Supplement to Mounce Ch.

33
After this chapter, you should be able to
Recognize, parse, and translate present and aorist imperative verbs Write out the imperative verb paradigm of a verb like (33.8) Understand the difference in aspect between a present and aorist imperative (33.15) Translate and parse verbs as in Exercise 33

Tips for mastering the material

Theres no trick to the imperative: the Greek use is so similar to English usage that its really just a matter of learning some new morphemes (and not very many at that). Since they require a speaker, its usually obvious from context when an imperative is coming: in narrative, an imperative can appear only when someone is speaking, and in epistles, imperatives can occur often since the whole letter has an implied speaker. Theres really not much to add to what Mounce has in the book; this chapter is short and simple.

Chapter 33 Walkthrough
33.5-9 Present and Aorist Imperative
The 2nd singular forms should be memorized, the rest can be learned from knowing the morphemes. There are a few confusing forms, but its really just a matter of familiarizing yourself with these charts so that you could produce some of the forms or recognize them in translation. The 2nd plural forms are the same as the 2nd plural indicative, so context will help decide whether the verb is indicative or imperative.

33.11 Contract Verbs

These behave as you would expect according to the rules of vowel contraction. Notice that because present imperatives ALWAYS have an epsilon connecting vowel, the vowel contraction in contract verbs is consistent throughout: contract verbs always contract to an , contract verbs always contract to , and contract verbs always contract to . Notice that these imperative forms DO NOT have a circumflex over the vowel contraction, except for the 2nd plural forms that are identical to the indicative (where present contracts will always have a circumflex over the vowel contraction).

33.18 Prohibitions
Mounce gives you a list for understanding prohibitions. The list is not ranked in order to least strong to strongest; they simply all have different nuances. However, you should notice that prohibitions involving the subjunctive are stronger than those that involve the indicative or imperative.