Conjunction: ὅτε

SyntaxConjunction – ὅτε

Just like the conjunction ὅτι, ὅτε ‘when’ also introduces a subordinate clause. It is most commonly found with an Aorist verb after it, though you will occasionally see it preceding an Eluon verb as well. It is not used with the future under ordinary circumstances. The one exception is when it is modifying a noun that refers to a particular time. For example, a phrase like ἐν ἡμέρᾳ ὅτε (Rom 2:16), where the ὅτε introduces a subordinate clause that modifies the noun ἡμέρᾳ, may be followed by a Luso verb when the event being described is in the future.

fromLesson 15.4

SemanticsConjunction – ὅτε

The basic meaning of the conjunction ὅτε is to introduce a time that is related to another time. These times are usually the times when events take place. In other words, the conjunction relates two different times and says that there is overlap between those two times. Overlapping times are two times that share a value, such as an interval of time like 2–3 pm and a point of time within that interval like 2:45 pm. More concretely, if Brad was driving from 2–3 pm and his 12 kids all got car sick at 2:45 pm, there is (unfortunately for Brad) temporal overlap between these two events. Thus, we can say Brad’s 12 kids got carsick when he was driving. The nature of the verb, particularly its aspectual value, will determine the relationship between the two times.

When ὅτε is followed by an Aorist, the time being referred to is normally immediately after the end of the event represented by the Aorist that goes with ὅτε. In this case, the temporal overlap is between the end of the first event and the beginning of the second event:

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