First Aorist Active and Middle Indicative. Constructions with πιστεύω

§167

The first aorist is not a different tense from the second aorist, which will be studied in the next lesson, but first aorist and second aorist are merely two different ways of forming the same tense of a verb. Thus the English I loved is not a different tense from I threw, but the verb love and the verb throw form the “preterit’’ (simple past tense) in two different ways.

The aorist is like the imperfect in that it refers to past time. But the imperfect refers to continuous action in past time, while the aorist is the simple past tense. Thus the imperfect ἔλυον means I was loosing, while the aorist ἔλυσα means I loosed. It will be remembered that in present time this distinction between the simple assertion of the act and the assertion of continued (or repeated) action is not made in Greek (λύω, therefore, means either I loose or I am loosing). But in past time the distinction is very carefully made; the Greek language shows no tendency whatever to confuse the aorist with the imperfect.

§169

It should be observed, however, that the aorist tense is often translated by the English perfect. ἔλυσα, therefore, may mean I have loosed as well as I loosed. The Greek perfect, which will be studied in Lesson XXIX, though it is indeed often to be translated by I have loosed, has a very different range from that of this English tense. Where the English I have loosed merely asserts that the action has taken place in past time without any implications as to its present results, it is translated by the Greek aorist.

Examples: ἠκούσατε τὴν φωνήν μου, ye have heard my voice. This sentence merely asserts that the action has taken place at some unspecified time in the past. But if a then were added, and thus the interval between the past action and the present time when the assertion is being made were clearly marked, the English would have the simple preterit. Thus τότε ἠκούσατε τὴν φωνήν μου would be translated then ye heard my voice.

§170

The context will usually determine quite clearly whether a Greek aorist is to be translated in English by the simple past tense (e.g. I loosed) or by the perfect tense (e.g. I have loosed). The former translation should be adopted in the exercises unless it is perfectly certain that the other is intended. What the student needs to understand first is that the aorist is the simple past tense.

§171

The first aorist active indicative of λύω is as follows:

A table appears here in the book.

§172

The aorist, being a secondary tense (like the imperfect), has the augment. The augment is the same for the aorist as it is for the imperfect (see §§124-126).

§174

It should be observed that in the first aorist the ν is dropped in the first person singular.

§175

Before these personal endings, there stands, in the aorist, not a variable vowel, but the tense suffix, σα, which is added to the stem of the verb. Thus, where the future has σο/ε, the first aorist has σα.

§176

In the third person singular this σα is changed to σε. ἔλυσε(ν) may have the movable ν, like the ἔλυε(ν) of the imperfect.

§177

The form ἐλύσαμεν---ἰο take it as an example —may be divided as follows: ἐ/λυ/σα/μεν. ἐ is the augment, λυ is the stem of the verb, σα is the sign of the first aorist, and μεν is the secondary personal ending in the first person plural active.

§178

The first aorist middle indicative of λύω is as follows:

§179

As in the future tense so in the aorist tense, the passive voice is entirely distinct in form from the middle. ἔλυσάμην, therefore, means I loosed for myself, but it does not mean I was loosed.

§180

Like the aorist active, the aorist middle has the secondary personal endings. It will be remembered (see §139) that in the middle these secondary personal endings are as follows:

A table appears here in the book.

§181

These are preceded, as in the active, by the tense suffix, σα. No changes occur except in the second person singular, where ἐλύσω is a shortened form for an original ἐλύσασο.

§182

The form ἐλυσάμεθα—to take it as an example —is made up as follows: ἐίλυ [σά [μεθα. ε is the augment, λυ is the stem of the verb, σα is the tense suffix, μεθα is the secondary personal ending in the first person plural middle.

§183

The changes caused by the joining of the oa of the first aorist tense suffix to the stems of various verbs are like those caused by the σο/ε of the future. As in the case of the future, however, it cannot be predicted with certainty what the aorist of a Greek verb will be. Every verb must be looked up in the lexicon separately. For this purpose the student should use the general vocabulary at the end of the book in the manner described in §§161-163. Only, for the aorist active and middle, we shall be interested in the third of the principal parts, not in the second.

§184

The verb πιστεύω takes the dative. Thus πιστεύω τῷ ἀνθρώπῳ means I believe the man.

The verb πιστεύω followed by εἰς with the accusative is to be translated by I believe in or on. Thus πιστεύω εἰς τὸν κύριον means I believe in the Lord or I believe on the Lord. It must not be supposed, however, that the preposition εἰς with the accusative here really means in like ἐν with the dative. Rather is it to be said that the Greek language merely looks at the act of believing in a different way from the English; Greek thinks of putting one’s faith into some one.