Imperfect, and How to Think about Grammar

Bob Mounce — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 12:58:21 -0500

When I was first introduced to the Greek language some fifty years ago, my textbook told me that “the tense which denotes continued action in past time is called the imperfect.” It was all simple and clear. When you came across a verb that matched a certain form in the chart you declared it an imperfect and translated it accordingly. Matthew 8:24 records that when a furious storm arose on the lake Jesus was sleeping -- imperfect, “continued action in past time.” No problem.

But as time passed I began to notice that the imperfect was not simply “continued action in past time.” Various nuances called for new designations. For example, something might begin to take place in the past so this was called an ingressive imperfect. If the imperfect in Matt 8:24 were in this category the clause would mean that Jesus “was starting to fall asleep.” However, if it was an iterative imperfect then we would understand that Jesus “kept going to sleep.”

But wait, there are more. If customary imperfect, then Jesus “was asleep as usual” (perhaps the motion of the boat and the fresh wind always put him to sleep). If the imperfect was conative it could be something he desired (he “wanted to go to sleep”), attempted (he was “trying to go to sleep”), or almost happening (he was “about to go to sleep.”)

Introduction to the imperfect

Bill Mounce — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 13:33:59 -0500

As you lean Greek, you will be exposed to the whole issue of aspect. At first it is a little confusing, but after a while you will get the hang of it. But what can become frustrating is trying to be attentive to aspect, and then coming across let’s say an imperfect; you know it is continuous in aspect but you can’t see what the big deal is. This piece of knowledge doesn’t make the passage come clear, or zing, or anything else. After a while you start wondering why you are spending the time learning Greek. Does it really help?

There are several issues going on here, but before getting into them let me summarize aspect, especially for those of you who are not yet.

The essence of the Greek verb is not its ability to tell time. There is past, present, and future, but even in the indicative time is secondary to aspect; and outside the indicative mood there is no absolute time. The Greek participle, imperative, infinitive, and subjunctive cannot designate when an action occurs. All they can tell you is aspect.

So what is aspect? Aspect refers to the type of action that the verb is describing. The default aspect is “undefined” (it goes by several names). By default I mean that when the speaker just wants to say something happened (or happens), he puts it in the undefined. If in fact the action was punctiliar, if in fact it happened in a single point of time, the speaker will also use the undefined aspect. And so Jesus “died” on the cross.