Elementary New Testament Greek, 2014a

11: The Future Tense
In other words, the Verb Root is transformed into “naked” Principal Parts, to which
then are added various augments, connecting vowels, sufxes, and personal endings
to construct all “real” verb forms. Below we have placed the clothed Principal Parts
in parentheses, in order to draw attention to the “naked” forms, which are the real
points of genesis for their respective families.
First Pr.
Prt.
Second Pr.
Prt.
Verb Root:
Third Pr.
Prt.
Fourth Pr.
Prt.
Fifth Pr.
Prt.
Sixth Pr.
Prt.
() () () () () ()
-- -- -- -- -- --
All Other
Derived
Forms
All Other
Derived
Forms
All Other
Derived
Forms
All Other
Derived
Forms
All Other
Derived
Forms
All Other
Derived
Forms
This overview of verb construction will carry us far. As we continue learning new
verb Tenses and Moods, we will see that they are formed by attaching a variety of
accessories (augments, sufxes, connecting vowels, personal endings, declensional
endings) onto the naked Principal Parts.
Conceptual Overview of the Greek Verb
We have already done signicant work (in Chapter Two) establishing and explaining
the categories of Mood, Tense, Voice, Person and Number. [You might want to
review that material if it is foggy.] The following chart synthesizes these matters
into a visual arrangement, while extending and adding a few elements. Study the
following features of the chart:
1) From the top, the largest division relates to Aspect. The chart shows that
all Greek verbs must fall within one of three Aspects: Internal (ongoing,
repeated action viewed as “in process”); External (action viewed as a
whole, without interest in its duration or internal stages); Perfect (action
viewed as nished with an extended effect of some sort).
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2) The vertical columns of Aspect are further divided into Voice. You can see
that the Internal and Perfect Aspects do not have separate forms for Middle
and Passive voices, while the External Aspect makes distinction between
Middle and Passive forms.
3) You see that the vertical columns of Aspect and Voice extend downward,
fully intersecting the four Moods, and beneath them two Modes. You are
familiar with Moods [Indicative, Subjunctive, Imperative, Optative], which
register different ways of presenting reality. The Modes work a completely
different angle: an Innitive is a verb functioning like a noun; while a
Participle is a verb functioning like an adjective. [We will touch more on
this in Chapter Twelve.]
4) You can see that each intersection between the vertical columns [Aspect,
Voice] and horizontal rows [Moods (with time) and Moods and Modes
(without time)] have a three-element “name,” e.g. the “Aorist Active
Indicative” or the “Perfect Mid/Passive Participle”. [We have omitted
the Mood/Mode portion of the name from each intersection to save space.
You should attach it yourself.] If you listen to the (whole!) name of the
intersection, you can immediately locate that intersection on the chart,
and (more importantly) know its characteristics [in terms of mood, tense,
voice, and aspect].
5) You can also see that Time (the xing of an action into real past, real
present, or real future) is a creature only of the Indicative Mood! No
Mood or Mode (other than the Indicative) should be spoken of as
expressing past, present, or future time. When non-Indicative Moods or
Modes do imply some “time value” within a sentence, that “time value”
is derived from and relative to other elements in the sentence. Note
this well: Given the fact that “time” is an independent characteristic
operating only in the Indicative Mood, we must realize that “tradition”
has again created confusion by naming the Internal-Aspect Tenses of the
Subjunctive, Imperative, Optative, Innitive, and Participle as “Present”
Tenses. There is nothing necessarily “Present” about them! Yes, they