Question – WH-words plural

ObjectivesLearning objectives

• The morphology of the pl WH-words
• More about the syntax of WH-words

VocabularyVocabulary

MorphologyMorphology: Question – WH-words plural

• The nom and acc endings (-ες and -ας) are the same as the pl 1st and 2nd person pronouns, ἡμ-εῖς/ἡμ-ᾶς (the lengthened εῖς is a contraction)
• The endings for the gen and dat are -ων and -σι(ν) respectively (identical to the neut 3rd declension pl forms; 10.1.4.1).
• When the σ of the dat pl ending is added to the τιν- stem, the ν of the stem drops out, leaving τίσι(ν) just like the form τίς (see 11.4.3.1).

SyntaxSyntax: Question – WH-words (replacing an argument or adjunct)

The most important syntactic characteristic of τίς is that it replaces a noun in the sentence. Sometimes this noun will be an argument of the verb as in τίνα βλέπει ὁ ἄνθρωπος; ‘Whom does the person see?’ At other times, the noun replaced will be one that goes with a preposition, e.g. πρὸς τίνα πορεύεται ὁ ἄνθρωπος; ‘To whom is the person going?’ Another option is for the WH-word to replace an adjunct. The term adjunct refers to an element in the sentence that is not required by the verb. For example, we might say τίνι τύπτει τὴν ἀδελφὴν αὐτοῦ ὁ ἀδελφός; ‘With what did the brother hit his sister?’1 In this case, the initial τίνι is replacing an adjunct because it isn’t necessary that the brother hit his sister with an instrument of any kind. Adjuncts are an optional piece of information in the sentence that adds something to our understanding of the situation.