Matthew 20:11 — ExegesisTAB

The verse begins with the aorist participle labontes {λαβόντες | labóntes} functioning as a temporal participle, so the action of receiving is completed prior to the main verb. The postpositive conjunction de {δὲ | dè} marks a slight transition in the narrative, often rendered as "and" or "but" without standing in first position in Greek word order. The main imperfect verb egongyzon {ἐγόγγυζον | egóngyzon} portrays their grumbling as an ongoing or repeated action rather than a single outburst, fitting the picture of sustained complaint. The preposition kata {κατὰ | katá} with the genitive tou oikodespotou {τοῦ οἰκοδεσπότου | toû oikodespótou} specifies the target of this complaint, "against the master of the house," where the genitive signals the one toward whom the action is directed. Syntactically, the structure can be rendered as a temporal clause ("when they had received") followed by the main imperfect verb, which is why the formal translation uses "And when they had received it, they grumbled," preserving both temporal sequence and durative aspect, while the dynamic translation simplifies this sequence to "When they got their pay, they started complaining" to communicate cause and progression in more idiomatic contemporary English.