[B-Greek] RE: Recognizing SubjUNctives

Carl W. Conrad cwconrad at ioa.com
Mon May 9 12:55:00 EDT 2005


On May 9, 2005, at 10:07 AM, Hahn, Joshua R. wrote:

>
> I am translating 1 John 1:9 and have two quick questions.  First of  
> all,
> I am having trouble simply recognizing Subjunctive moods.  What clues
> should I see that will immediately tell me that I am dealing with a  
> word
> in a Subjunctive mood?  Are certain words always Subjunctive?  I know
> that this is a mood of contingency or probability but am simply having
> trouble correctly spotting them as I translate.

The chief clue to a subjunctive form is that the vowel immediately  
preceding the personal ending of the verb in question is an H or an  
W. This does not mean, however, that ALL words with H or W before the  
personal endings are subjunctives, because (a) indicative 1st  
singulars of the present tense also show the -W- vowel, and (b)   
contract verbs may show  W in some forms: it behooves the learner to  
get a grip on all the contractions. These ambivalent forms require  
inspection of the context and the syntax that is standard with the  
construction in which the verb-form is found.

Another clue is that hINA regularly introduces a subjunctive clause;  
another is that any introductory element with an AN in it (EAN, hOPWS  
AN, hOSTIS/hHTIS/hO-TI AN in the protasis ("if" clause) of a  
conditional construction must be followed by a subjunctive.


> The second question deals with this verse itself.  It seems as if John
> is using a present tense OMOLOGWMEN to indicate that our confession of
> sins is to be a continual process, thus the present tense and that the
> APHE and KATHARISE are both subjunctive, meaning that these two are
> given to us and are contingent upon the continual process of  
> confessing.
> It makes sense but I want to make sure that I am understanding John's
> thought process for why he is using the Subjunctive mood here.

It helps to have the text before the eyes (it also helps to mark  
rough breathing and iota subscript, in accordance with the standard  
BG transliteration scheme.:

1 John 1:9 EAN hOMOLOGWMEN TAS hAMARTIAS hHMWN, PISTOS ESTIN KAI  
DIKAIOS hINA AFHi TAS hAMARTIAS KAI KAQARISHi hHMAS APO PASHS ADIKIAS.

First you can see that the clues I indicated above are helpful here:  
the subjunctive verb hOMOLOGWMEN is introduced by EAN and falls in  
the protasis of a present general condition; the subjunctives AFHi  
and KAQARISHi are introduced by hINA.

I would not lay much emphasis upon implications of  the present tense  
of hOMOLOGWMEN: this is a present general condition and so the two  
clauses indicate every possible instance of our confession and the  
certainty that each time "he is fair so as to forgive and purify us ..."

> So, to recap, my two main questions are:
>
> 1) How to recognize Subjunctives in a verse?
> 2) When translating, how to properly understand why it was used?

For my part, I really think that usage of subjunctives tends to fall  
in place not so much with analysis of individual instances as with  
reading of longer and longer sequences and becoming accustomed to  
varied usage. If, however, you want to see a good overview of the  
varied uses of the subjunctive with numerous examples of usage in  
different types of construction, you might look at Wallace, GGBB, pp.  
461-480.

Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University (Emeritus)
1989 Grindstaff Road/Burnsville, NC 28714/(828) 675-4243
cwconrad2 at mac.com
WWW: http://www.ioa.com/~cwconrad/




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