Classical Greek Online

Lesson Text

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Grammar

1 The alphabet and sound system.

1.1 The alphabet.

The Greek alphabet was taken over from the Phoenicians. It in turn was taken over by the Romans, but from a version of the alphabet that differs somewhat from the standard. The names are generally well known, such as the first two from our word alphabet, the third from gamma rays, and so on.

The pronunciations are also straightforward. Those used in the classical period differ somewhat from the pronunciations typically used in instruction today. When they differ, the classical period pronunciations are indicated below using words in parentheses.

Alpha		α, Α		father
Beta		β, Β		bother
Gamma		γ, Γ		gather
Delta		δ, Δ		delta
Epsilon		ε, Ε		debt
Zeta		ζ, Ζ		zen
Eta		η, Η		rate (rat)
Theta		θ, Θ		thin (tin) i.e. with aspiration
Iota		ι, Ι		sin
Kappa		κ, Κ		cope (scope) i.e. no aspiration
Lamba		λ, Λ		lap
Mu		μ, Μ		map
Nu		ν, Ν		nap
Ksi		ξ, Ξ		tax
Omikron		ο, Ο		rope
Pi		π, Π		poke (spoke) i.e., no aspiration
Rho		ρ, Ρ		rope
Sigma		σς, Σ		soap (note: lower-case form has 2 variants)
Tau		τ, Τ		top (stop) i.e. no aspiration
Upsilon		υ, Υ		soon (German Suehne) i.e. front rounded
Phi		φ, Φ		four (pour) i.e. with aspiration
Chi		χ, Χ		core (German ich or ach) i.e. velar fricative
Psi		ψ, Ψ		tops
Omega		ω, Ω		boat (bought)

In addition, a word beginning with a vowel or diphthong may or may not have an initial [h] sound. This is called a breathing. If the [h] sound is present, the breathing is called rough, signalled by a rough breathing sign [with α added for illustration]: ἁ; and when there is no initial [h] sound before a vowel, the smooth breathing sign is ἀ. The rough breathing may also be used with initial rho: ῥ.

Moreover, vowels may have an iota subscript, that is, an [i] sound after the vowel, written as a diacritic beneath the vowel (e.g., ᾳ); while indicated in texts, this is generally left without pronunciation.

1.2 The sound system.

The system is as follows:

		Labials		Dentals		Palato-velars
Voiceless:		π		τ		κ
Voiced:		β		δ		γ
Aspirated, voiceless:		φ		θ		χ
Fricative:				ς
Nasals:		μ		ν		ν (spelled γ before γ or κ)
Vowels:		ι				υ
		ε			ο
				α
		ῑ				ῡ
		η			ω
				ᾱ
Diphthongs:		ει αι οι υι			ευ αυ ηυ ου

Classical Greek had a musical accent. There are three such accents. Vowels marked with oxia (e.g., ά) had high pitch; those with varia (e.g., ὰ) had a low or falling pitch; those marked with perispomeni (e.g., ᾶ) had rising and falling pitch.

The place of the accent is determined chiefly by the quality of the last syllable; exceptions will be noted later. If the last syllable is short and the accent is an oxia, it can fall on the third syllable from the end of a word. If it is short, and the second last vowel is long, it may have perispomeni accent. If it is long, the second last syllable can only have oxia accent. In monosyllables the final vowel has oxia accent if it is short, a perispomeni if long. The varia accent replaces a final oxia accent before words beginning with a consonant.

2 Greek, a Subject-Object-Verb (SOV) language.

The basic word order of Classical Greek is verb-final, as in the following sentence.

ἀλλὰ καὶ ταύτην τὴν στρατείαν θαλάσσῃ ἤδη πλείω χρώμενοι ξυνῆλθον.
"But they united even for this expedition when they were already making considerable use of the sea."

Thucydides, however, has a highly complex and personal style, so that he rearranges his sentences to emphasize certain elements. For example, the first sentence here begins with a verb, δηλοῖ, as does the third with δοκεῖ. The reason for the specific order in other sentences may be obvious when they are interpreted; for example, the second clearly emphasizes the final noun Ἑλλάς by placing it last. The texts of later lessons will be simpler; this text was selected because of its importance for information on the state of Greece in earlier times.

3 Modifications of the basic sentence pattern.

As noted in section 2, modifications of the basic sentence pattern are often carried out for stylistic purposes. A further example is the sentence:

Τεκμηριοῖ δὲ μάλιστα Ὅμερος.
"Then Homer established this especially."

Both the position of the verb, and that of the subject, serve to indicate the place of emphasis. Similarly, the following sentence, with the object identifying the earliest identified sub-group of the Greeks, has been carefully constructed. Fortunately the ample inflections provide great assistance in the analysis and interpretation of sentences.

4 Nominal inflection.

Nouns, adjectives and the article are inflected for three genders, three numbers, and four cases. Among the numbers that of the dual is infrequent, and will not be presented here. The four cases are the nominative, genitive, dative and accusative. The uses of the ablative, such as for the target in comparative constructions, are largely assumed by the genitive. The principal uses of the cases are readily defined. The nominative is the case of the subject and of nouns after the copula in the predicative nominative. The genitive is the case of possession. The dative is the case of the indirect object. The accusative is the case of the direct object.

Because of the common use of the article, its forms might well be memorized.

		Masculine		Feminine		Neuter
Nom sg		ὁ		ἡ		τό
Gen sg		τοῦ		τῆς		τοῦ
Dat sg		τῷ		τῇ		τῷ
Acc sg		τόν		τήν		τό
Nom pl		οἱ		αἱ		τά
Gen pl		τῶν		τῶν		τῶν
Dat pl		τοῖς		ταῖς		τοῖς
Acc pl		τούς		τάς		τά

Examples of the ο-declension, masculine and neuter, and the α-declension, feminine, are given here.

		Masculine		Feminine		Neuter
Nom sg		ὁ λόγος 'word'		ἡ στρατιά 'army'		τὸ δῶρον 'gift'
Gen sg		τοῦ λόγου		τῆς στρατιᾶς		τοῦ δώρου
Dat sg		τῷ λόγῳ		τῇ στρατιᾷ		τῷ δώρῳ
Acc sg		τὸν λόγον		τὴν στρατιάν		τὸ δῶρον
Nom pl		οἱ λόγοι		αἰ στρατιαί		τὰ δῶρα
Gen pl		τῶν λόγων		τῶν στρατιῶν		τῶν δώρων
Dat pl		τοῖς λόγοις		ταῖς στρατιαῖς		τοῖς δώροις
Acc pl		τοὺς λόγους		τὰς στρατιάς		τὰ δῶρα

5 Verb inflection.

Greek verbs are inflected for three voices, active, middle and passive, for four moods, indicative, subjunctive, optative and imperative, three systems or tenses, present, aorist and perfect, three numbers, singular, dual, plural. The augment 'ε' (epsilon) is used with past tense forms, imperfect, aorist, and pluperfect, but only in the indicative. The perfect stem is often reduplicated. In addition there are infinitives and participles.

In view of its regularity, the verb παιδεύω 'educate' may be used to illustrate the various forms. Here the present and the imperfect indicative active are given. Before vowels, 'ν' (nu) is added to some forms ending in a vowel.

		Present		Imperfect
1 sg		παιδεύω		ἐπαίδευον
2 sg		παιδεύεις		ἐπαίδευες
3 sg		παιδεύει		ἐπαίδευε(ν)
1 pl		παιδεύομεν		ἐπαιδεύομεν
2 pl		παιδεύετε		ἐπαιδεύετε
3 pl		παιδεύουσι(ν)		ἐπαίδευον

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