Correlatives
ὅ τι καλὸν φίλον εί (A thing of beauty is a joy forever)
—sung by the chorus in Euripides’ Bacchae 881 You are already familiar with two tenses of the indicative mood (active voice): present and future. The present tense is built on the present stem, found in the verb’s first principal part; the future tense is built on the future stem, found in the verb’s second principal part. Present and future are two of Greek’s four primary (or principal) tenses. This lesson introduces the imperfect tense, one of Greek’s three secondary (or historical) tenses. For a reminder see §18 of Lesson 3.
Imperfect Tense. The imperfect tense of the indicative mood shows an action that was occurring at some time in the past. As its name suggests, the imperfect tense has imperfective aspect; i.e., the action is perceived as a process that continued or was repeated over time. In English this idea is most clearly expressed by was/were and -ing (e.g., “we were studying for years”), but it may also be represented by English’s simple past tense (“we studied for years”). Sometimes the context shows that the verb would be better translated as, e.g., “We were trying to study,” “We were starting to study,” or “We used to study.” While the present and future tenses may have either imperfective or aoristic aspect, the imperfect tense always has imperfective aspect.
Like the present tense, the imperfect tense is built on the present stem.
Thus the first principal part supplies the stem for both the present tense and the imperfect tense. (Be glad you have no new principal part to learn!) Unlike the present tense, the imperfect tense has an augment (either syllabic or temporal) and secondary endings.
Augment. An augment is a prefix that increases (“augments”) the length of the word; it signals that the verb is in a secondary tense. If the present stem begins with a consonant, an epsilon with smooth breathing (ἐ-) is prefixed to it (e.g., παιδευ- becomes ἐπαιδευ-). This is called a syllabic augment because it adds another syllable to the word. When a verb begins with ῥ, a second rho is always inserted after the syllabic augment (e.g., ῥῑπτ- becomes ἐρρῑπτ-).
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If the present stem begins with a vowel or a diphthong, a different sort of augment is used: the vowel or diphthong at the start of the stem is lengthened. This is called a temporal augment because it increases the time (tempus = Latin word for “time”) it takes to pronounce the first syllable.
Lengthenings for Temporal Augment
α becomes η αι becomes ῃ
ε becomes η ει becomes ῃ (sometimes stays ει) ι becomes ῑ αυ becomes ηυ (sometimes stays αυ) υ becomes ῡ ευ becomes ηυ (sometimes stays ευ) ο becomes ω οι becomes ῳ
As the chart shows, the lengthenings result in η, ῑ, ῡ, ω, ῃ, ηυ, and ῳ. No augment is needed if the present stem already begins with one of those long vowels or diphthongs. An initial ᾱ is usually changed to η, and ᾱͅ becomes ῃ. Initial ου is left unchanged. No Greek verb begins with the diphthong υι.
Being one of the secondary (historical) tenses, the imperfect tense has secondary endings. These differ somewhat from the primary endings you learned earlier:
Imperfect Active Indicative
Singular Endings
ἐπαίδευον (“I was teaching”) -ον [cf. primary -ω]
ἐπαίδευες (“you [sg.] were teaching”) -ες [cf. primary -εις]
ἐπαίδευε(ν) (“he/she/it was teaching”) -ε(ν) [cf. primary -ει]
Plural
ἐπαιδεύοµεν (“we were teaching”) -οµεν [same as primary]
ἐπαιδεύετε (“you [pl.] were teaching”) -ετε [same as primary]
ἐπαίδευον (“they were teaching”) -ον [cf. primary -ουσι(ν)]
Like the primary endings, secondary endings are combinations of a thematic vowel (ε/ο) and a personal ending: -oν = ο + μ (μ changed to ν); -ες
= ε + ς; -ε = ε + —; -ομεν = ο + μεν, -ετε = ε + τε; -ον = ο + ντ (τ dropped out). Notice that the first-person singular and the third-person plural are identical in appearance. The accent in these finite forms is, as expected, recessive.
You now know the other major use of movable ν: besides being added to -σι words, it is added to the third-person singular verb-ending -ε, but only when the word comes at the end of a sentence or when the following word begins with a vowel.
In compound verbs the augment usually comes between the prefix and the stem. The last letter of the prefix, if it is a vowel, generally drops out; e.g., the imperfect of ἀπολείπω is ἀπέλειπον.
All of the verbs in Lessons 3-10 form their imperfects regularly except for ἔχω, whose imperfect is εἶχον, not ἦχον. The imperfect of εὑρίσκω is either εὕρισκον or ηὕρισκον.
Lesson 10 • 59 Correlatives. The ancient Greeks were very conscious of parallelism in their sentences. Words that “correlate” parallel words or clauses by drawing a connection between them are called correlatives. You already know the correlative conjunctions καὶ…καί (“both…and”).
Among the most popular correlatives in Greek are μὲν…δέ. Both are postpositives, i.e., they prefer not to be the first word in their clause. Instead they like to come right after the first word. By itself μέν is a particle (a word whose primary function is to add a certain nuance to the sentence) meaning “indeed” or “certainly.” By itself δέ is a conjunction meaning
“and” or “but” (weaker than ἀλλά). It is frequently found after the first word of a sentence, where it helps to smooth the transition from the preceding sentence.
When used as correlatives, μέν and δέ point out the parallelism of two ideas:
“on the one hand…on the other hand.” The presence of μέν in a sentence should alert the reader to the possibility that the speaker may already have in mind a balance or a contrast between this first thought and a second one, which will have δέ with it. You may decide to leave μέν untranslated and to translate δέ simply as “and” or “but” since an English sentence with “on the one hand…on the other hand” lacks the elegance of a Greek sentence with μὲν…δέ.
In correlated clauses the words that are parallel tend to be put first so that they can be emphasized by the μέν and δέ following them; e.g., θω μὲν τοῖς θεοῖς, φεύγω δὲ τοὺς κινδνους (“I sacrifice [on the one hand] to the gods, and I escape [on the other hand] the dangers”). If the second clause begins with οὐ or μή, make δέ the third word in that clause; e.g., write οὐ φεύγω δέ, not οὐ δὲ φεύγω. Otherwise οὐ δέ and μὴ δέ could be confused with οὐδέ and μηδέ, two correlative conjunctions that you will learn in Lesson 22.
When determining whether or not a word is in the attributive position, you should disregard the presence of μέν or δέ. In the phrase ὁ μὲν ἄξιος μαθητής, for example, ἄξιος is still considered to come immediately after the article and to occupy the attributive position, even though μέν has insinuated itself between the article and the adjective.
Definite articles may be combined with μέν and δέ to mean “this one (he, she, it)…that one (he, she, it),” “the one…the other,” or “some…others,” No noun or adjective is needed: the form of the article suffices to show the gender, number, and case, while the correlatives convey the idea of balance or contrast. Examples:
ὁ μὲν παιδεύει, ἡ δὲ γράφει. “He is teaching; she is writing.”
ἡ μὲν ἐπαίδευεν, ἡ δ’ ἔγραφεν. “One woman taught; the other wrote.”
οἱ μὲν παιδεύσουσιν, οἱ δ’ οὔ. “Some will teach; others will not [teach].”
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The definite article was originally a demonstrative pronoun meaning “this one” or “that one.” When combined with μέν and δέ, it regains its old significance.
It is common to leave out the verb in the second part of a μὲν…δέ construction if it would have been a duplicate of the verb in the first part. The third example above illustrates this practice; remember that οὔ receives an accent when it ends a sentence.
Vocabulary
λέγω, ἐρῶ/λέξω say, speak, tell [cf. dialect, dyslexia, prolegomenon]
In the Attic dialect ἐρῶ (the contracted future tense of εἴρω, another verb meaning “say”) is much preferred to λέξω, but until you have been intro-duced to contracted futures (Lesson 15), you should use λέξω.
πρττω, πρξω do, act [cf. practice, praxis]
φεύγω, φεύξοµαι flee, avoid, escape, be in exile
The future φεύξομαι has middle endings even when it is active in mean-ing. You will not be asked to form the future of φεύγω until you have learned the middle endings (Lesson 11).
ἀλήθεια, -ᾱς, ἡ truth; τῇ ἀληθείᾱͅ = in truth, truly, really
θάνατος, -ου, ὁ death; Θάνατος = Death (personified as a god) [cf.
euthanasia, thanatopsis]
κίνδῡνος, -ου, ὁ danger, risk
φίλος, -η, -ον (+ dative) dear (to); φίλος, -ου, ὁ = friend (male);
φίλη, -ης, ἡ = friend (female) [cf. bibliophile, hemophiliac, philatelist]
δέ (δ’) (postpositive conjunction) and, but (δ’ before a vowel) µέν (postpositive particle) indeed
µὲν…δέ (correlatives) on the one hand…on the other hand ὁ µὲν…ὁ δέ (correlatives) this one…that one; the one…the
other; (pl.) some…others οὖν (postpositive particle) therefore, then Exercises
Greek-to-English Sentences
1. οἱ μὲν τὰ ἔργα ἔπρᾱττον τῇ χαρᾷ, οἱ δ’ οὔ.
2. αἱ δ’ ὁδοὶ καὶ λίθους καὶ κινδνους ἔχουσι φεύγομεν οὖν τῷ ποταμῷ.
3. μὴ λεγέτω ἡ θεράπαινα ἡ ἀξίᾱ τῇ ἀναξίῳ δεσποίνῃ τὴν ἀλήθειαν.
4. τὰ μὲν τέκνα τὰ ἀπὸ τῆς οἰκίᾱς ἐδίωκε τοὺς ἵππους εἰς τὴν ὁδόν, τὰ δ’ ἐν τῇ οἰκίᾱͅ ἔβλαπτε τς καλς κλνᾱς.
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Lesson 10 • 61 5. τὰ δὲ κακὰ ἔργα, ὦ νεᾱνίαι, ἐμέλλετε ἀλλάξειν εἰς ἀγαθά;
6. δοῦλος μὲν ὁ ἀδελφός, ἐλευθέρᾱ δ’ ἡ φίλη ἀδελφή.
7. ἐπειδὴ οἱ φίλοι κινδνους ἐν τῇ θαλάττῃ ηὕρισκον, ἔσπευδον θειν τοῖς ἀθανάτοις καὶ φεύγειν τὸν θάνατον.
8. ἡ μὲν φυλάξει τὸ καλὸν φυτόν, ὁ δὲ κλέψει τὸν θησαυρόν.
9. ἐπεὶ τὰ ἀγαθὰ λέγω, ὦ κακὲ μαθητά, οὐκ ἀκούεις. τῇ οὖν ἀληθείᾱͅ οὐκ ἔχω παιδεύειν.
10. μὴ σπεῦδε, ὦ Θάνατε, κλέπτειν τὸν βίον ἀπὸ τῶν ἀνθρώπων.
English-to-Greek Sentences
1. Some were rejoicing in their fine houses; others were in exile and could not speak to their friends.
2. On the one hand, the student was striving; on the other hand, he was not willing to do his work.
3. When we were serving our dear master, the children used to chase the beautiful mares away from dangers.
4. The gods can escape Death but not Destiny; truly, therefore, even the immortals are not free.
5. Listen, young man! Do you wish to do a good deed? Then tell the truth.
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Reading
The Bear Tells All (Aesop’s Fable 66)
Δύο φίλοι τῇ ὁδῷ τῇ εἰς τὴν χώρᾱν ἔσπευδον. ἐπεὶ ἄρκτον βλέπουσιν, ὁ μὲν φεύγει καὶ ἐν φυτῷ τὴν σωτηρίᾱν εὑρίσκει, ὁ δ’
οὐκ ἔχει φεύγειν. ἔπρᾱττεν οὖν τὰ τοῦ θανάτου. ὀσφραίνεται μὲν ἡ ἄρκτος τὸ τοῦ ἀνθρώπου οὖς, ἀπολείπει δέ. ὁ μὲν χαίρει καὶ ἐκ τοῦ φυτοῦ σπεύδει, ὁ δ’ οὐ χαίρει. τῷ φίλῳ λέγει, Ὁ φίλος, ἐπεὶ ἐν τοῖς κινδνοις τὸν φίλον λείπει, οὐ τῇ ἀληθείᾱͅ φίλος. τοῦθ’ ἡ ἄρκτος ἔλεγεν, ὦ ἀνάξιε, ἐπεὶ τὸ οὖς ὠσφραίνετο.
Vocabulary Help for the Reading
δύο (line 1) two (nom. case of the numeral δύο—same form for all genders)
ἄρκτον (line 1) from ἄρκτος, -ου, ἡ: bear βλέπουσιν (line 2) from βλέπω, βλέψομαι: see σωτηρίᾱν (line 2) from σωτηρίᾱ, -ᾱς, ἡ: safety
τὰ τοῦ θανάτου (line 3) the things of death, i.e., things associated with death (in this case, falling onto the ground and not moving) ὀσφραίνεται (line 3) sniffs at (third-pers. sg. pres. mid. indic. of the deponent verb ὀσφραίνομαι, ὀσφρήσομαι)
οὖς (line 4) ear (acc. sg. of the third-declension neuter noun οὖς) τοῦθ’ (line 6) = τοῦτο this (refers to the statement in the preceding sentence; τοῦτο = neut. sg. acc. of the demonstrative pronoun οὗτος)
ὠσφραίνετο (line 7) third-pers. sg. imperf. mid. indic. of ὀσφραίνομαι 5