Bogoslovska smotra, Vol. 95 No. 2, 2025.
Original scientific paper
https://doi.org/10.53745/bs.95.2.10
The Use of the Present Indicative in New Testament Greek and in Four Croatian Translations. An Analysis of Selected Examples
Božidar Mrakovčić
; Catholic Faculty of Theology University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
Abstract
The paper focuses on various uses of the present indicative in New Testament Greek as described and illustrated by three well-known grammars: Blass – Debrunner, Zerwick and Wallace. In the first part, the authors aim to identify the fundamental characteristics of Greek tenses that underlie the diversity of their usage. In this regard, Blass – Debrunner emphasizes the importance of Aktionsart, while Zerwick highlights aspect. According to Wallace, aspect represents the unaffected meaning or a basic idea of a verb form, whereas Aktionsart, as a broader concept, is aspect in combination with lexical, grammatical, or contextual features. The second part of the paper examines different uses of the present indicative in New Testament Greek. Through eighteen examples, primarily from the Gospel of Matthew, the authors seek to demonstrate the extent to which context, the lexical meaning of the verb, and other grammatical features are essential in recognizing a specific usage, alongside aspect and tense. Additionally, four Croatian translations of the selected examples are analysed, and it is concluded that, with respect to the various uses of the present indicative, certain translations could and should be significantly more precise.
Keywords
use of verb tenses; present indicative; Croatian translation; Matthew; as pect; Aktionsart
Hrčak ID:
335026
URI
Publication date:
5.9.2025.
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