The optative mood (ἡ εὐκτικὴ ἔγκλισις)
Up until now, we have seen finite verb forms only in the indicative mood, but recall that ancient Greek verbs have four moods:
- the indicative mood, used to make factual statements
- the imperative mood, used to give commands
- the subjunctive mood
- the optative mood
Both the subjunctive and optative refer to potential or possible action in a variety of expressions. Subordinate clauses in secondary sequence are the first examples we have encountered of verbs in the optative mood.
The strange-sounding term “optative” is a translation of the Greek grammatical term ἡ εὐκτικὴ ἔγκλισις, literally, “the form expressing a wish.” While expressing a wish is one function of the optative when it is used as the main verb of a sentence, it appears much more frequently in subordinate clauses after a verb in a secondary tense. (For more information about independent uses of the optative, please refer to the section “Beyond Lysias 1.”)
The meaning of the optative mood (and therefore the way we translate an optative verb form) is entirely dependent on its context, its use in a particular clause. For that reason, we will not give translations for optative forms when we explain how to form them, without any further context.
When the optative is used in a secondary sequence, its tense represents the aspect of the action, not the time. A present optative expresses ongoing or continuous action (which frequently is not action in the present time!). An aorist optative expresses a single action, not necessarily action in the past.