Matthew 1:4, and a few words about the aorist tense

Αράμ δε εγέννησεν τον Αμιναδάβ

Αμιναδάβ δε εγέννησεν τον Ναασσών

Ναασσών δε εγέννησεν τον Σαλμών


Aram and/_ fathered the Amminadab

Amminadab and/_ fathered the Nahshon

Nahshon and/_ fathered the Salmon

The word 'εγέννησεν', as mentioned before, is a verb meaning 'become the parent of' or 'father' (as a verb) or 'beget' or (in reference to a woman) 'bear'. In these verses, this verb is in the aorist tense. Although Greek verb tenses do not correspond exactly to English verb tenses, for now we can translate this as a simple past:

he fathered/ he begat/ he became the father of


Greek verbs are inflected for person. So, for example, we would have the following possible forms:

εγέννησα - I fathered/bore
εγέννησας - you (singular) fathered/bore
εγέννησεν - he fathered/she bore
εγεννήσαμε - we fathered/bore
εγεννήσατε - you (plural) fathered/bore
εγέννησαν - they fathered/bore


All these forms are in the aorist tense. Note that the ending of the verb changes according to the subject (I, you, he, she, etc.) Note also that the verb will be translated differently according to the subject ('fathered' if the subject of the phrase is male; 'bore' if the subject is female).