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    Summary Sheet PDF

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    Me Nin
    The document summarizes several aspects of Greek grammar: 1) It describes the accusative absolute construction which uses an accusative form of the neuter participle to express impersonal verbs like "it being necessary". 2) It explains how Greek can form a gerund by prefixing an infinitive with the definite article, like "by learning the truth". 3) It lists some common impersonal verbs like "it is necessary" or "it is possible" which take either an accusative or dative subject. 4) It provides examples of verbs that commonly take a dependent participle like "I begin" or "I escape notice".

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    Summary Sheet PDF

    Uploaded by

    Me Nin
    49 views2 pages
    The document summarizes several aspects of Greek grammar: 1) It describes the accusative absolute construction which uses an accusative form of the neuter participle to express impersonal verbs like "it being necessary". 2) It explains how Greek can form a gerund by prefixing an infinitive with the definite article, like "by learning the truth". 3) It lists some common impersonal verbs like "it is necessary" or "it is possible" which take either an accusative or dative subject. 4) It provides examples of verbs that commonly take a dependent participle like "I begin" or "I escape notice".

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    The document summarizes several aspects of Greek grammar: 1) It describes the accusative absolute construction which uses an accusative form of the neuter participle to express impersonal verbs like "it being necessary". 2) It explains how Greek can form a gerund by prefixing an infinitive with the definite article, like "by learning the truth". 3) It lists some common impersonal verbs like "it is necessary" or "it is possible" which take either an accusative or dative subject. 4) It provides examples of verbs that commonly take a dependent participle like "I begin" or "I escape notice".

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    49 views2 pages

    Summary Sheet PDF

    Uploaded by

    Me Nin
    The document summarizes several aspects of Greek grammar: 1) It describes the accusative absolute construction which uses an accusative form of the neuter participle to express impersonal verbs like "it being necessary". 2) It explains how Greek can form a gerund by prefixing an infinitive with the definite article, like "by learning the truth". 3) It lists some common impersonal verbs like "it is necessary" or "it is possible" which take either an accusative or dative subject. 4) It provides examples of verbs that commonly take a dependent participle like "I begin" or "I escape notice".

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    Grammar Summary Sheet

    Accusative Absolute
    With impersonal verbs (see below), instead of a genitive absolute, an accusative absolute may be used, employing the
    accusative form of the neuter participle (the idea being that the subject is ‘it’ and is contained within the verb). The
    following forms are common, with literal meaning as follows:

    δέον With it being necessary


    δόξαν With it having been decided, with X having decided
    ἐξόν With it being possible
    παρον With it being possible
    Apart from δόξαν and τυχόν, aorist accusative absolutes are rare. Passive participles can also be used in an impersonal
    sense; for example, εἰρημένον can mean “which said.”

    Use of Article with infinitive


    Greek can form a gerund by prefixing an infinitive with the definite article. This is a declinable form, so τῷ το ἀληθὲς
    μάθειν means “by learning the truth” (tense is used by aspect). A more complex example might be:
    τοῦτό ἐστι τὸ ἀδικεῖν, τὸ πλέον τῶν ἄλλων ζητεῖν ἔχειν (Plato, Gorgias, 483c)

    Injustice is this: to seek to have more than other people

    The subject is generally sandwiched between the article and the infinitive. Since the infinitive is not indicative, this
    construction is negated using μη.

    Impersonal Verbs
    An impersonal verb is a verb without a grammatically determined subject. Instead, the person to whom the impersonal
    verb refers is placed in either the accusative or the dative depending on which impersonal verb is being used:

    Accusative δεῖ It is necessary


    χρή It is (morally) necessary
    Dative δοκεῖ X decides (lit. It seems good)
    ἔξεστι / πάρεστι / οἷόν τ᾽ἐστί It is possible
    προσήκει It is fitting
    συμφέρει It is advantageous
    [neuter adjective] ἐστι It is X (e.g. ἀγαθόν ἐστι = it is good)
    In English, it is often possible to turn the impersonal verb around, translating it as, e.g. “X must” or “X can.”

    Relative Attraction
    Relative attraction is a grammatical oddity whereby a relative pronoun which should formally be accusative is placed
    into a genitive or dative case due to an antecedent in that case. For example,
    τῆς γάρ τοι γενεῆς ἧς* Τρωΐ περ εὐρύοπα Ζεὺς *should be accusative

    δῶχ᾽ (Hom. Il. 5. 265-266)

    For they are of that breed which far-thundering Zeus gave to Tros
    Particles
    In his authoritative book The Greek Particles, J.D. Denniston defines a particle “as a word expressing a mode of
    thought, considered either in isolation or in relation to another thought, or a mood of emotion.” Their functions
    include conveying nuance by colouring the interpretation of a sentence. Greek has an extensive collection of particles,
    which fall into two very broad categories: connectives (και, μεν...δε, ἀλλα, εἰτε... εἰτε) and emphatics (γε, δη, περ, τοι),
    though there are many outliers. Translation can often be quite context-dependent.

    Verbs with Dependent Participle


    In some cases where English would use an infinitive, Greek more commonly places a participle after certain verbs. In
    translation, this meaning needs to be reworked depending on context. The following verbs commonly take a participle:

    ἄρχομαι I begin
    ἥδομαι mI enjoy
    λανθάνω I escape the notice of
    παυομαι I cease
    τυγχάνω I happen
    φθάνω I anticipate, do first
    χαίρω I rejoice

    Verbs of Fearing/Fearing Clauses


    When verbs of fearing are not followed by a direct object or an infinitive, they must be used in conjunction with μή
    and a subjunctive or optative as per usual sequence of tenses. The grammatical function is similar to that of lest in
    archaic English. For example,
    νῦν δ᾽ αἰνῶς δείδοικα κατὰ φρένα μή σε παρείπῃ (Hom. Il. 1. 555)

    But now, I am terribly afraid in my mind that (or lest) she has beguiled you

    Fearing that something may not happen is expressed with both μη and οὐ. The same pattern is used for verbs of
    precaution and prevention.

    Time Clauses
    Time clauses subordinate part of a sentence temporally, and, when definite, contain an indicative verb (when
    indefinite, normal sequence of tenses is used, i.e. subjunctive for primary, optative for historic). Time clauses are
    generally introduced by one of the following conjunctions:
    Before ἐπεί when, since, after
    ἐξ οὗ since
    ὅτε when
    ὡς when, as, because
    πρίν + infinitive before
    Simultaneously ἐν ᾧ while
    ἔως while
    After ἔως until
    μέχρι until
    πρίν until
    πρότερον ἤ lit. any sooner than, until

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