Imperfect Indicative Verbs

In the last chapter, we introduced present tense verbs (including active and middle/passive forms). In this one, we will move to our second tense: the imperfect. The imperfect tense describes a past action that was not completed or perfected; thus, in that sense it is imperfect. We will also consider the use of the particle οὐ (“not”) in negating verbs.

Many years ago, when I (Rob) was a young assistant professor, my wife and I lived in a small house. Since there wasn’t room for a study in that home, I always worked in my office at the seminary. The dean’s secretary came to know of my regular presence on campus and soon began transferring to me many telephone calls from outsiders who randomly contacted the seminary to ask their theological questions. (I wish I had kept a record of those calls. They would make an interesting book!)

One day, I was chatting with a gentleman who was upset about a change in his favorite Bible translation. An updated version of this translation had come out, and it read differently from the text to which he was accustomed. As I recall, in the original translation, it reported that someone was doing something; in the updated version, it said they were “trying” to do something. The caller was quite upset by this, assuming that a Bible translation committee or publisher was changing the words of Scripture. I explained to him that in the Greek language, the imperfect tense (the tense you are learning in this chapter) can convey both the idea of doing something or trying to do something—depending on the context. So, for example, in Gal 1:23, Paul reports that after his Damascus road conversion, the Judean churches heard this: “The man who formerly persecuted us is now preaching the faith he once tried to destroy” (NIV). The verb translated “tried to destroy” (ἐπόρθει) is in the imperfect tense; therefore, in other contexts, it could legitimately be translated “was destroying.” The early church (reporting this particular news), however, clearly did not think Paul was successfully destroying the church—though he certainly was trying. The NIV translates this text well.

One reason you are learning Greek is to be able to answer questions about English Bible translations. You are becoming a source of accurate, peaceable, and wise information. There may come a day when you need to take a stand against a translational distortion of the Word of God, but in the meantime, you likely will have many conversations in which you can help others understand the complexity of Bible translation when needed.

The imperfect tense in the indicative mood communicates both the time of action (typically past time) and imperfective aspect (that is, the author depicts the action as ongoing or as a process). The action is being reported as unfolding without the beginning or ending of the action in the frame of reference. It is possible that the author intended his readers to understand the action of the verb to be in progress or repeated, but such information is communicated by a combination of the verbal aspect with other factors—the lexical meaning of the verb and the literary context. Here is a sampling of ways the imperfect tense is used in the Greek New Testament:

• Progressive Imperfect: Portrays an action or state in the past that is in progress from the perspective of the author: “and many rich were putting in much [money],” καὶ πολλοὶ πλούσιοι ἔβαλλον πολλα (Mark 12:41).

• Inceptive Imperfect: Emphasizes the beginning of an action or state. “Began” or “started” is usually added to the English translation: “he stood and began to walk,” ἔστη καὶ περιεπάτει (Acts 3:8).

• Iterative Imperfect: Conveys repeated or customary action in the past. In English, the words “kept on,” “repeatedly,” or “continually” are often added: “And with many other words he solemnly testified and kept on exhorting them,” ἑτέροις τε λόγοις πλείοσιν διεμαρτύρατο καὶ παρεκάλει αὐτοὺς (Acts 2:40).

As you learned in the previous chapter, Greek tenses can also serve a discourse function—helping segment or “chunk” the text for earlier readers/listeners. The aorist tense, which you have not learned yet, is the default tense of historical narrative—reporting that “This happened … then that happened … etc.” The imperfect tense, on the other hand, is sometimes employed in narrative to step aside from the main flow of the story and give background information, descriptive detail, or “offline” information. For example, in Mark 16:3, the evangelist employs the imperfect tense to inform readers of the conversation of the women as they walk to the tomb: “[The women] were saying (ἔλεγον, imperfect tense) to one another, ‘Who will roll away the stone from the entrance to the tomb for us?’ ” This conversation, presented as an aside, helps us understand their astonishment to find the tomb already open when they arrive.

Verbs with lexical forms that end with -ω can be active, middle, or passive. If the ending of the “omega verb” follows the endings found in the ἔλυον paradigm (-ον, -ες, -εν, -ομεν, -ετε, -ον), then it is active. But if it follows the endings found in the ἐλυόμην paradigm (-ομην, -ου, -ετο, -ομεθα, -εσθε, -οντο), then it is either middle or passive. (Only context can decide). In contrast, verbs with lexical forms ending with -ομαι can be only middle in meaning.

Augment

The epsilon prefix (ε-) on imperfect forms is called an augment; it indicates that the verb’s time of action occurs in the past. The augment is analogous to the “-ed” ending on English past tense verbs (slip → slipped; cook → cooked). When an augment is added to the verb, if the verbal stem begins with a consonant, then the epsilon is simply added with no change. If, however, the first letter of the stem begins with a vowel, then the vowel is lengthened. By “lengthening,” we simply mean that the vowel shifts to a related vowel according to the patterns listed below:

If the stem of the verb begins with the diphthong αι-, the alpha (α) lengthens to an eta (η), causing the iota (ι) to become subscripted (αἰτοῦμαι → ᾐτοῦμην). Verbs beginning with η, ι, υ, or ω normally leave their beginning vowel unchanged when the augment is added (ἴσχυον, “I was strong,” [or, “they were strong”], impf act ind 1st sg [3rd pl] from ἰσχύω, “I am strong, able”).

The verb ἔχω does not augment to ἤχον but to εἶχον. This apparent exception is due to the original stem of the verb (which is not found in the present tense-form). The root form of ἔχω is σεχ-. When the epsilon augment is added to the form (εσεχον), it causes the intervocalic sigma to drop out (εεχον). The two epsilons then contract to form a diphthong (εἶχον). This discussion is an introductory foray into historical morphology. Such study is fascinating, but if we went back in a time machine and asked Paul why he began the imperfect form of ἔχω with an εἶ- rather than an ἤ- (Rom 6:21), he would likely stare at us confusedly and say, “Because that’s the correct way to spell it. I learned it that way growing up in Tarsus!” Regardless of the time period or language, most people are not conscious of the morphological history of the words they use.

Hint: If a verb begins with an eta (η), assume it is an augmented form since few verbs begin with an eta in their lexical form.

Imperfect Active Indicative

The imperfect active indicative form ἔλυον is translated “I was loosing.” Here is a more precise breakdown of the component parts (morphemes) of the various forms:

Note that the first person singular and third person plural forms are the same (ἔλυον). Although it is true that only context can decide, the third person plural forms occur almost nineteen times more frequently than the first person singular (485 to 26). Also, the first person plural (-ομεν) and second person plural (-ετε) endings are the same as the present active tense-form endings. The difference, however, is found in the addition of the augment with the imperfect forms (λύομεν → ἐλύομεν).

Imperfect Middle/passive Indicative

Again, notice that the first person plural (-ομεθα) and second person plural (-εσθε) endings are the same as the present middle/passive tense-form endings. The difference is found in the addition of the augment with the imperfect forms (λύεσθε → ἐλύεσθε).

The particle οὐ is used to negate an indicative verb (οὐ λύει = “he is not loosing”). If the verb begins with a vowel having a smooth breathing mark, then the form οὐκ is used (οὐκ ἔλυεν = “he was not loosing”). The addition of the kappa (κ) allows a consonant to break the ending vowel of the word οὐ and the beginning vowel of the verb. (This is similar to adding “n” in “an apple”). If the word begins with a vowel with a rough breathing mark, then the form οὐχ is used (οὐχ ὑπάγω, “I am not departing”). The form οὐχί, which appears fifty-four times in the Greek New Testament, is used for emphasis (no!).

Another particle, μή, is used to negate non-indicative forms (i.e., participles, infinitives, subjunctives, imperatives, and optatives).

The words οὐ and μή can also serve a discourse function, allowing the author to indicate whether his rhetorical question expects a positive or negative answer. Similarly, we alter the way we ask questions in English to indicate similar information. Compare, for example, “You will clean your room, won’t you?” and “You didn’t clean your room, did you?” The first question expects a positive answer whereas the second expects a negative one. In Greek, when the author expects a positive answer to a question, οὐ is used. For example, when the disbelieving people ask, οὐχ οὗτός ἐστιν ὁ τέκτων; (literally, “Is this not the carpenter?” Mark 6:3), this question functions rhetorically as an assertion: “This is [only] the carpenter!”

In contrast, when the author expects a negative answer, μή is used. For example, when Paul asks μὴ πάντες γλώσσαις λαλοῦσιν; (1 Cor 12:30), he is really stating, “Not all speak in tongues, do they?” The implied answer is “Of course not!”

Some nouns like μαθητής (“disciple”) and προφήτης (“prophet”) are first declension nouns that are masculine in gender but have feminine forms (except for the nominative and genitive singular forms). Because their grammatical gender is masculine, they are modified by masculine articles and masculine adjectives (τὸν ἀγαθὸν μαθητήν, “the good disciple”).

Notice that the genitive singular form follows the second declension ending (μαθητοῦ; cf. λόγου) and the true gender of this form is masculine, as signified by the article. We recommend memorizing the nominative forms of these nouns with the article as a reminder of their gender and cue to their irregularity. In other words, if we were to ask you the Greek word for “disciple,” we would want you to be able to say, “ὁ μαθητής.”

A. Paradigms: Memorize the imperfect active and middle/passive paradigms of λύω (see section 6.5). Then write out each paradigm ten times from memory.

B. Parsing: Parse the following verbs.

1. ἐθεραπεύοντο

2. ἔβλεπον

3. ἐκρινόμεθα

4. ἐπορευόμην

5. ἤγεσθε

6. ἤρχου

7. ἐγίνετο

8. ἐπιστεύετε

9. ἤκουεν

10. εἶχες

C. Translation: Translate the following sentences.

1. Ἰησοῦς αὐτὸς (himself) οὐκ ἐβάπτιζεν (John 4:2).

2. ἔκραζον λέγοντες (saying) ὅτι Σὺ (you) εἶ ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ θεοῦ (Mark 3:11).

3. ἄνθρωπος εἶχεν τέκνα δύο (two) (Matt 21:28).

4. καὶ ἐδίδασκεν καὶ ἔλεγεν αὐτοῖς (to them) (Mark 11:17).

5. πολλοὶ (many) … ὑπῆγον τῶν Ἰουδαίων καὶ ἐπίστευον εἰς (in) τὸν Ἰησοῦν (John 12:11).

6. ὁ δὲ Ἰησοῦς ἐπορεύετο σὺν (with) αὐτοῖς (them) (Luke 7:6).

7. ἔγραφεν εἰς (on) τὴν γῆν (John 8:8).

8. καὶ ἐλάμβανον πνεῦμα (Spirit) ἅγιον (holy) (Acts 8:17).

9. καὶ ἐβαπτίζοντο ἐν (in) τῷ Ἰορδάνῃ (Matt 3:6).

10. οὐδὲ (not even) γὰρ οἱ ἀδελφοὶ αὐτοῦ (his) ἐπίστευον εἰς (in) αὐτόν (him) (John 7:5).

11. οὐκ εἶχες ἐξουσίαν (authority) (John 19:11).

12. ὁ ὄχλος ἤρχετο πρὸς (to) αὐτόν (him), καὶ ἐδίδασκεν αὐτούς (them) (Mark 2:13).

D. Translation: Translate the English sentences into Greek.

1. We were taught the law.

2. The crowd was crying out to the prophet.

3. I don’t know the day and the hour.

4. The disciple of the Lord was being healed.

5. The angel of glory raises the child.