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Particles
One part of speech that is pervasive in much of Greek is the PARTICLE. Particles are words that have a grammatical function, but have little meaning on their own. In other words, while nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs all have specific lexical – or dictionary – meanings, particles express grammatical relationships. For example, in English, the word to is often used as a preposition: I am going to the store. But the word to when used as part of an English infinitive – to go – is not a preposition, but a particle that grammatically marks the verb go as an infinitive.
Greek uses many more particles does than written English. Many of these Greek particles act essentially as sentence adverbs, serving either as sign posts that mark the underlying grammatical sentence structure, or providing an emotional emphasis to a word, clause, or sentence that expresses the mood or attitude of the writer. These particles provide a subtle and rich character to Greek that can sometimes be difficult to express in formal written English (S 2771). These particles often are best captured, in fact, in spoken English through the use of pitch, pauses, stress, and “spoken English” particles. For example, consider the “spoken English” particles alright and well in the following English sentences. What mood or attitude does each “spoken English” particle give to its respective sentence?
- Alright, let’s go to movies.
- Well, I didn’t do my Greek homework, yet, so maybe not.
The conjunctions δέ and μέν…δέ are, in fact, particles. Other particles include:
- αὖ on the other hand…
- γε intensifies and sharpens the word(s) before it
- δή literally now!, but more generally emphatic
- ἦ emphasizes the particle that follows
- καίτοι marks a transition, restatement, or conclusion
- μέντοι (postpositive) of course (emphatic in replies); however (in a transition)
- μήν follows a particle that it emphasizes
- νῦν, νυνί now, as it is now…
- οὐκοῦν sets up an expectation to agree
- περ (enclitic) an emphatic suffix following relatives and conjunctions
Questions and Answers
- ἆρα this word has no independent meaning: it simply turns a statement into a yes/no question.
- πότε when?
- ποῦ where?
- πῶς how?
- πότερον whether
- ναί yes
- μάλιστα definitely yes, certainly
- οὔ no
Adverbs
- ἀεί always
- ἄνω up
- ἄρτι now
- αὖθις again
- αὐτίκα immediately
-
εἶτα then, next
-
ἐκεῖ there
-
ἔνθα there
-
ἐνταῦθα here, there
-
ἔπειτα then, next
-
ἔτι still
-
εὖ well
-
εὐθύς immediately
-
ἤδη already
-
μάλα very, very much
-
μάλιστα most, most of all, certainly
-
μᾶλλον more, rather
-
οὐκέτι no longer
-
πάλιν back, backwards
-
πάντοτε always, at all times
-
πλέον more, rather
-
πολλάκις often
-
ποτε sometime
-
που somewhere
-
πρίν before, until; formerly
-
τότε then
Prepositions
Some adverbs can also function like prepositions:
- ἅμα together with (+dat.)
- ἄνευ without, except, besides (+gen.)
- ἄχρι(ς) until (+gen.)
- ἕνεκα because of (+gen.)
- ἔξω outside of (+gen.)
- μεταξύ between (+gen.)
- μέχρι as far as (+ gen.)
- ὁπίσω behind, after (+gen.)
- πλήν except (+gen.)
- χωρίς separately, without (+gen.)
Conjunctions
You have already encountered a number of conjunctions. Additional conjunctions are as follows:
- ἵνα where; purpose: so that, in order that
- μέχρι until
- ὅπου where, wherever
- ὅπως how; purpose: so that, in order that
- ὥστε result: so that
Defective Verbs
- –, βιώσομαι, ἐβίων live
- –, ἐρήσομαι, ἠρόμην ask
Other verbs have peculiarities that must be memorized.
- ἥκω, ἥξω have arrived, be present
- This verb has a perfect active stem and perfect meaning, but it conjugates just as a regular –ω verb.
- κεῖμαι lie
- This verb serves as the perfect passive of τίθημι in the sense of to have been put somewhere.
- οἴομαι or οἶμαι (parenthetical) I think
- χρή it is necessary
εἶμι
Another verb the exhibits peculiarities is εἶμι. This verb is formed from the stem εἰ-/ἰ-. As often with –μι verbs, the singular shows the long vowel sound (εἰ) and the plural has the short vowel sound (ἰ). When inflected in the present tense, it usually is FUTURE TENSE in meaning: I will go (S 774). To express I go in the present tense, ἔρχομαι is used.
The Present Indicative Active of εἶμι (S 773; GPH p. 175)
|
εἶμι |
ἴμεν |
|
εἶ |
ἴτε |
|
εἶσι |
ἴασι |
Present Indicative Active Infinitive: ἰέναι
2nd singular Imperative: ἴθι
Participle: ἰών ἰοῦσα ἰόν
The Imperfect Indicative Active of εἶμι (S 773; GPH p. 175)
|
ᾖα or ᾔειν |
ᾖμεν |
|
ᾔεισθα or ᾔεις |
ᾖτε |
|
ᾔειν or ᾔει |
ᾖσαν or ᾔεσαν |
– τὸ τέλος –
Vocabulary List 1
Adverbs
- ἀεί always
- ἄνω up
- ἄρτι now
- αὖθις again
- αὐτίκα immediately
-
εἶτα then, next
-
ἐκεῖ there
-
ἔνθα there
-
ἐνταῦθα here, there
-
ἔπειτα then, next
-
ἔτι still
-
εὖ well
-
εὐθύς immediately
-
ἤδη already
-
μάλα very, very much
-
μάλιστα most, most of all, certainly
-
μᾶλλον more, rather
-
οὐκέτι no longer
-
πάλιν back, backwards
-
πάντοτε always, at all times
-
πλέον more, rather
-
πολλάκις often
-
ποτε sometime
-
που somewhere
-
πρίν before, until; formerly
-
τότε then
Vocabulary List 2
Particles
- αὖ on the other hand…
- γε (intensifies and sharpens the word(s) before it)
- δή (literally “now!” but more generally emphatic)
- ἦ (emphasizes the particle that follows)
- καίτοι (marks a transition, restatement or conclusion)
- μέντοι (postpositive) “of course” (emphatic in replies); “however” (in a transition)
- μήν (follows a particle that it emphasizes)
- νῦν, νυνί now, as it is now…
- οὐκοῦν (sets up an expectation to agree)
- πέρ (enclitic, an emphatic suffix following relatives and conjunctions)
- ἆρα (turns a statement into a yes/no question)
- πότε when?
- ποῦ where?
- πῶς how?
- πότερον whether
- ναί yes
- μάλιστα definitely yes
- οὔ no
Vocabulary List 3
Prepositions
- ἅμα together with (+dat.)
- ἄνευ without, except, besides (+gen.)
- ἄχρι(ς) until (+gen.)
- ἕνεκα because of (+gen.)
- ἔξω outside of (+gen.)
- μεταξύ between (+gen.)
- μέχρι as far as (+ gen.)
- ὁπίσω behind, after (+gen.)
- πλήν except (+gen.)
- χωρίς separately, without (+gen.)
Conjunctions
- ἵνα where; purpose: so that, in order that
- μέχρι until
- ὅπου where, wherever
- ὅπως how; purpose: so that, in order that
- ὥστε result: so that
Defective Verbs
- —–, βιώσομαι, ἐβίων live
- εἶμι go
- —–, ἐρήσομαι, ἠρόμην ask
- ἥκω, ἥξω have arrived, be present (this verb has a perfect active stem and perfect meaning, but it conjugates just as a regular –ω verb).
- κεῖμαι lie (this verb serves as the perfect passive of τίθημι in the sense of to have been put somewhere).
- οἴομαι or οἶμαι (parenthetical) I think
- χρή it is necessary