endings of perfect subjunctive?

[shaunthesheep]

Hi guys~

I checked the appendix of Hansen and Quinn for perfect subjunctive, and found something confusing.

For instance, in the perfect subjunctive active list, I found

perfect subjunctive active



S 1 λελυκὼς ὦ or λελύκω
S 2 λελυκὼς ᾖς or λελύκῃς
S 3 λελυκὼς ᾖ or λελύκῃ
...

I understand the right sight, but for the left sight, where there is a space between the "word" and the "ending"?

What does this mean?

[Hylander]

These are alternative forms.

Those on the right side are made up of the perfect stem with subjunctive personal endings, just as the present tense is made up of the present stem and subjunctive personal endings,

Those on the left side are "periphrastic". They're made up of two words: the perfect participle and an "auxiliary" verb that carries subjunctive personal endings, namely, the present subjunctive of the verb εἰμί.

The participle in the periphrastic forms has to agree in gender and number with the subject, so that, for example, the second person plural feminine form would be λελυκυῖαι ᾖτε. The third person plural neuter would be λελυκότα ᾖ.

In English, all our perfect forms are periphrastic, composed of forms of the verb "to have" and the past participle, e.g., "I have seen". The process is similar in Greek for the perfect subjunctive, as well as perfect optative and perfect imperative, except that the auxiliary verb that carries the personal endings is εἰμί.

The periphrastic forms of the perfect subjunctive and optative (the left side) are more usual than the simple forms (the right side). For the perfect imperative, only the periphrastic forms are used. But perfect subjunctive, optative and imperative forms -- both periphrastic and simple -- are on the whole relatively rare. That doesn't mean you don't need to learn them eventually, however.

[shaunthesheep]

“The third person plural neuter would be λελυκότα ᾖ.”

guess you mean third person singular neuter?

Thank you for your help!

Many Thanks!

[bedwere]

“The third person plural neuter would be λελυκότα ᾖ.”

guess you mean third person singular neuter?

Thank you for your help!

Many Thanks!

A neuter plural takes the verb in the singular, when regarded as collective. See Smyth 958

[shaunthesheep]

“The third person plural neuter would be λελυκότα ᾖ.”

guess you mean third person singular neuter?

Thank you for your help!

Many Thanks!

A neuter plural takes the verb in the singular, when regarded as collective. See Smyth 958

Thank you!