First Aorist (Active and Middle)
Table of contents
The Aorist
As discussed in the verb overview, the aorist tense is used to indicate an instantaneous or completed verbal action that occurred in the past. Here are some English examples:
- He sighed.
- They arrived.
In Greek, the aorist tense of a verb is formed using the third or sixth principal part: the third helps us form the active voice (“she showed”) and middle voice (“she showed for herself”), while the sixth helps us form the passive voice (“she was shown”).
First and Second Aorists
The third principal part also indicates a very important distinction between two kinds of aorists: the first aorist (also known as a “weak aorist”) and the second aorist (also known as a “strong aorist”). The distinction between the two dictates what sets of endings we can use to conjugate the verb in the aorist active and middle voices. This affects only the verbal forms that are built on the third principal part.
- A first aorist has a third principal part that ends in -α or -άμην.
- A second aorist has a third principal part that ends in -ον or -όμην.
Note how the verbs κελεύω and δείκνυμι both have third principal parts that end in -α (ἐκέλευσα and ἔδειξα respectively), which makes them both first aorists. However, a verb like ἄγω has a third principal part, ἤγαγον, which ends in -ον, has a second aorist.
Again, the classification of a verb as having a first or second aorist affects only what kinds of endings we can use to indicate aspects like 3rd person singular active or 3rd person plural middle.
Augments
You will also notice that the third and sixth principal parts of δείκνυμι (ἔδειξα, ἐδείχθην) and κελεύω (ἐκέλευσα, ἐκελεύσθην) both begin with the letter ε, while their first principal parts do not. This initial ε is called an augment, a marker on a conjugated verb that indicates that the finite verb is in a past tense and in the indicative mood. Note how that is phrased: the augment is applied only to finite verbs in a past tense and in the indicative mood, not participles, infintives, or finite verbs in other moods.
There are two kinds of augments.
- The ε- discussed above is called a syllabic augment, so called because it adds an extra syllable to the verb, and it is used when the verb in question begins with a consonant.
- The other kind of augment is called a temporal augment, used when the verb in question already begins with a vowel. The temporal augment is a lengthening of the initial vowel, and you can often compare the first and third principal parts to see how the initial vowel was lengthened. For example, the verb ἀδικέω, “to wrong”, has as its third principal part ἠδίκησα, where the initial η is a lengthened (long) form of α.
As such, you will see either a syllabic or temporal augment on all forms of the aorist tense, whether active, middle, or passive voice, or whether first or second aorist.
First Aorist
This chapter considers the aorist forms of a verb that you can build on its third principal part if that verb has a first aorist. (The next chapter considers second aorists.)
The first aorist is also known as a sigmatic aorist, so called because of the usual presence of a sigma (σ) or “s” sound before the -α; note, for example, the sigma before the -α in ἐκέλευσα. This idea applies even if you don’t necessarily see the letter sigma: ἔδειξα is considered sigmatic because the consonant before the -α, ξ, is a combination of a “k” and “s” sound (ἔδειξα: e-dayk-sa). This will also happen with the letter ψ, which is a combination of a “p” and “s” sound (e.g., λείπω, “to leave”, has a third principal part ἔλειψα – e-layp-sa).
First Aorist - Formation
As mentioned in the verb overview, the combination of a verb’s stem with a set of endings indicates five different aspects of a finite verb. Any given verb has as many possible stems as it has principal parts, and for the current unit, we will focus on two of those principal parts: the third and sixth.
Recall that a finite verb has five aspects: person, number, tense, voice, and mood.
- person and number will always be indicated solely by a verb’s ending.
- tense, voice, and mood will be indicated by a combination of verb stem (including the presence or absence of an augment) and the verb’s ending.
The only tense under consideration in this unit is the aorist, and the only mood under consideration is the indicative.
As for the other aspects, we will discuss 3rd person forms in both the singular and the plural. This chapter considers the first aorist active and middle voices; the next chapter considers the second aorist forms, and the chapter after that considers the aorist passive forms of all verbs.
First Aorist Active and Middle
To form the first aorist in the active and middle voices, we use the third principal part, which gives us the aorist active and middle stem. Let’s take κελεύω and its third principal part, ἐκέλευσα, as an example.
Here are the steps to conjugate in the aorist active and middle:
- To get the aorist active and middle stem, take the -α off the third principal part.
- Add the appropriate personal ending to indicate the appropriate person, number, and voice. (“Personal endings” are so called because they indicate the person [and number] of the verb.)
- Apply a recessive accent based on the rules laid out in the unit on accents.
(1st) Aorist Active Endings
| Person | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | -α | -αμεν |
| 2nd | -ας | -ατε |
| 3rd | -ε(ν)* | -αν |
(1st) Aorist Middle Endings
| Person | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | -άμην | -άμεθα |
| 2nd | -ω | -ασθε |
| 3rd | -ατο | -αντο |
* In the 3rd singular aorist active ending, note how the ν is encased in parentheses. This is called a moveable nu, and it appears in the ending when the word that follows the verb begins with a vowel or when the verb comes before a punctuation mark like a period.
Application
Using the rules above, let’s conjugate κελεύω in the 3rd person singular and plural in the active and middle voices and figure out how to translate those forms.
- Our third principal part is ἐκέλευσα, so when we take off the -α, we are left with the stem: ἐκελευσ-.
- Add the appropriate endings.
- For the active, we add the endings -ε(ν) for the singular or -αν for the plural.
- For the middle, we add the endings -ατο for the singular or -αντο for the plural.
- In all forms, the accent will occupy the antepenult, since none of the ultimas contained in the endings are long.
Following our conjugation rules, we come up with the following forms for 3rd person:
| Voice | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| Active | ἐκέλευσε(ν) | ἐκέλευσαν |
| Middle | ἐκελεύσατο | ἐκελεύσαντο |
Translation
So much for forming these verbs in Greek; what do they actually mean? Put differently, how do we translate forms like ἐκελεύσατο or ἐκέλευσαν?
The verb’s ending indicates the verb’s person and number, and so it automatically supplies us with a subject, even if we don’t have a separate word to indicate the subject as we do in English. So, the form ἐκέλευσαν, by virtue of the fact that it’s 3rd person plural, automatically has the subject “they.” We can supply an explicit noun or pronoun to serve as the subject, as we’ll learn in a few chapters, but for now, we should use the verb’s person and number to supply a subject for the verb.
Note also that these are aorist forms, so the action of the verb occurred in the past. The best translation for an aorist tense verb is its simple past tense, often denoted with an “-ed.”
The last consideration is the verb’s voice. Recall that the active voice indicates that the subject is performing the action of the verb, so when we combine that information with the person and number of the verb, we have everything we need to translate our active forms:
- ἐκέλευσεν = “he/she/it/they (singular) ordered”
- ἐκέλευσαν = “they (plural) ordered”
The middle voice, on the other hand, implies that the subject has some self-interested motive for acting out the verb or is performing the verb upon themself. As a result, the translation of the middle voice requires context, and often, translation of the middle voice is a matter of personal opinion. For example, note all the ways in which our aorist middle forms can be translated (and these options are not exhaustive):
- ἐκελεύσατο = “he ordered for himself”, “she ordered herself”, “they (singular) ordered for themselves”
- ἐκελεύσαντο = “they (plural) ordered for themselves”, “they ordered themselves”