Negation, Clauses, and Coordination

Negation
Clauses and Coordination
Coordinating Conjunctions
Correlative Conjunctions
Particles
Post-Positives
1. Elision and Aspiration of τε
μέν … δέ

Negation

Negation is the act of putting a “no” or “not” in front of a part of speech. For example:

She did not see the shark in the water.
The boy was not happy.

The word “not” in each sentence negates a different part of speech. In the first, it negates the verb “[did] see” to indicate that that action did not happen. In the second, it negates the adjective “happy” to indicate what state the boy was not in.

The typical negation in ancient Greek is οὐ.

οἱ κόροι ἔβλεψαν οὐ τὸν κίνδυνον ἀλλα τὰ δῶρα. “The boys saw not the danger but the gifts.

However, οὐ may exhibit one of two extra letters at the end, depending on the word that follows the negation:

οὐ becomes οὐκ when the next word after the negation begins with an unaspirated vowel or diphthong (or, phrased differently, a vowel or diphthong with a smooth breathing). For example:
- οὐκ ἔβλεψαν. “They did not see.”
οὐ becomes οὐχ when the next word after the negation begins with an aspirated vowel or diphthong (or, phrased differently, a vowel or diphthong with a rough breathing [the ‘h’ sound]). For example:
- τὰ δῶρα οὐχ ἔλαβεν. “She did not take the gifts.”

Clauses and Coordination

A phrase that contains a finite verb (or multiple finite verbs) is called a clause, and individual clauses are often defined by the finite verb, which tells us what else we can expect in the clause: the subject, direct or indirect objects, prepositional phrases, etc.

If we were to simply add clause after clause as we speak or write, however, it would make for boring reading.

The soldier showed the house. The sailor boarded the ship. The ship sailed into the sea.

What is the relationship between these clauses? How can we make a logical connection between the ideas contained in the first sentence and the second?

Coordinating Conjunctions

That is where conjunctions and particles can help us out.

A conjunction (from the Latin verb coniungo, coniungere, coniunxi, coniunctus, “to join together”) joins together two or more similar elements, from the level of individual words to entire clauses and sentences. Examples in English include words like “and” or “but”. Note also the conjunction that joins together those two examples: “or.”

Here are some examples of conjunctions in Greek and how they connect ideas together:

καί and τε couple together clauses or individual words: “and”
ἀλλά introduces a clause that strongly contrasts the previous clause: “but”
δέ can either connect clauses together or imply a contrast (weaker than ἀλλά): “and” or “but.” Note that δέ usually joins only clauses together, rather than individual words like nouns.
ἤ indicates options: “or”

In terms of the difference between ἀλλά and δέ, think of ἀλλά as a “big but” and δέ as a “small but.”

Note that τε and δέ are post-positive, which we’ll discuss below.

More specifically, each of the words above is a coordinating conjunction, defined here as a conjunction that joins elements together on its own (versus correlative conjunctions, which we’ll discuss in the next section).

Here are some examples of how these conjunctions can be used:

οἱ ἄνθρωποι τὸν κίνδυνον ἔδειξαν, καὶ ταῖς κόραις εἶπον. “The people showed the danger and spoke to the girls.”
οἱ δικασταὶ ἦλθον, ἀλλὰ τὸν κίνδυνον οὐκ ἔβλεψαν. “The jurors came, but they did not see the danger.”
ὁ κόρος τὸ βίβλιον ἔβλεψεν ἢ εἶλεν. “The boy saw or took the book.”

Note that the final alpha of ἀλλά is elided if the word that follows begins with a vowel. This means that the alpha will be replaced by an apostrophe and not be pronounced when spoken out loud. For example, I will rearrange the second clause:

οἱ δικασταὶ ἦλθον, ἀλλ’ οὐκ ἔβλεψαν τὸν κίνδυνον . “The jurors came, but they did not see the danger.”

The same will be true of δέ and τε, but we’ll discuss them below because of other considerations to take into account with those conjunctions in particular.

Correlative Conjunctions

Correlative conjunctions are combinations of coordinating conjunctions that are used together to strengthen the relationships between the items being joined. In more plain English, correlative conjunctions help us more clearly identify what elements are being joined together.

There are two specific sets of correlative conjunctions to be aware of for now:

καί … καί and τε … τε (or any other combination, e.g., καί … τε or τε … καί) mean “both … and”
ἤ … ἤ means “either … or”

Whenever you see a καί or an ἤ, you must look at the full context of the clauses around it to see if there’s another καί or ἤ to form a correlative conjunction. If so, the “both” and the “either”, respectively, of the correlative conjunction can help you organize your translation better. If not, then the καί or ἤ in question is simply a coordinating conjunction and can be translated straightforwardly as “and” or “or” respectively. Some examples (with comparisons to sentences with coordinating conjunctions):

καὶ οἱ ἄνθρωποι τὸν κίνδυνον ἔδειξαν καὶ ταῖς κόραις εἶπον. “The people both showed the danger and spoke to the girls.”
ὁ κόρος τὸ βίβλιον ἢ ἔβλεψεν ἢ εἶλεν. “The boy either saw or took the book.”
ὅ τ’ κόρος ἥ τε κόρη ἦλθον εἰς τὴν οἰκίαν. “Both the boy and the girl came into the house.” (More on the placement of τε below, and more on the prepositional phrase εἰς τὴν οἰκίαν, “into the house”, after Exam 1.)

Particles

A particle is a word that contextualizes the idea in the clause that contains it. The relationship between the particle and the clause that contains it is similar to flavor agents in a culinary dish: in the same way that salt versus citrus versus sugar can create different flavor profiles in the same dish, different particles can lend different interpretations of how a clause relates to the clauses around it.

Here are some examples of particles:

γάρ gives an explanation for the previous clause. Why did it happen? “for/because…”
οὖν draws a conclusion from the previous clause. This happened; “therefore…”

And here are some examples of these particles in use:

ἦλθον· τὸν γὰρ κίνδυνον ἔβλεψαν, “They came, for they saw the danger.” (The second clause, which contains γάρ, explains why they came.)
τὸν κίνδυνον ἔβλεψεν· ἐκελεύσατο οὖν. “He saw the danger; therefore, he gave the order.” (The second clause, which contains οὖν, indicates that him giving the order was the result or outcome of his seeing the danger.)

Post-Positives

You’ll notice in the most recent examples that γάρ and οὖν were placed after the first word of the clause. This is because γάρ and οὖν and the conjunctions δέ and τε are post-positive (from the Latin preposition post, “after”, and verb pono, ponere, posui, positus, “to place”). A post-positive cannot be the first word in its clause or phrase and gets placed (ponere) after (post) the first word.

When translating a post-positive from Greek into English, you will often need to translate it before the word that precedes it in the Greek, as you can see in the examples from the particles section. See also the following examples with conjunctions:

ἔβλεψεν, ἔλειψε τε. She saw, and she left.
ἔβλεψεν, ἦλθε δέ. He saw, and he came.

When you have multiple conjunctions or particles, particularly with post-positives, you must be able to determine which words are being coordinated by each conjunction. Take a look at the following example:

ὁ κόρος ἦλθεν, τὸν δ’ ἄνθρωπον καὶ τὴν κόρην ἔβλεψεν.

We have two conjunctions here, the post-positive δέ (from which the final epsilon has been elided, because ἄνθρωπον begins with a vowel) and the coordinating conjunction καί. Keep in mind that a post-positive should be translated before the word that precedes it; if it helps, you can (mentally [or physically!]) draw an arrow from the δέ to the space before τὸν to indicate that that’s where it belongs in English. Once we rearrange the sentence in that way, we can understand more clearly what our conjunctions are coordinating: δέ links together our two clauses, while καί joins together the two direct objects that receive the action of the second verb ἔβλεψεν (imagine arrows extending from καί to τὸν … ἄνθρωπον and τὴν κόρην to indicate that those are the words that καί coordinates). Thus, we come up with a translation like this:

The boy came, and (δέ) he saw the man and (καί) the girl.

Elision and Aspiration of τε

One special note about τε, a post-positive conjunction that means “and.”

If τε is followed by a word beginning with a consonant, nothing further needs to be done.

ὁ κόρος ἣ τε κόρη - “the boy and the girl”

If τε is followed by a word beginning with a vowel or diphthong with a smooth breathing, the epsilon is elided:

ἡ θάλαττα ἣ τ’ οἰκία - “the sea and the house”

However, if it is followed by a word beginning with a vowel or diphthong with a rough breathing (i.e., the “h” sound), two things happen: the epsilon is elided and the remaining tau (“t”) is aspirated into the letter theta (“th”). For example:

οἱ ἄνθρωποι οἳ θ’ ἵπποι - “the people and the horses”

μέν … δέ

There is a special set of particles that can enumerate the parts of a list consisting of two or more elements. The beginning of the list is indicated by the post-positive particle μέν; following parts of the list are indicated by the post-positive particle/conjunction δέ. There is no exact translation equivalent in English for μέν.

For example:

ἦλθε μὲν, ἔβλεψε δέ, ἐνίκησε δέ. “He came, he saw, and he conquered.” (νικάω … ἐνίκησα … ἐνικήθην - to conquer)

This list consists of three verbal actions; the first, ἦλθε, is marked by μέν, while the following elements, ἔβλεψε and ἐνίκησε, are each marked by δέ.

When this list consists of only two elements (i.e., a μέν and one δέ), the particles create a comparison or contrast between the two clauses, either the entirety of the clauses or elements within the clauses. A μέν-δέ comparison can also serve to differentiate two groups or people acting in different ways. The “standard” translation of a μέν-δέ that generations of Greek students have been taught is something like “on the one hand (μέν) … on the other hand (δέ),” but any translation that gets across the idea that two actions, groups, etc., are being compared or contrasted is fine.

This is particularly important when we begin adding nouns or pronouns into our sentences. For example:

ὁ μὲν κόρος τὸ βίβλιον ἔλαβεν, ἡ δὲ κόρη τὴν οἰκίαν ἔβλεψεν.
- The boy took the book, but the girl saw the house.

This complex sentence compares the activities of the boy and girl and sets them in opposition; we can just as easily translate the sentence in the following ways:

ὁ μὲν κόρος τὸ βίβλιον ἔλαβεν, ἡ δὲ κόρη τὴν οἰκίαν ἔβλεψεν.
- The boy took the book, but the girl saw the house.
- On the one hand, the boy took the book, but on the other hand, the girl saw the house.
- The boy took the book, while the girl saw the house.

As we’ll learn after Exam 1, we can also use a simple definite article as a pronoun preceding μέν and δέ. In the following sentence and its sample translations, notice how μέν and δέ follow a masculine nominative singular article ὁ. Despite the fact that the ὁ looks the same in each clause, the use of μέν-δέ here means that each ὁ refers to a different person, and the correlation contrasts what one man is doing versus what another man is doing:

ὁ μὲν ἦλθεν, ὁ δ‘ ἐκέλευσεν.
- That man came, but the other man gave the order.
- He came, but he gave the order.
- He came, while the other one gave the order.