Subjunctive
Forms
If we know the indicative forms, which we should by now, the subjunctive forms are easy to recognize:
The endings are all long, always, with no exception:
λέγομεν is indicative for "we really do speak"
λέγωμεν means: "Let's speak", or: "Shall we speak? maybe yes, maybe no...
Summary of changes
| ο |
becomes |
ω |
| ου |
becomes |
ω |
| ε |
becomes |
η |
| ει |
becomes |
ῃ |
Normal -ω Verbs
| Indicative: fact |
|
subjunctive: non-fact |
| we learn |
so that |
we may know |
| μανθάνω |
ἵνα |
γιγνώκω |
| μανθάνεις |
ἵνα |
γιγνώκῃς |
| μανθάνει |
ἵνα |
γιγνώκῃ |
| μανθάνομεν |
ἵνα |
γιγνώκωμεν |
| μανθάνετε |
ἵνα |
γιγνώκητε |
| μανθάνουσιν |
ἵνα |
γιγνώκωσιν |
the Verb 'TO BE'
| Indicative: fact |
|
subjunctive: non-fact |
| we are not something |
so that we should/may not be something else. |
| οὐκ ἀργός |
εἰμι |
ἵνα μὴ |
πένης |
ὦ |
| οὐκ ἀργὸς |
εἶ |
ἵνα μὴ |
πένης |
ῇς |
| οὐκ ἀργός |
ἐστιν |
ἵνα μὴ |
πένης |
ῇ |
| οὐκ ἀργοί |
ἐσμεν |
ἵνα μὴ |
πένητες |
ὦμεν |
| οὐκ ἀργοί |
ἐστε |
ἵνα μὴ |
πένητες |
ἦτε |
| οὐκ ἀργοί |
εἰσιν |
ἵνα μὴ |
πένητες |
ὦσι. |
As you can see, the verb to be for once is really easy: just use the endings of regular verbs.
Additional Note
As you can see from the last table, we always use "not" for any kind of negation. But the Greeks make a difference:
- οὐ, οὐκ, οὐχ for negating facts, for saying that something is definitely not ..... The stress is on not fact: is not, does not, did not, will not, cannot ...
- Because subjunctive verb-forms never express fact pure and simple, we cannot use οὐ but have to use μή, always.
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