TIP OF THE DAY 138: Time in verbs

MJ. Smith

 I am adding these posts to the previous tip list L/V 10 Tip of the Day (when it doesn't time out)

POST ISSUE: Verbs express the time of the action

In many languages when an action occurs (past, present, future …) and extension through time (completed, continuing, repeating …are expressed by conjugating the verb. In other languages these are expressed by auxiliary verbs, particles, periphrastic constructions … The Biblical original languages – Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek – are all languages that depend heavily on conjugations as are the primary secondary languages – Latin and Syriac. The morphology coding in interlinears and reverse interlinear parses the conjugations for the users. These interlinears for resources (usually Bibles) are accessible in the dynamic resource tool bar: Tool bar > View > Interlinear. For detailed information on reverse interlinears see the information panel: Tool bar > Home > Information (i in circle) > Reverse interlinear. It you are not familiar with interlinears and reverse interlinears, see these interactives: Interlinear Explorer. Bellingham, WA: Faithlife, 2014 and Reverse Interlinear Explorer. Bellingham, WA: Faithlife, 2014. Parsing is also visible on the tool tip (look at the lower left), in the Information panel, and on the selection (left) side of the context menu. Definitions of the parsing information are available in the grammars in your library, Heiser, Michael S., and Vincent M. Setterholm. Glossary of Morpho-Syntactic Database Terminology. Lexham Press, 2013; 2013, International Linguistics Department. Glossary of Linguistic Terms. SIL International, 1996 and other glossaries for specific editions of original language Bibles. Also see:

TIP of the day: Using a (reverse) interlinear to understand Logos functioning part 1

TIP of the day: Using a interlinear to understand Logos functioning part 2

L/V 10+ Tip of the Day #248 Understanding the Interlinear and the Reverse Interlinear

QUESTION: List all the aspects of a verb identified in linguistics.

ANSWER: from Perplexity:

In linguistics, verbs can express various aspects through conjugation. The main aspects that may be expressed in verb conjugation include:

Tense: Indicates when an action occurs (e.g., past, present, future)

Aspect: Expresses how an action extends over time (e.g., perfective, imperfective, progressive)

Mood: Shows the speaker's attitude towards the action (e.g., indicative, imperative, subjunctive)

Person: Indicates who is performing the action (e.g., first, second, third person)

Number: Specifies singular or plural subjects

Gender: In some languages, verbs may agree with the gender of the subject

Voice: Indicates whether the subject performs or receives the action (e.g., active, passive)

Politeness: Some languages have different verb forms for formal and informal situations

Causativity: Expresses whether the subject causes an action to occur

Clusivity: In some languages, distinguishes between inclusive and exclusive first-person plural

Transitivity: Indicates whether the verb takes a direct object

Valency: Specifies the number of arguments a verb can take

Polarity: Expresses positive or negative statements

Telicity: Indicates whether an action has a definite endpoint

Volition: Expresses whether an action is intentional or not

Mirativity: Conveys surprise or unexpected information

Evidentiality: Indicates the source of information for a statement

Animacy: In some languages, verbs may agree with the animacy of the subject or object

These aspects of verb conjugation can vary significantly across languages, with some languages expressing many of these features while others may only express a few.

QUESTION: Are these aspects of a verb expressed in Biblical Hebrew, Biblical Hebrew, Koine Greek, English, French, German, Spanish?

ANSWER: from Perplexity: Note that I am not qualified to verify this table in detail, only to assure that it appears reasonable.

Aspect	Biblical Hebrew	Biblical Aramaic	Koine Greek	English	French	German	Spanish
Tense	conj	conj	conj	conj	conj	conj	conj
Aspect	conj	conj	conj	other	other	other	other
Mood	conj	conj	conj	conj	conj	conj	conj
Person	conj	conj	conj	conj	conj	conj	conj
Number	conj	conj	conj	conj	conj	conj	conj
Gender	other	other	other	n/a	other	n/a	other
Voice	conj	conj	conj	other	other	other	other
Politeness	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	other	other	other
Causativity	other	other	other	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a
Clusivity	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a
Transitivity	other	other	other	other	other	other	other
Valency	other	other	other	other	other	other	other
Polarity	other	other	other	conj	conj	conj	conj
Telicity	other	other	other	other	other	other	other
Volition	other	other	other	other	other	other	other
Mirativity	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a
Evidentiality	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a
Animacy	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a

conj = expressed in conjugationother = expressed by other meansn/a = not typically expressed

QUESTION: How do English auxillary verbs encode these attributes?

ANSWER: from Perplexity

Yes, there are additional auxiliary verbs that are less common or informal, which can be added to the chart. Some of these include auxiliaries used in specific dialects, such as African American Vernacular English (AAVE), or informal constructions. Here's an updated table including these:

Auxiliary Verb	Category	Function/Verbal Aspect Encoded
Be	Primary	Forms continuous tenses and passive voice
Have	Primary	Forms perfect tenses
Do	Primary	Forms questions, negatives, and emphasis
Can/Could	Modal	Expresses ability or possibility
May/Might	Modal	Expresses possibility or permission
Shall/Should	Modal	Expresses future tense or obligation
Will/Would	Modal	Expresses future tense, conditional, or habitual aspect
Must	Modal	Expresses necessity or strong obligation
Ought to	Modal	Expresses advisability or obligation
Need to	Semi-modal	Expresses necessity
Dare to	Semi-modal	Expresses boldness or challenge
Used to	Semi-modal	Expresses past habits
Had better	Semi-modal	Expresses strong advice
Be going to	Semi-modal	Expresses future plans or intentions
Get	Informal Auxiliary	Forms passive voice (informal) and expresses a change of state
Be (AAVE)	Dialectal Auxiliary	Marks habitual aspect in African American Vernacular English (e.g., "She be working")
Done (AAVE)	Dialectal Auxiliary	Marks resultative modality in AAVE (e.g., "I done finished my homework")
Been (AAVE)	Dialectal Auxiliary	Marks distant past tense in AAVE (e.g., "I been knew that")

Notes:

Dialectal Auxiliaries: The auxiliaries "be," "done," and "been" are unique to African American Vernacular English (AAVE) and encode finer distinctions of tense and aspect than standard English.

Informal Use of "Get": "Get" is commonly used in informal contexts for passive constructions (e.g., "He got fired") and changes of state (e.g., "She got tired").

Debated Status: Some semi-modals like "dare," "need," and "ought to" have debated auxiliary status depending on their usage and dialect.

This expanded table accounts for both standard and non-standard uses of auxiliary verbs in English.

Note there are also auxiliary verbs embedded in informal contractions:

Auxiliary Verb	Region	Usage/Function
Ain't	American, British, Australian	Informal contraction of "am not," "is not," "are not," "has not," or "have not" (e.g., "I ain't going").
Gonna	American, Canadian	Informal contraction of "going to" for future intention (e.g., "I'm gonna leave soon").
Wanna	American, Canadian	Informal contraction of "want to" (e.g., "I wanna go home").
Gotta	American, Canadian	Informal contraction of "got to" for necessity (e.g., "I gotta finish this").
Oughtn't	British	Negative form of "ought to," expressing obligation or advisability (e.g., "You oughtn't do that").
Usedn't	British (dated)	Negative form of "used to," expressing past habits (e.g., "He usedn't come here").
Shan't	British	Contraction of "shall not," expressing future negation (e.g., "I shan't be late").
Dare not/Daren't	British, Indian	Expresses hesitation or lack of courage (e.g., "I daren't tell the truth").
Amn't	Irish English, Scottish English	Dialectal contraction of "am not" (e.g., "I amn't sure about that").
Needn't	British, Indian	Negative form of "need to," expressing absence of necessity (e.g., "You needn't worry").

QUESTION: List all the aspects for the Hebrew verb בָּרָ֣א and the Greek verb μνηστευθείσης.

ANSWER: from Perplexity with the prompt: Please create a table that lists all the aspects of verb in the first column and the values of those aspects for the Hebrew verb בָּרָ֣א and the Greek verb μνηστευθείσης in the 2nd and 3rd columns.

Here is a table listing the aspects of a verb in the first column and their respective values for the Hebrew verb בָּרָ֣א (Genesis 1:1) and the Greek verb μνηστευθείσης (Matthew 1:18):

Aspect	Hebrew Verb בָּרָ֣א	Greek Verb μνηστευθείσης
Root Meaning	"Create" (often associated with divine creation)	"Having been betrothed"
Tense	Not explicitly marked; inferred from context	Aorist (past action, viewed as complete)
Aspect	Perfective (completed action)	Perfective (action viewed as a whole)
Mood	Indicative (implied by narrative context)	Participial (dependent verbal adjective)
Voice	Active (God as subject performing the action)	Passive (subject receives the action of being betrothed)
Person	Third person	N/A (participles do not mark person)
Number	Singular	Singular
Gender	Masculine	Feminine
Polarity	Positive (no negation present)	Positive (no negation present)
Valency	Transitive (requires an object, e.g., "heavens and earth")	Intransitive (does not require an object)
Transitivity	Transitive	Intransitive
Telicity	Telic (action has a clear endpoint: creation completed)	Telic (action completed: betrothal finalized)
Volition	Implied volitional (God intentionally creates)	Implied non-volitional (betrothal happens to subject)
Evidentiality	Not explicitly marked	Not explicitly marked
Animacy	Not explicitly marked	Not explicitly marked

Notes:

The Hebrew verb בָּרָ֣א is in the Qal perfect form, which expresses a completed action in Biblical Hebrew. It is often interpreted as "created" with God as the subject performing the action actively and intentionally.

The Greek verb μνηστευθείσης is an aorist passive participle, feminine singular. It describes an action that has been completed in the past, with the subject receiving the action of being betrothed.

Both verbs are telic, indicating actions with clear endpoints. However, their voice differs significantly: Hebrew uses active voice to emphasize God's role as creator, while Greek uses passive voice to highlight that the subject is acted upon.

This comparison highlights how Hebrew and Greek verbs encode grammatical features differently, requiring careful interpretation during translation to preserve meaning and nuance.