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Our last lesson introduced the formation of the present and future active indicative of the Greek verb. It should be noted that the aspect denoted by the present indicative may be aoristic, though it is usually imperfective. Hence
The future tense, as its name implies, is usually predictive in force, as in John 14:26: “He will teach you all things.” However, the future may also be used imperativally to express a command, as in Luke 1:31: “you will call [i.e., you are to call] his name Jesus.” Finally, the statement of a generally accepted fact is occasionally expressed by the future tense, as in Ephesians 5:31: “A man will leave father and mother.” This example is neither predictive nor imperatival; it simply asserts a performance that may be expected under normal conditions. This usage is sometimes called the gnomic future. It will be recalled that the kind of action in the future tense may be either aoristic (“I will loose”) or imperfective (“I will be loosing”). Its usual aspect in the New Testament is aoristic, with greater emphasis on the time element than the present. “I will prepare a place for you” (John 14:3) is aoristic, while “the one who began a good work in you will bring it to completion” (Philippians 1:6) is imperfective.
When reading the Greek New Testament, pay close attention to tense and aspect. The descriptive force of the present tense is seen frequently. “Our lamps are going out” (Matthew 25:8) pictures the flickering, smoking wicks, while Paul’s “I am marveling” (Galatians 1:6) indicates his continual consternation at the behavior of the Galatians. With a series of historical presents, John describes the disciples’ excitement at the empty tomb: John “sees” the linen garments; Simon Peter “comes” and “gazes” at the linen bands (John 20:5–6). The future tense can be just as expressive.
Singular |
Plural
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1st person |
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I am
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we are
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2nd person |
ei
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you are
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you are
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3rd person |
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he is
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they are
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As already observed, the most frequently occurring verb of the –
The negative not is expressed in Greek by the adverb
Note that ; serves as the Greek question mark. Hence
Learn the vocabulary in the chart below. This first vocabulary contains words 050that occur a total of 6,487 times in the Greek New Testament! The English words in parentheses are related to the Greek words and are given to aid memorization, while the symbol indicates the basic stem of the word in question. For example, the verb stem of
– |
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I lead, I will lead (agent)
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I hear, I will hear (acoustics)
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I baptize, I will baptize ( |
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I see, I will see
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I write, I will write (graphics)
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I teach, I will teach ( |
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I glorify, I will glorify ( |
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I prepare, I will prepare
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I have, I will have ( |
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I heal, I will heal (therapeutic)
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I preach, I will preach ( |
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I loose, 1 will loose (analysis)
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I trust in, I will trust in ( |
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I send, I will send (pomp)
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I believe, I will believe ( |
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I save, I will save (sozin [an animal protein])
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– |
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I am (ejs is
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Adverb |
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not (with non-indicative moods)
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not (with indicative moods)
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Now translate the following sentences; answer will be given in our next column: (1)
Our last lesson introduced the formation of the present and future active indicative of the Greek verb. It should be noted that the aspect denoted by the present indicative may be aoristic, though it is usually imperfective. Hence luvw may be rendered either “I loose” or “I am loosing,” depending on the context. These uses are called the simple present and the progressive present, respectively. The progressive present is frequently found in narrative material, as in Matthew 8:5: “Lord, save us! We are drowning.” One other use of the present tense deserves brief mention here. The historical present is […]
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