Verb – Middle imperative

ObjectivesLearning objectives

The morphology of numbers that stand in the ‘tens’ place
The morphology of Luo and Elusa middle imperatives
The semantics of imperatives as requests and suggestions

VocabularyVocabulary

Greek	Gloss	Part of speech	Paradigm
ἡ ἀπόκρισις, -εως	the answer	noun	B.a.γ.v
ὁ θόρυβος, -ου	the uproar	noun	B.a.β.i
ἡ κιθάρα, -ας	the harp	noun	B.a.α.ii
τεσσεράκοντα	forty	number
κατεργάζομαί τι	(I) produce something (acc)	verb	C.a.θ
δοκιμάζω τινά	(I) test something/one (acc)	verb	C.a.θ

NoteNumbers in the tens place

Numbers in the tens place, like τεσσεράκοντα ‘forty’, are made up of two parts. First, there is the part that refers to the number that goes in the tens place, in this case τέσσαρες ‘four’. To this is added -ακοντα which tells us that the number is in the tens place. All numbers in the tens place in Greek (except for δέκα ‘ten’ and εἴκοσι ‘twenty’) follow this same pattern. Thus, ‘thirty’ is τριάκοντα, and ‘fifty’ is πεντήκοντα. The vowel before the κοντα ending is α for thirty and forty and η for the rest of the numbers. With these principles, you should be able to recognize all the numbers up to 100 if you know the form of the single digit.

MorphologyMorphology: Verb – Middle imperative

The endings of the imperfective forms are -ου and -εσθε, the same as the 2nd person Eluon endings (22.2.3.1)
For the Aorist forms, the sg ending is -σαι with a circumflex on the penultima (which is identical to the Aorist act inf; see 16.2.4.1), and the pl is -σασθε with an acute on the penultima

Morphology: Verb – Middle imperative

	Singular	Plural
Luo middle	γεύ-ου	γεύ-εσθε
Elusa middle	γεῦ-σαι	γεύ-σασθε

SemanticsSemantics: Verb – Imperative (2 – Requests; 3 – Suggestions)

Verb – Imperative: all 4 parts on one page →Also in Lesson 22.1, Lesson 39.3, Lesson 45.2

Imperatives across languages are used for a much broader range of functions than giving commands, and Greek imperatives are no different. To illustrate, imperatives can be used by someone of a lower social ranking to make a request rather than to give a command:

Example 382Imperative as request

κύριε, σῶσόν με (Matt 14:30)

Lord, save me

Peter is not commanding Jesus but making an (urgent) request from someone who is an authority over him. Imperatives are also used to make suggestions:

Example 383Imperative as suggestion

ἔρχου καὶ ἴδε (John 1:46)

Philip is suggesting to Nathanael to come and see Jesus for himself, but Nathanael is not obligated to come in the same way that he would be if his mother uttered the imperative. This imperative used between peers seems to be weaker than a command, but stronger than a mere request. The main point of these examples is that the force of the imperative is often dependent on the relative social ranking of the speaker and addressee. Authoritative speakers usually give commands, speakers which have a similar social ranking as the addressee will often make suggestions, and speakers with a lower ranking than the addressee will normally make requests.

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