and optative three voices active middle and passive as well as three persons first second and third and three numbers singular dual and plural.
Greek verb tenses intermediate discussion no element of greek language is of more importance to the student of the new testament than the matter of tense a variation in meaning exhibited by the use of a particular tense will often dissolve what appears to be an embarrassing difficulty or reveal a gleam of truth which will thrill the heart with delight and inspiration.
Greek verbs and infinitives can express all three aspects but the most common are.
This is an action that took place over an extent of time was habitual or was more than a single action in some way.
It is also used for events.
Present imperfect future aorist the equivalent of past simple perfect pluperfect and future perfect.
In the ancient greek the indicative aorist is one of the two main forms used in telling a story.
This is from the first link.
Greek expresses this aspect by using the present stem e g the present and imperfect tense completed.
Just to be clear i still believe the augment indicates past time.
εἶμαι eîmai modern greek.
εἰμί in liddell scott 1940 a greek english lexicon oxford.
εἰμί in autenrieth georg 1891 a homeric dictionary for schools and colleges new york.
Greek marks this aspect by using the verb stem e g the aorist tense ongoing.
The literary greek of athens in the fifth and fourth centuries bc attic greek was the standard school room form of greek for centuries.
And yet the aorist is so much more than past time and in fact.
είμαι eímai references.
This is one of the basic points we try to make in first year greek but in the rush to simplify the language sufficiently for a first year student sometimes the subtly of this point is missed.
Ancient greek grammar had the aorist form and the grammars of other indo european languages and languages influenced by the indo european grammatical tradition such as middle persian sanskrit armenian the south slavic languages and georgian also.
In the indicative mood there are seven tenses.
εἰμί in liddell scott 1889 an intermediate greek english lexicon new york.
While both the imperfect and aorist tenses refer to past actions and so are past tenses they differ in aspect.
Wikipedia has a nice summary of the aorist and more details can be found in the the article on the ancient greek aorist in particular.
This article therefore chiefly describes.
It is used for undivided events such as the individual steps in a continuous process narrative aorist.
Abbreviated aor verb forms usually express perfective aspect and refer to past events similar to a preterite.
