Conditional clauses in Ancient Greek are clauses which start with () "if" or () "if (it may be)". () can be contracted to () or (), with a long vowel. The "if"-clause of a conditional sentence is called the protasis, and the consequent or main clause is called the apodosis.
The negative particle in a conditional clause is usually (), making the conjunctions () or () "unless", "if not". However, some conditions have (). The apodosis usually has ().
A conditional clause preceded by () or () "if only" is also occasionally used in Greek for making a wish. The conjunction () "if" also frequently introduces an indirect question.
Classification of conditional clauses Conditional clauses are classified into a small number of different types, as shown on the table below.
Grammatically, there is no difference between a present general condition ("if ever it happens") and a vivid future ("if it happens"), both having () with the subjunctive. Similarly there is no difference between a past general condition ("if ever it happened") and a less vivid future condition ("if it were to happen"), both having () with the optative. In this case, only the apodosis will distinguish which type of clause it is.
Those conditions which imagine a purely hypothetical situation (for example, "if I were to die", "if I was dead", "if I had died") usually have the particle () in the apodosis. However, () can sometimes be omitted, for example if the apodosis has an imperfect tense verb such as () "it was necessary" or () "it was possible".
Type Example Protasis ApodosisPrimary tenses Simple (open) If it is true + present or perfect indicative indicative or imperative Emotional future If it happens (in future) + future indicative future indicative Vivid future If it happens (in future) + subjunctive future indicative General present If ever it happens + subjunctive present indicativeHistoric tenses Simple (open) If it was true + imperfect or aorist indicative indicative General past If ever it used to happen + optative imperfect indicative Less vivid future If it were to happen + optative optative + Unreal present If it were true + imperfect indicative imperfect indicative + Unreal past If it had happened + aorist indicative aorist indicative +
Simple (open) conditions A simple condition uses the indicative in the protasis. The apodosis can have an imperative: (Xenophon)Xenophon, Anabasis 3.2.38.
"if anyone sees anything better, let him say so."
(Xenophon)Xenophon, Anabasis 3.4.42.
"if you want to, stay with the army."
(Xenophon)Xenophon, Anabasis 5.4.6.
"if you want, it is possible for you to take us as allies."
A simple conditional may use any tense of the indicative. The following has the perfect indicative: (Andocides)Andocides 1.32.
"if I have committed any sacrilege, put me to death."
The following uses the imperfect indicative in both clauses: (Lysias)Lysias, 1.40.
"if on that night I was plotting against Eratosthenes, was it better for me to dine elsewhere or to bring that guest to my house?"
The following uses the aorist indicative followed by an aorist imperative: (Andocides)Andocides, 1.50.
"if you heard anything about this matter which has happened, tell us."
The following, from Euripides' play Electra, has two aorist indicative tenses: (Euripides)Euripides, Electra 1086–7.
"even if, as you say, our father killed your daughter,how did I or my brother wrong you?"
Future conditions "Emotional" future conditions In an open conditional the tense of the protasis can be future indicative. According to Smyth, this kind of vivid future conditional is used when the protasis expresses strong feeling: "the apodosis commonly conveys a threat, a warning, or an earnest appeal to the feelings". He refers to it as the "emotional future" conditional.
In the following, a present tense apodosis is combined with a future protasis: (Xenophon)Xenophon, Anabasis 3.4.39.
'it's impossible to go past, unless we first cut down these men.'
(Xenophon)Xeonphon, Anabasis 4.7.3.
"there is no food for the army, unless we capture the fort."
In the following poetic example, the protasis has a future indicative as before, but in the apodosis instead of a future, there is an aorist indicative: (Euripides).
"I am undone if you leave me, wife!"
Vivid future conditions A conditional clause referring to the future usually uses the conjunction (), which can be shortened to or () "if (by chance)" followed by the subjunctive mood. (The second vowel of () is long, as appears from examples in Sophocles and Aristophanes.)Liddell, Scott, Jones Greek-English Lexicon, s.v. . For the transfer of quantities, cf.
Conditional sentences of this kind are referred to by Smyth as the "more vivid" future conditions, and are very common. In the following examples, the protasis has the present subjunctive, and the apodosis has the future indicative:
(Plato)Plato, Laws 201c
"I will come to see you tomorrow, if God is willing."
. (Xenophon)Xenophon, Anabasis 5.5.22 . "if it's necessary, we shall make war."
(Plato)Plato, Gorgias 503d.
"if you seek well, you will find."
(Aristotle)Aristotle, Rhet. 1399a.20.
'for if you say just things, people will hate you; if you say unjust things, the gods will.'
The apodosis can contain a present tense, if the verb is () "it is necessary": (Aristophanes)Aristophanes, Plut. 467.
"you two must suffer the same penalty too, if you are defeated"
The negative used in a conditional clause is usually (): . (Thucydides)Thucydides, 5.35.3 . "if they are not willing, they will force them."
(Plato)Plato, Symposium 215b.
"if you don't agree, I will produce witnesses."
However, sometimes the negative () is used, for example, when () has the force of a single word "deny":
(Plato)Plato, Apology 25b.
"whether you and Anytos deny it or agree with it"
In the following example, the aorist subjunctive is used in the protasis, to indicate that the action of capturing the hill must be done first before the enemy can be dislodged: (Xenophon)Xenophon, An. 3.4.41.
"if we can first capture that (hill), the men threatening the road will not be able to remain."
Less vivid future conditions The "less vivid" future (or "ideal") conditional describes a hypothetical situation in the future. There is often an implication that the speaker does not expect the situation to actually happen. The optative mood is used in both halves of the sentence, with the particle () added before or after the verb in the apodosis.
The tense of the verb can be aorist (if it is an event) or present (if it describes a situation). The following three examples use the aorist optative:
(Xenophon)Xenophon, Anabasis 5.6.10.
"the Parthenios river also cannot be crossed, to which you would come if you crossed the Halys."
(Plato)Plato, Gorgias 521d . "there would be nothing strange about it if I were to die."
(Aeschines)Aeschines, 1.80.
"if one of you were to ask me ... I would say ..."
The following have present optative in the protasis, aorist optative in the apodosis: (Plato)Plato, Hipp. Mai. 282d.
"if you knew how much money I have earned, you would be amazed."
(Xenophon)Xenophon, Cyropaedia 3.2.28
"I would gladly accept it, if he were offering it."
The following uses the present optative in the apodosis: Plato, Cratylus 428b . "I wouldn't be surprised (if that were so)."
In post-classical Greek, the optative mood gradually fell out of use. In the New Testament the potential optative with () occurs, but rarely (e.g. Acts 8:31); () with the optative also sometimes occurs (e.g. 2 Peter 3:14).
General conditions Present general conditions A present general condition uses the same grammatical construction ( with the subjunctive) as a vivid future condition, but is much less common. The present subjunctive is used when the actions of the two clauses are contemporaneous: (Menander)Menander, Sent. 180.
"the foolish person laughs, even if there is nothing funny."
The following has the aorist subjunctive, indicating that the first action precedes the second: c Note 2. "In a subordinate clause the aorist usually expresses an action prior to that of the leading verb." (Euripides)Euripides, Alcestis 670.
"if ever death draws near, no one wishes to die."
The perfect subjunctive also refers to a situation existing at the time of the main verb, but as a result of something which happened earlier, as in the example below: . (Xenophon)Xenophon, Cynegeticus 6.18. . "whether (the hare) has been caught or not, (the huntsman) should make it clear (to his colleagues)."
Occasionally, the verb in the apodosis is an aorist tense, but with the sense of a present. This is known as a "gnomic aorist": . (Xenophon)Xenophon, Cyr. 1.2.2. . "if a man transgress anyone one of these laws, they always impose a penalty on him."
Past general conditions The optative mood can similarly be used after () "if" in general clauses of the type "if ever it used to happen". In the following examples the present optative is used in the protasis, and the imperfect indicative in the apodosis: (Xenophon)Xenophon, Anabasis 4.5.8
"If ever he saw something edible anywhere, he would pass it round."
(Xenophon)Xenophon, Anabasis 4.5.27.
"and (the barley-wine) was completely undiluted, unless someone added water."
In the following, however, the aorist optative is used in the protasis, to indicate that the action of sharing had to come before that of being allowed near the fire: (Xenophon)Xenophon, Anabasis 4.5.5 . "they wouldn't let the late-comers come near the fire, unless they first shared some wheat with them."
In the following example, as often happens, the protasis is reduced simply to () "otherwise". Here stands for "but if they didn't hold their weapons above the water":cf. (Xenophon)Xenophon, Anabasis 3.4.36.
"and it was not possible to hold their weapons in the water, otherwise the river kept snatching them away."
Sometimes in the apodosis of a past general condition, the particle is added to an imperfect or aorist indicative tense to express repeated past action. This is called the "iterative imperfect or aorist". The following example has the imperfect indicative with :
(Xenophon)Xenophon, Memorabilia 4.6.13.
"if ever anyone opposed him on anything ... he would bring the whole subject back to the beginning"
The following uses the aorist indicative with : . (Xenophon)Xenophon, Anabasis 2.3.11. . 'if ever anyone seemed to him to be lagging behind, he would pick out the culprit and would beat him.'
Unreal conditions Present unreal conditions Unreal (counterfactual) conditions referring to present time are made with () followed by the imperfect indicative in the protasis, and the imperfect indicative combined with the particle () in the apodosis:
(Xenophon)Xenophon, Cyropaedia 1.2.16
"they wouldn't be able to do this if they weren't following a temperate diet."
(Andocides)Andocides 1.24.
"if these things were true, you would be getting angry with me"
Past unreal conditions In unreal (counterfactual) past conditions, the aorist indicative is used in both the protasis and the apodosis. To give the meaning "would", the particle () is added in the apodosis only: (Xenophon)Xenophon, Anabasis 6.6.15
"he would not have done this, if I had not ordered him."
The following example has an apodosis only with no protasis. The tense is aorist indicative: (Demosthenes).
"for who would have expected these things to happen?"
An imperfect tense in an unreal condition can refer to the past as well as the present, as in the following, where the verb () is imperfect indicative. The verb in the apodosis, (), is aorist indicative: . (Xenophon) . "if I had understood before, I would not have followed you."
In the following, the first imperfect refers to the past, the second to the present time:
(Philemon)Philemon, 153.
"if I had not been toiling then, I would not now be rejoicing."