Progressive tenses

For the ‘progressive’ tenses of English (is walking, has been giving, etc.) Greek has no exact equivalent. The periphrasis of the present participle with ἐστί, etc. is employed to adjectivize the participle or to describe or characterize the subject like an adjective, i.e. the subject has a quality which it may display in action. Thus, ἀρέσκοντές ἐσμεν we are acceptable T. 1.38, καὶ πάντ᾽ ἀναδεχόμενος καὶ εἰς αὑτὸν ποιούμενος τὰ τούτων ἁμαρτήματ᾽ ἐστίν and he takes upon himself and adopts all their misdeeds D. 19.36. ἐστί may be emphatic: ἔστι που δίχα διαιρούμενον there exists a twofold division P. L. 895d. Some participles have become completely adjectivized: συμφέρων useful, διαφέρων superior. Cp. 1961.