For example, the history of Herodotus and medical works of Hippocrates are written in Ionic, the poems of Sappho in Aeolic, and the odes of Pindar in Doric; the poems of Homer are written in a mixed dialect, mostly Ionic, with many archaic and poetic forms.
This article primarily discusses the morphology and syntax of Attic Greek, that is the Greek spoken at Athens in the century from 430 BC to 330 BC, as exemplified in the historical works of Thucydides and Xenophon, the comedies of Aristophanes, the philosophical dialogues of Plato, and the speeches of Lysias and Demosthenes.
Another convention of writing Greek is that the sound ng [ŋ] in the consonant clusters /ng/, /nk/ and /nkʰ/ is written with a gamma: γγ, γκ, γχ (ng, nk, nkh), as in ἄγγελος (ángelos) "messenger", ἀνάγκη (anánkē) "necessity", τυγχάνει (tunkhánei) "it happens (to be)".
The gender of a noun is shown by the definite article (the word ὁ, ἡ, τό (ho, hē, tó) "the") which goes with it, or by any adjective which describes it: Words referring to males are usually masculine, females are usually feminine, but there are some exceptions, such as τὸ τέκνον (tò téknon) "the child" (neuter).
[8] Inanimate objects can be of any gender, for example ὁ ποταμός (ho potamós) "the river" is masculine, ἡ πόλις (hē pólis) "the city" is feminine, and τὸ δένδρον (tò déndron) "the tree" is neuter.
They can be singular, dual (referring to two people or things),[11] or plural (referring to two or more): As can be seen from the above examples, the difference between singular, dual, and plural is generally shown in Greek by changing the ending of the noun, and the article also changes for different numbers.
The dual number is used for a pair of things, for example τὼ χεῖρε (tṑ kheîre) "two hands",[12] τοῖν δυοῖν τειχοῖν (toîn duoîn teikhoîn) "of the two walls".
Nouns, pronouns, adjectives and the article in Ancient Greek also change according to their function in the sentence.
The four principal cases are called the nominative (subject), accusative (direct object), genitive (of), and dative (to, for, with).
The oblique cases have enclitic forms in the singular, when the pronoun is not emphatic; these lack stress and in the first person drop the initial vowel: -με, -μου, -μοι; -σε, -σου, -σοι; -ἑ, -οὑ, -οἱ.
For example, proper names often take a definite article (e.g. (ὁ) Σωκράτης, ho Sōkrátēs, "Socrates"), as do abstract nouns (e.g. ἡ σοφίᾱ, hē sophíā, "wisdom").
Dependent genitive noun phrases can also be positioned between the article and noun, for example ἡ τοῦ ἀνθρώπου φύσις (hē toû anthrṓpou phúsis) "the nature of man" (Plato),[19] although other positions are possible, e.g. ἡ ψῡχὴ τοῦ ἀνθρώπου (hē psūkhḕ toû anthrṓpou) "the soul of man" (Plato).
[20] Sometimes the article alone can be used with a genitive, with the noun understood from the context, for example τὰ τῆς πόλεως (tà tês póleōs) "the (affairs) of the city", standing for τὰ τῆς πόλεως πρᾱ́γματα (tà tês póleōs prā́gmata); Περικλῆς ὁ Ξανθίππου (Periklês ho Xanthíppou) "Pericles the (son) of Xanthippus", standing for Περικλῆς ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ Ξανθίππου (Periklês ho huiòs toû Xanthíppou).
[21] Another use of the article in Ancient Greek is with an infinitive, adjective, adverb, or a participle to make a noun, for example, τὸ ἀδικεῖν (tò adikeîn) "wrong-doing, doing wrong"; τὸ καλόν (tò kalón) "the beautiful, beauty"; τὰ γενόμενα (tà genómena) "the events, the things that happened"; οἱ παρόντες (hoi paróntes) "the people present".
The definite article is declined thus:[23][24] Ancient Greek adjectives agree with the nouns they modify in case, gender, and number.
Verbs have four moods (indicative, imperative, subjunctive and optative), three voices (active, middle and passive), as well as three persons (first, second and third) and three numbers (singular, dual, and plural).
To make the perfect and pluperfect tenses, the first consonant of the verb's root is usually repeated with the vowel ε (e),[26] for example: γράφω, γέγραφα (gégrapha) "I write, I have written", λῡ́ω, λέλυκα (lū́ō, léluka) "I free, I have freed", διδάσκω, δεδίδαχα (didáskō, dedídakha) "I teach, I have taught" (all present, perfect).
With the article (which is always neuter singular), it has a meaning similar to the English gerund: τὸ ἀδικεῖν (tò adikeîn) "wrong-doing", "doing wrong".
Another frequent use of the infinitive is to make an indirect statement, especially after verbs such as φημί (phēmí) "I say" and οἴμαι (oímai) "I think".
Because they are adjectival in form, they also come in three genders (masculine, feminine, and neuter), three numbers (singular, dual, and plural), and four different cases (nominative, accusative, genitive, and dative).
Its stem is normally of the same form as the aorist passive,[40] but with φ changed to π and χ to κ, e.g.
One is passively, somewhat like the gerundive in Latin, with the person who has to do the action in the dative case:[41] The other is actively, and impersonally, with the neuter singular ending -τέον (-téon); in this form it may take an object.
Again the person who has to do the action, if mentioned, is put in the dative case:[43] In some sentences either interpretation is possible: Although the Greek gerundive resembles the Latin one, it is used far less frequently.
[48] One of the most notable features that Ancient Greek has inherited from Proto-Indo-European is its use of verb "tense" to express both tense proper (present, past, or future) and the aspect of the time (as ongoing, simply taking place, or completed with a lasting result).