Ancient Greek grammar
Encyclopedia
Ancient Greek
grammar (here mainly referring to that of the Attic dialect
) is morphologically complex and preserves several features of Proto-Indo-European
morphology. Nouns, adjectives, pronouns, articles, numerals and especially verbs are all highly inflected. This article is an introduction to this morphological complexity.
. Modern Greek has used only two diacritics since 1982, namely the diaeresis and the acute.
The Ancient Greek script has seven diacritics (two breathings, three accents, a trema, and the hypogegrammene
):
as masculine, feminine or neuter and present forms in five distinct morphological cases (nominative
, genitive
, dative
, accusative
and vocative
). Furthermore, common nouns present distinct forms in the singular, dual
and plural
number
. The set of forms that any particular noun will present for each case
and number is determined by the declension
that it follows. The form of the declension is additionally determined by the final letter or letters in the stem.
, but no indefinite article. The definite article agrees with its associated noun in number, gender and case. Proper names usually take a definite article, as do abstract nouns. Adjectives are either placed between the article and noun or after the noun, in which case the article is repeated before the adjective. Dependent genitive noun phrases are positioned in exactly the same way, even though this frequently results in splitting the article and noun by a long dependent phrase. For example, '', literally "the (of the man) deed", or "The deed of the man." In earlier Greek, for instance Homeric Greek
, there was no definite article as such, the corresponding forms still having their original use as demonstrative pronouns.
The definite article is declined thus:
.
Verbs have four moods
(indicative, imperative
, subjunctive
and optative
), three voices (active
, middle and passive
), as well as three persons
(first, second and third) and three numbers
(singular, dual and plural). Verb
s are conjugated
in four main combinations of tense
and aspect
(present
, future
, perfect, and aorist
), with a full complement of moods for each of these main "tenses", except for the following restrictions:
In addition, for each of the four "tenses", there exist, in each voice, an infinitive
and participle
s. There is also an imperfect indicative that can be constructed from the present using a prefix (the "augment
") and the secondary endings. A pluperfect and future perfect
indicative also exist, but are rather rare. The distinction of the "tenses" in moods other than the indicative is predominantly one of aspect
rather than time. The Ancient Greek
verbal system preserves nearly all the complexities of Proto-Indo-European
(PIE).
A distinction is traditionally made between the so called athematic verbs, with endings affixed directly to the root (also called mi-verbs) and the thematic class of verbs which present a "thematic" vowel /o/ or /e/ before the ending. All athematic roots end in a vowel except for /es-/ "be". The endings are classified into primary (those used in the present, future, perfect and rare future perfect of the indicative, as well as in the subjunctive) and secondary (used in the aorist, imperfect, and pluperfect of the indicative, as well as in the optative). Ancient Greek also preserves the PIE middle voice; the passive voice that occurs in the future and aorist is an innovation.
is a passive verbal adjective which indicates the necessity for the action of the verb to be performed. It takes the nominative endings -τέος, -τέᾱ, -τέον, declining like a normal first/second declension adjective. Its stem is normally of the same form as the aorist passive, but with φ changed to π and χ to κ. e.g.
Gerundives may be used as straightforward adjectives, with the agent, if any, in the dative:
They may also be used to express impersonal necessity
is its use of verb "tense" to express both tense
proper (present, past, or future) and the aspect
of the time (as ongoing, simply taking place, or completed with a lasting result). The aspectual relation is expressed by the tenses in all the moods, while the temporal relation is only expressed in the indicative and to a more limited extent in the other moods (also called the dependent moods).
With regard to the time relation that they express in the indicative, the seven tense-aspects are divided into two categories:
This classification, which properly applies only to forms of the indicative, is also extended to the dependent moods in the cases where they express the same time relation as the indicative. The time relation expressed by a verb's tense may be present, past or future with reference to the time of the utterance or with reference to the time of another verb with which the verb in question is connected. Compare for instance , it's true with , I said that it was true (= I said "it's true").
A verb also expresses one of three possible aspects, irrespective of the mood it may be in:
Putting aside special cases and exceptions, these rules can be formulated as follows:
Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek is the stage of the Greek language in the periods spanning the times c. 9th–6th centuries BC, , c. 5th–4th centuries BC , and the c. 3rd century BC – 6th century AD of ancient Greece and the ancient world; being predated in the 2nd millennium BC by Mycenaean Greek...
grammar (here mainly referring to that of the Attic dialect
Attic Greek
Attic Greek is the prestige dialect of Ancient Greek that was spoken in Attica, which includes Athens. Of the ancient dialects, it is the most similar to later Greek, and is the standard form of the language studied in courses of "Ancient Greek". It is sometimes included in Ionic.- Origin and range...
) is morphologically complex and preserves several features of Proto-Indo-European
Proto-Indo-European language
The Proto-Indo-European language is the reconstructed common ancestor of the Indo-European languages, spoken by the Proto-Indo-Europeans...
morphology. Nouns, adjectives, pronouns, articles, numerals and especially verbs are all highly inflected. This article is an introduction to this morphological complexity.
Diacritics
The Classical Greek script did not use accents. Accents were devised in the Hellenistic era by scholars who wanted to make it easier for foreigners to learn Greek. The general use of these accents began during the Byzantine EmpireByzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire during the periods of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, centred on the capital of Constantinople. Known simply as the Roman Empire or Romania to its inhabitants and neighbours, the Empire was the direct continuation of the Ancient Roman State...
. Modern Greek has used only two diacritics since 1982, namely the diaeresis and the acute.
The Ancient Greek script has seven diacritics (two breathings, three accents, a trema, and the hypogegrammene
Iota subscript
Iota subscript in Greek polytonic orthography is a way of writing the letter iota as a small vertical stroke beneath a vowel. It was used in the so-called "long diphthongs" in Ancient Greek, that is, diphthongs the first part of which is a long vowel: and...
):
- Rough breathingSpiritus asperIn the polytonic orthography of Ancient Greek, the rough breathing , is a diacritical mark used to indicate the presence of an sound before a vowel, diphthong, or rho. It remained in the polytonic orthography even after the Hellenistic period, when the sound disappeared from the Greek language...
(Greek: δασεῖα, Latin: spiritus asperSpiritus asperIn the polytonic orthography of Ancient Greek, the rough breathing , is a diacritical mark used to indicate the presence of an sound before a vowel, diphthong, or rho. It remained in the polytonic orthography even after the Hellenistic period, when the sound disappeared from the Greek language...
) (῾), written over a vowel letter, denotes the sound /h/ at the beginning of a word, preceding the vowel. The smooth breathingSpiritus lenisThe smooth breathing is a diacritical mark used in polytonic orthography. In ancient Greek, it marks the absence of the voiceless glottal fricative from the beginning of a word....
(Greek: ψιλή, Latin: spiritus lenisSpiritus lenisThe smooth breathing is a diacritical mark used in polytonic orthography. In ancient Greek, it marks the absence of the voiceless glottal fricative from the beginning of a word....
) (᾿) denotes the absence of the /h/ sound. The vowel υ always has the spiritus asper, while other vowels can occur with either of the two. The spiritus asper is also conventionally written over a word-initial ρ.
Accents
- Acute accentAcute accentThe acute accent is a diacritic used in many modern written languages with alphabets based on the Latin, Cyrillic, and Greek scripts.-Apex:An early precursor of the acute accent was the apex, used in Latin inscriptions to mark long vowels.-Greek:...
(Greek: ὀξεῖα) (΄) is used on long or short vowels or at the third syllable from the end. If there is a long vowel before a long vowel it will accept an acute accent. e.g.: κώμη (kṓmē hair), ἄνθρωπος (ánthrōpos human). - Grave accentGrave accentThe grave accent is a diacritical mark used in written Breton, Catalan, Corsican, Dutch, French, Greek , Italian, Mohawk, Norwegian, Occitan, Portuguese, Scottish Gaelic, Vietnamese, Welsh, Romansh, and other languages.-Greek:The grave accent was first used in the polytonic orthography of Ancient...
(Greek: βαρεῖα) (`) is used on long or short vowels and replaces the acute accent but only on the last syllable. However it is not used when the next word causes an inclination of the accent and also when a punctuation mark follows. e.g.: ὁ καλὸς ποιμὴν (ho kalòs poimḕn) but ἔλαφός τις (élaphós tis a deer)—the word τις is behaving as being one word with the ἔλαφος, ἐλθὲ Ἰωάννη (elthè Iōánnē come John) but ἐλθέ, Ἰωάννη (elthé, Iōánnē come, John). - CircumflexCircumflexThe circumflex is a diacritic used in the written forms of many languages, and is also commonly used in various romanization and transcription schemes. It received its English name from Latin circumflexus —a translation of the Greek περισπωμένη...
(Greek: περισπωμένη) (῀) is used on long vowels. It is placed when usually a contraction has taken place and on long syllables which are before short syllables. Also, when the last syllable of a noun at the genitive and the dative case is accented, it accepts a circumflex. e.g.: τιμᾶν [from τιμάεν, timân to honour (infinitive)], κῆπος (kêpos garden), nom.: αὐγή (augḗ dawn) gen.: αὐγῆς (augês), αὐγῶν (augôn), dat.: αὐγῇ (augêi), αὐγαῖς (augaîs).
Nouns
In Ancient Greek, all nouns, including proper nouns, are classified according to grammatical genderGrammatical gender
Grammatical gender is defined linguistically as a system of classes of nouns which trigger specific types of inflections in associated words, such as adjectives, verbs and others. For a system of noun classes to be a gender system, every noun must belong to one of the classes and there should be...
as masculine, feminine or neuter and present forms in five distinct morphological cases (nominative
Nominative case
The nominative case is one of the grammatical cases of a noun or other part of speech, which generally marks the subject of a verb or the predicate noun or predicate adjective, as opposed to its object or other verb arguments...
, genitive
Genitive case
In grammar, genitive is the grammatical case that marks a noun as modifying another noun...
, dative
Dative case
The dative case is a grammatical case generally used to indicate the noun to whom something is given, as in "George gave Jamie a drink"....
, accusative
Accusative case
The accusative case of a noun is the grammatical case used to mark the direct object of a transitive verb. The same case is used in many languages for the objects of prepositions...
and vocative
Vocative case
The vocative case is the case used for a noun identifying the person being addressed and/or occasionally the determiners of that noun. A vocative expression is an expression of direct address, wherein the identity of the party being spoken to is set forth expressly within a sentence...
). Furthermore, common nouns present distinct forms in the singular, dual
Dual (grammatical number)
Dual is a grammatical number that some languages use in addition to singular and plural. When a noun or pronoun appears in dual form, it is interpreted as referring to precisely two of the entities identified by the noun or pronoun...
and plural
Plural
In linguistics, plurality or [a] plural is a concept of quantity representing a value of more-than-one. Typically applied to nouns, a plural word or marker is used to distinguish a value other than the default quantity of a noun, which is typically one...
number
Grammatical number
In linguistics, grammatical number is a grammatical category of nouns, pronouns, and adjective and verb agreement that expresses count distinctions ....
. The set of forms that any particular noun will present for each case
Grammatical case
In grammar, the case of a noun or pronoun is an inflectional form that indicates its grammatical function in a phrase, clause, or sentence. For example, a pronoun may play the role of subject , of direct object , or of possessor...
and number is determined by the declension
Declension
In linguistics, declension is the inflection of nouns, pronouns, adjectives, and articles to indicate number , case , and gender...
that it follows. The form of the declension is additionally determined by the final letter or letters in the stem.
Definite article
Attic Greek has a definite articleArticle (grammar)
An article is a word that combines with a noun to indicate the type of reference being made by the noun. Articles specify the grammatical definiteness of the noun, in some languages extending to volume or numerical scope. The articles in the English language are the and a/an, and some...
, but no indefinite article. The definite article agrees with its associated noun in number, gender and case. Proper names usually take a definite article, as do abstract nouns. Adjectives are either placed between the article and noun or after the noun, in which case the article is repeated before the adjective. Dependent genitive noun phrases are positioned in exactly the same way, even though this frequently results in splitting the article and noun by a long dependent phrase. For example, '', literally "the (of the man) deed", or "The deed of the man." In earlier Greek, for instance Homeric Greek
Homeric Greek
Homeric Greek is the form of the Greek language that was used by Homer in the Iliad and Odyssey. It is an archaic version of Ionic Greek, with admixtures from certain other dialects, such as Aeolic Greek. It later served as the basis of Epic Greek, the language of epic poetry, typically in...
, there was no definite article as such, the corresponding forms still having their original use as demonstrative pronouns.
The definite article is declined thus:
| Masculine | Feminine | Neuter | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Singular | Dual | Plural | Singular | Dual | Plural | Singular | Dual | Plural | |
| Nominative Nominative case The nominative case is one of the grammatical cases of a noun or other part of speech, which generally marks the subject of a verb or the predicate noun or predicate adjective, as opposed to its object or other verb arguments... |
(ho) | (tṓ) | (hoi) | (hē) | (tṓ) | (hai) | (tó) | (tṓ) | (tá) |
| Genitive Genitive case In grammar, genitive is the grammatical case that marks a noun as modifying another noun... |
(toû) | (toîn) | (tôn) | (tês) | (toîn) | (tôn) | (toû) | (toîn) | (tôn) |
| Dative Dative case The dative case is a grammatical case generally used to indicate the noun to whom something is given, as in "George gave Jamie a drink".... |
(tôi) | (toîn) | (toîs) | (têi) | (toîn) | (taîs) | (tôi) | (toîn) | (toîs) |
| Accusative Accusative case The accusative case of a noun is the grammatical case used to mark the direct object of a transitive verb. The same case is used in many languages for the objects of prepositions... |
(tón) | (tṓ) | (toús) | (tḗn) | (tṓ) | (tás) | (tó) | (tṓ) | (tá) |
Verbs
The Ancient Greek verbal system preserves nearly all the complexities of Proto-Indo-EuropeanProto-Indo-European language
The Proto-Indo-European language is the reconstructed common ancestor of the Indo-European languages, spoken by the Proto-Indo-Europeans...
.
Verbs have four moods
Grammatical mood
In linguistics, grammatical mood is a grammatical feature of verbs, used to signal modality. That is, it is the use of verbal inflections that allow speakers to express their attitude toward what they are saying...
(indicative, imperative
Imperative mood
The imperative mood expresses commands or requests as a grammatical mood. These commands or requests urge the audience to act a certain way. It also may signal a prohibition, permission, or any other kind of exhortation.- Morphology :...
, subjunctive
Subjunctive mood
In grammar, the subjunctive mood is a verb mood typically used in subordinate clauses to express various states of irreality such as wish, emotion, possibility, judgment, opinion, necessity, or action that has not yet occurred....
and optative
Optative mood
The optative mood is a grammatical mood that indicates a wish or hope. It is similar to the cohortative mood, and closely related to the subjunctive mood....
), three voices (active
Active voice
Active voice is a grammatical voice common in many of the world's languages. It is the unmarked voice for clauses featuring a transitive verb in nominative–accusative languages, including English and most other Indo-European languages....
, middle and passive
Passive voice
Passive voice is a grammatical voice common in many of the world's languages. Passive is used in a clause whose subject expresses the theme or patient of the main verb. That is, the subject undergoes an action or has its state changed. A sentence whose theme is marked as grammatical subject is...
), as well as three persons
Grammatical person
Grammatical person, in linguistics, is deictic reference to a participant in an event; such as the speaker, the addressee, or others. Grammatical person typically defines a language's set of personal pronouns...
(first, second and third) and three numbers
Grammatical number
In linguistics, grammatical number is a grammatical category of nouns, pronouns, and adjective and verb agreement that expresses count distinctions ....
(singular, dual and plural). Verb
Verb
A verb, from the Latin verbum meaning word, is a word that in syntax conveys an action , or a state of being . In the usual description of English, the basic form, with or without the particle to, is the infinitive...
s are conjugated
Grammatical conjugation
In linguistics, conjugation is the creation of derived forms of a verb from its principal parts by inflection . Conjugation may be affected by person, number, gender, tense, aspect, mood, voice, or other grammatical categories...
in four main combinations of tense
Grammatical tense
A tense is a grammatical category that locates a situation in time, to indicate when the situation takes place.Bernard Comrie, Aspect, 1976:6:...
and aspect
Grammatical aspect
In linguistics, the grammatical aspect of a verb is a grammatical category that defines the temporal flow in a given action, event, or state, from the point of view of the speaker...
(present
Present tense
The present tense is a grammatical tense that locates a situation or event in present time. This linguistic definition refers to a concept that indicates a feature of the meaning of a verb...
, future
Future tense
In grammar, a future tense is a verb form that marks the event described by the verb as not having happened yet, but expected to happen in the future , or to happen subsequent to some other event, whether that is past, present, or future .-Expressions of future tense:The concept of the future,...
, perfect, and aorist
Aorist
Aorist is a philological term originally from Indo-European studies, referring to verb forms of various languages that are not necessarily related or similar in meaning...
), with a full complement of moods for each of these main "tenses", except for the following restrictions:
- There is no future subjunctive or imperative.
- There are separate passive-voice forms (distinct from the middle) only in the future and aorist.
In addition, for each of the four "tenses", there exist, in each voice, an infinitive
Infinitive
In grammar, infinitive is the name for certain verb forms that exist in many languages. In the usual description of English, the infinitive of a verb is its basic form with or without the particle to: therefore, do and to do, be and to be, and so on are infinitives...
and participle
Participle
In linguistics, a participle is a word that shares some characteristics of both verbs and adjectives. It can be used in compound verb tenses or voices , or as a modifier...
s. There is also an imperfect indicative that can be constructed from the present using a prefix (the "augment
Augment (linguistics)
In linguistics, the augment is a syllable added to the beginning of the word in certain Indo-European languages, most notably Greek, Armenian, and the Indo-Iranian languages such as Sanskrit, to form the past tenses.-Indo-European languages:...
") and the secondary endings. A pluperfect and future perfect
Future Perfect
-Album Credits:*Produced by T-Bone Burnett*All Songs Written by Autolux*Engineered by Mike Piersante*Mixed by Dave Sardy*Mastered by Stephen Marcussen *Artwork by Carla Azar-Vinyl releases:...
indicative also exist, but are rather rare. The distinction of the "tenses" in moods other than the indicative is predominantly one of aspect
Grammatical aspect
In linguistics, the grammatical aspect of a verb is a grammatical category that defines the temporal flow in a given action, event, or state, from the point of view of the speaker...
rather than time. The Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek is the stage of the Greek language in the periods spanning the times c. 9th–6th centuries BC, , c. 5th–4th centuries BC , and the c. 3rd century BC – 6th century AD of ancient Greece and the ancient world; being predated in the 2nd millennium BC by Mycenaean Greek...
verbal system preserves nearly all the complexities of Proto-Indo-European
Proto-Indo-European language
The Proto-Indo-European language is the reconstructed common ancestor of the Indo-European languages, spoken by the Proto-Indo-Europeans...
(PIE).
A distinction is traditionally made between the so called athematic verbs, with endings affixed directly to the root (also called mi-verbs) and the thematic class of verbs which present a "thematic" vowel /o/ or /e/ before the ending. All athematic roots end in a vowel except for /es-/ "be". The endings are classified into primary (those used in the present, future, perfect and rare future perfect of the indicative, as well as in the subjunctive) and secondary (used in the aorist, imperfect, and pluperfect of the indicative, as well as in the optative). Ancient Greek also preserves the PIE middle voice; the passive voice that occurs in the future and aorist is an innovation.
Infinitive
Ancient Greek has both the articular infinitive (infinitive with the article) and the infinitive without the article. The latter is divided into two categories: the final infinitive and the specific infinitive. When the subject of the infinitive is the same as the subject of the main verb, then the subject of the infinitive is in the nominative case. When the subjects are different, the subject of the infinitive is in the accusative case. When the subject of the infinitive is in the nominative case, it is usually omitted. (This means that the subject of the infinitive is only present when it differs from that of the subject of the main verb.)- The articular infinitive uses the neuter article of the singular and replaces the corresponding noun of the verb. (This involves using a preposition phrase as the direct object in English.)
- κακόν ἐστι τὸ παρανομεῖν.
- It is bad to break the law(s).
- The infinitive without the article is separated into two categories.
- The specific infinitive is applied in every tense and is often translated in English as a dependent clause, optionally introduced by "that...", though sometimes it may be translated directly as an infinitive.
-
- λέγουσιν τὸν Σωκράτη σοφὸν εἶναι.
- They say that Socrates is wise.
-
- νομίζουσιν τὸν Σωκράτη σοφὸν εἶναι.
- They consider Socrates to be wise.
-
- [ὑμεῖς] νομίζετε τοὺς πολεμίους [ὑμεῖς] νικῆσαι.
- You think that you beat the enemy.
- The final infinitive is not used in the future tense and is translated into English as an infinitive.
-
- βούλομαί σε εἰς τὰς Ἀθήνας ἰέναι.
- I want you to go to Athens.
-
- ἀνάγκη ἐστὶ μάχεσθαι.
- It is necessary to fight.
Participle
The participle is a verbal adjective and has many functions in Ancient Greek. The participle can be active, middle or passive and can be found in present, aorist, future and perfect. It is divided into three categories: adjectival participle (ἐπιθετική), attributive (κατηγορηματικὴ) and adverbial (ἐπιρρηματική).- The adjectival participle most often is used with the article. It functions as an adjective and it can be used with every tense.. The adjectival participle is translated as a relative clause ("who...", "which...", "whom...").
- οὗτός ἐστι ὁ κλέψας τὸν χιτῶνα.
- That is the one who stole the chitonChitonChitons are small to large, primitive marine molluscs in the class Polyplacophora.There are 900 to 1,000 extant species of chitons in the class, which was formerly known as Amphineura....
.
- ἔχων τις ὄνον ἔπώλησεν αὐτόν.
- Someone who had a donkey sold it.
- The attributive participle is always without the article and is used with every tense. The attributive participle sides with the following:
- εἰμί, γίγνομαι, ὑπάρχω
-
- προσεοικότες γίγνονται τοῖς γονεῦσιν οἱ παῖδες.
- The children take after their parents.
- δῆλός εἰμι, διαβιῶ, διαμένω, διάγω, διαγίγνομαι, οὐ διαλείπω, διατελῶ, λανθάνω, οἴχομαι, τυγχάνω, φαίνομαι/φανερός εἰμι, φθάνω
-
- δῆλος ἦν ἐπιθυμῶν προσελθεῖν.
- It was evident that he wanted to come (He was evident that he wanted to come).
- Verbs which mean commencement, termination, patience, tolerance, fatigue.
-
- ἄρξομαι διδάσκων περὶ τοῦ θείου.
- I will start teaching about god.
-
- οὐκ ἀνέχομαί σε ὑβρίζοντα.
- I don't tolerate you insulting me.
- Verbs which mean sense, knowledge, learning, memory and their contrary verbs.
-
- αἰσθάνομαί τινας παραβαίνοντας τοὺς νόμους.
- I understand that some people break the laws.
- Verbs which mean announcing, showing, proving.
-
- ἀπέδειξε Λύσανδρον κτείναντα Φιλοκλέα.
- He proved that Lysander killed Philocles.
- Verbs which mean passions of the soul, such as ἀγανακτῶ (I am vexed), αἰσχύνομαι (I am ashamed), ἥδομαι (I am pleased), χαίρω (I am happy), λυποῦμαι (I am sorry), ὀργίζομαι (I get angry) etc.
-
- χαίρω ὁρῶν σε ὑγιῆ.
- I am happy to see you healthy.
-
- ἀγανακτεῖ ὑπομένων τὰς ὕβρεις.
- He is vexed to tolerate the insults.
- εὖ/καλῶς/δίκαια/κακῶς ποιῶ, χαρίζομαι, ἀδικῶ, νικῶ, περιγίγνομαι, κρατῶ, ἡττῶμαι, λείπομαι.
-
- καλῶς ποιεῖτε τοὺς γέροντας ἐπιμελοῦντες.
- You are doing well by taking care of the old men.
- The adverbial participle is used without the article in every tense and functions as a adverbial definition. This participle expresses time, cause, purpose, supposition, opposition, concession and matter.
- The temporal participle is used with every tense and especially aorist. It expresses a simultaneous or an anterior action and rarely a posterior one. It is usually found with temporal adverbs such as ἅμα (while, immediately), ἐνταῦθα (then), ἔπειτα (after), εὐθύς (immediately), ἤδη (already), μεταξύ (meanwhile).
-
- ἀποπλεύσας εἰς Λάμψακον τὰς ναῦς ἐπεσκεύαζεν.
- After having sailed to Lampsacus he repaired the ships.
-
- ἐπαιάνιζον ἅμα πλέοντες.
- They were singing the paean while they were sailing.
- The causal participle is used with every tense and rarely future. It is usually translated as a causal clause or nominative absolute.
-
- ὁρῶν αὐτοὺς λυπουμένους ὑπεσχόμην γράψειν τὴν ἐπιστολήν.
- As I see them sad I promised to write the letter.
-
- εἰδώς σε ἱκανὸν ὄντα οὐ φοβοῦμαι.
- As I know that you are competent, I am not afraid.
- The final (telic) participle (expresses purpose) is used with the future tense. It forms the negation with μή. If the participle is preceded by a verb which expresses a movement then it stands alone. If the verb does not express a movement then the participle is often found with the ὡς.
-
- ἀνεχώρησεν ἀπαγγελῶν τὰ γεγονότα
- He left in order to announce the events.
-
- ψεύδεται ὡς κρύψων τὴν ἀλήθειαν.
- He lies in order to hide the truth.
-
- ἔπεμψεν Ἀριστοτέλη ἀγγελοῦντα τὰς σπονδάς.
- He sent Aristotle in order for him to announce the agreements (Aristotle will announce).
Gerundive
The gerundiveGerundive
In linguistics, a gerundive is a particular verb form. The term is applied very differently to different languages; depending on the language, gerundives may be verbal adjectives, verbal adverbs, or finite verbs...
is a passive verbal adjective which indicates the necessity for the action of the verb to be performed. It takes the nominative endings -τέος, -τέᾱ, -τέον, declining like a normal first/second declension adjective. Its stem is normally of the same form as the aorist passive, but with φ changed to π and χ to κ. e.g.
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- παύω → παυστέος (to be stopped)
- λαμβάνω → ληπτέος (to be taken)
Gerundives may be used as straightforward adjectives, with the agent, if any, in the dative:
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- βοῦς θυστέος ἐστίν
- An ox must be sacrificed
They may also be used to express impersonal necessity
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- ποιητέον (ἐστί) ...
- It is necessary to do...
Time and aspect
One of the most notable features that Ancient Greek has inherited from Proto-Indo-EuropeanProto-Indo-European language
The Proto-Indo-European language is the reconstructed common ancestor of the Indo-European languages, spoken by the Proto-Indo-Europeans...
is its use of verb "tense" to express both tense
Grammatical tense
A tense is a grammatical category that locates a situation in time, to indicate when the situation takes place.Bernard Comrie, Aspect, 1976:6:...
proper (present, past, or future) and the aspect
Grammatical aspect
In linguistics, the grammatical aspect of a verb is a grammatical category that defines the temporal flow in a given action, event, or state, from the point of view of the speaker...
of the time (as ongoing, simply taking place, or completed with a lasting result). The aspectual relation is expressed by the tenses in all the moods, while the temporal relation is only expressed in the indicative and to a more limited extent in the other moods (also called the dependent moods).
With regard to the time relation that they express in the indicative, the seven tense-aspects are divided into two categories:
- Primary: denoting present or future time. These are the present tensePresent tenseThe present tense is a grammatical tense that locates a situation or event in present time. This linguistic definition refers to a concept that indicates a feature of the meaning of a verb...
(in its ordinary use), perfect, future tenseFuture tenseIn grammar, a future tense is a verb form that marks the event described by the verb as not having happened yet, but expected to happen in the future , or to happen subsequent to some other event, whether that is past, present, or future .-Expressions of future tense:The concept of the future,...
and the rare future perfectFuture Perfect-Album Credits:*Produced by T-Bone Burnett*All Songs Written by Autolux*Engineered by Mike Piersante*Mixed by Dave Sardy*Mastered by Stephen Marcussen *Artwork by Carla Azar-Vinyl releases:...
. - Secondary (also called historical), denoting past time. The secondary tenses are the imperfect , pluperfect, and the aoristAoristAorist is a philological term originally from Indo-European studies, referring to verb forms of various languages that are not necessarily related or similar in meaning...
(in its ordinary uses)
This classification, which properly applies only to forms of the indicative, is also extended to the dependent moods in the cases where they express the same time relation as the indicative. The time relation expressed by a verb's tense may be present, past or future with reference to the time of the utterance or with reference to the time of another verb with which the verb in question is connected. Compare for instance , it's true with , I said that it was true (= I said "it's true").
A verb also expresses one of three possible aspects, irrespective of the mood it may be in:
- Imperfective aspectImperfective aspectThe imperfective is a grammatical aspect used to describe a situation viewed with internal structure, such as ongoing, habitual, repeated, and similar semantic roles, whether that situation occurs in the past, present, or future...
: indicating an ongoing, continuous, or repeated action. The present and the imperfect convey this aspect. - Perfective aspectPerfective aspectThe perfective aspect , sometimes called the aoristic aspect, is a grammatical aspect used to describe a situation viewed as a simple whole, whether that situation occurs in the past, present, or future. The perfective aspect is equivalent to the aspectual component of past perfective forms...
(traditionally also called aoristAoristAorist is a philological term originally from Indo-European studies, referring to verb forms of various languages that are not necessarily related or similar in meaning...
aspect in Greek grammar): indicating that the action is started and concluded at the same time, or that the action is focused on a single point in time, or that the action simply occurs without reference to its duration or lasting effect. The aorist conveys this aspect in all moods. - Perfect (traditionally also often called perfective, but not to be confused with the above): indicating that the action is completed with a result that remains into the time being considered. The perfect (in all moods) as well as the pluperfect and future perfect carry this combination of relative tense and aspect.
Mood of the dependent verb
The rules on mood sequence (Consecutio modorum) determine the mood of verbs in subordinate clauses in a way analogous to but more flexible than the Latin rules on time sequence (Consecutio temporum) which determine their tense.Putting aside special cases and exceptions, these rules can be formulated as follows:
- In dependent sentences, where the construction allows both the subjunctive and the optative, the subjunctive is used if the leading verb is primary, and the optative if it is secondary. E.g. , they do whatever they want; but , they did whatever they wanted.
- Similarly, where the construction allows both the indicative and the optative, the indicative follows primary, and the optative follows secondary tenses. E.g. , they say they want this; , they said they wanted this.