Mark

By the way here are some true representations of what the Present Greek Tense denotes or means

The original function of the so-called tense stems of the verb in Indo-European languages was not that of levels of time (present, past, future) but that of Aktionsarten (kinds of action) or aspects (points of views). (Blass & DeBrunner, A Greek Grammar of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, p. 166.)

…essentially the tense in Greek expresses the kind of action, not time, which the speaker has in view and the state of the subject…. In short, the tense-stems indicate the point of view from which the action or state is regarded….the present expresses linear action. (Nigel Turner, A Grammar of New Testament Greek, vol. 3: Syntax, p. 59.)

[The Present Indicative] normally expresses linear action (Turner, A Grammar of New Testament Greek, vol. 3: Syntax, p. 60.)

The durative (linear or progressive) in the present stem: the action is represented as durative (in progress) and either as timeless (????? ? ????) or as taking place in present time (including, of course, duration on one side or the other of the present moment: ????? ‘I am writing [now]’;…The present stem may also be iterative: ??????? ‘threw repeatedly (or each time)’. (Blass & DeBrunner, A Greek Grammar of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, p. 166.)

These ideas (punctiliar, durative, perfected state) lie behind the three tenses (aorist, present, perfect) that run through all moods. The forms of these tenses are meant to accentuate these ideas. (A.T. Robertson, A Grammar of the Greek New Testament, p. 824.)

Finally here is a good definition of how the greek tenses work

“In general, tense in Greek involves two elements: aspect (kind of action, [sometimes call Aktionsart, though a difference does need to be made between the two]) and time. Aspect is the primary value of tense in Greek and time is secondary, if involved at all. In other words, tense is that feature of the verb that indicates the speaker’s presentation of the verbal action (or state) with reference to its aspect and, under certain conditions, its time.”

So ‘aspect’ is the primary value and ‘time’ secondary. It is vital to know that and understand that so as not to make fundamental mistakes.