Adverbs

Words that modify or describe the action of a verb are called adverbs. Adverbs typically express ideas like manner (“she read the text quickly), time (“afterwards, he took a nap”), or place (“they live nearby”). Adverbs can clarify and make vivid the meaning of a verb that might otherwise be bland. They can even completely change the sense of a clause. Changing “Documents were destroyed” to “Documents were deliberately destroyed” could be the difference between an accident and a crime. And adding the English adverb not to a sentence negates its meaning!

Here are a few examples of adverbs you will see in Lysias 1. Think about how they affect the meaning of a simple sentence.

Manner

The defendant, Euphiletos, addresses the jury, and says “You know this,” but he adds the adverb εὖ “well”. How different is, “You know this perfectly well”?

Time

The common adverb ἔπειτα “next, then” sets the sequence of events in a narrative. Euphiletos hears from a household servant how Eratosthenes approached her: “She told me first, how he approached her, and then (ἔπειτα) how she became the messenger from Eratosthenes to my (Euphiletos’) wife.” What difference does it make to specify that these two events happened successively?

Another common adverb expressing time is νῦν “now, at the present moment.” Euphiletos pointedly uses νῦν in his closing summary to the jury: “I am now (νῦν) at risk of my life because I obeyed the law.” The jury is about to vote on their decision, so νῦν succinctly but powerfully connects his risk to their decision. (Aren’t adverbs like “pointedly”, “succinctly” and “powerfully” helpful in talking about this?)

Place

In Euphiletos’ dramatic narrative of how he caught Eratosthenes ini bed with his wife, the precise location of events is crucial. Euphiletos describes the arrangements in his house, where the women normally lived ἄνω “above” (that is, “upstairs”) and Euphiletos κάτω “downstairs”. Once the baby was born, they changed the arrangements so that his wife would not have to go down the stairs at night to wash up after caring for the baby. That makes it possible for Eratosthenes to sneak in to see Euphiletos’ wife. When Euphiletos finds out that Eratosthenes is ἔνδον (“inside, indoors,” so “in the house”), he looks to his neighbors for help, and finds some of them at home (again, ἔνδον, “in their houses”).

Negation with finite verb forms

English negates a finite verb with the word not. Ancient Greek has two main words to negate a finite verb form: οὐ and μή.

• οὐ: Indicative verbs in most clauses are negated with οὐ. Note that οὐ has a smooth breathing and no accent. If the word that follows οὐ in a sentence begins with a vowel also with a smooth breathing, οὐ becomes οὐκ. If the word following begins with a rough breathing, οὐ becomes οὐχ.
• μή: Some verbs in other moods or in certain types of clauses use μή instead. We will see examples of how to use μή in module 4.

Adverbial καί

We have already seen that the word καί can serve as a conjunction to join two clauses. Related to the root idea of “adding” things, καί can also be used as an adverb, meaning “too, also, even.” When an elderly woman reveals to Euphiletos his wife’s affair with Eratosthenes, she says, “Eratosthenes has destroyed not only your wife, but also (καὶ) many other women,” or “Eratosthenes has destroyed not only your wife, but many other women, too (καὶ).”

How can you distinguish the two uses of καί? How will you know if it is a conjunction or an adverb? Let’s look at the example sentence. There is a complete clause we have translated as “Eratosthenes has destroyed not only your wife,” then we have four Greek words: ἀλλὰ καὶ ἄλλας πολλάς.

ἀλλὰ is the familiar conjunction: it introduces a new clause. ἄλλας πολλάς means “many other women”, and is in a form we will learn in module 2 that marks it as the direct object of the verb; in this context, we don’t see an explicit verb, and can assume that the verb of the previous clause is understood: “He has destroyed your wife; [he has destroyed] many other women.” καὶ can’t be a conjunction because this clause is already connected to the previous clause by ἀλλὰ: “Eratosthenes has destroyed not only your wife, but many other women.” Adding καί strengthens the contrast between the two clauses: “Eratosthenes has destroyed not only your wife, but many other women, too” or “Eratosthenes has destroyed not only your wife, but also many other women.”

Remember that a clause will have a single finite verb (explicit or implicit), and will normally be connected to its context by a particle or conjunction. If you can correctly chunk a long stretch of text into verbal expressions, you’ll be able to see whether καί is joining clauses, or working as an adverb to modify the idea of the clause.

Vocabulary to memorize

Memorize the following adverbs:

• ἔπειτα “then, next”
• εὖ “well”
• καί “even, also”
• νῦν “now, at present”
• οὐ/μή “not”