Subjunctive, Optative and Imperative

Every verb you have conjugated so far has been indicative. The indicative states things: the horse is loose, the general sent the soldiers. A mood is the verb form that tells you how the speaker is presenting the action. Greek has three more besides the indicative, and they carry most of what people do with language besides reporting facts: urging, planning, wishing, ordering, forbidding.

Only the present and the aorist matter much in these moods for a beginner. And here, as with the infinitive in lesson 17, the difference between present and aorist is aspect, not time. An aorist subjunctive is not "past." It just presents the action as a single whole event. And outside the indicative there is no augment.

The subjunctive: long vowels

The subjunctive is easy to spot. Take the present indicative and lengthen the vowel that joins stem and ending: ο becomes ω, ε becomes η, ει becomes ῃ, ου becomes ω. The endings are otherwise the same ones you know.

Say a few aloud: λύῃς [LÜ-ēis], λύωμεν [LÜ-ō-men], λύσητε [LÜ-sē-te]. The aorist subjunctive uses the aorist stem λυσ- with the same long vowels; the -σα- of the indicative ἔλυσα is gone, and so is the augment. Second aorists work the same way on their own stem: λάβω, λάβῃς, λάβῃ (from ἔλαβον), ἔλθω, ἔλθῃς (from ἦλθον), εἴπω (from εἶπον, whose εἰ- belongs to the stem).

The subjunctive of εἰμί

εἰμί's subjunctive is nothing but the long vowels with circumflexes: ὦ, ᾖς, ᾖ, ὦμεν, ἦτε, ὦσι(ν) [Ō, ĒIS, ĒI, Ō-men, Ē-te, Ō-si]. These little words are everywhere, and the circumflex plus breathing is your only clue. ὦ alone is also the vocative particle "O" (ὦ ἄνδρες), so again read the whole sentence.

What the subjunctive does in a main clause

Hortatory: let us. The first person plural subjunctive urges. Negative μή.

• λύωμεν τοὺς ἵππους. [LÜ-ō-men toos HIP-poos] "Let's untie the horses."
• ἴωμεν. [I-ō-men] "Let's go." (subjunctive of εἶμι, I will go)
• μὴ μένωμεν. "Let's not stay."

Deliberative: what are we to do? A question asking what one should do, usually first person. Negative μή.

• τί ποιῶμεν; [TI poi-Ō-men] "What are we to do?" (ποιῶμεν is the contracted subjunctive of ποιέω.)
• εἴπω ἢ σιγῶ; "Am I to speak or keep quiet?"

Prohibitive: do not. μή with the aorist subjunctive, second person, forbids a single act (Smyth, section 1800). This replaces the aorist imperative, which Attic rarely uses with μή.

• μὴ λύσῃς τὸν ἵππον. [mē LÜ-sēis ton HIP-pon] "Don't untie the horse."
• μὴ θαυμάσῃς. "Don't be surprised."

The optative: -οι- and -αι-

The optative takes its name from Latin opto, "I wish," because wishing is one of its main jobs (Smyth, section 1814). It is the hardest mood to recognize by sound in modern pronunciation, where -οι- sounds like -ι-, and one of the easiest to recognize on the page: look for οι in the present and second aorist, αι in the first aorist.

These match Smyth, section 383 and the middle table after it. In the aorist active, Attic prose prefers the forms in -ειας, -ειε, -ειαν (called "Aeolic" optatives, though they are standard Attic); you will see both. Second aorists take the present-type endings on their own stem: λάβοιμι, ἔλθοι, εἴποι, γένοιτο.

Pronounce the diphthong: λύοι [LÜ-oi], λύσαιμι [LÜ-sai-mi], λύσειε [LÜ-sē-e]. Lesson 2 showed that restored Attic keeps λύει and λύοι apart, while modern Greek says both as [LI-i]. Here is the payoff: the difference is the difference between "he loosens" and "may he loosen."

The accent trap: λύσαι and λῦσαι

Final -οι and -αι normally count as short for accent. In the optative they count as long (Smyth, section 169). So the optative λύσαι [LÜ-sai] has an acute, because a long final syllable forbids a circumflex on the syllable before it. The aorist active infinitive λῦσαι has a circumflex, because there the final -αι is short. The same circumflex form is also the aorist middle imperative, second singular. Three forms, two spellings, one accent mark to tell them apart.

The optative of εἰμί

You read εἴη in lesson 17, in Plato's Apology: ἤρετο εἴ τις ἐμοῦ εἴη σοφώτερος. That was the optative in an indirect question after a past verb, a use this lesson explains under purpose clauses below.

What the optative does in a main clause

Wishes for the future. The optative alone, or introduced by εἴθε [Ē-the] or εἰ γάρ [ē GAR], "if only," expresses a wish that something may happen (Smyth, sections 1814 and 1815). The negative is μή.

• εἴθε ἔλθοι. "If only he would come!" "May he come!"
• εἰ γὰρ γένοιτο. "Would that it might happen!" (Smyth cites this one from Xenophon's Cyropaedia, 6.1.38.)
• μὴ γένοιτο. "May it not happen!" "God forbid!" This little phrase lived on for centuries.

The reading for this lesson is Sophocles' most famous wish in the optative.

Potential: might, would. The optative with the particle ἄν [AN] expresses what might happen or would happen. Negative οὐ.

• λέγοις ἄν. "You might speak." Often a polite command: "please speak."
• οὐκ ἂν δυναίμην. "I would not be able," "I couldn't."

So the presence or absence of ἄν changes everything: γένοιτο is "may it happen," γένοιτʼ ἄν is "it might happen."

The imperative

The imperative gives orders. Greek has second-person imperatives ("loosen!") and third-person ones ("let him loosen!"). The second person singular forms are the ones to learn cold; they are irregular-looking and common.

Some of these are identical to other forms. λύετε can be the present indicative ("you loosen") or the imperative ("loosen!"). λυόντων and λυσάντων are also genitive plural participles (lesson 16). Context again.

The imperative of εἰμί is ἴσθι [IS-thi] "be!", ἔστω [ES-tō] "let him be," ἔστε "be!" (plural), and ἔστων or ὄντων "let them be." A few second aorist imperatives are accented on the ending: εἰπέ "say!", ἐλθέ "come!", εὑρέ "find!", ἰδέ "see!", λαβέ "take!" (Smyth, section 424 b). Their plurals go back to normal: εἴπετε, ἔλθετε.

Present or aorist imperative?

Aspect again. The present imperative orders an ongoing or repeated action, or tells someone to keep doing what they are doing. The aorist imperative orders a single act. ἄκουε: "keep listening, be a listener." ἄκουσον: "listen (to this, now)." Teachers say ἀκούετε to a class all year, and ἀκούσατε when they are about to say one important thing.

Prohibitions: two patterns, never οὐ

A prohibition is a negative command. Greek uses μή, never οὐ, and Attic chooses between two forms (Smyth, section 1840):

The aorist imperative with μή is rare in Attic. If you want to forbid a single act, reach for the aorist subjunctive. Plato's Apology offers a perfect pair, which you will meet in the Reading: Socrates, expecting his listeners to interrupt, says μὴ θορυβήσητε "don't raise a din" at 20e (aorist subjunctive: don't start), and a few lines later, when they apparently do, μὴ θορυβεῖτε at 21a (present imperative: stop it). Smyth cites both in section 1840.

Purpose clauses: ἵνα, ὅπως, ὡς

A purpose clause says why something is done. "I am writing so that you may learn." Greek introduces purpose clauses with ἵνα [HI-na], ὅπως [HO-pōs] or ὡς [HŌS], all meaning "in order that, so that." The negative is μή: ἵνα μή, "so that not," "lest."

The mood depends on the main verb (Smyth, section 2196):

• After a primary tense (present, future, perfect, or an imperative): subjunctive.
• After a secondary tense (imperfect, aorist, pluperfect): optative, though the subjunctive may also appear.

These follow Smyth's model sentences in section 2196, which use the compound ἐκμάθῃς, ἐκμάθοις; here the simple μάθῃς and μάθοις from μανθάνω (second aorist ἔμαθον) are used instead. When a past main verb is followed by a subjunctive, the effect is vivid: the writer gives the purpose as the person had it in mind at the time (Smyth, section 2197 a). Smyth's example of this is the one in your Reading: Abrocomas burned the boats ἵνα μὴ Κῦρος διαβῇ, "so that Cyrus might not cross." Abrocomas thought, "I'll burn the boats so Cyrus can't cross," and Xenophon keeps his subjunctive.

This rule, that a past main verb can push a subordinate verb into the optative, is called the sequence of moods. You have now met it three times: in purpose clauses, in the indirect question εἴ τις ... εἴη σοφώτερος from lesson 17, and in the optional optative after εἶπεν ὅτι. Same habit each time.

One more use: fear clauses, briefly

After verbs of fearing (φοβοῦμαι, δέδοικα), μή means "that" or "lest," and takes the same moods as a purpose clause. φοβοῦμαι μὴ ἔλθῃ: "I am afraid that he may come." Xenophon (Anabasis 1.3.17) has a soldier say he would hesitate to board ships Cyrus gave them, μὴ ἡμᾶς ταῖς τριήρεσι καταδύσῃ, "for fear he might sink us with his warships." English "lest" is the closest single word, and it is going out of fashion, so "for fear that" will usually serve.