CHAPTER XX.
ON THE TENSES.
[§ 486]. Notwithstanding its name, the present tense in English does not express a strictly present action. It rather expresses an habitual one. He speaks well = he is a good speaker. If a man means to say that he is in the act of speaking, he says I am speaking.
It has also, especially when combined with a subjunctive mood, a future power—I beat you ( = I will beat you) if you don't leave off.
[§ 487]. The English præterite is the equivalent, not to the Greek perfect but the Greek aorist. I beat = ἔτυψα not τέτυφα. The true perfect is expressed, in English, by the auxiliary have + the past participle.
CHAPTER XXI.
SYNTAX OF THE PERSONS OF VERBS.