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You have now learned to form and use the following verbs:
Continuous action (stem coming from the first principal part): present and imperfect indicative, active, middle / passive; present imperative; present infinitive and participle, active, middle / passive.
Future tense (stem coming from the second principal part for active and middle, sixth principal part for passive): indicative, infinitive, participle, active, middle, and passive.
Punctual action (stem coming from the third principal part for active and middle, sixth principal part for passive): aorist indicative, active, middle, and passive; infinitive and participle, active, middle, and passive.
In addition to verbs in the indicative, infinitive, and participle mood, you have also seen verbs in the imperative mood, active middle and passive voice. These verbs give direct commands.
As you would expect, the future participle (i.e., the verbal adjective that expresses future action) is formed from the future stem (second principal part for active and middle, last principal part for passive):
ACTIVE MIDDLE PASSIVE lu/swn -ousa -on luso/menoj -h -on luqhso/menoj -h -on While its literal translation is "about to set free," or "going to set free," the future participle, sometimes following w(j, often expresses the purpose for which some other action is taken.
o( Qrasu/maxoj siga~| w(j maqhso/menoj pa/nta. Thrasymachus is quiet in order to learn everything. or so that he might learn or to learn
Subjunctive and optative are two more moods of the Greek verb. Like the other moods, they can be continuous, made from the present stem, or punctual, made from the aorist stem. They use easily identifiable personal endings. They do not use the augment.
The general idea of the subjunctive and optative moods is that they express actions that may or may not actually take place, as opposed to the indicative mood, used for actions that do actually take place. In English, we often use helping verbs such as "may," "might," "should'" or "would" to express the "iffy" meaning of a verb.
You are familiar with the idea that it is a verb's mood that indicates its function. Subjunctive and optative moods have several different functions, occurring in several different types of independent and dependent clauses. In Thrasymachus Chapter XVIII you have seen some examples of these two moods used to express the purpose for which some other action is taken. Look at Thrasymachus page 266, number 57, for some examples of sentences with subjunctive and optative verbs expressing purpose.
ai( gunai~kej a)pofe/rousi ta\ i(ma/tia i#na lou/swsin. The women carry off the clothes in order to wash (them) or to wash (them) or so that they might wash (them.) e)/rxontai oi( filo/sofoi i#na paideu/wsi ta\ paidi/a. The philosophers are coming to teach the children In English, we can use a number of different expressions to give the idea of purpose. Very commonly, we just use an infinitive, "to wash." In Greek, unlike in English, the verb that expresses purpose, in the subjunctive or optative mood, will have a distinctive personal ending. A clause that expresses purpose will usually start with i#na, w(j, or o#pwj.
If the verb in the main clause is in a past tense, the verb in the purpose clause may be in the optative mood:
ai( gunai~kej a)pe/feron ta\ i(ma/tia o#pwj lou/saien. The women were carrying off the clothes in order to wash them. h!lqon oi( filo/sofoi i#na paideu/oien ta\ paidi/a. The philosophers came to teach the children.
FORMS OF THE PRESENT AND AORIST SUBJUNCTIVE The subjunctive endings, which follow patterns you know, are characterized by long vowel sounds: PRESENT
Active Middle/Passive lu/-w lu/-wmai lu/-h|j lu/-h| (-hsai) lu/-h| lu/-htai lu/-wmen lu-w/meqa lu/-hte lu/-hsqe lu/-wsi lu/-wntai See Thrasymachus page 67 for the vowel patterns of the contracted verbs in the present subjunctive. AORIST
Active Middle Passive lu/s-w lu/s-wmai luqw~ lu/s-h|j lu/s-h| (-hsai) luqh~|j lu/s-h| lu/s-htai luqh|~ lu/s-wmen lus-w/meqa luqw~men lu/s-hte lu/s-hsqe luqh~te lu/s-wsi lu/s-wntai luqw~si FORMS OF THE PRESENT OPTATIVE The optative endings, which also follow familiar patterns, are characterized by the sound of the iota:
Active Middle/Passive lu/-oimi lu-oimhn lu-oij lu/-oio (oiso) lu/-oi lu/-oito lu/-oimen lu-oi/meqa lu/-oite lu/-oisqe lu/-oien lu/-ointo See Thrasymachus page 68 for the vowel patterns of the contracted verbs in the present optative. Aorist optative forms will be introduced in Chapter XIX. SUBJUNCTIVE AND OPTATIVE FORMS OF THE VERB "TO BE"
Subjunctive Optative w} ei!hn h}|j ei!hj h}| ei!h w}men ei}men h}te ei}te w}si ei}en Look at these forms very carefully to see familiar patterns and new ones. Notice the accents and breathing marks that will help you distinguish these forms from others. Now compare these forms to those of the verb ei}mi (the verb "to go"), Thrasymachus page 68. What Greek letter shows up as the stem of most of the forms of ei}mi? Learning to recognize correctly all of the forms of ei}mi and ei)mi/ is important, so it is worth the trouble to pause and identify each form as you meet it in reading, until you have learned them all thoroughly.
EXERCISE Reread Thrasymachus Chapter XVIII very carefully and notice each verb form. Identify all of the future participles, subjunctives and optatives. Look for expressions of purpose throughout the chapter.
INFORMATION ON A CHARACTER IN CHAPTER XVIII
h( Nausika/a h( Nausika/a in Perseus Forward to Chapters XIX and XX Back to Contents
