Aorist Tense:

Simple fact.
Once and for all.
Specific.
 
ἐθέλω μαθεῖν τὴν ἑλληνικὴν γλῶτταν.
I want to learn Greek, meaning: learn it so as to know it.
Unless of course you want to say: I want to be busy with that study.
What do you want to do (=be doing) this afternoon? - Oh, I intend to do some Greek studying
   ἐν νῷ ἔχω μανθάνειν τὴν ἑλληνικὴν γλῶτταν.

  Aorist Infinitive Forms  
 
  active  
      NO past tense marker 
 μαθ      2nd aorist stem 
    εῖν     active infinitive marker  
         
  middle  
      NO past tense marker 
 γεν      2nd aorist stem 
    έσθαι     middle infinitive marker  

τί βούλει ποιεῖν;  
  βούλομαι μανθάνειν I want to study
τί βούλει μανθάνειν;  
    βούλομαι μανθάνειν τὸ ἐνδέκατο μάθημα I want to study lesson 11 (=spend some time on it)
διὰ τί;  
    βούλομαι καταλαβέσθαι τὸν ἀόριστον I want to understand the aorist (once and for all)
We say under-stand, the Greeks say: down-grab/seize
Remember: (seizes, grabs hold of)
    ὁ Ὀδυσσεὺς λαμβάνεται τῆς τοῦ Μινωταύρου κεφαλῆς.

 

2nd Aorist Forms
Indicative (past tense) and Infinitive

 Compare Present Tense and Aorist Tense Infinitives 

Present   2nd Aorist   Meaning
Infinitive Past Infinitive Infinitive
 ἄγ   ειν  ἤγαγ   ον  ἀγαγ   εῖν  to lead, take  
 αἱρ   εῖν  εἷλ   ον  ἑλ   εῖν  to take,capture  
 ἀπο-θνήσκ   ειν ἀπ- έθαν   ον  ἀπο-θαν   εῖν  to die  
 βάλλ   ειν  ἔβαλ   ον    βαλ   εῖν  to throw, pelt  
εὑρίσκ   ειν  ηὗρ   ον εὑρ   εῖν  I found  
ἔχ   ειν ἔσχ   ον  σχ   εῖν  to have, hold  
 λαμβάν   ειν   ἔλαβ   ον    λαβ   εῖν    to take  
 λέγ   ειν εἶπ   ον εἰπ   εῖν  I lead, took  
 λείπ   ειν ἔλιπ   ον  λιπ   εῖν  to leave  
 όρ   ᾶν εἶδ   ον ἰδ   εῖν  to see  
 πάσχ   ειν ἔπαθ   ον  παθ   εῖν  to suffer, experience  
 πίπτ   ειν ἔπεσ   ον  πεσ   εῖν  to fall  
 τρέχ   ειν ἔδραμ   ον δραμ   εῖν  to run  
 φεύγ   ειν ἔφυγ   ον  φυγ   εῖν  to flee, escape  
ἔρχ   εσθαι  ἦλθ   ον ἐλθ   εῖν  to come, go  
 αἱρ   εῖσθαι   εἱλ   όμην    ἑλ   έσθαι   to choose  
 ἀφικν   εῖσθαι   ἀφῑκ   όμην    ἀφῑκ   έσθαι   to arrive  
 γίγν   εσθαι  ἐγεν   όμην    γεν   έσθαι   to become