Dependent Clauses
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Dependent Clauses
Dependent clauses (or subordinate clauses) are parts of sentences that contain their own internal logic (e.g., they have a conjugated verb with a subject), but they cannot stand on their own because they begin with a subordinating conjunction or subordinating pronoun that begins the clause that makes the idea incomplete without the context of a main clause. Here’s an example:
- When the sun set, we ate dinner.
The dependent clause in this sentence, “when the sun set”, begins with a subordinating conjunction, “when”, and has its own internal logic: a conjugated verb “set” with the subject “the sun.” However, if the full sentence consisted simply of:
- When the sun set.
we would be left wondering, what happened when the sun set? The idea is incomplete, and we need the context of the main or independent clause, “we ate dinner”, to form a full sentence. The dependent clause answers a question posed by the main clause or some element of the main clause, like “when did it happen?” or “which noun are we talking about?”
This unit will discuss two specific kinds of subordinate / dependent clauses in Greek: a temporal clause indicates when the action of a main verb occurs, and the causal clause indicates why the action of a main verb occurs. We’ll discuss another type of depedent clause, the relative clause, after Exam 2.
Temporal and Causal Clauses
A temporal clause, from the Latin tempus, “time”, indicates when the action of the main verb occurs in a circumstantial fashion. For example, in the sentence above, the temporal clause “when the sun set” answers the question, “when did we eat dinner?” We know that it’s a temporal clause due to the meaning of the subordinating conjunction that introduces the clause, “when”, and we can mark the beginning of the temporal clause at the conjunction.
A causal clause, from the Latin causa, “reason”, gives the reason why the action of the main verb occurs. For example, in the following sentence:
- The boy left because he was afraid.
the dependent clause “because he was afraid” explains why the boy performed the action of leaving.
In Greek, the subordinating conjunction ἐπεί or ἐπειδή, “after, when, since, because”, introduces either a temporal or causal clause. Context will often help us determine whether a temporal (when, after) or a causal (since, because) translation is more appropriate.
When we see multiple conjugated verbs in a sentence, we have to ask how they are related and connected (i.e., what kinds of conjunctions are used?). When those connectors are coordinating (like καί or ἀλλά) or correlative (like καί/τε … καί/τε), then the verbs and clauses thus connected are main clauses and on the same level. When the connector is subordinating, however, like ἐπεί, we must realize that we are dealing with a subordinate clause or dependent clause that exists to give context to the main clause; the subordinate clause can’t stand by itself.
Thus, take a look at the following Greek example:
- ὁ κόρος τοὺς ἵππους ἀπὸ τῆς ὁδοῦ ἤγαγεν ἐπεί τὸν κίνδυνον ἔβλεψεν.
In this sentence, there are two conjugated verbs: ἤγαγεν and ἔβλεψεν. When we look at the words that precede each verb, the only conjunction that we see in the sentence is ἐπεί, which will govern whatever verb comes after it (and whatever else attends that verb). When we note that our sentence contains a dependent clause, we have to understand where the dependent clause begins and ends. We have to understand what belongs to the dependent clause and what belongs to the main clause so that we don’t, e.g., pull the main verb into the dependent clause or attribute an adjective of the dependent clause to a noun of the main clause.
In general, a dependent clause:
- begins at a subordinating conjunction or subordinating pronoun
- and ends at 1) the first conjugated verb you find after the conjunction or pronoun, 2) a punctuation mark like a comma or period, or 3) the end of the sense unit (e.g., a prepositional phrase or an adverb, sometimes a direct object or subject).
With these criteria in mind, we can mark the beginning and end of our temporal clause with brackets as follows:
- ὁ κόρος τοὺς ἵππους ἀπὸ τῆς ὁδοῦ ἤγαγεν [ἐπεὶ τὸν κίνδυνον ἔβλεψεν].
Thus, we can see where the temporal clause begins and ends and work with the main clause and the dependent clause separately. In the main clause (outside of the brackets), we have a structure with an aorist active verb: “The boy led the horses away from the road.” The ἐπεί clause, then, adds some more information and answers a question posed by the main clause: when did the boy lead the horses away from the road? He led the horses away from the road when he saw the danger. The “when” dependent clause (i.e., the temporal clause) answers the question.
Note that the translation of ἐπεί as “when” means that we are interpreting ἐπεὶ τὸν κίνδυνον ἔβλεψεν as a temporal clause, answering the question “at what time did the action of the main verb ἤγαγεν happen”? If we were to interpret it as a causal clause (i.e., translate ἐπεί as “because”):
- The boy led the horses away from the road because he saw the danger.
In this translation, the action of seeing the danger is the reason that caused the boy to lead the horses away from the road. Either “when” or “because” makes sense in the context of this sentence, so it’s up to you to decide which one you like better!