Natural logic and the Greek moods : the nature of the subjunctive and optative in classical Greek

Verb [entail] B. The Interaction of Universal Quantifiers and Adverbial Clauses.... C. McCawley's Quantification Proposals D. Will and would in English E. Subordinate Clauses in Greek V. Conclusion References Index I INTRODUCTION: THE PROBLEM In Classical Greek the verb is marked morphologically for number, person, tense, aspect and mood. There are six distinct moods: the indicative, subjunctive, optative, imperative, and, according to some definitions of 'mood', the infinitive and the participle. The first three are finite and can be marked for all three persons in both the singular and the plural. This is where our primary interest lies. These moods are names for certain paradigms or sets of desinences; in fifth century Classical Greek the subjunctive endings have one of the inherently long vowels, t] or co, and the optative endings fall into two major classes but always have some kind of iota diphthong. When used in an independent clause each of these moods will carry quite distinct ideas and will be translated differently. (1) ol ap)£0VTE