In the verbal system, the loss of synthetic inflectional categories is somewhat greater, and several new analytic (periphrastic) constructions have evolved instead.
Modern Greek shares several syntactic characteristics with its geographical neighbours, with which it forms the so-called Balkan language area (Sprachbund).
[9] Among these characteristics are: On the other hand, one prominent feature of the Balkan language area that Greek does not share is the use of a postposed definite article.
This accentuation is inherited from Ancient Greek, where long vowels and diphthongs occupied two morae, having the same effect as the addition of a syllable.
All four combinations can be used in subjunctive function, where they are typically preceded by the particle να or by one of a set of subordinating conjunctions.
All the basic forms can be combined with the future particle θα (historically a contraction of θέλει να, 'want to').
The use of the past tense prefix ε- (e-), the so-called augment, shows some variation and irregularity between verb classes.
A number of frequent verbs have irregular forms involving other vowels, mostly η- (i-), for example, θέλω → ήθελα ('want').
In addition, verbs from the learned tradition partly preserve more complex patterns inherited from ancient Greek.
In addition, verbs whose stem begins in a vowel may also display vocalic changes instead of a syllabic augment, as in ελπίζω → ήλπιζα ('hope').
Greek is one of the few modern Indo-European languages that still retain a morphological contrast between the two inherited Proto-Indo-European grammatical voices: active and mediopassive.
[13] For both of these verbs, the older declinable participles are also sometimes used in fossilized stereotypical expressions (e.g. "έχων σωάς τας φρένας", 'of sound mind and spirit')
As in many other Indo-European languages, the distribution of grammatical gender across nouns is largely arbitrary and need not coincide with natural sex.
For example, through Demotic, many nouns, especially oxytones (those that are accented on the last syllable) in -άς (-as) or -ής (-is) form their plural by adding the stem extension -άδ- (-ad-) and -ήδ- (-id-) respectively.
[17] On the other hand, from Katharevousa, nouns such as μυς (mys, "muscle") follow the ancient declension in all cases except for the dative.
For example, the diminutive of the ancient Greek word παῖς (pais, "child") is παιδίον (paidion) and hence the modern noun παιδί (paidi).
The periphrastic comparative is formed by the particle πιο ([pço], pio, originally "more") preceding the adjective.
A superlative is expressed by combining the comparative, in either its periphrastic or synthetic form, with a preceding definite article.
Genitive (possessive) pronouns are used in their weak forms as pre-verbal clitics to express indirect objects (for example, του μίλησα, [tu ˈmilisa], 'I talked to him'), and as a post-nominal clitic to express possession (for example, οι φίλοι του, [i ˈfili tu], 'his friends').
An alternative way of giving emphasis to a possessive pronoun is propping it up with the stressed adjective δικός ([ðiˈkos], 'own'), for example, οι δικοί του φίλοι ([i ðiˈci tu ˈfili], 'his friends').
It is worth noting that in some rare cases, pronouns in the genitive can either express an indirect object or a possessive, as they have the same form (μου, σου, του, ...).
In the case of possible ambiguity, a diacritical accent should be written if the pronoun is an indirect object (μού, σού, τού, ...).
In Demotic Greek, prepositions normally require the accusative case: από (from), για (for), με (with), μετά (after), χωρίς (without), ως (as) and σε (to, in or at).
A few prepositions that take cases other than the accusative have been borrowed into Standard Modern Greek from the learned tradition of Katharevousa: κατά (against), υπέρ (in favor of, for), αντί (instead of).
Other prepositions live on in a fossilised form in certain fixed expressions (for example, εν τω μεταξύ 'in the meantime', dative).
The difference can be seen in the contrast between μας είπε να πάμε βόλτα ([mas ˈipe na ˈpame ˈvolta], 'he told us to go for a walk') vs. μας είπε πως πήγε βόλτα ([mas ˈipe pos ˈpiʝe ˈvolta], 'he told us that he went for a walk').
[23] The distinction between δεν and μην is a particularly archaic feature in Greek, continuing an old prohibitive negation marker inherited from Indo-European.
The negative pronoun κανείς ([kaˈnis], kaneis), i.e. nobody or anybody is declined in all three genders and three cases and can be used as the English determiner no.
Some other types of relativized elements, however, such as possessors, are represented within the clause by a resumptive pronoun, as in: η γυναίκα που βρήκα την τσάντα της (/i ʝiˈneka pu ˈvrika tin ˈt͡sanda tis/, 'the woman whose handbag I found', literally 'the woman that I found her handbag').
Both elements are inflected for case, number and gender according to the grammatical properties of the relativized item within the relative clause, as in: η γυναίκα την οποία είδα χτες ([i ʝiˈneka tin oˈpia ˈiða xtes], 'the woman whom I saw yesterday'); η γυναίκα της οποίας βρήκα την τσάντα ([i ʝiˈneka tis oˈpias ˈvrika tin ˈt͡sanda], 'the woman whose handbag I found').