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Lesson 9: The Aorist Tense and Aspect

Aorist Aspect

The aorist is often used in the same kinds of contexts in which we would find a simple past tense verb in English. For that reason, the aorist is often translated into English as a simple past tense, like the verb “played” in the sentence, “Karen played tennis yesterday.”

οὐκ ἐπιστεύσατε αὐτῷ (Matthew 21:32)
You did not believe him

ἐπίστευσαν εἰς αὐτὸν οἰ μαθηταὶ αὐτοῦ (John 2:11)
His disciples believed in him

Still, the exact phrasing of the translation often needs to be adjusted on the basis of the context in which the verb appears.

Regardless of what time is implied by the verb and its context, aorist forms like those in the example above imply that the speaker or writer conceives of the action as a completed whole or wishes to present it as such. This implication is called the aorist aspect. The aorist is the verb form used to refer to an action which the speaker or writer presents as complete, and which may require more specific definition in some contexts.

νῦν ἠκούσατε τὴν βλασφημίαν (Matthew 26:65)
Now you have heard the blasphemy

In this sentence the hearing is not presented as in progress, but as complete.

Formation of the Aorist Active Indicative of Ω Conjugation Verbs

First Aorist

There are two different ways of forming the aorist tense in Greek. Some verbs use one way (called the first aorist) and some use the other (called the second aorist). There is absolutely no difference in the way the two are translated. The forms you will learn in this lesson are those designated first aorist.

Observe the aorist active indicative forms of λύω (I loose, destroy):

	Singular		Plural
1st Person	ἔλυσα	I destroyed	ἐλύσαμεν	We destroyed
2nd Person	ἔλυσας	You destroyed	ἐλύσατε	You destroyed
3rd Person	ἔλυσε	He, she, it, destroyed	ἔλυσαν	They destroyed

Each of these forms consists of two distinct parts: a stem and a personal ending. Let's look at each one briefly.

First Aorist Personal Endings

	Singular		Plural
1st Person	-α	I	-αμεν	We
2nd Person	-ας	You	-ατε	You
3rd Person	-ε(ν)	She, He, It	-αν	They

The endings in the table serve to indicate person and number. You should take the time now to memorize them. You will see them many hundreds of times in the months ahead. As you work to memorize these endings, be aware that the third person singular ending sometimes appears as -ε and sometimes as -εν.

These endings are made up of two parts: a connecting vowel (often called the thematic vowel) and the personal ending. Later in this course it will become important to be able to distinguish these parts.

The First Aorist Stem

First Aorist verbs form their stem by making changes to the present tense stem—the first form shown in the vocabulary list for each verb. The present tense stem of λύω is λυ- (revealed by removing the -ω ending). The aorist stem is formed by adding an augment (ε-) to the beginning of the present tense stem, and a -σ to the end (ἔ-λυ-σ-). The aorist stem for λύω is ἔλυσ-.

Augmented Stems

For a discussion of long and short vowels, see lesson one.
Short		Long
α	→	η
ε	→	η
ο	→	ω

When a verb's present tense stem begins with a consonant, the augment used to form its aorist stem is an ε- added to the beginning of the stem (λύ- → ελυ-).

If the stem begins with a vowel, however, the augment consists of a change of that vowel to its equivalent long form. The long form of α is η. The long form of ε is also η. The long form of ο is ω. Since α, ε, and ο are the only vowels (besides diphthongs) that appear at the beginning of verb stems, these are the only changes you must learn for recognizing augments.

Present		Aorist
ἀκούω	→	ἤκουσα
ἐρωτάω	→	ἠρώτησα
ὁμολογέω	→	ὡμολόγησα

Compare the first person singular froms of the present and aorist of ἀκούω, ἐρωτάω, and ὁμολογέω (I confess) in the table on the left.

Notice that the same lengthening process that happens with the vowel at the beginning of the stem, also happens to vowels that appear at the end of the stem in most cases. There are a few exceptions to this lengthening of the stem-final vowel. The one you will see most frequently is καλέω (I call). The stem-final ε of this verb does not lengthen in the formation of the aorist stem. The first person singular aorist form of καλέω is ἐκάλεσα.

Spelling Changes Caused by the Aorist Σ

The addition of the aorist σ causes predictable spelling changes for many verbs. This section introduces the most frequent ones.

The Consonant Grid

If a verb stem ends with one of the nine consonants listed in the left portion of the table below, addition of the aorist σ causes very consistent spelling changes. You should take the time to commit this table to memory. It will save you an amazing amount of time later since this same spelling process occurs also with the future tense (lesson 18).

	Stem Consonant			+	σ	=	New Spelling
Labial	π	β	φ	+	σ	=	ψ
Velar	κ	γ	χ	+	σ	=	ξ
Dental	τ	δ	θ	+	σ	=	σ

The first person singular aorist form of βλέπω, for example, is ἔβλεψα. Π + σ = ψ.

Similarly, the first person singular aorist form of γράφω is ἔγραψα. Φ + σ = ψ.

As you learn more verbs with stems ending in these nine consonants, you will come to know this consonant grid well. Observe the present and aorist forms in the vocabulary lists from this lesson on and try to notice patterns in the spelling changes that occur. Consonants produced with the lips (labials) will change to ψ. Consonants produced by raising the back of the tongue to the to the roof of the mouth (velar) will change to ξ. And consonants produced by placing the tongue on or near the back of the teeth (dental) will be eliminated by the aorist σ.

Double Sigma

If a verb stem ends with double sigma, the double sigma will change to ξ. The first person singular aorist form of κηρύσσω ("I announce"), for example, is ἐκήρυξα ("I announced").

Liquid or Nasal Consonants

Verbs whose present tense stem ends with a "liquid" consonant (λ, ρ) or nasal consonant (μ, ν) also undergo predictable spelling changes. A σ is never placed directly after one of these consonants, so the aorist of verbs whose stems end with them will not have the usual σ before their endings.

The first person singular aorist form of κρίνω (I judge) is ἔκρινα (I judged). The first person singular aorist form of ἐγείρω (I rise) is ἤγειρα (I rose).