Greek Grammar Terminology

absolute

grammatically unconnected with the rest of the sentence

accidence

part of grammar that deals with word endings

accusative

case of direct object; used with prepositions for motion towards; time how long; subject of infinitive or participle in an indirect statement and other constructions; neuter participle of impersonal verb unconnected with rest of sentence

active

form of verb where the grammatical subject is the doer of the action

adjective

word describing a noun (agrees in number, gender and case)

adverb

word describing a verb

agent

person by whom an action is done, usually expressed by ύπό + gen after passive verb (always dative alone after gerundive, or sometimes after perfect/pluperfect passive)

agree

have the same number, gender and case

ambiguous

can mean more than one thing

antecedent

person or thing in main clause to which the relative pronoun or adverb refers back

aorist

tense of verb referring to a single action in the past; aorist used by aspect with imperative, subjunctive, infinitive and optative, some uses of aorist participle

apodosis

main clause of a conditional sentence, expressing the consequence

apposition

use of a word or phrase parallel in grammar to another, to give more information

article

indefinite or definite, equivalent to the or a in English to denote if talking about a specific or non-specific thing

aspect

expression of type of time (single or repeated/extended action) as opposed to actual time (tense)

attraction

in a relative clause, process by which a gen/dat antecedent makes a relative pronoun agree with it

augment

epsilon put on the front of a verb to denote a past tense

auxiliary

a verb (usually part of ‘to be’) used with a participle to form a tense of another verb

breathing

symbol above a vowel or dipthong (or rho) indicating presence or absence of the h sound

cardinal

ordinary numeral (1,2,3)

case

form of noun, pronoun or adjective that shows the job it does in the sentence

clause

part of a sentence with its own subject and verb

common gender

can be either masc or fem depending on context

comparative

form of an adjective or adverb meaning ‘more’ ‘-er’

complement

another nominative word or phrase describing the subject

compound

verb with prefix; adjective or negative made up of more than one element

concessive

expressing the idea ‘although’ or ‘despite’ using καίπερ
+ participle

conditional

expressing ‘if’ or ‘unless’

conjugate

go through in order the different parts of a verb

conjunction

word joining clauses, phrases or words together

consonant

letter representing a sound that can only be used together with a vowel

construction

pattern according to which a particular type of sentence or clause is formed

correlatives

set of linked interrogative/indefinite/relative/demonstrative adverbs or pronouns

contraction

process by which two adjacent vowels (or vowel + diphthong) coalesce into a single vowel or dipthong

crasis

process by which a vowel or diphthong at the end of a word coalesces with another at the start of the next word, the result written as a single word instead of two separate ones

dative

case of indirect object, often translated ‘to’ or ‘for’; used with prepositions to express position or rest; time when

declension

one of the patterns by which nouns change their endings

decline

go through a noun, pronoun, adjective or participle in case order, sg then pl

definite article

ό ή τό equivalent to English ‘the’

deliberative

use of the subjunctive to express a thought process

demonstrative

pronoun, adjective or adverb pointing out some feature of a situation

deponent

verb which has only middle (or sometimes passive) forms, but is active in meaning

diphthong

two consecutive vowels pronounced as one syllable

direct object

noun or pronoun on receiving end of action of verb

direct speech

actual words of speaker, usually signalled by initial capital letter or enclosed by inverted commas

dual

special set of endings expressing two items, or two subjects of a verb

elision

dropping of a (usually short) vowel at the end of a word before another beginning with a vowel, indicated by an apostrophe

enclitic

word which cannot stand alone but must follow another word (usually short and unaccented)

ending

last bit of word, added to stem to give more detail and show its job

feminine

one of three genders, for females or things imagined as female

finite

form of a verb with tense and person ending

future

tense of verb referring to something that will happen in the future

gender

one of three categories into which nouns and pronouns are put

genitive

case expressing possession or definition, often translated ‘of’; used in expressions indicating ‘part of’, ‘some of’; prepositions expressing motion away from; after a comparative to mean ‘than’; time within which; genitive absolute; follows verbs expressing ideas such as ‘take hold of’

gerund

a verb made into a noun (the act of doing X) expressed by τό + inf

gerundive

adjective formed from verb, expressing the idea ‘needing to be done’

historic

set of tenses (imperfect, aorist, pluperfect) referring to the past and determining the sequence according to which subordinate clauses are constructed; historic present is use of present tense for a story set in the past (to achieve vividness)

homonym

word coincidentally spelled in the same way as another unconnected word

idiom

distinctive form of expression within a language, established by common use but going beyond what can be worked out from the individual words

imperative

form of verb used for direct command

imperfect

tense of verb referring to incomplete, extended or repeated action in the past

impersonal

third person singular verb whose subject is ‘it’