Ancient Greek inflection

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The grammar of the ancient Greek language (ancient Greek ἡ Ἑλληνικὴ γλῶσσα [ Attic γλῶττα ] hē hellēnikē glōssa [Attic glōtta ]) is complex in relation to the morphology and, like many Indo-European languages , has a pronounced inflection . This article briefly summarizes the areas of change in the ancient Greek language, briefly compares the uses of individual tenses and modes , lists examples of conjugation and briefly introduces the different declensions.

introduction

In ancient Greek, conjugation and declination are used.

The conjugation is the change in the verb . It takes place in the specific forms in different areas:

  • Person : in ancient Greek there is the 1st, 2nd and 3rd person;
  • Number : in ancient Greek there is the singular, the dual (not considered here due to its rarity) and the plural;
  • Mode : in ancient Greek there is the indicative, the subjunctive, the optative and the imperative;
  • Tense : in ancient Greek there is the present tense, the past tense, the future tense, the (strong) aorist, the perfect and the past perfect;
  • Genus verbi : in ancient Greek there is the active, the medium and the passive.

Unspecified forms , for example the infinitive , are wholly or partially excluded from the conjugation.

The declension is the change in the noun ; H. of the noun, adjective, etc. It occurs in different areas:

  • Case : in ancient Greek there is the nominative, the genitive, the dative, the accusative and (as a salutation) the vocative;
  • Number: in ancient Greek there is the singular, the dual (due to its rarity here only for the article and the III. Declension) and the plural;
  • Gender : in ancient Greek there is the masculine, the feminine and the neuter.

Related nouns must show congruence according to case, number and gender (i.e. agreement in these areas).

conjugation

Note: Conjugation tables for the regular verbs can be found under Verba vocalia, Conjugation .

Use of the Aspects

In Greek verbal inflection, the so-called aspect is much more important than expressing a certain time stage (present, past or future) . It expresses the temporal focus with which the verbal act is viewed within a certain time level. The aorist and present tense only actually have temporal meaning in the indicative; in all other modes they only represent their respective aspect. The three aspects of ancient Greek are each expressed by their own verbal stem and are:

  • Durative aspect: It emphasizes the duration and extent of the verbal act regardless of the beginning and end of the act. It is realized through the present stem.
  • selective aspect: he considers a single point of the verbal act; this point can be any (complex), the beginning (ingressive) or the end point (effective) of the action. This aspect is expressed through the aorist tribe.
  • Resultative aspect: It focuses on the (current) result of a verbal act and is the aspect specific to the perfect stem.

Formation and use of tenses and modes

Use of tenses

  • Present tense: The present tense is formed by appending the primary personal endings to the present tense stem (in the example: θυ- ). It expresses an action that happens at the time of speaking or regularly:
Ἀνὴρ θύει βοῦν.
Anēr thyei boun.
A man sacrifices an ox.
  • Past tense : The past tense is formed from the present tense stem (θυ-) by adding an augment in front of the stem and the secondary personal endings at the back of the stem. The augment appears as a syllabic (ἐ-) in the case of a consonant stem or as a temporal augment in the case of an initial vowel (by stretching the vowel, e.g. the initial ἀ- becomes a ἠ- ). The augment marks the past tense as the past tense, while the durative aspect of the present stem expresses that the action happened regularly in the past (iterative), lasted a long time (durative) or was tried repeatedly (conative):
Ἀνὴρ ἔθυε βοῦν.
Anēr ethye boun.
A man sacrificed an ox.
  • Future tense : The future tense is formed by expanding the present tense with -σ- (θυσ-) and adding the primary personal endings . It expresses an action that will take place in the future:
Ἀνὴρ θύσει βοῦν.
Anēr thysei boun.
A man is going to sacrifice an ox.
  • Aorist: In the indicative it expresses an action that happened once in the past. Usually a certain point of the action (complex), its beginning (ingressive) or its end (effective) is described:
Ἀνὴρ ἔθυσε βοῦν.
Anēr ethyse boun.
A man sacrificed an ox.
The aspectual difference in meaning between aorist and present tense / past tense becomes clear, for example, in the verb βασιλειειν (to be king): ἐβασίλευε in the past tense means "he was king" (durative), while ἐβασίλευσε in aorist means "he became king" (punctual-ingressive).
  • Perfect: It expresses an action that happened in the past and is complete at the time of speaking:
Ἀνὴρ τέθυκε βοῦν.
Anēr tethyke boun.
A man sacrificed an ox (the ox is now dead).
  • Past perfect: It expresses an action that has already been completed in the past.
Ἀνὴρ ἐτεθύκει βοῦν.
Anēr etethykei boun.
A man had sacrificed an ox.

Using the modes

  • Indicative: It generally expresses an action that has taken place:
Ἀνὴρ θύει βοῦν.
Anēr thyei boun.
A man sacrifices an ox.
  • Subjunctive: It expresses a wish, a will or an expectation:
Πέμπουσιν ἄνδρα, ἵνα θύσῃ βοῦν.
Pempousin andra, hina thysēi boun.
They send a man to sacrifice the ox. (... so that he might sacrifice an ox.)
  • Optative: It expresses a wish (optative) or a possibility (potentialis):
Εἴθε ἀνὴρ θύοι βοῦν.
Eithe anēr thyoi boun.
I wish a man sacrificed an ox.
Ἔλεγον ὅτι ἀνὴρ οὐ θύοι βοῦν.
Elegon hoti anēr ou thyoi boun.
They said that a man does not sacrifice an ox (… does not sacrifice an ox).
Εἰ βούλοιτο, θύοι ἂν βοῦν.
Egg bouloito, thyoi an boun.
If he wanted, he sacrificed an ox. (... he could sacrifice an ox.)
  • Imperative: it expresses an order:
Ὦ ἄνερ, θῦσον βοῦν.
Ō anēr, thyson boun.
Man, sacrifice an ox!

The verb εἰμί - to be

The verb εἰμί is an irregular auxiliary verb.

indicative conjunctive Optional imperative infinitive participle
Present εἰμί
εἶ
ἐστί (ν)
ἐσμέν
ἐστέ
εἰσί (ν) 		ὦ
ᾖς
ᾖ
ὦμεν
ἦτε
ὦσι 		εἴην
εἴης
εἴη
εἴημεν / εἶμεν
εἴητε / εἶτε
εἴησαν / εἶεν 		-
ἴσθι
ἔστω
-
ἔστε
ἔστων / ὄντων / ἔστωσαν 		εἶναι ὤν
οῦσα
ὄν
Past tense ἦν
ἦσθα
ἦν
ἦμεν
ἦτε
ἦσαν
Future tense ἔσομαι
ἔσῃ / ἔσει
ἔσται
ἐσόμεθα
ἔσεσθε
ἔσονται 		ἐσοίμην
ἔσοιο
ἔσοιτο
ἐσοίμεθα
ἔσοισθε
ἔσοιντο 		ἔσεσθαι ἐσόμενος
ἐσομένη
ἐσόμενον

declination

items

The article is always determined; there is no indefinite article in ancient Greek. The definite article also comes before proper names: ὁ Περικλῆς ho Periklēs 'Perikles', ὁ Θεός ho Theos 'God'.

Masculine Feminine neuter
Singular dual Plural Singular dual Plural Singular dual Plural
Nominative ὁ (ho) τώ (tṓ) οἱ (hoi)
τοί (toí) 		ἡ (hē) τά (tā́)
τώ (tṓ) 		αἱ (hai)
ταί (taí) 		τό (tó) τώ (tṓ) τά (tá)
Genitive τοῦ (toû) τοῖν (toîn) τῶν (tôn) τῆς (tês) ταῖν (taîn)
τοῖν (toîn) 		τῶν (tôn) τοῦ (toû) τοῖν (toîn) τῶν (tôn)
dative τῷ (tôi) τοῖν (toîn) τοῖς (toîs) τῇ (têi) ταῖν (taîn)
τοῖν (toîn) 		ταῖς (taîs) τῷ (tôi) τοῖν (toîn) τοῖς (toîs)
accusative τόν (tón) τώ (tṓ) τούς (toús) τήν (tḗn) τά (tā́)
τώ (tṓ) 		τάς (tás) τό (tó) τώ (tṓ) τά (tá)

In the in the vocative and also only in the Attic preceding ὦ ō (as in ὦ Περίκλεις ō Perikleis ) is not a product but an interjection as well known in German is.

First declension

In the first declension (also α -Deklination or alpha-declension called) there are masculine and feminine words.

Masculine Feminine
νεανίας (1)
young man 		στρατιώτης (2)
soldier 		στρατιά (3)
army, army 		γλῶσσα (4)
language
Stem : νεανῐᾱ-
( α -purum) 		Stem : στρατιωτᾱ- Stem : στρατιᾱ-
( α -purum, end stressed) 		Stem : γλωσσᾰ-
( α -impurum)
Singular Plural Singular Plural Singular Plural Singular Plural
Nominative νεανίας (neaníās) νεανίαι (neaníai) στρατιώτης (stratiṓtēs) στρατιῶται (stratiôtai) στρατιά (stratiā́) στρατιαί (stratiaí) γλῶσσα (glôssă) γλῶσσαι (glôssai)
Genitive νεανίου (neaníou) νεανιῶν (neanιôn) στρατιώτου (stratiṓtou) στρατιωτῶν (stratiōtôn) στρατιᾶς (stratiâs) στρατιῶν (stratiôn) γλώσσης (glṓssēs) γλωσσῶν (glōssôn)
dative νεανίᾳ (neaníāi) νεανίαις (neaníais) στρατιώτῃ (stratiṓtēi) στρατιώταις (stratiṓtais) στρατιᾷ (stratiāi) στρατιαῖς (stratiaîs) γλώσσῃ (glṓssēi) γλώσσαις (glṓssais)
accusative νεανίαν (neaníān) νεανίας (neaníās) στρατιώτην (stratiṓtēn) στρατιώτας (stratiṓtās) στρατιάν (stratiā́n) στρατιάς (stratiā́s) γλῶσσαν (glôssăn) γλώσσας (glṓssās)
vocative νεανία (neaníā) νεανίαι (neaníai) στρατιῶτᾰ (stratiôtă) στρατιῶται (stratiôtai) στρατιά (stratiā́) στρατιαί (stratiaí) γλῶσσα (glôssă) γλῶσσαι (glôssai)
See also in the Wiktionary :
(4) γλῶττα ( γλῶττα is the Attic variant, γλῶσσα is Doric / Ionic; this is irrelevant for the declination)

Second declination

In the second declination (also called ο -declination or omicron declination ) there are masculine, neutral and feminine words. With the neutral words, it should be noted that the nominative and accusative (as in other languages) are always the same.

Masculine neuter
ἄνθρωπος (1) (stem: ἀνθρωπο- )
human 		δῶρον (2) (stem: δωρο- )
gift
Singular Plural Singular Plural
Nominative ἄνθρωπος (ánthrōpos) ἄνθρωποι (ánthrōpoi) δῶρον (dôron) δῶρα (dôră)
Genitive ἀνθρώπου (anthrṓpou) ἀνθρώπων (anthrṓpōn) δώρου (dṓrou) δώρων (dṓrōn)
dative ἀνθρώπῳ (anthrṓpōi) ἀνθρώποις (anthrṓpois) δώρῳ (dṓrōi) δώροις (dṓrois)
accusative ἄνθρωπον (ánthrōpon) ἀνθρώπους (anthrṓpous) δῶρον (dôron) δῶρα (dôră)
vocative ἄνθρωπε (ánthrōpe) ἄνθρωποι (ánthrōpoi) δῶρον (dôron) δῶρα (dôră)
See also in the Wiktionary :

Third declension

The third declension (also called consonantic declination ) contains words of all genders. The basic forms have very different endings (compare πατὴρ patēr , ῥήτωρ rhētōr , Σωκράτης Sōkratēs ). The following endings are essentially regular:

Masculine, feminine neuter
Singular dual Plural Singular dual Plural
Nominative -ς or - -ε -ες - -ε -ᾰ
Genitive -ος ( or -ως ) -οιν -ων -ος ( or -ως ) -οιν -ων
dative -ι -οιν -σι (ν) -ι -οιν -σι (ν)
accusative -ᾰ -ε -ᾰς or -ς (-νς) - -ε -ᾰ
vocative -ς or - -ε -ες - -ε -ᾰ

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