William Watson Goodwin, Syntax of the Moods and Tenses of the Greek Verb

---

[*] 413. In the unreal conditional sentence, therefore, the unreality of the supposition is always implied, and that of the apodosis is generally either assumed or implied. The implied opposite of an imperfect is always a present or imperfect, that of an aorist is an aorist, and that of a pluperfect is usually a perfect or pluperfect. Thus εἰ ἔπρασσε, when it means if he were doing, implies ἀλλ᾽ οὐ πράσσει, but really he is not doing; when it means if he had been doing, it implies ἀλλ᾽ οὐκ ἔπρασσε, but really he was not doing: εἰ μὴ ἔπραξεν, if he had not done, implies ἀλλ᾽ ἔπραξεν, but really he did do: εἰ ἐπεποιήκει τοῦτο, if he had already done this, implies either ἀλλ᾽ οὐ πεποίηκεν, but really he has not done it, or ἀλλ᾽ οὐκ ἐπεποιήκει, but really he had not done it, according to the context. The aorist, however, is very often used here, as elsewhere, where the pluperfect would express the time intended more exactly; as in the sentence quoted in 410 from DEM. iv. 5, οὐδὲν ἂν ὧν νυνὶ πεποίηκεν ἔπραξεν, where the perfect πεποίηκεν shows that the pluperfect might have been used for ἔπραξεν (see 58).