Subjunctive (Ancient Greek)


The subjunctive mood "for arranging underneath", from ὑποτάσσω "I arrange beneath") along with the indicative, optative, and imperative, is one of the four moods of the Ancient Greek verb. It can be used both in the meaning "should" and in the meaning "may".
The main uses of the subjunctive in Greek are as follows:
When used in its jussive sense, the subjunctive can be used in sentences such as the following:
The potential subjunctive is used in indefinite subordinate clauses like the following, introduced by a word such as ἐάν "if by chance" containing the particle ἄν :
When the context is past, the optative is used in such clauses, without the particle ἄν.
The potential subjunctive, usually without ἄν, is also used in subordinate clauses such as the following:
In a past time context either the subjunctive or the optative mood may be used in such sentences.
Without an introductory verb, but preceded by μή "not", the potential subjunctive can also be used for:
The two moods subjunctive and optative together cover most of the areas covered by the Latin subjunctive. However, one area for which the subjunctive is used in Latin but not in Greek is for counterfactual situations in the present or past ", "it would have happened ", "I should have done it. For this area of meaning the imperfect and aorist indicative tenses are used in Ancient Greek.
The subjunctive is still used today in Modern Greek, whereas the optative has died out.
The subjunctive almost always has the letters ω or η in the ending, for example εἴπωμεν, γένηται. It exists in three tenses only: the present, the aorist, and the perfect. The perfect is, however, rarely used.
The difference between the present and aorist subjunctive is one of aspect rather than of time. In sentences looking forward to the future such as "I am afraid it may happen", the aorist describes single events, whereas the present subjunctive primarily refers to situations or habitually repeated events. In sentences describing repeated events at an indefinite time such as "whenever he has finished, he sits down", the aorist refers to events which, though repeated, precede the time of the main verb.
Except sometimes in Homer, the negative used with the subjunctive is always μή.

Uses

Jussive subjunctive

Just as in Latin, the Greek subjunctive can sometimes be used for giving suggestions or commands. This use is known as the "jussive" subjunctive.

1st person suggestions

The jussive subjunctive has several uses. One use is in 1st person plural exhortations :
More rarely, generally preceded by φέρε δή, it can be used in the 1st person singular:
Since Ancient Greek has a 3rd person imperative, the imperative rather than the subjunctive is usually used for 3rd person commands or suggestions where Latin would use a 3rd person subjunctive.

Deliberative questions

Similarly the subjunctive is used in deliberative questions, usually in the 1st person:

Negative commands

The subjunctive mood can also be used for 2nd person negative commands, but only with the aorist tense. The negative, as with almost all uses of the subjunctive, is μή :
However, when the meaning of the negative command is "don't continue to do something", μή is used not with the subjunctive but with the present imperative:

Subjunctive in indefinite clauses

The subjunctive mood is often used in indefinite subordinate clauses referring to an unknown time in the future or to an unspecified time in the present. Such clauses are always introduced by a conjunction or relative pronoun combined with the particle ἄν, such as ἐάν "if by chance", ὅταν "whenever", or ὃς ἄν "whoever".
Clauses of this type can only refer to an indefinite present or future time, never to the past, for which the optative is used, without ἄν .

If (in future)

The subjunctive is often used in the protasis of conditional sentences after the conjunction ἐάν, which can be shortened to ἤν or ἄν "if " or "if ", referring to a future situation that is quite likely to happen. Conditional sentences of this kind are referred to by Smyth as the "more vivid" future conditions:
The negative used with the potential subjunctive, as with the jussive subjunctive, is μή :

Before, until

The same construction is used with πρὶν ἄν "before" and ἕως ἄν "until such time as" referring to an event or situation which it is expected will occur at an indefinite future time:

Whenever, whoever, etc.

Another very similar use of the subjunctive is in indefinite subordinate clauses following a conjunction such as ἐᾱ́ν "if ever", ὅταν "whenever", ὃς ἄν "whoever", etc., referring to repeated actions in indefinite present time.
ὅπως ἄν means "in whatever way". But it can also mean "so that" and be used in purpose clauses.
The equivalent of this construction in past time uses the optative mood without ἄν . Unlike with purpose clauses and after verbs of fearing, the subjunctive is not used in a past-time context in such clauses.

Other uses of the subjunctive

Purpose clauses

The subjunctive is also used in purpose clauses with ἵνα, especially those referring to present or future time:
ἵνα "so that" is never used with ἄν. On the other hand, when ὅπως is used, ἄν is usually added, although ὅπως can also be used alone:
In a past context purpose clause, the optative mood without ἄν is often used, but it is also possible to use the subjunctive even in a past context:
Purpose clauses can also be made with ὅπως and the imperfect, aorist, or future indicative.

After verbs of fearing

The subjunctive is used after verbs of fearing to express fears for the future, after a verb of fearing in the present tense. In this case the word μή "lest" is always added after the verb of fearing:
In a past context the optative mood is generally used instead of the subjunctive. However, as with purpose clauses, the subjunctive may optionally be used even when the context is past:
Doubts can be expressed in Ancient Greek by using εἰ "if" or an indirect question and the subjunctive after a verb of fearing:
When the sentence has the form "I fear that something is the case or was the case", referring to the present or past, the indicative, not the subjunctive, is used.

Doubtful and emphatic assertions

Similar to its use with verbs of fearing, the subjunctive with μή is sometimes used in doubtful assertions, meaning "it may be the case that" or ) "it may not be the case that", especially in Plato:
A similar construction, but with οὐ μή rather than μὴ οὐ, can also be used for an emphatic assertion, as in this sentence from the New Testament, always negative and usually with the aorist subjunctive:

Tense and the subjunctive

The subjunctive, like the imperative, is found in only three tenses: the present, aorist, and perfect. The difference between these tenses is generally not one of time, but of aspect. Thus when a subjunctive verb is used prospectively to refer to a future event or situation, the aorist is used to refer to an event, the present to a situation :
When the subjunctive is used with ἄν in indefinite clauses, the aorist refers to an event which takes place earlier than the main verb:
But when the subjunctive verb in an indefinite clause refers to a situation which is simultaneous with the time of the main verb, the present subjunctive is used:
The perfect subjunctive also refers to a situation existing at the time of the main verb, but as a result of something which happened earlier, as in the example below:

Morphology

Subjunctive endings almost always contain the letters η or ω, except in the 2nd and 3rd person singular of -όω verbs, which have -οῖς, -οῖ, and in the 2nd and 3rd singular and 2nd plural of -άω verbs, which have -ᾷς, -ᾷ, -ᾶτε like the indicative.
The order of the endings in the tables below is: "I", "you sg.", "he/she/it", "we", "you pl.", "they".
A 2nd and 3rd person dual number also exists but in most verbs it is rare. It is omitted from these tables.