Greek Grammar and Syntax
Grammar and syntax carries the highest density of short, objective marks: parsing, declining, conjugating, and explaining why a form is used.
Accidence you must own
- Nouns: first declension (τιμή, ναύτης, χώρα), second (λόγος, δῶρον), third (φύλαξ, πόλις, βασιλεύς, πρᾶγμα). Learn genitive singular because it reveals the stem.
- Verbs: λύω in present, future, aorist, perfect, and passive; contract verbs in -άω, -έω, -όω; athematic verbs δίδωμι, τίθημι, ἵστημι, εἶμι.
- Participles in all three voices and all tenses; the genitive absolute.
Syntax to recognise
Indirect statement uses either accusative + infinitive or ὅτι/ὡς + finite verb, with optative after a secondary tense. Purpose: ἵνα/ὅπως + subjunctive. Result: ὥστε + infinitive. Conditionals: εἰ + present indicative for open conditions; εἰ + optative for future-less-vivid. The articular infinitive (τὸ λέγειν) is a neuter noun.
Worked example
Parse λυθήσομαι. Reasoning: λυ- is the stem; -θη- marks the passive; -σο- is the future marker (with σ between vowels dropping and contraction); -μαι is first person singular middle/passive. So: future passive indicative, first person singular, from λύω, 'I shall be released.' Compare λύσομαι (future middle, 'I shall ransom') and ἔλυσα (aorist active, 'I released').
Traps
- Confusing future middle -σομαι with future passive -θήσομαι.
- Missing the augment ἐ- in the aorist and imperfect; in compounds the augment sits after the prefix (ἀπέλυσα), not before it.
- Reading -θη- as aorist passive when the sigma makes it future passive.
- Treating subjunctive -ω/-ῃς as future indicative.
- Making the genitive absolute's noun the subject of the main verb.