LESSON II MAQHMA B   EXERCISES TO LESSON II

1. Jo Diovnuso~ tou` douvlou jakouvei Dionysos hears/listens to the slave.

2. Jo qeo;~ tw/` jaskw/` caivrei the god is happy with the wine sack.

In the sentences 1 and 2 we meet two new casus or declension forms: the genitive (Lat. genitivus) and the dative (Lat. dativus). The genitivus has the ending -ou and the dativus has the ending -w/. These genitivus- and dativus endings are regarding all substantive nouns, which end in the nominativus singular with -o~. The genitivus and dativus can also function as complements within a sentence.

The substantive nouns in the translation texts of Lesson I and II all have the same endings (with the exception of the slave's name, Jo Xanqiva~). As an example (PARADIGMA or paravdeigma) you can see underneath the vier casus or declension forms of words ending on -o~ with their respective article:

1.Jo dou`lo~

4.to;n dou`lon

1. nominativus (nom.) = nominative, subject of sentence

The substantives with Jo etc. are masculin (Lat. masculinum, plur. masculina). There are also feminin (Lat. femininum, plur. feminina) and neuter (Lat. neutrum, plur. neutra) words. Feminin nouns have the article Jh and neuter nouns have the article tov. These groups of nouns will be dealt with later.

A verb is connected with complements, which are put in a fixed casus form. E.g., jakouvw (to hear, to listen to) is very often connected to a complement in the genitive casus; the verb caivrw (to be pleased/happy with) is connected with the dative casus. Such 'fixed complements are given in a dictionary or vocabulary list, like this: jakouvw+ gen.: to hear, to listen to; caivrw+ dat.: to be pleased/happy with.

3. Particles: mevn.....dev

The particle mevn is always in second position in a sentence. This particle means that the information within this (part of the) sentence is not complete, but that is will be completed or continued in a more or less contrasting counterpart within the sentence or in the next sentence: ...'it's true (mevn)..., but....This counterpartlike continuation ('but') is usually marked by the Greek counterparticle dev. You are advised not to translate mevn and to translate dev by 'but'.

a. the subject which is not expressed: probaivnei de; Jo Aijakov~: calepaivnei tw/` Dionuvsw/. Enter Aiakos; hij is angry with Dionysos.

In the sentence calepaivnei tw/` Dionuvsw/. the subject 'he', namely Aiakos, is not specified (i.e. we read 'he'which is stored in the form/ending of the verb and we do not read 'Aiakos'). Because the verb is in the 3rd person singular, we have enough information from the context that by 'he' Aiakos is meant. Very often, the subject of a (part of a) sentence will have to be derivated from the former context.

b. object/complement which is not expressed: Jo dou`lo~ tw/` Aijakw/ sumbouleuvei kai; bohqei`. The slave gives advice to Aiakos and helps him.

In the sentence kai; bohqei` not only the subject, but also the complement is not specified (i.e. 'he'and 'him' instead of 'the slave' and 'Aiakos'), because this can be derived sufficiently from the context. The complement in the last part of the sentence is, of course, Tw/` Aijakw/, 'and helps him (bohqevw+ dat.: to help)

Vocabulary of Lesson II:

nomina:

bivo~, Jo life

oi\no~, Jo wine

verba:

jakouvw +gen.: to hear, to listen to

bohqevw +dat.: to help

diwvkw to follow, to go after

jepibouleuvw +dat.: to have something against someone, to threaten

mevlei +dat.: it is of (someone's) care, it is of (someone's) interest

sumbouleuvw +dat.: to give advice to

feuvgw to flee

frontivzw +gen.: to care about

caivrw +dat.: to be pleased/happy about

other words:

jaei always, mostly

mavlista the most, the most likely, most likely, best, surely

mevn.....dev .....,but....(leave mevn untranslated

nu`n now

oujdev 1. and not (within the combination ouj...oujdev 2. not...either, not even

oujdevn by no means, not at all

oujkevti not anymore

Mekking, T. & Oranje, H., Een Nieuwe Basis, Cursus Grieks voor Beginners, Amsterdam, 2001.