Return to Aristotle, On Interpretation
1. A Verb is that which, in addition to something else, signifies time; of which no part is significant; and it is always an indication of those things which are asserted of something else.
2. But I say that “in addition to something else to something else, signifies time”. Thus, for instance, “health” is a noun; but “is healthy” is a verb; for it signifies in addition to being healthy, that health is inherent at the present time (in the subject).
3. And it is always an indication of those things which are asserted of something else; as, for instance, of those things which are predicated of a subject, or which are in a subject.
4. I do not, however, call “is not healthy”, and “is not ill”, verbs. For they signify time in addition to something else, and they are always an indication of something; but a name is not given to this difference. Let them be called indefinite verbs, because they are similarly inherent, both in what exists, and in what does not exist.
5. In like manner, I do not call, “was well”, and “will be well”, verbs, but cases of a verb. They differ from a verb, because a verb signifies in addition to something else the present time; but the others, that which is outside of the present time.
6. Verbs, when spoken by themselves as words, are names, and they signify something; for he who pronounces a verb stops the reasoning power of the hearer, and he who hears rests, but they do not yet signify whether a thing is or is not. For neither is the verb “is”, or “is not”, an enunciation by itself. Nor would it be a sign of the being or non-being of a thing if you were to say it alone, for it is nothing. They signify, however, in addition to something else, a certain composition, without which it is not possible to understand composites.
Return to Aristotle, On Interpretation
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