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Question 1

Neuter nouns - subject or object?

Answer 1

Because the nominative and accusative singular and nominative, accusative plural are all identical, of all nouns and adjectives, it can be difficult to tell wether the neuter noun is subject or object.

Only the context of the sentence can clear worries.
Neuter plural subjects usually take a singular verb.

Question 1

Type 2 nouns.

Answer 1

All nouns in Greek are declined and separated into declensions type 2 (2a and 2b), broadly speaking there are 2 declensions.

Stems in α - type 1
Stems in ο - type 2
All the rest - type 3

2a nouns - most are masculine thought there are a few feminine and some which are masc/feminine.

2b nouns - Type 2b nouns are all neuter. N. nouns are often inanimate, or regarded as effectively inanimate.

Question 2

Prepositions

Answer 2

They are words like, “in, on, below, towards, to” followed by a noun e.g house.

They can indicate expression or movement
They can express a relationship in terms of time (for example after)
They can indicate something more abstract like cause “because”

In Greek, they are always accompanied by a noun or pronoun in the accusative, genitive or dative.

When a preposition is followed by a particular case, it is said to take on or govern that case
When a noun or pronoun goes into this case because of a preposition, it is said to be governed by it
Prepositions, together with the case they take, are:

Προς + ACC, ‘towards’, e.g “προς την γην” = “towards the land”
Απο + GEN. ‘away from’, e.g “απο του πλοιου” = “away from the ship”
Εκ + GEN, ‘out of/from’, e.g “εκ του πλοιου” = from the ship
Εν + DAT, ‘in’, e.g, “εν τη θαλαττη” = “in the sea”

Some prepositions may govern more than one case and differ in meaning depending on the case being taken, e.g while προς + ACC means ‘towards’ προς + GEN means ‘in the name of/from/ under the protection of’.

Question 3

The four pieces of information to be found in a Greek verb

Answer 3

Tense - verbs in greek have tenses
Mood - Verbs also have mood - indicative tells you something is indicated as occurring (or, with the negatives ου, ουκ, ουχ, something as not occurring.
Voice - the active voice tells you who is doing the action
Person and number - the forms of a verb differ according to number, that is whether the verb is singular or plural and PERSON. There are three persons -

Question 4

-ω verbs?

Answer 4

all verbs ending in -ω follow the same endings.

Question 5

Thematic verbs

Answer 5

All -ω verbs are thematic verbs. A thematic verb is one consisting of stem +’thematic vowel’ + personal endings. The ‘thematic vowels’ aer
1s. ο
2s. ε
3s. ε
1pl. ο
2pl. ε
3pl. ο
Τhis o e e o e o pattern will recur elsewhere.

Question 6

What are particles?

Answer 6

Particles are words with unnatural translations in english, as they often indicate feature, intonation, facial expression or attitude.
First position particles - these are words which normally come first in the sentence or part of sentence to which they belong. These are:
Αρα - which introduces a question when there is no interrogative word like who, what, why?
Αλλα - but
Και - and, even, actually
Postpositive particles - most of the other particles are after placed, and usually come second in the sentence or clause to which they belong. E.g:
γαρ
γε
Δε
Ουν
Τε

Question 7

What are enclitics?

Answer 7

These are words that have accents but give the to a previous word if possible. Thus they can alter the accentuation of the preceding words.
Like postpositives, enclitics cannot come first in the sentence or clause.
Other enclitics you have met are με and ειμι

Enclitics (from ἐγκλί_νω lean on, upon) are words attaching themselves closely to the preceding word, after which they are pronounced rapidly.

Question 8

μέν and δέ

Answer 8

Particles - men and dde, used to draw a contrast between two ideas or halves of a sentence: English example is, “he captain goes down, but the sailors go up.” Here the contrast is shown in english through the word ‘but’.

Another way to translate is to use ‘while’ to introduce one of the clauses, as in: ‘Dikaiopolis runs away while…’

It is also possible to translate by using ‘on the one hand…. on the other hand…’.

Sometimes the contrast drawn is not at all strong, e.g. The Parthenon is beautiful and the Acropolis is beautiful.’

It can also be used to construct a (usually uncontrasted) list: ‘A and B and C and D and E’, etc.

Question 9

Adverbs

Answer 9

Adverbs tell you how, or in what way, the action of the verb is done.
Adverbs in Greek do not change form and are formed by substituting ς for the v at the end of the masculine genitive plural form of the adjective. So most adverbs end in ως or εως.

Question 10

Adjectives

Answer 10

A part of speech which describes a noun or a pronoun, or simply “describing words” and are declined in Greek.

Adjectives in Greek change to agree with the noun or pronoun they are describing.

Question 11

The i, p, e rule

Answer 11

If an adjective ends in -ος in the masculine singular nominative and its stem ends in i, p or it will follow the pattern of ημέτερος, as in it will have an -a instead of -η in the feminine singular.

Question 12

Adjectives as nouns - neuter ‘things’

Answer 12

1. Neuter Plural Forms: Adjectives, when used in their neuter plural form with the definite article (e.g., τὰ), often refer to “things” related to the adjective’s meaning. For example:
   
   • τὰ ναυτικά literally translates as “the naval-things” or “the things related to the navy,” meaning “naval matters.”
   • τὰ στρατιωτικά means “military matters,” or “things related to the military.”
2. Neuter Singular Forms as Abstract Nouns: The neuter singular form of an adjective can also function as an abstract noun. For example:
   
   • τὸ καλόν literally translates to “the beautiful thing,” but it also comes to mean “beauty” in a more abstract sense.

Question 13

Masculine and feminine ‘people’

Answer 13

The definitive article can in fact be used in this way (adjectives as nouns) with adjectives in all genders and numbers.
When masculine, it refers to men, and when feminine, women.
η καλον - ‘the beautiful (f.s) woman’
Οι σοφοι - the wise (m.p) men, wise men (in general), the wise.
English plays the same game - the clever = the clever people

Question 14

τε…τε and τε… καί

Answer 14

τε…τε and τε… καί
51. The combinations of particles τε…τε and τε…καί link two words or phrases together (‘both…and’), e.g.
ὅ τε Δικαιόπολις καὶ ὁ ῥαψῳδός, ‘[The] both Dikaiopolis and the rhap- sode.’
ὁρᾷ τε ὁ ἄνθρωπος καὶ οὐχ ὁρᾷ, ‘The man [both] sees and does not see?
Note the position of τε in these phrases - it goes after the FIRST item it will link with the next (between article and noun in the first example), while καί comes before the SECOND item.
In other words, τε in this usage waves a flag saying ‘another item coming up’.

Question 15

Middle verbs

Answer 15

Middle verbs end in -ομαι in the first person singular.

Middle forms have two patterns of ending, and these endings are added to the thematic vowels.

In the middle voice, the second person singular has a disappearing ᾽σ᾽ - in Greek, in between vowels sometimes the letter disappears.

Contracted middle verbs - there are 3 different types of contracted middle verbs - a contracts, o contracts and e contracts.

Question 16

type 1 nouns…

Answer 16

Type 1b nouns - replace the η with an α because it follows the i, p and e rule. They normally have a longer a in the nominative, vocative and accusative singular and always have a long a in the genitive and dative singular and accusative plural.
1D - are all masculine but have endings which look suspiciously feminine

Question 17

The genitive case

Answer 17

The genitive case has a wide range of functions and very often is equivalent to the English word ‘of’

All noun and adjectives in the genitive plural end in -ων

Question 18

Sandwich genitive

Answer 18

The positioning of the genitive affects the sentence.

The typical structure is the ‘sandwitch’ with the genitive coming between the article and the noun.

ὁρῶ τὸ τῶν ἀνθρώπων πλοίον, = ‘I see the [of] the men ship.”

Question 19

What is the repeated article construction?

Answer 19

ὁρῶ τὸ τῶν ἀνθρώπων πλοίον, = ‘I see the [of] the men ship.” (in answer to the question, “What are you doing?”)

If the question had been instead, whose ship do you see? the answer would have been…

τὸ πλοῖον ὁρῶ τὸ τῶν ἀνθρώπων, ‘It is the men’s ship I see.’ (lit. ‘The ship I see the [one] of the men.’)

The article repeats itself, in the neuter to agree with πλοιον and to specify which ship has been seen. his construction typically clarifies what is being referenced in response to a question, especially when the phrase is more specific or clarifying the subject.

The article is also used to extend or specify phrases that don’t involve the genitive, such as in the following:
- τὰ πράγματα τὰ περὶ Σαλαμίνα – ‘the events around Salamis’
Here, the article is repeated for emphasis, specifying which events are being referred to.

But it is also possible to extend phrases without repeating the def. art., e.g. by using the ‘sand- wich’-construction we saw above (where a gen. came BETWEEN article and noun):

Question 20

Article + preposition constructions

Answer 20

In Greek the def. art. can be used to extend phrases in a way similar to its use with adjectives to make nouns (49).
Examine the following phrases:
τὰ περὶ Σαλαμίνα, ‘the [n. pl., i.e.] things/events around Salamis’
οἱ ἐν Σαλαμῖνι, ‘the [m. pl., i.e.] men in Salamis/those in Salamis’
αἱ ἐν τῷ Πειραιεῖ, ‘the [f. pl., i.e.] women in the Piraeus’
In these phrases the def. art. + prepositional phrase is being used as an equivalent of a noun.

Question 21

Personal pronouns

Answer 21

The use of pronouns, “I, you, we” with a verb e.g βαινω εγω” is a form that emphasizes verbs and makes them more forceful.

The unaccented forms of these pronouns are enclitics.

The emphatic usage of the nominative form often implies a strong contrast with someone or something else - “I am going…but you are staying put”

Question 22

Third declension nouns

Answer 22

the third declension can be difficult to recognise the gender of the noun, but here are the patterns:

1) Nouns classified as 3a are either masculine or feminine or feminine, but never neuter.
2) Nouns classified as types 3b, 3c and 3f are always neuter.

STEM
The nouns stem is not obvious from the nominative singular - they must be memorised

GENITIVE SINGULAR
The genitive form allows you to see -

1) The stem of the noun
2) That it is a type 3 noun

3A is the most common type 3 noun.

Accusative singular

(1) 3a nouns ending in -ις (usually feminine) generally have an acc. s. in -ιv,

e.g. χάρις (χαριτ-), ‘grace’, acc. s. χάριν, but otherwise follow the same pattern as λιμήν and vύξ. Note that πατρίς (acc. πατρίδα) is an exception.

Question 23

this and that + pronouns

Answer 23

The Greek word for this and that can be used as…

an adjective - in which case they will agree with the noun

On their own as pronouns - when they will mean ‘he, she, it’ depending on form and context. ουτος and εκείνος are regularly used on their own as third person pronouns to mean - ‘this man’ ‘this woman’ ‘that thing’

they can be used with forms ending in Ι to emphasise ‘here’ meaning -

‘this man here, this woman here, that thing there’

When ουτος and εκείνος are used as pronouns, the definitive article is not used.

USAGE as an adjective
it agrees with the noun but doesn’t sandwich it in between the article and the noun.

Question 24

negatives

Answer 24

a series of simple negatives first in the clause reinforces the negative.

When the simple negative follows a compound negative, it creates a positive.

Question 25

Greek idioms

Answer 25

Greek leaves out the verb ‘to be’ if it can be understood from the context. Likewise, other words can be left out if they are understood easily from the context. Such as,

Adjectives which may be understood in English as an adverb (saying ‘sleeping peaceful’ rather than ‘sleeping peacefully’)

Adjectives being used as nouns by the addition of the definitive article. In fact, nearly all Greek adjectives can be used as nouns.