teach yourself ancient greek ancient greek gavin betts and alan henry For over 60 years, more than 40 million people have learnt over 750 subjects the teach yourself way, with impressive results. be where you want to be with teach yourself The authors wish to acknowledge the help of George Gellie and Deane Blackman. For UK order enquiries: please contact Bookpoint Ltd., 130 Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon 0X14 4SB. Telephone: +44 (0) 1235 827720. Fax: +44 (0) 1235 400454. Lines are open 09.00-18.00, Monday to Saturday, with a 24-hour message answering service. You can also order through our website www.madaboutbooks.com For USA order enquiries: please contact McGraw-Hill Customer Services, PO Box 545, Blacklick, OH 43004-0545, USA. Telephone: 1-800-722-4726. Fax: 1-614-755-5645. For Canada order enquiries: please contact McGraw-Hill Ryerson Ltd., 300 Water St, Whitby, Ontario L1N 9B6, Canada. Telephone: 905 430 5000. Fax: 905 430 5020. Long renowned as the authoritative source for self-guided learning - with more than 30 million copies sold worldwide - the Teach Yourself series includes over 300 titles in the fields of languages, crafts, hobbies, business, computing and education. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data, a catalogue record for this title is available from The British Library. Library of Congress Catalog Card Number, on file First published in UK 1989 by Hodder Headline Ltd., 338 Euston Road, London, NW1 3BH. First published in US 1993 by Contemporary Books, a Division of the McGraw-Hill Companies, 1 Prudential Plaza, 130 East Randolph Street, Chicago, IL 60601 USA. This edition published 2003. The Teach Yourself name is a registered trade mark of Hodder & Stoughton Ltd. Copyright© 1989,2003 Gavin Betts & Alan Henry In UK: All rights reserved. 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Impression number 1 0 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 21 Year 2009 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004 2003 introduction xi how to use this book xi abbreviations xiii map of ancient Greece xv 01 1.1/1 the Greek alphabet and its pronunciation /2 accents .2 exercise .3 excursus - the different forms of Greek 1 02 2.1/1 nouns in Greek /2 first declension (feminine nouns) and the feminine definite article /3 basic uses of cases /4 verbs in Greek /5 present and future indicative active of -ω verbs (and corresponding infinitives) /6 word order and elision .2 Greek reading /1 vocabulary 9 03 3.1/1 second declension and the masculine and neuter definite article /2 first declension (masculine nouns) /3 first and second declension adjectives /4 adverbs /5 prepositions /6 present indicative and infinitive of ειμί, I am .2 Greek reading /1 vocabulary 19 04 4.1/1 imperfect indicative active and weak aorist indicative active and infinitive active of -ω verbs 12 first and second person pronouns, and αυτόν, -ην, -ό /3 connecting particles .2 Greek reading /1 vocabulary 28 ^ΓΊ 05 5.1/1 third declension - consonant stem nouns (1) 12 contracted verbs § 13 further uses of the definite article | .2 Greek reading /1 vocabulary 38 06 6.1/1 third declension - consonant stem nouns (2) 12 second declension contracted nouns and first and second declension contracted adjectives /3 compound verbs formed with prepositional prefixes /4 -ω verbs with stems in palatals, labials, dentals .2 Greek reading /1 vocabulary 48 07 7.1/1 strong aorist indicative and infinitive active of -ω verbs 12 μίηφ say 13 indirect speech /4 indirect command /5 numerals /6 negatives Π phrases expressing time and space .2 Greek reading /1 vocabulary 58 08 8.1/1 middle and passive voices 12 deponent verbs /3 indirect statement /4 third declension nouns - stems in ι and υ .2 Greek reading /1 vocabulary 69 09 9.1/1 demonstrative pronouns 12 the relative pronoun oc and adjectival clauses /3 αυτός and its uses /4 reflexive and reciprocal pronouns /5 possessive adjectives and pronouns .2 Greek reading /1 vocabulary 81 10 10.1/1 interrogative τίο and indefinite tic 12 questions, direct and indirect 13 first and third declension adjectives /4 third declension adjectives .2 Greek reading .3 extra reading - the wisdom of Socrates 93 11 11.1/1 root aorist, aorist passive and future passive 12 agent and instrument 13 -ω verbs with stems in λ, μ, ν, ρ /4 third declension nouns - stems in ευ, αυ, ου /5 crasis .2 Greek reading 102 12 12.1/1 participles 12 uses of participles vii .2 Greek reading .3 extra reading - ο ο epigrams 111 I 13 13.1/1 oddities of declension /2 verbs I used with the genitive or dative /3 further particles .2 Greek reading .3 extra reading - Plato 121 14 14.1/1 moods of the Greek verb /2 subjunctive mood /3 optative mood /4 uses of the subjunctive and optative .2 Greek reading 133 15 15.1/1 perfect indicative active /2 verbs used with participles .2 Greek reading .3 extra reading - Prometheus bound (1) 144 16 16.1/1 phrases and clauses of result 12 pluperfect indicative active /3 perfect and pluperfect indicative middle/passive /4 other parts of the perfect tense .2 Greek reading .3 extra reading - Heracles 154 17 17.1/1 imperative mood: commands and prohibitions 12 comparison of adjectives and adverbs /3 meaning of the comparative and superlative /4 constructions involving the comparative and superlative /5 active verbs used in a passive sense .2 Greek reading .3 extra reading - Prometheus bound (2) 165 18 18.1/1 -μι verbs 12 δίδωμι give, μι ηΟίτ put, place /3 είμι I shall come/go /4 other verbs with principal parts from different roots /5 conditional sentences /6 aicpoc, ο,οοεμ έοχατοο .2 Greek reading .3 extra reading - the sea, the sea! 178 19 19.1/1 ϊοτημι and its compounds 12 potential clauses 13 oddities in verbs .2 Greek reading 189 20 20.1/1 verbs in -νομι 12 ΐημι and its compounds /3 genitive of price or value /4 genitive of separation /5 accusative of respect or specification .2 Greek reading 199 21 21.1/1 wishes 12 further temporal conjunctions (έως, μέχρι, πρίν) /3 further demonstrative and relative adjectives/pronouns /4 further impersonal verbs /5 accusative absolute .2 Greek reading .3 extra reading - love poetry 207 22 22.1/1 summary of the uses of roc 12 uses of cases (1) - accusative .2 Greek reading .3 extra reading - Anacreontea 220 23 23.1/1 uses of cases (2) - genitive 12 uses of cases (3) - dative .2 Greek reading .3 extra reading - further elegiac poetry 231 24 24.1/1 yes and no 12 summary of uses of ού and μή /3 diminutives /4 dual number /5 verbal adjectives in -xoc/-x0c and -reoc /6 verbs of precaution and striving Π verbs of hindering, preventing, forbidding, denying .2 Greek reading .3 extra reading - the think tank 245 25 25.1/1 Homeric Greek 12 differences in phonology and morphology /3 differences in syntax .2 readings from Homer 258 appendices 265 1 conjugation of λύω loosen 265 2 conjugation of contracted verbs (present and imperfect) 268