Grammar Summary Sheet

Accusative Absolute
With impersonal verbs (see below), instead of a genitive absolute, an accusative absolute may be used, employing the
accusative form of the neuter participle (the idea being that the subject is ‘it’ and is contained within the verb). The
following forms are common, with literal meaning as follows:

δέον With it being necessary

δόξαν With it having been decided, with X having decided
ἐξόν With it being possible
παρον With it being possible
Apart from δόξαν and τυχόν, aorist accusative absolutes are rare. Passive participles can also be used in an impersonal
sense; for example, εἰρημένον can mean “which said.”

Use of Article with infinitive

Greek can form a gerund by prefixing an infinitive with the definite article. This is a declinable form, so τῷ το ἀληθὲς
μάθειν means “by learning the truth” (tense is used by aspect). A more complex example might be:
τοῦτό ἐστι τὸ ἀδικεῖν, τὸ πλέον τῶν ἄλλων ζητεῖν ἔχειν (Plato, Gorgias, 483c)

Injustice is this: to seek to have more than other people

The subject is generally sandwiched between the article and the infinitive. Since the infinitive is not indicative, this
construction is negated using μη.

Impersonal Verbs
An impersonal verb is a verb without a grammatically determined subject. Instead, the person to whom the impersonal
verb refers is placed in either the accusative or the dative depending on which impersonal verb is being used:

Accusative δεῖ It is necessary

χρή It is (morally) necessary
Dative δοκεῖ X decides (lit. It seems good)
ἔξεστι / πάρεστι / οἷόν τ᾽ἐστί It is possible
προσήκει It is fitting
συμφέρει It is advantageous
[neuter adjective] ἐστι It is X (e.g. ἀγαθόν ἐστι = it is good)
In English, it is often possible to turn the impersonal verb around, translating it as, e.g. “X must” or “X can.”

Relative Attraction
Relative attraction is a grammatical oddity whereby a relative pronoun which should formally be accusative is placed
into a genitive or dative case due to an antecedent in that case. For example,
τῆς γάρ τοι γενεῆς ἧς* Τρωΐ περ εὐρύοπα Ζεὺς *should be accusative

δῶχ᾽ (Hom. Il. 5. 265-266)

For they are of that breed which far-thundering Zeus gave to Tros
Particles
In his authoritative book The Greek Particles, J.D. Denniston defines a particle “as a word expressing a mode of
thought, considered either in isolation or in relation to another thought, or a mood of emotion.” Their functions
include conveying nuance by colouring the interpretation of a sentence. Greek has an extensive collection of particles,
which fall into two very broad categories: connectives (και, μεν...δε, ἀλλα, εἰτε... εἰτε) and emphatics (γε, δη, περ, τοι),
though there are many outliers. Translation can often be quite context-dependent.

Verbs with Dependent Participle

In some cases where English would use an infinitive, Greek more commonly places a participle after certain verbs. In
translation, this meaning needs to be reworked depending on context. The following verbs commonly take a participle:

ἄρχομαι I begin
ἥδομαι mI enjoy
λανθάνω I escape the notice of
παυομαι I cease
τυγχάνω I happen
φθάνω I anticipate, do first
χαίρω I rejoice

Verbs of Fearing/Fearing Clauses

When verbs of fearing are not followed by a direct object or an infinitive, they must be used in conjunction with μή
and a subjunctive or optative as per usual sequence of tenses. The grammatical function is similar to that of lest in
archaic English. For example,
νῦν δ᾽ αἰνῶς δείδοικα κατὰ φρένα μή σε παρείπῃ (Hom. Il. 1. 555)

But now, I am terribly afraid in my mind that (or lest) she has beguiled you

Fearing that something may not happen is expressed with both μη and οὐ. The same pattern is used for verbs of
precaution and prevention.

Time Clauses
Time clauses subordinate part of a sentence temporally, and, when definite, contain an indicative verb (when
indefinite, normal sequence of tenses is used, i.e. subjunctive for primary, optative for historic). Time clauses are
generally introduced by one of the following conjunctions:
Before ἐπεί when, since, after
ἐξ οὗ since
ὅτε when
ὡς when, as, because
πρίν + infinitive before
Simultaneously ἐν ᾧ while
ἔως while
After ἔως until
μέχρι until
πρίν until
πρότερον ἤ lit. any sooner than, until