Ancient Greek for Everyone: A New Digital Resource for Beginning Greek as taught at Louisiana State University Fall 2013 Richard Warga Unit 18: Vocative and Imperative

Ancient Greek for Everyone This class (someday, Month ##, 2013) AGE Unit 18: Vocative and Imperative You have already learned Greek nouns and adjectives. This Unit presents the final case: the vocative. You have already learned two moods of Greek verbs: the indicative and infinitive. This Unit presents one more mood: the imperative.

Ancient Greek for Everyone from Unit 3 part 1: Introduction to the Greek Noun A Greek noun communicates THREE pieces of information: – Gender – Number – Case Greek puts every noun into a particular “case” to indicate its role in an action or place in an idea.

Ancient Greek for Everyone from Unit 3 part 1: Introduction to the Greek Noun A Greek noun communicates THREE pieces of information: – Gender – Number – Case Greek uses four cases: Nominative Genitive Dative Accusative

Ancient Greek for Everyone from Unit 3 part 1: Introduction to the Greek Noun Greek uses four cases: – Nominative: The nominative case indicates that a noun is the subject of a verb. – Genitive – Dative – Accusative Mary gives the rulers the child of Joseph.

Ancient Greek for Everyone from Unit 3 part 1: Introduction to the Greek Noun Greek uses four cases: – Nominative – Genitive – Dative – Accusative: The accusative case indicates that a noun is the first (primary, direct) object of a verb. Mary gives the rulers the child of Joseph.

Ancient Greek for Everyone from Unit 3 part 1: Introduction to the Greek Noun Greek uses four cases: – Nominative – Genitive – Dative: The dative case indicates that a noun is the second (indirect) object of a verb. – Accusative : Mary gives the rulers the child of Joseph.

Ancient Greek for Everyone from Unit 3 part 1: Introduction to the Greek Noun Greek uses four cases: – Nominative – Genitive – Dative: The dative case also indicates the means, tool or instrument used to accomplish an action. English most often uses “with” to indicate this use. As often, where English uses a separate word, Greek uses a suffix. – Accusative : Mary carries the child with her hands.

Ancient Greek for Everyone from Unit 3 part 1: Introduction to the Greek Noun Greek uses four cases: – Nominative – Genitive: The genitive case plays roughly the same role as the preposition “of” in English. As often, where English uses a separate word, Greek uses a suffix. – Dative – Accusative : Mary gives the rulers the child of Joseph. The cup is empty of water.

Ancient Greek for Everyone from Unit 3 part 1: Introduction to the Greek Noun Greek uses four cases: – Nominative – Genitive: While English can indicate possession either with “of” or an ’s, Greek can indicate possession only with the Genitive case. All the highlighted words would be in the Genitive case in Greek, with no distinction among them. Mary gives the rulers the child of Joseph. Mary gives the rulers Joseph’s child. Joseph’s cup is empty of water.

Elementary Greek The Vocative Case There are occasions when a Greek speaker or writer needs to call out to someone or something. The one remaining case, the vocative, covers this occasion of using nouns and adjectives.

Elementary Greek The Vocative Case Most often, the nominative forms of nouns as adjectives double as vocative uses: In the plural, all nouns simply use their nominative plural forms for the vocative: – παραδίδοτε ἄνδρες Ἀθηναῖοι τὴν πατρίδα. – You Athenian men are betraying your country. – παραδίδοτε, ὦ ἄνδρες Ἀθηναῖοι, τὴν πατρίδα. – Athenian men, you are betraying your country. Often Greek uses the marker ὦ to signal the vocative case, but it is not necessary and it is usually best to omit it in English translation.

Elementary Greek The Vocative Case Most often, the nominative forms of nouns as adjectives double as vocative uses: All neuter nouns simply use their nominative forms for the vocative: – παραδίδως, ὦ τέκνον, τὴν πατρίδα. – Child, you are betraying your country. – παραδίδως, ὦ τέκνα, τὴν πατρίδα. – Children, you are betraying your country. Often Greek uses the marker ὦ to signal the vocative case, but it is not necessary and it is usually best to omit it in English translation.

Elementary Greek The Vocative Case Some masculine and feminine nouns, and the adjectives that modify them, use just their stem for the vocative singular: – παραδίδως, ὦ πάτερ, τὴν πατρίδα. – Father, you are betraying your country. – παραδίδως, ὦ μῆτερ, τὴν πατρίδα. – Mother, you are betraying your country. – παραδίδως, ὦ θύγατερ, τὴν πατρίδα. – Daughter, you are betraying your country. Often Greek uses the marker ὦ to signal the vocative case, but it is not necessary and it is usually best to omit it in English translation.

Elementary Greek The Vocative Case Some masculine and feminine nouns, and the adjectives that modify them, use just their stem for the vocative singular: – παραδίδως, ὦ βασιλεῦ, τὴν πατρίδα. – King, you are betraying your country. – παραδίδως, ὦ Σώκρατες, τὴν πατρίδα. – Socrates, you are betraying your country. – παραδίδως, ὦ στρατιώτα, τὴν πατρίδα. – Soldier, you are betraying your country. Often Greek uses the marker ὦ to signal the vocative case, but it is not necessary and it is usually best to omit it in English translation.

Ancient Greek for Everyone from Unit 1 part 3: How to end a Greek word A Greek word can end only in a vowel, - ν, - ρ or - ς. If necessary, consonants will drop from the end until the word reaches an allowable final sound – For example, σῶματ  σῶμα.

Elementary Greek The Vocative Case Some masculine and feminine nouns, and the adjectives that modify them, use just their stem for the vocative singular. For pronunciation, sometimes the stem is further shortened: – παραδίδως, ὦ ἄνερ, τὴν πατρίδα. (stem = ἀνδερ -) – Man, you are betraying your country. – παραδίδως, ὦ γύναι, τὴν πατρίδα. (stem = γυναικ -) – Woman, you are betraying your country. – παραδίδως, ὦ παῖ, τὴν πατρίδα. (stem = παιδ -) – Child, you are betraying your country. Often Greek uses the marker ὦ to signal the vocative case, but it is not necessary and it is usually best to omit it in English translation.

Elementary Greek The Vocative Case Some masculine and feminine nouns, and the adjectives that modify them, use just their stem for the vocative singular. For pronunciation, sometimes the stem is further shortened. All masculine (and feminine) nouns of the 2 nd declension shorten the ending of their stem from – ο to – ε : – παραδίδως, ὦ ἀδελφέ, τὴν πατρίδα. (stem = ἀδελφο -) – Brother, you are betraying your country. Compare Greek – ω verbs, which end their stems in – ο but also shorten it to – ε ( λύομεν / λύετε ).

Elementary Greek The Vocative Case Otherwise, Greek nouns are generally identical in the nominative and vocative singular. Adjectives form the vocative just as they would as nouns: – παραδίδως, ὦ κακὲ βασιλεῦ, τὴν πατρίδα. – Evil king, you are betraying your country. – παραδίδως, ὦ κακὴ βασίλεια, τὴν πατρίδα. – Evil queen, you are betraying your country. – παραδίδως, ὦ ἀληθὲς βασιλεῦ, τὴν πατρίδα. – True king, you are betraying your country.

Elementary Greek The Imperative Mood You have already learned two moods of Greek verbs: the indicative and infinitive. The indicative mood conveys actual historical events in the present, past or future. The infinitive mood is used to refer just to the action of a verb, when it is not necessary to indicate the person and number of the verb. This Unit presents one more mood: the imperative. The imperative mood conveys a command for someone to perform the action of the verb.

Elementary Greek The Imperative Mood This Unit presents one more mood: the imperative. The indicative mood conveys a command for someone to perform the action of the verb. The imperative mood occurs in only two tenses: – present – aorist but exists in both voices (active and middle, and it can have passive meaning).

Elementary Greek From Unit 13: The aorist tense of Greek verbs: – Both the imperfect and aorist tenses describe actions in the past. They differ in what is called “aspect.” The aorist conveys a single, discreet action. This is the more common, default tense for referring to action in the past. The imperfect conveys activity that was more than a single action in some way. – For example: “I walked.” Aorist: think of a single image of the speaker in the act of walking. “I was walking.” Imperfect: think of an ongoing video of the speaker walking.

Elementary Greek The Imperative Mood The imperative mood occurs in only two tenses: – present – aorist Recall that only the indicative mood ever has an augment, so an imperative in the aorist tense never has an augment. The present and aorist imperatives differ in aspect: – λαβέ! “Get it!” Aorist: quickly grab something (a single action). – λάμβανε! “Hold on!” Present: keep holding on to something (continuing action).

Elementary Greek The Imperative Mood A Greek speaker uses the imperative mood in the second person to command the listener(s) to do something. In the 2 nd person plural, the imperative uses the same personal endings as the indicative, – τε and – σθε : – λύετε, ἄνδρες Ἀθηναῖοι, τοὺς ἵππους. – Men of Athens, release your horses! – λύεσθε, ἄνδρες Ἀθηναῖοι, τοὺς ἵππους. – Men of Athens, ransom the horses!

Elementary Greek The Imperative Mood A Greek speaker uses the imperative mood in the second person to command the listener(s) to do something. In the 2 nd person plural, the imperative uses the same personal endings as the indicative, – τε and – σθε : Remember that the aorist imperative cannot have an augment. – λύσατε, ἄνδρες Ἀθηναῖοι, τοὺς ἵππους. – Men of Athens, release your horses! – λύσασθε, ἄνδρες Ἀθηναῖοι, τοὺς ἵππους. – Men of Athens, ransom the horses!

Elementary Greek The Imperative Mood A Greek speaker uses the imperative mood in the second person to command the listener(s) to do something. In the 2 nd person plural, the imperative uses the same personal endings as the indicative, – τε and – σθε : Remember that the aorist imperative cannot have an augment. – λάβετε, ἄνδρες Ἀθηναῖοι, τοὺς ἵππους. – Men of Athens, get your horses! – λάβεσθε, ἄνδρες Ἀθηναῖοι, τοὺς ἵππους. – Men of Athens, take the horses (for yourselves)!

Elementary Greek The Imperative Mood A Greek speaker uses the imperative mood in the second person to command the listener(s) to do something. In the 2 nd singular active, the imperative regularly uses the personal ending – ε : – λῦε, ὦ βασιλεῦ, τὸν ἵππον. – King, release your horse! – λάμβανε, ὦ βασιλεῦ, τὸν ἵππον. – King, hold on to your horse!

Elementary Greek The Imperative Mood A Greek speaker uses the imperative mood in the second person to command the listener(s) to do something. In the 2 nd singular active, the imperative regularly uses the personal ending – ε : Remember that the aorist imperative cannot have an augment. – λίπε, ὦ βασιλεῦ, τὸν ἵππον. – King, leave your horse! Five 2 nd (strong) aorist imperatives accent their last syllable, rather than following the rule of recessive accent: εἰπέ Say! ἐλθέ Come! εὑρέ Find! ἰδέ See! λαβέ Take!

Elementary Greek The Imperative Mood A Greek speaker uses the imperative mood in the second person to command the listener(s) to do something. In the 2 nd singular active, the imperative regularly uses the personal ending – ε, which some – μι verbs contract: – τίθει μοι τὰ χρήματα. ( τίθεε < τίθημι ) Take the money! – δίδου μοι τὰ χρήματα. ( δίδοε < δίδωμι ) Give me the money! – ἵει τὰ χρήματα. ( ἵεε < ἵημι ) Throw the money! – ἵστη τὸν ἵππον. ( ἵσταε < ἵστημι ) Stand up the horse!

Elementary Greek The Imperative Mood A Greek speaker uses the imperative mood in the second person to command the listener(s) to do something. In the 2 nd singular active, a few aorist imperatives use the – ς ending (as in the indicative): Remember that the aorist imperative cannot have an augment. – θὲς τὰ χρήματα. (< τίθημι ) Take the money! – δὸς μοι τὰ χρήματα. (< δίδωμι ) Give me the money! – ἕς τὰ χρήματα. (< ἵημι ) Throw the money! – σχὲς τὰ χρήματα. (< ἔχω ) Hold onto the money!

Elementary Greek The Imperative Mood A Greek speaker uses the imperative mood in the second person to command the listener(s) to do something. An archaic imperative ending for the 2 nd singular active was – θι, which by the Classical period survived in only a few instances: – στῆθι. (aorist < ἵστημι ) Stand! – φάθι or φαθί (< φημί ) Speak! – γνῶθι σεαυτόν. (< γιγνώσκω ) Know thyself! – ἴθι. (< εἶμι, see Unit 20) Go! – ἴσθι. (< εἰμί and οἶδα, see Unit 19) Be…! or Know!

Elementary Greek The Imperative Mood A Greek speaker uses the imperative mood in the second person to command the listener(s) to do something. An archaic imperative ending for the 2 nd singular active was – θι, which by the Classical period survived in only a few instances. The rare aorist passive/intransitive imperative uses – θι. Remember that the imperative cannot have an augment. – λυ + θη + θι = λύθητι. (< λύω ) Be free! A rule of pronunciation in Greek is that two consecutive syllables cannot each have aspiration. So in this case, – θη – keeps the aspiration and the imperative ending loses the aspiration: – θι  – τι.

Elementary Greek The Imperative Mood A Greek speaker uses the imperative mood in the second person to command the listener(s) to do something. In the 2 nd singular middle, the imperative uses the personal ending – σο, which may contract, as in the indicative: Remember that the imperative cannot have an augment. – λύου, ὦ βασιλεῦ, τοὺς ἵππους. – King, ransom the horses! – λάβου, ὦ βασιλεῦ, τὸν ἵππον. – King, take the horse (for yourself)!

Elementary Greek The Imperative Mood A Greek speaker uses the imperative mood in the second person to command the listener(s) to do something. A first (weak) aorist (those marked by – σα –) in the imperative uses the personal ending – ον in the 2 nd singular active and – σαι in the 2 nd singular middle: Remember that the imperative cannot have an augment. – λῦσον, ὦ βασιλεῦ, τοὺς ἵππους. – King, release the horses! – λῦσαι, ὦ βασιλεῦ, τοὺς ἵππους. – King, ransom the horses!

Elementary Greek The Imperative Mood A Greek speaker uses the imperative mood in the second person to command the listener(s) to do something. A first (weak) aorist (those marked by – σα –) in the imperative uses the personal ending – ον in the 2 nd singular active and – σαι in the 2 nd singular middle: Remember that the imperative cannot have an augment. – λῦσαι, ὦ βασιλεῦ, τοὺς ἵππους. – King, ransom the horses! Beware that this 2 nd singular imperative is easily confused with the aorist infinitive active. Often, however, the accent will differ: κέλευσαι (imperative ) κελεῦσαι (infinitive)

Elementary Greek The Imperative Mood A Greek speaker uses the imperative mood in the third person to convey to the listener(s) a command for someone else to do something. English does not have 3 rd person commands, but traditionally the helper verb “let” translates the idea: “Let someone else do it!” “Let it be done!”

Elementary Greek The Imperative Mood A Greek speaker uses the imperative mood in the third person to convey to the listener(s) a command for someone else to do something. 3rd person imperative endings: singular: – τω (active) – σθω (middle) plural: – ντων (active) – σθων (middle) – In the 3 rd plural, – τωσαν and – σθωσαν become more common in later Classical and then Koine Greek.

Elementary Greek The Imperative Mood A Greek speaker uses the imperative mood in the third person to convey to the listener(s) a command for someone else to do something. 3rd person imperative: present tense singular: – λυέτω τοὺς ἵππους. (active) “Let him/her release the horses.” – λυέσθω τοὺς ἵππους. (middle) “Let him/her ransom the horses.” plural: – λυέντων τοὺς ἵππους. (active) “Let them release the horses.” – λυέσθων τοὺς ἵππους. (middle) “Let them ransom the horses.”

Elementary Greek The Imperative Mood A Greek speaker uses the imperative mood in the third person to convey to the listener(s) a command for someone else to do something. 3rd person imperative: aorist tense singular: – λυσάτω τοὺς ἵππους. (active) “Let him/her release the horses.” – λυσάσθω τοὺς ἵππους. (middle) “Let him/her ransom the horses.” plural: – λυσάντων τοὺς ἵππους. (active) “Let them release the horses.” – λυσάσθων τοὺς ἵππους. (middle) “Let them ransom the horses.”

Elementary Greek The Imperative Mood A Greek speaker uses the imperative mood in the third person to convey to the listener(s) a command for someone else to do something. 3rd person imperative: aorist tense singular: – λαβέτω τοὺς ἵππους. (active) “Let him/her grab the horses.” – λαβέσθω τοὺς ἵππους. (middle) “Let him/her grab the horses.” plural: – λαβέντων τοὺς ἵππους. (active) “Let them grab the horses.” – λαβέσθων τοὺς ἵππους. (middle) “Let them grab the horses.”

Elementary Greek The Imperative Mood A Greek speaker uses the imperative mood in the third person to convey to the listener(s) a command for someone else to do something. 3rd person imperative: aorist tense singular: – λυθήτω ὁ ἵππος. (passive) “Let the horse be released.” plural: – λυθέντων οἱ ἵπποι. (passive) “Let the horses be released.”

Elementary Greek The Imperative Mood Greek uses μή to negate the imperative mood. For example: – μὴ λῦε, ὦ βασιλεῦ, τὸν ἵππον. – King, don’t release your horse! – μὴ λύσασθε, ἄνδρες Ἀθηναῖοι, τοὺς ἵππους. – Men of Athens, don’t ransom the horses! – μὴ λαβέντων τοὺς ἵππους. – “Let them not grab the horses.” – μὴ λυθήτω ὁ ἵππος. – “Let the horse not be released.”

Elementary Greek The Imperative Mood The “Master List of Greek Verb Endings” summarizes the imperative this way: IMPERATIVE 2 nd person: same endings as (secondary) indicative – except 2 nd singular active : – ε or – θι – except weak/1 st aorist: 2 nd singular: – ον (active) – σαι (middle) 3 rd person: singular: – τω (active) – σθω (middle) plural: – ντων (active) – σθων (middle)

Elementary Greek Next class (someday, Month ##, 2013) – Unit 18 Biblical reading. – Unit 18 Classical reading. – Be able to: read the sentences aloud parse each verb, noun and pronoun translate the sentences into English.