Koine Greek: Verbs

Synopsis: A verb is a "doing word", for example: Γραφω means "I am writing". In Koine Greek there are numerous aspects to the verb that don't exist in English, and it takes a significant amount of time to become familiar with all the uses of the verbs.

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Related topics

Lessons

• Indicative Mood and Present, Imperfect, Future and Aorist Tenses
  • Present
  • Imperfect
  • Future
  • Aorist
• Non-Indicative Moods
  • Subjunctive Mood
  • Infinitive Mood
  • Imperative Mood
  • Optative Mood
• Other Tenses
  • Perfect Tense
  • Pluperfect Tense
• Special Rules
  • Liquid Verbs
  • Verbs - Augment
  • Contract Verbs
  • Purpose
  • Conditions
  • Periphrasis
• Special Case Verbs
  • To be - Ειμι (I am)
  • To know - οιδα (I know)
• Participles

Comments, Personal Articles, Studies and Sermons

Koine Greek: Verbs (discussion) (For short comments and opinions)

Lesson

A verb is a "doing word" like Γραφω, which means "I am writing".

In Koine Greek there are numerous aspects to the verb that don't exist in English, and it takes a significant amount of time to become familiar with all the uses of the verbs.

Grammatical components of a verb in Greek

The root or stem of a verb can be modified to give it different meanings. A verb has the following components

• Person
  • First Person (I or we)
  • Second Person (You)
  • Third Person (He / she / it or they)
• Number
  • Singular
  • Plural
• Tense
• Voice
  • Active
  • Middle
  • Passive
• Mood
  • Indicative - simple statement
  • Imperative - a command
  • Subjunctive - possible or potential

For example, the verb Γραφω means "I am writing" or "I write"

• First person - the subject is the person who says the word
• Singular - the subject refers to one person, not a group
• Present - the verb describe an action that is occurring or ongoing, i.e. it has a continuous action; usually it implies (but not always) the action is occurring in the present time
• Active - the subject is doing the verb
• Indicative

Tense of a verb

The tense of a verb has two component

• Time
• Aspect

Time may be either past, present or future, and tends to be the most important part of a verb's tense in English

Aspect refers to the how the action unfolds, and tends to be the most important part of a verb in Koine Greek. Aspect may be either

• Undefined
• Continuous
• Resultative