Greek verb tenses (my notes)

Greek verbs primarily convey what kind of action is being discussed, with the time of the action being a secondary consideration. This is different from English verbs which are primarily about when an action took place or will take place.

1. The Greek tenses dealing with actions in the past are:
   1. Aorist, which treats the action as a simple or summary action. Like the Hebrew Perfect tense, the Aorist treats the action as a whole with little consideration of the process by which the action came to be completed. Such as Eph 1.4, “He chose us…”.
   2. Perfect tense, which describes action completed in the past with results manifesting in the present. Example: Jn 19.30, “It is-finished…”.
   3. The Imperfect tense describes past action that is progressive, cyclic, or continuous. Mk 2.13, “… all the crowd was coming to Him and He was teaching them.”
   4. The Past Perfect (aka Pluperfect) tense describes action completed in the past with results, usually also thought of as being in the past. This differs from the Perfect tense which conveys results in the present. Example: Mk 15.7, “And among the rebels in prison, who had committed murder in the insurrection, there was a man called Barabbas.”
2. The Greek tense dealing with actions in the present is the Present tense. It describes continuous action happening now. The King James version indicates verbs of this tense with the suffix “eth” at the end of the word. Example: Jn 3.16 employs a combination of aorist and present tense verbs: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.” One could represent the present tense of these verbs with a paraphrase such as, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son that whoever is believing in Him should not perish but be having eternal life.”
3. The Greek tenses dealing with future actions are:
   1. The Future tense describes future actions as simple occurrences, with little or no consideration to how they will happen or be completed. In that sense it is like the Aorist tense, but viewing the future. Example: Mt 16.18, “… on this rock I will build My church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”
   2. The Future Perfect tense describes future action that will have been completed in the future with ongoing results in the future. Example: 1 Cor 13.8, “Love never ends. As for prophecies, they-will-pass-away; as for tongues, they-will-cease; as for knowledge, it-will-pass-away.”