Six Bolded Choices in a Student Narrative: Aspect, Clitics and Voice
Grammar and Vocabulary. A first-year student submits a short narrative. The teacher has bolded six forms and asks the class to choose, then justify each choice in one sentence of Greek or English. The paragraph reads:
«Χθες το πρωί (1) πήγα / πήγαινα στο φαρμακείο, αλλά ήταν κλειστό. Πήρα την αδελφή μου τηλέφωνο και (2) την / της ρώτησα αν μπορούσε να μου (3) στείλει / στείλω το φάρμακο. Εκείνη τελικά (4) ξέχασε / ξεχνούσε το δέμα στο γραφείο της. Όταν (5) γύρισα / γύριζα σπίτι, βρήκα το δέμα στην πόρτα. Την ευχαρίστησα και (6) συναντηθήκαμε / συναντήσαμε το βράδυ στην πλατεία.»
Half the class defends the second option in each pair by saying 'it sounds more descriptive'. The teacher's marking scheme gives one mark for the form and one for the justification.
1. Decide items (1), (4) and (5), and state the single principle that settles all three.
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Answers: (1) πήγα, (4) ξέχασε, (5) γύρισα.
Principle: the aorist presents an event as a single completed whole; the imperfect presents it as ongoing, repeated or background. All three sentences narrate one specific occasion ('χθες το πρωί', 'τελικά', 'όταν... βρήκα'), so the perfective forms are required. 'More descriptive' is not a criterion - the question is whether the action is closed.
- (1) One visit, and the result closes it: «αλλά ήταν κλειστό». The imperfect πήγαινα would mean 'I used to go / I was on my way', which clashes with a single reported outcome.
- (4) One forgotten parcel on one day. ξεχνούσε would describe a habit ('she used to forget') and would not explain why the parcel was not sent.
- (5) After όταν in a past narrative, a single completed event takes the aorist: 'when I got home'. γύριζα would set a background ('while I was returning / whenever I returned'), and would call for a different main clause.
Note the pair (5) + βρήκα: two aorists in sequence give the standard 'when A happened, B happened' chain.
2. Decide items (2) and (3), and explain how the subject of the να-clause is identified.
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Answers: (2) την, (3) στείλει.
(2) την - the verb ρώτησα takes a direct object in the accusative, and the person asked is 'my sister', already mentioned as the object of the previous clause. So the clitic is accusative feminine singular: την. The genitive της would mark an indirect object ('to her'), which this verb does not take here; it would leave 'asked' without its object.
(3) στείλει - third person singular. The test is who performs the sending. The main verb is «μπορούσε» (she could), its subject is the sister, and the να-clause shares that subject: she was to send the medicine to me. So the verb is 3rd singular, and μου already carries the 'to me'. Choosing στείλω (1st singular) silently changes the meaning to 'she could, so that I send the medicine', which makes no sense with μου.
Method to teach: before choosing a subjunctive form, underline the subject of the governing verb; the Greek infinitive replacement (να + verb) normally inherits it.
3. Decide item (6) and explain what the rejected form would require. Then say what the ending -θήκαμε is doing.
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Answer: συναντηθήκαμε.
Why: the sentence has no object. Greek marks a reciprocal meeting with the passive/middle aorist: two or more people meet each other. The ending -θήκαμε is 1st person plural of the passive aorist (the -θη- marker plus the plural ending), and here it carries middle/reciprocal meaning, not 'we were met by someone'.
The rejected form: συναντήσαμε is active and transitive - 'we met [someone]'. It is only grammatical with an explicit object, e.g. «συναντήσαμε τους φίλους μας στην πλατεία». Standing alone before «το βράδυ στην πλατεία», it leaves the reader waiting for an object that never arrives.
Diagnostic rule for the exam: if the subject is plural and the meaning is 'X and Y met', the verb is συναντηθήκαμε / συναντήθηκαν; if an object follows or is understood ('we met the teacher'), the active συναντήσαμε is right. A useful check: try adding «ο ένας τον άλλον» - if it fits, the middle form is correct.