§187
It has already been observed that the second aorist is not a different tense from the first aorist, but only a different way of forming the same tense. Very few verbs, therefore, have both a first aorist and a second aorist, just as very few verbs in English form their preterit both by adding -ed and by making changes within the body of the word.
Thus the preterit of live is lived, and the preterit of rise is rose, but live has no preterit love, nor has rise a preterit rised. The uses of the tense lived are exactly the same as the uses of the tense rose. So also in Greek the uses of the second aorist are exactly the same as the uses of the first aorist.
§188
It cannot be determined beforehand whether a verb is going to have a first aorist or a second aorist, nor if it has a second aorist what the form of that second aorist will be. These matters can be settled only by an examination of the lexicon for each individual verb.
§189
The second aorist system (consisting of all moods of the second aorist active and middle) differs from the present system (consisting of all moods of the present and imperfect active, middle and passive), not by adding -ca or any other tense suffix to the stem of the verb, but by differences, as over against the present, within the body of the word. Usually these differences mean that the second aorist has gotten back nearer to the real, fundamental verb stem than the present has.
Examples: (1) λαμβάνω has a second aorist ἔλαβον, λαβ- being the second aorist stem and λαμβαν- the present stem. (2) βάλλω has a second aorist ἔβαλον, βαλ- being the second aorist stem and βαλλ- the present stem.
§190
Upon the second aorist stem are formed the second aorist active and middle. The aorist passive of all verbs is different from the aorist middle, whether the aorist middle is first aorist or second aorist. ἐλιπόμην, therefore, the aorist middle of λείπω, does not mean I was left. In order to translate I was left, an entirely different form, the aorist passive, would be used.
§191
The second aorist, being a secondary tense, has an augment, which is just like the augment of the imperfect. Thus a second aorist stem like λιπ- (of λείπω), which begins with a consonant, prefixes ἐ to make the augment (the stem λιπ- thus making ἔλιπον), while a second aorist stem like ἐλθ-, which begins with a vowel, lengthens that vowel (the stem ἐλθ- thus making ἦλθον).
§192
The second aorist, being a secondary tense, has secondary personal endings. Between these and the stem comes the variable vowel ο/ε exactly as in the present and imperfect. The second aorist indicative, therefore, is conjugated exactly like the imperfect, except that the imperfect is formed on the present stem, while the second aorist indicative is formed on the second aorist stem. Thus ἐλείπομεν means we were leaving (imperfect), whereas ἐλίπομεν means we left (second aorist). Sometimes a single letter serves to distinguish imperfect from second aorist. ἐβάλλομεν, for example, means we were throwing (imperfect), whereas ἐβάλομεν means we threw (second aorist).
§193
The second aorist active indicative of λείπω, I leave, is as follows:
A table appears here in the book.
§194
The second aorist middle indicative of λείπω is as follows:
A table appears here in the book.
