εἰμί

εἰμί is the first person singular verb for “to be” (εἶναι [the infinitive form] = “to be”).

It an irregular verb, and, like English, changes significantly between person and tense. For example εἰμί is the word for am and ἦν is the word for was, e.g.

ἐγώ εἰμι ὁ ποιμήν ὁ καλός. — “I am the good shepherd.” (John 10:11)

ὁ λόγος ἦν πρὸς τὸν θεόν. — “The Word was with God.” (John 1:1)

The most common forms of “to be” in the New Testament are:

ἐστίν - 3rd person singular present indicative, e.g. “it is” or “he is”, occurring around 900 times in the New Testament

ἦν - 3rd person singular imperfective indicative - “it was” or “he was”

εἰσίν or εἰσί - 3rd person plural present indicative - “they are”

εἰμί - 1st person singular present indicative - “I am” - occurring around 140 times in the New Testament

εἶναι (infinitive) - present infinitive - “to be”

ἐσμέν - 1st person plural present indicative - “we are”

ἐστέ - 2nd person plural present indicative - “you are”

ἦμεν - 3rd person plural imperfect indicative - “we were”

ἦσαν - 3rd person plural imperfect indicative - “they were”

Present Indicative Active

Person	Greek Pronoun	Greek Form	English Translation
1st singular	ἐγώ	εἰμί	I am
2nd singular	σύ	εἶ	You are (singular)
3rd singular	αὐτός / αὐτή / αὐτό	ἐστίν	He / she / it is
1st plural	ἡμεῖς	ἐσμέν	We are
2nd plural	ὑμεῖς	ἐστέ	You are (plural)
3rd plural	αὐτοί / αὐταί / αὐτά	εἰσί(ν)	They are

Imperfect Indicative Active

Person	Greek Pronoun	Greek Form	English Translation
1st singular	ἐγώ	ἦμην	I was
2nd singular	σύ	ἦς	You were (singular)
3rd singular	αὐτός / αὐτή / αὐτό	ἦν	He / she / it was
1st plural	ἡμεῖς	ἦμεν	We were
2nd plural	ὑμεῖς	ἦτε	You were (plural)
3rd plural	αὐτοί / αὐταί / αὐτά	ἦσαν	They were

Future Indicative Active

Person	Greek Pronoun	Greek Form	English Translation
1st singular	ἐγώ	ἔσομαι	I will be
2nd singular	σύ	ἔσῃ (or ἔσει)	You will be (singular)
3rd singular	αὐτός / αὐτή / αὐτό	ἔσται	He / she / it will be
1st plural	ἡμεῖς	ἐσόμεθα	We will be
2nd plural	ὑμεῖς	ἔσεσθε	You will be (plural)
3rd plural	αὐτοί / αὐταί / αὐτά	ἔσονται	They will be