C.W. Shelmerdine
Introduction to Greek
2nd edition
(Newburyport, MA: Focus, 2008)
Chapter 4
Shelmerdine Chapter 4
1. The paradigm of the definite article
2. Masculine nouns of the 1st declension
3. Imperfect active indicative of thematic verbs (1st
principal part)
4. Some uses of the definite article
5. Verbs taking genitive or dative
Shelmerdine Chapter 4
1. The paradigm of the definite article
2. Masculine nouns of the 1st declension
3. Imperfect active indicative of thematic verbs (1st
principal part)
4. Some uses of the definite article
5. Verbs taking genitive or dative
Shelmerdine Chapter 4
1. The paradigm of the definite article
•
Recall the feminine forms of the article:
singular
plural
Nom. ἡ
Gen. τῆς
Dat. τῇ
Acc. τήν
Nom. αἱ
Gen. τῶν
Dat. ταῖς
Acc. τάς
The vocative never uses
a definite article, but
ὦ regularly precedes a
noun in the vocative.
Shelmerdine Chapter 4
1. The paradigm of the definite article
•
This chapter introduces the masculine forms:
singular
plural
Nom. ὁ
Gen. τοῦ
Dat. τῷ
Acc. τόν
Nom. οἱ
Gen. τῶν
Dat. τοῖς
Acc. τούς
The vocative never uses
a definite article, but
ὦ regularly precedes a
noun in the vocative.
Shelmerdine Chapter 4
1. The paradigm of the definite article
•
This chapter also shows the neuter forms, which
differ from the masculine only in the nominative
and accusative (see Chapter 6):
singular
plural
Nom. τό
Gen. τοῦ
Dat. τῷ
Acc. τό
Nom. τά
Gen. τῶν
Dat. τοῖς
Acc. τά
The vocative never uses
a definite article, but
ὦ regularly precedes a
noun in the vocative.
Shelmerdine Chapter 4
1. The paradigm of the definite article
2. Masculine nouns of the 1st declension
3. Imperfect active indicative of thematic verbs (1st
principal part)
4. Some uses of the definite article
5. Verbs taking genitive or dative
Shelmerdine Chapter 3
2. Masculine nouns of the 1st declension
•
Masculine nouns differ in the singular from feminine
nouns in that they use -ης in the nominative, -ου in the
genitive and –α in the vocative. Otherwise, they appear
like τιμή “honor.” Hence κριτής “judge”
singular
Nom. κριτής
Gen. κριτοῦ
Dat. κριτῇ
Acc. κριτήν
Voc. κριτά
plural
Nom. κριταί
Gen. κριτῶν
Dat. κριταῖς
Acc. κριτάς
Voc. = Nom.
Shelmerdine Chapter 3
2. Masculine nouns of the 1st declension
•
Masculine nouns follow the rule that if a stem ends in ε, ι,
or ρ, then a long α replaces the η (cf. χώρα “country”),
but such nouns are very rare, and νεανίας “young man”
is the only such noun in your Core Vocabulary:
singular
Nom. νεανίας
Gen. νεανίου
Dat. νεανίᾳ
Acc. νεανίαν
Voc. νεανία
plural
Nom. νεανίαι
Gen. νεανιῶν
Dat. νεανίαις
Acc. νεανίας
Voc. = Nom.
Shelmerdine Chapter 3
2. Masculine nouns of the 1st declension
•
•
•
Masculine nouns follow exactly the same accent rules as
feminine nouns. Accents are persistent and may begin on
the antepenult, penult or ultima.
The α in the vocative is short (but the α in the vocative of
νεανίας “young man” is long!).
Masculine names in this declension can have different
vocative forms.
Shelmerdine Chapter 3
Masculine nouns of the 1st declension
•
The masculine forms of the definite article will
accompany masculine nouns, even though their endings
are different:
singular
ὁ κριτής
τοῦ κριτοῦ
τῷ κριτῇ
τὸν κριτήν
plural
οἱ κριταί
τῶν κριτῶν
τοῖς κριταῖς
τοὺς κριτάς
Shelmerdine Chapter 4
1. The paradigm of the definite article
2. Masculine nouns of the 1st declension
3. Imperfect active indicative of thematic verbs
(1st principal part)
4. Some uses of the definite article
5. Verbs taking genitive or dative
Shelmerdine Chapter 4
parse/parsing
•
•
•
•
•
1st, 2nd or 3RD PERSON
SINGULAR or PLURAL
PRESENT, IMPERFECT, or FUTURE
INDICATIVE
ACTIVE
Shelmerdine Chapter 4
singular
• -ον (I)
• -ες (you)
• -ε (s/he, it)
plural
• -ομεν (we)
• -ετε (you, y’all)
• -ον (they)
the endings for the imperfect
(also known as secondary endings)
Shelmerdine Chapter 4
3. Imperfect active indicative of thematic
verbs (1st principal part)
•
•
The imperfect (in fact, any secondary tense in
the indicative mood) also adds an augment to
the beginning of the stem.
This augment appears as an ἐ- attached to the
beginning of the stem
–
–
Present: λυimperfect: ἐλυ-
Shelmerdine Chapter 4
singular
• λύω (I loose)
• λύεις (you loose)
• λύει (s/he, it looses)
plural
• λύομεν (we loose)
• λύετε (you, y’all loose)
• λύουσι (they loose)
present tense
present stem = λυ
Shelmerdine Chapter 4
singular
• ἔλυον
• ἔλυες
• ἔλυε
plural
• ἐλύομεν
• ἐλύετε
• ἔλυον
imperfect tense
stem = λυ
Notice how the accent rules make the accent shift.
Shelmerdine Chapter 4
3. Imperfect active indicative of thematic
verbs (1st principal part)
•
The imperfect tense refers to ongoing or
repeated past action. Think of it as action in the
past that you see as a moving video in your
head.
Shelmerdine Chapter 4
3. Imperfect active indicative of thematic
verbs (1st principal part)
•
English can convey the idea of the imperfect
tense in several ways:
–
–
–
–
“I was going” (standard default translation)
“I used to go”
“I tried to go” (called conative)
“I began to go” (called inchoative)
Shelmerdine Chapter 4
3. Imperfect active indicative of thematic
verbs (1st principal part)
•
Thus you can translate a Greek imperfect verb in
several ways:
–
ὁ νεανίας ἐδίωκε τὴν ἅμιλλαν.
•
•
•
•
“The young man was pursuing the wagon.”
“The young man used to pursue the wagon.”
“The young man tried to pursue the wagon.”
“The young man began to pursue the wagon.”
Shelmerdine Chapter 4
3. Imperfect active indicative of thematic
verbs (1st principal part)
•
Context and what sounds natural in English
should guide your translation:
–
οἱ πολῖται ἐθεράπευον τὴν θεάν.
•
•
“The citizens used to worship the goddess” (but not
anymore)
“The citizens were worshiping the goddess” (while
something else was happening)
Shelmerdine Chapter 4
3. Imperfect active indicative of thematic
verbs (1st principal part)
•
Context and what sounds natural in English
should guide your translation:
–
οἱ πολῖται ἔπειθον τὸν κριτήν.
•
•
“The citizens tried to persuade the judge” (but never did)
“The citizens were busy persuading the judge” (while
something else was happening)
Shelmerdine Chapter 4
1. The paradigm of the definite article
2. Masculine nouns of the 1st declension
3. Imperfect active indicative of thematic verbs (1st
principal part)
4. Some uses of the definite article
5. Verbs taking genitive or dative
Shelmerdine Chapter 4
4. Some uses of the definite article
•
Greek uses the article in some places where
English does not use “the”:
–
–
As a possessive, where the item belongs to the
subject:
ἄγει τὴν στρατιάν.
•
“He leads his army.”
Shelmerdine Chapter 4
4. Some uses of the definite article
•
Greek uses the article in some places where
English does not use “the”:
–
–
To indicate a class or type:
οἱ ποιηταὶ παρέχουσι τὴν τιμήν.
•
“Poets provide honor.”
Shelmerdine Chapter 4
4. Some uses of the definite article
•
Greek uses the article in some places where
English does not use “the”:
–
–
with abstract nouns:
ἡ δικαιοσύνη παρέχει τὴν εἰρήνην.
•
“Justice causes peace.”
Shelmerdine Chapter 4
4. Some uses of the definite article
•
Greek uses the article in some places where
English does not use “the”:
–
–
with proper nouns:
ἡ Ἀθήνη.
•
–
“Athena”
αἱ Ἀθῆναι.
•
“Athens”
Shelmerdine Chapter 4
1. The paradigm of the definite article
2. Masculine nouns of the 1st declension
3. Imperfect active indicative of thematic verbs (1st
principal part)
4. Some uses of the definite article
5. Verbs taking genitive or dative
Shelmerdine Chapter 4
5. Verbs taking genitive or dative
•
Unless indicated otherwise, a Greek verb takes
its object in the accusative case. Some verbs
take other cases, however:
–
βασιλεύει τῆς χώρας.
•
–
“He is king of the country.”
πιστεύουσι τῇ θεᾷ.
•
“They trust (put their trust in) the goddess.”
Shelmerdine Chapter 4
5. Verbs taking genitive or dative
•
•
If a verb takes its object in the genitive or
dative, the vocabulary entry will indicate it:
– βασιλεύω (+ gen.) be king, reign
– πιστεύω (+ dat.) trust, believe
Otherwise, assume the verb takes its objects in the
accusative