Greek NT Verb Tense × Voice Heatmap¶
Source: STEPBible TAGNT (Translators Amalgamated Greek NT)
Scope: All verb tokens across the entire New Testament
Build script: scripts/nt/verbs/build_tense_voice_heatmaps.py

Summary¶
This heatmap cross-tabulates verb tense against voice for every verb in the NT. Darker cells indicate higher frequency.
Key Observations¶
- Present Active is the single most common combination — Greek's present tense covers ongoing/repeated action and is the default for narrative and discourse.
- Aorist Active is the second most common — the aorist is the "default past" in Greek narrative, expressing a simple completed event.
- Aorist Passive is notably frequent, reflecting Greek's rich passive vocabulary for expressing divine action and human reception.
- Perfect Active is relatively rare — the Greek perfect expresses a present state resulting from a past action and is used for emphasis.
- Imperfect only occurs in Active and Middle/Passive — the imperfect has no distinct passive form in Koine Greek.
Voice Abbreviations¶
| Code | Voice |
|---|---|
| Active | Subject performs the action |
| Middle | Subject acts on/for itself |
| Passive | Subject receives the action |
| Middle or Passive | Form is ambiguous between Middle and Passive |
| Deponent | Passive/Middle form with Active meaning |
Generated by notebooks/03_statistics.ipynb