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Books specific to the Greek verbal system

Posted: June 4th, 2011, 12:12 am
by RobertStump
There seems to be a good discussion about general introductory works and grammars, but I was wondering if anyone could provide a list of solid introductions to the verbal system, specifically that might clear up the confusion around the tense/aspect debate. Personally I would prefer something that was not in the debate itself but rather a practical work on learning the verb.

Re: Books specific to the Greek verbal system

Posted: June 4th, 2011, 1:33 am
by MAubrey
RobertStump wrote:There seems to be a good discussion about general introductory works and grammars, but I was wondering if anyone could provide a list of solid introductions to the verbal system, specifically that might clear up the confusion around the tense/aspect debate. Personally I would prefer something that was not in the debate itself but rather a practical work on learning the verb.
I've recommended it regularly: Albert Rijksbaron's The Syntax and Semantics of the Verb in Classical Greek: An Introduction.

It's on Classical Greek, but there is very little in it that is not relevant to the Koine period.

This is the only the only modern introductory volume on the Greek verb we have at all. The closest we get is Con Campbell's The Basics of Verbal Aspect, but that volume is far more narrow in its focus than Rijksbaron dealing only with aspect and not with the verb as a whole.

I recommend both volumes. But they do different things: one is primarily an introduction to the debate (Campbell) and the other is primarily and introduction to the Greek verb (Rijksbaron).