Generalizing conditions: present and past time
Greek can use a special form of the protasis to emphasize that a condition refers not just to a specific incident, but is generally true. Examples in English are, “If (ever, whenever) there was a charge of murder, the case was heard in the Areopagus” (past time), or “If (ever, whenever) there is a charge of murder, the case is heard in the Areopagus” (present time).
The apodosis has exactly the form you would expect: the imperfect indicative if the statement is about past time, the present indicative if it is about present.
To mark the conditional statement as generalizing, Greek does not use the indicative mood in the protasis, however. Instead, it uses the optative mood when generalizing about the past, and the subjunctive mood when generalizing about the present. Choose the tense of either mood as you would for any other optative construction: aorist for single, completed actions, versus present tense for ongoing, repeated actions.
The complete formula for marking a protasis as generalizing is summarized here:
| Time | Protasis | Apodosis |
|---|---|---|
| Past | εἰ + optative | imperfect indicative |
| Present | ἐάν (= εἰ + ἄν) + subjunctive | present indicative |
ἄν is a particle that we will see in other conditional constructions. Most frequently, it contracts with a preceding εἰ, and is written as ἐάν.
Formation of the present and aorist subjunctive
The present and aorist tenses of subjunctive mood are formed on the stems of the same principal parts as all other forms of the Greek verb: first part for all voices of the present, third part for aorist active and middle, and sixth part for aorist passive. The endings of the subjunctive mood are characterized by long vowels (η, ω) in their base. You’ll be happy to learn that the subjunctive uses the same endings for both present and aorist tenses: you can distinguish the tense by the principal part it is formed on.
The third person endings of the subjunctive are:
| Person/number | Active | Middle | Passive |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3.s | -ῃ | -ηται | -ηται |
| 3.pl | -ωσι | -ωνται | -ωνται |
Compare the present tense of the indicative, subjunctive and optative moods in the third person singular of all three voices. Notice that
- all forms are built on the same stem
- middle and passive voices use the same endings
- the vowel joining ending to stem makes the subjunctive and optative moods easily distinguishable from the indicative
| Tense + Voice | Indicative | Subjunctive | Optative |
|---|---|---|---|
| Present Active | ἄρχ-ει | ἄρχ-ῃ | ἄρχ-οι |
| Present Middle | ἄρχ-εται | ἄρχ-ηται | ἄρχ-οιτο |
| Present Passive | ἄρχ-εται | ἄρχ-ηται | ἄρχ-οιτο |
Similarly, compare the aorist tense of the three moods in the third person. Notice that:
- only indicative forms have the augment
- the accent of the aorist subjunctive passive is not recessive!
Historically, the aorist passive forms are actually a contraction of the ending’s long vowel with the regular stem -θε-, e.g., ἀρχθε + ῃ. Like other forms including contractions, the accent remains on the syllable it would have fallen on in an uncontracted form, e.g., ἀρχθέῃ > ἀρχθῇ.
| Tense + Voice | Indicative | Subjunctive | Optative |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aorist Active | ἤρξ-ε | ἄρξ-ῃ | ἄρξ-αι or ἄρξ-ειε |
| Aorist Middle | ἤρξ-ατο | ἄρξ-ηται | ἄρξ-αιτο |
| Aorist Passive | ἤρχθ-η | ἀρχθ-ῇ | ἀρχθ-είη |
Examples of generalizing conditions
Past general, here with aorist optative in the protasis:
εἰ οἱ γραψάμενοι γράψαιντο φόνου, τοῦ φόνου ἐδικάζετο ἐν Ἀρείου πάγῷ.
“If the plaintiffs ever presented a charge of murder, the murder case was heard in the Areopagus.”
Present general:
ἐὰν οἱ γραψάμενοι γράψωνται φόνου, τοῦ φόνου δικάζεται ἐν Ἀρείου πάγῷ.
“If the plaintiffs ever present a charge of murder, the murder case is heard in the Areopagus.”