_Indicative._ | _Subjunctive._ _Singular._ _Plural._ | _Singular._ _Plural._ 1. I was. We were. | If I were. If we were. 2. Thou wast. Ye were. | If thou wert. If ye were. 3. He was. They were. | If he were. If they were. * * * * * {303} CHAPTER XXII. ON TENSES IN GENERAL. s. 359. The nature of tenses in general is best exhibited by reference to the Greek; since in that language they are more numerous, and more strongly marked than elsewhere. _I strike, I struck._--Of these words, the first implies an action taking place at the time of speaking, the second marks an action that has already taken place. These two notions of present and of past time, being expressed by a change of form, are true tenses. They are however, the only true tenses in our language. In _I was beating_, _I have beaten_, _I had beaten_, and _I shall beat_, a difference of time is expressed; but as it is expressed by a combination of words, and not by a change of form, no true tenses are constituted. In Greek the case is different. [Greek: Tupto] (_typt[^o]_)=_I beat_; [Greek: etupton] (_etypton_)=_I was beating_; [Greek: tupso] (_typs[^o]_)=_I shall beat_; [Greek: etupsa] (_etypsa_)=_I beat_; [Greek: tetupha] (_tetyfa_)=_I have beaten_; [Greek: etetuphein] (_etetyfein_)=_I had beaten_. In these words we have, of the same mood, the same voice, and the same conjugation, six different tenses;[47] whereas, in English, there are but two. The forms [Greek: tetupha] and [Greek: etupsa] are so strongly marked, that we recognise them wheresoever they occur. The first is formed by a reduplication of the initial [tau], and, consequently, may be called the reduplicate form. As a tense it is called the perfect. In the form [Greek: etupsa] an [epsilon] is prefixed, and an [sigma] is added. In the allied language of Italy {304} the [epsilon] disappears, whilst the [sigma] (_s_) remains. [Greek: Etupsa] is said to be an aorist tense. _Scripsi_ : _scribo_ :: [Greek: etupsa] : [Greek: tupto]. s. 360. Now in the Latin language a confusion takes place between these two tenses. Both forms exist. They are used, however, indiscriminately. The aorist form has, besides its own, the sense of the perfect. The perfect has, besides its own, the sense of the aorist. In the following pair of quotations, _vixi_, the aorist form, is translated _I have lived_, while _tetigit_, the perfect form, is translated _he touched_. _Vixi_, et quem dederat cursum Fortuna peregi; Et nunc magna mei sub terras ibit imago.--_Aen._ iv. Ut primum alatis _tetigit_ magalia plantis.--_Aen._ iv.