G1510 — εἰμί (eimí)¶

Core Data¶

Strong's: G1510
Original: εἰμί
Transliteration: eimí
Pronunciation: i-mee'
Part of Speech: Verb
Occurrences: 143 unique verses (155 tokens) across 20 NT books; ~2,457 total morphological instances (all inflected forms)
First Occurrence: Mat 3:11 — "...he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear"
Hapax Legomenon: No

Lexicon Definition¶

The first person singular present indicative; a prolonged form of a primary and defective verb: I exist, I am. The fundamental copulative verb of Greek, expressing existence, identity, and predication.

Verb Form Distribution¶

Tense-Mood	Count	%	Typical Usage
Present Active Indicative	1,430	58.2%	Copulative and existential statements
Imperfect Active Indicative	435	17.7%	Narrative background, past states
Future Middle Indicative	185	7.5%	Predictions, promises, eschatological
Present Active Participle	156	6.4%	ὤν (being), adjectival/substantival
Present Active Infinitive	124	5.0%	εἶναι (to be), purpose/result clauses
Present Active Subjunctive	69	2.8%	Conditional, hortatory
Present Active Imperative	21	0.9%	Commands (ἴσθι, ἔστω)
Imperfect Middle Indicative	20	0.8%	Rare middle-form usage
Present Active Optative	11	0.4%	Wishes (μὴ γένοιτο-type expressions)
Future Middle Infinitive	4	0.2%	ἔσεσθαι — indirect discourse
Future Middle Participle	1	0.0%	ἐσόμενον — future attributive

Note: G1510 is the lexical entry for the entire εἰμί paradigm, but Strong's assigns separate numbers to several inflected forms: G2258 (ἦν, imperfect), G2076 (ἐστί, 3rd sg. present), G5607 (ὤν, participle), G1488 (εἶ, 2nd sg.), G1511 (εἶναι, infinitive). The 143 unique verses under G1510 specifically represent first-person singular forms (εἰμί itself) and some other forms not covered by those separate entries.

Semantic Domains¶

Louw-Nida:

εἰμί spans an exceptionally wide range of domains, reflecting its role as the fundamental copulative verb:

13 — Be, Become, Exist, Happen (subdomains: 13.1 State, 13.3 Exist, 13.4 Happen)
89.19 — Equivalence (predication: "X is Y")
23.7 — Live / Die
68.2 — Continue
85.1 — Be in a Place
87.3 — High Status
87.5 — Slave / Free
71.1 — Possible / Impossible
58.10 — Archetype / Antitype
34.1 — Associate

Key domain neighbors (13.3 Exist): γίνομαι (G1096, come to exist), μένω (G3306, remain), ὑπάρχω (G5224, exist), κεῖμαι (G2749, lie/be), καταργέω (G2673, cease to exist)

UBS Semantic Domains: - [013] Be, Become, Exist, Happen - [085] Existence in Space - [071] Mode - [058] Nature, Class, Example - [034] Association - [068] Aspect - [023] Physiological Processes and States - [087] Status - [089] Relations

search_relationships.py does not map G1510 directly in ubs_greek.db; these UBS domains come from the same εἰμί lemma indexed there under G2258.

Translation Distribution (KJV)¶

Translation	Verses	%
am	79	55.2%
I am	40	28.0%
we were	6	4.2%
am I	3	2.1%
it is	3	2.1%
were	3	2.1%
Am	2	1.4%
I be	2	1.4%
is	2	1.4%
Other (9 translations, 1x each)	3	2.1%

The overwhelming majority (83.2%) renders as "am" or "I am," consistent with this being the first-person singular form.

Distribution by Book¶

Book	Count	Per 100 Verses
John	52	5.9
Revelation	12	3.0
Titus	1	2.2
1 Corinthians	9	2.1
2 Thessalonians	1	2.1
Acts	16	1.6
2 Peter	1	1.6
Matthew	15	1.4
Luke	16	1.4
Romans	6	1.4
Colossians	1	1.1
1 Thessalonians	1	1.1
1 Peter	1	1.0
1 Timothy	1	0.9
2 Corinthians	2	0.8
Galatians	1	0.7
Mark	4	0.6
Ephesians	1	0.6
Hebrews	1	0.3
Philippians	1	—

John dominates at 5.9 per 100 verses (36% of all G1510 occurrences), driven by the "I am" (ἐγώ εἰμι) discourse material. Revelation is second in density (3.0), with its divine self-declarations. Absent from James, 2 Timothy, Philemon, 2 John, 3 John, Jude.

Semantic Categories¶

1. Divine Self-Identification — ἐγώ εἰμι as Christological Declaration¶

Jhn 8:58 — "Before Abraham was, I am" — absolute ἐγώ εἰμι without predicate
Jhn 8:24 — "if ye believe not that I am [he], ye shall die in your sins"
Jhn 8:28 — "then shall ye know that I am [he]"
Jhn 13:19 — "when it is come to pass, ye may believe that I am [he]"
Mar 14:62 — "I am: and ye shall see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power"

2. Johannine "I Am" Predicate Sayings — Metaphorical Identity¶

Jhn 6:35 — "I am the bread of life"
Jhn 8:12 — "I am the light of the world"
Jhn 10:7, 9 — "I am the door of the sheep"
Jhn 10:11, 14 — "I am the good shepherd"
Jhn 11:25 — "I am the resurrection, and the life"
Jhn 14:6 — "I am the way, the truth, and the life"
Jhn 15:1, 5 — "I am the true vine"

3. Eschatological / Eternal Self-Declaration¶

Rev 1:8 — "I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come"
Rev 1:17 — "I am the first and the last"
Rev 21:6 — "I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end"
Rev 22:13 — "I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last"
Rev 22:16 — "I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star"

4. Human Self-Identification / Status Declaration¶

Luk 1:19 — "I am Gabriel, that stand in the presence of God"
Act 21:39 — "I am a man which am a Jew of Tarsus"
Act 22:3 — "I am verily a man which am a Jew"
Rom 1:14 — "I am debtor both to the Greeks, and to the Barbarians"
1Co 15:9 — "I am the least of the apostles"
1Co 15:10 — "by the grace of God I am what I am"

5. Presence / Accompaniment — "I Am With You"¶

Mat 28:20 — "lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world"
Mat 18:20 — "there am I in the midst of them"
Act 18:10 — "I am with thee, and no man shall set on thee"
Jhn 7:33 — "Yet a little while am I with you"
Jhn 13:33 — "Little children, yet a little while I am with you"

6. Denial / Negative Self-Identification¶

Jhn 1:20 — "I am not the Christ"
Jhn 1:21 — "Art thou Elias? And he saith, I am not"
Jhn 18:17 — "Art not thou also one of this man's disciples? He saith, I am not"
Act 13:25 — "Whom think ye that I am? I am not he"
1Co 12:15-16 — "Because I am not the hand... Because I am not the eye"

7. Conditional / Qualitative Being¶

Mat 11:29 — "I am meek and lowly in heart"
Rom 7:14 — "I am carnal, sold under sin"
Col 2:5 — "though I be absent in the flesh, yet am I with you in the spirit"
1Pe 1:16 — "Be ye holy; for I am holy"
Rev 3:17 — "thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods"

Common Collocations¶

Word	Strong's	Co-occurrences	Typical Pattern
λέγω (legō)	G3004	49x (34%)	Introduces "I am" declarations: "he said/saying, I am..."
ἔπω (epō)	G2036	39x (27%)	Speech frame for identity claims: "Jesus said unto them, I am..."
Ἰησοῦς (Iēsous)	G2424	25x (17%)	Jesus as speaker of "I am" statements
ἔρχομαι (erchomai)	G2064	23x (16%)	Coming/going paired with identity: "he that cometh... I am not worthy"
γίνομαι (ginomai)	G1096	14x (10%)	Becoming vs. being contrast: "before Abraham was [ginomai], I am [eimi]"
θεός (theos)	G2316	14x (10%)	Divine context: "I am the God of Abraham"
πατήρ (patēr)	G3962	13x (9%)	Father relationship: "I and the Father" contexts
κόσμος (kosmos)	G2889	12x (8%)	"I am the light of the world"; "I am not of this world"
κύριος (kyrios)	G2962	12x (8%)	Lord-title contexts: "Who art thou, Lord? I am Jesus"
ὁράω (horaō)	G3708	11x (8%)	Seeing paired with identity: "ye shall see... I am"

Inflectional Family (separate Strong's entries for the same verb)¶

G2258 ἦν (ēn) — imperfect "was/were" (48 verses as "were")
G2076 ἐστί (esti) — 3rd sg. present "is" (506 verses as "is")
G5607 ὤν (ōn) — present participle "being" (19 verses as "is")
G1488 εἶ (ei) — 2nd sg. present "thou art"
G1511 εἶναι (einai) — present infinitive "to be" (7 verses as "am")
G2071 ἔσομαι (esomai) — future "shall be"

Synonyms¶

No direct synonyms were returned by search_relationships.py for G1510. The same εἰμί lemma is indexed in ubs_greek.db under G2258, and that fallback still produced semantic-domain data only.

Antonyms¶

No antonyms were returned by the lemma-level search_relationships.py lookup for εἰμί (via G2258).

Easily Confused Words¶

Word	Strong's	Shared Translation	Key Difference
γίνομαι (ginomai)	G1096	"was," "were," "be"	ginomai = come into being, become; eimi = state of being, exist
ὑπάρχω (hyparchō)	G5224	"is," "be"	hyparchō = already existing, at one's disposal; eimi = simple copula
κεῖμαι (keimai)	G2749	"is" (positional)	keimai = lie, be situated, be placed; eimi = abstract being

Hebrew Source (via LXX alignment)¶

Hebrew Source	Strong's	Co-occurrences	PMI Score	Notes
אַיִן (ayin)	H369	512	12.42	"there is not" — eimi translates non-existence clauses
יֵשׁ (yēsh)	H3426	104	9.87	"there is" — existential particle
הוּא (hū')	H1931	707	8.13	Pronoun "he/it is" — copulative use
הָוָא (hāvā')	H1934	35	7.82	Aramaic "to be"
אַיֵּה (ayyēh)	H346	33	7.39	"where?" — in "where is?" constructions

Note: Hebrew lacks a direct present-tense copula; the LXX regularly supplies εἰμί forms where Hebrew uses nominal sentences (no verb), existential particles (יֵשׁ/אַיִן), or the pronoun הוּא as a quasi-copula.