Download INTRODUCTION TO GREEK GRAMMAR Lesson 14 First Aorist

INTRODUCTION TO GREEK GRAMMAR
Lesson 14
First Aorist Indicative Active & Middle
1. Vocabulary:
Present
First Aorist
ajkou>w
h]kousa
I hear
I heard
ajpolu>w
ajpe>lusa
I release
I released
gra>fw
e]graya
I write
I wrote
diw>kw
ejdi>wxa
I pursue, persecute
I pursued, persecuted
ejpistre>fw
ejpe>streya
I turn, return
I turned, returned
eJtoima>zw
hJtoi>masa
I prepare
I prepared
qauma>zw
ejqau>masa
I wonder at, marvel
I wondered at, marveled
peira>zw
ejpei>rasa
I tempt
I tempted
pe>mpw
e]pemya
I send
I sent
uJpostre>fw
uJ
p
e>
s
treya
I return
I returned
The aorist tense is the simple past tense. It differs from the imperfect tense in that the imperfect
expresses continuous action in past time while the aorist expresses the action as a single act in past time. It has
been suggested that the imperfect gives a motion picture and the aorist gives a snapshot.
The reader will notice that some of the words in the vocabulary have already been given in the present
tense. The purpose here is to show the relationship between the present form and the aorist form.
2. Forms of the First Aorist Indicative Active of lu>w:
Singular
Plural
e]lusa
ejlu>samen
I loosed
we loosed
e]lusav
ej
l
u>
s
ate
you loosed
you loosed
e]luse(n)
e]lusan
he (she/it) loosed
they loosed
First florist Active Infinitive lu~sai
Note that the stem lu- is in each form. An augment is added to the beginning of the stem (the same as
the imperfect tense) and the tense suffix -sa is added to the basic stem. The secondary active personal endings
are added directly to the tense stem. The n is not used in forming the first person singular, and the third person
singular ends with e which apparently replaces the a. The infinitive form ends with -ai and has the accent on
the penult. Note also that the infinitive does not have an augment.
3. Forms of the First Aorist Indicative Middle of lu>w:
Singular
ejlusa>mhn
ejlusa>meqa
I loosed for myself
you loosed for
yourself
ejlu>sato
he (she/it) loosed for
himself
First Aorist Middle Infinitive lu>sasqai
ejlu>sw
ejlu>sasqe
ejlu>santo
Plural
we loosed for
ourselves
you loosed for
yourselves
they loosed for
themselves
4. Formation of the First Aorist Indicative Middle:
The aorist middle has the secondary personal endings. The endings are attached to the aorist stem
without a thematic vowel. The first aorist indicative middle has:
1. An augment,
2. The verb stem,
3. The -sa suffix to form the aorist stem,
4. The secondary personal endings.
The second person singular was originally ejlu>saso but the last s dropped out and the resulting ao
contracted to w, thus ejlu>sw.
Verb stems ending in a consonant follow basically the same pattern as they would follow in forming the
future tense. Verbs with stems ending in a short vowel a, e or o form the first aorist by lengthening the vowel
before the tense suffix -sa. a is lengthened to h (except after e, i, r when it is lengthened to a). e is lengthened
to h and o is lengthened to w. Examples:
ajgapa>w
hjga>phsa
I love
first aorist
poie>w
ejpoi>has
I do, make
first aorist
plhro>w
ejplh>pwsa
I fill
first aorist
Aorist active infinitives ajgaph~sai, poih~sai, plhrw~sai
There are a few verbs that do not lengthen the short vowel before the sa. tele>w “Ι end” has the first
aorist form ejte>lesa; kale>w follows the same pattern.
The first aorist differs from the second aorist (to be studied later) only in form. The meaning is the same,
both refer to simple past time.
5. The Aorist is the Third Principle Part:
The Greek aorist forms vary and it is almost impossible to predict a verb's aorist form with certainty. It
is necessary to consult a lexicon or a prepared word list in order to know what form a specific verb will have in
the aorist. It is suggested that the student add each verb to a notebook with the principle parts and learn them.
Α few verbs may have both a first aorist and second aorist form. Generally, verbs that have a first aorist
do not have a second aorist and those with a second aorist do not have a first aorist form. When a verb has both
forms, the first aorist is usually transitive, i.e., it takes a direct object, and the second aorist is intransitive, i.e., it
does not take a direct object.