13.87 First Aorist Infinitives

Croy provides a brief discussion of the aorist infinitive in section 87, and there is some additional important information you need to remember.

Infinitives have aspect, not tense. Because the aorist infinitive is not a past tense, it does not take augment. The chart below provides a guide to the aorist infinitive forms for the verbs covered so far in the book.

English translation. Because the aorist infinitive has aspect and not tense, it is impossible to translate the aorist infinitive into English. The present infinitive λύειν and the aorist infinitive λῦσαι are translated as "to loosen" in English. However, just because they have the same English translation does not mean they have the same meaning! Instead, the difference in meaning is determined by the aspect. Read those notes about Greek Aspect again, and start paying careful attention to the infinitives you see when you read Greek. By studying the differences between how the present infinitive and the aorist infinitive, you can start to get a sense of the difference in meaning between present aspect and aorist aspect in Greek.

Sigmatic Aorist (First Aorist) Infinitives