47
Optative Mood
We have now learned four moods of Greek verbs: the indicative, infinitive, imperative, and subjunctive.
- The INDICATIVE mood indicates FACTS about actions or states.
- The INFINITIVE mood is a VERBAL NOUN.
- The IMPERATIVE mood is used to give COMMANDS.
- The SUBJUNCTIVE mood refers to hypothetical actions.
In this lesson, we introduce the final mood: the OPTATIVE.
Like the subjunctive, the OPTATIVE mood refers to HYPOTHETICAL actions. The type of hypothetical actions differ from the subjunctive, however, as we see below. Like the subjunctive, there are also three tenses, each of which expresses ASPECT, not time:
- PRESENT
- ongoing aspect
- AORIST
- simple aspect
- PERFECT
- completed aspect
Since the mood is hypothetical, it NEVER receives an augment.
Optative Mood: Personal Endings
For most verbs, the personal endings for optative verbs are THEMATIC SECONDARY endings, with one exception:
- the active first person singular ending ends in –μι.
To mark the optative mood, an –ι– is inserted between the thematic vowel and the personal ending. Inserting this –ι– caused the thematic vowel not to degrade from ο to ε, as it does in other thematic verb inflections. As a result, the thematic vowel remains ο throughout all persons and numbers (S 459).
Τhe importance of inserted –ι– as a marker of the optative mood is reflected by the fact that –οι and –αι (see below) at the end of optative forms are LONG DIPHTHONGS, not short (S 427).
ACTIVE personal endings:
|
(-ον →) –οιμι = I (1st sg) |
(-ομεν →) –οιμεν = we (1st pl) |
|
(-ες →) –οις = you (2nd sg) |
(-ετε →) –οιτε = y’all (2nd pl) |
|
(-ε →) –οι = (s)he, it (3rd sg) |
(-ον →) –οιεν = they (3rd pl) |
MIDDLE personal endings:
|
(-ομην →) –οιμην = I (1st sg) |
(-ομεθα →) –οιμεθα = we (1st pl) |
|
(*-εσο → *-οισο →) –οιο = you (2nd sg) |
(-εσθε →) –οισθε = y’all (2nd pl) |
|
(-ετο →) –οιτο = (s)he, it (3rd sg) |
(-οντο →) –οιντο = they (3rd pl) |
All tenses of the optative use these endings except for the FIRST AORIST, which replaces the thematic vowel –ο– with –σα-.
FIRST AORIST ACTIVE personal endings:
|
(-οιμι →) –σαιμι = I (1st sg) |
(-οιμεν →) –σαιμεν = we (1st pl) |
|
(-οις →) –σαις = you (2nd sg) |
(-οιτε →) –σαιτε = y’all (2nd pl) |
|
(-οι →) –σαι or –σειε = (s)he, it (3rd sg) |
(-οιεν →) –σαιεν or σειαν = they (3rd pl) |
FIRST AORIST MIDDLE personal endings:
|
(-οιμην →) –σαιμην = I (1st sg) |
(-οιμεθα →) –σαιμεθα = we (1st pl) |
|
(-οιο →) –σαιο = you (2nd sg) |
(-οισθε →) –σαισθε = y’all (2nd pl) |
|
(-οιτο →) –σαιτο = (s)he, it (3rd sg) |
(-οντο →) –σαιντο = they (3rd pl) |
The Optative Mood: Present and Aorist
Like the subjunctive, the tense of the optative is indicated by the TENSE STEM. Also like the subjunctive, the PRESENT and AORIST are the most common tenses that you will encounter. The rarer PERFECT optative forms are discussed separately below.
To see how to form the optative in the PRESENT and AORIST tenses, let’s take a look at these examples:
- λύω, λύσω, ἔλυσα, λ