συνελθεῖν (sunelthein) in Matthew 1:18: Verb Second Aorist Active Infinitive

Verb: the form names an action or state, here the event of coming together or meeting.

Second Aorist: commonly views the action as a whole event. It should not be treated as automatically punctiliar or automatically past in every context.

Active: presents the subject as doing or carrying the action.

Infinitive: names the verbal idea without finite person. It often works as purpose, result, complement, or explanation in context.

Not applicable: this verb form is not using noun case to mark its sentence role.

Number is not marked in a way that functions like a finite singular or plural verb here, so this form should be read by its infinitive use in context.

Not applicable: this verb form does not use grammatical gender to make its point.

πρὶν ἢ συνελθεῖν αὐτούς

The before phrase frames the infinitive as the action that had not yet taken place when Mary's pregnancy was found.

It functions as a temporal infinitive relation, setting the discovery of the pregnancy before the couple came together.

It does not by itself state who initiated the action, define the kind of union in abstraction, or add more detail than the context already supplies.

High: The aorist infinitive helps set the timing of Mary's pregnancy before Joseph and Mary came together.

Aorist infinitive in a before clause. marks the action that had not yet happened before the pregnancy was found. Attached to πρὶν ἢ συνελθεῖν αὐτούς. Governed by πρὶν ἢ. The infinitive supplies temporal relation; the verse supplies the narrative and theological significance.

What had not yet happened when the pregnancy was found? The infinitive says Joseph and Mary had not yet come together.

Direct: The infinitive relation directly supports rendering before they came together.

The aorist infinitive should not be made to prove a once-for-all theology; it marks the verbal event in this temporal phrase. The form supports the timing relation but does not define every detail of the marital situation by itself.

Aorist infinitive proves punctiliar action: The aorist views the action as a whole in this phrase; the before clause carries the timing. infinitive alone settles the relationship: The infinitive marks the action relation; Matthew's narrative supplies the fuller interpretation.

The witness reads συνελθεῖν in Matthew 1:18 within the phrase πρὶν ἢ συνελθεῖν αὐτούς.

The lemma συνέρχομαι can mean to come together or assemble, and in this context it can also refer to marital coming together.

The infinitive works with πρὶν ἢ to express an event that had not yet occurred, so the grammar frames a before-after sequence rather than a stand-alone assertion.

The verse says that Mary was found pregnant before Joseph and Mary came together, which supports the narrative focus on timing.

This fits the opening of Matthew's birth narrative, where the genealogy and conception story are being introduced carefully and plainly.

For readers or teachers, the form helps communicate sequence and restraint: the text delays the later union until after the pregnancy is already noted.

Do not derive more than timing and a general coming-together idea from the infinitive alone, and do not let the form override the verse's wider sense.