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maya sheth

ancient greek

value Adventure›Exploration›Languages
subject How to live›Language & craft›Languages
tags language
created 2026/04/09 modified 2026/09/19

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Plato's Republic I

References: Plato’s Republic I: Greek Text with Facing Vocabulary and Commentary — Gregory Steadman, Project Gutenberg translation

Commentary

  • Structured as recollection of a dialogue by Socrates, at festival for a goddess
  • Follows tradition of epic poetry w/ significant first word: κατέβην (I descended)
    • Socrates's descent from Athens as reference to Allegory of the Cave?
  • Book I meant as failure of persuasion, which Socrates makes up for in following texts

Translation

| Section | Greek | Translation | | ------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | 327 a | κατέβην χθὲς εἰς Πειραιᾶ μετὰ Γλαύκωνος τοῦ Ἀρίστωνος προσευξόμενός τε τῄ θεῷ καὶ ἅμα τὴν ἑορτὴν βουλόμενος θεάσασθαι τίνα τρόπον ποιήσουσιν ἅτε νῦν πρῶτον ἄγοντες. | I descended (aorist) yesterday into Piraeus with Glaucon, [son of] Ariston intending to pray (future participle, purpose cl.) both to the goddess (dat.) and at the same time due to wishing to watch (aorist inf.) in which way they will create the festival since now they [are] leading for the first time (adv. acc.). | | 327 b | καλὴ μὲν οὖν μοι καὶ ἡ τῶν ἐπιχωρίον πομπὴ ἔδοξεν ἔιναι, οὐ μέντοι ἧττον ἐφαίνετο πρέπειν ἣν οἱ Θρᾷκεσ ἔπεμπον. | Indeed the procession of the inhabitants also seemed (aorist 3rd p sing) to me to be good, however it appeared to be like a lesser [procession] [than?] the Thracians sent | | 327 c | προσευξάμενοι δὲ καὶ θεωρήσαντες ἀπῇμεν πρὸς τὸ ἄστυ. κατιδὼν οὖν πόρρωθεν ἡμᾶς ὄικαδε ὡρμημένους Πολέμαρχοσ ὁ Κεφάλου ἐκελευσε δραμόντα τὸν παῖδα περιμεῖωαί ἑ κελεῦσαι. | Having prayed (participle) and watching they were leaving toward Athens. Having viewed (aorist nom sing participle) us not from afar having set out (middle perfect participle) homeward, Polemarchus [son] of Cephalus ordered the slave running (aorist participle) to await him to bid [us]. |

Concepts

Alphabet & pronunciation

  • Greek is spelled like it sounds! Thus, changes in spelling occur for certain letter combinations. For instance: → moveable nu for words ending in -σι → compensatory lengthening of vowels when consonants dropped

Vowels

  • Short vowels: α (drama), ε (get), ι (bit), ο (bought), υ (pub)
  • Long vowels: ᾱ (father), η (wait), ῑ (meet), ω (total), ῡ (boot) & diphthongs: αι (defy) ει (same as η), οι (boy), υι (wit), αυ (plow), ευ (ε + υ), ηυ (η + υ), ου (ο + ω)
  • Aspiration: words starting with a vowel must have smooth breathing mark ᾿ or rough breathing mark ῾ → Written before a capital letter, above a lower case letter, above 2nd vowel in diphthong

Consonants

  • Gamma (Γ,γ) pronunciation: γ before palatal → 'n' → γγ = 'ng', γκ = 'nk', γχ = 'nkh', γξ = 'nx'
  • Sigma (Σ, σ, ς) → when occurs after dental stop consonants (τ, δ, θ), drop the dental**: τ/δ/θ + σ = σ** → when occurs after dental nasal consonant (ν), either consonant can drop: ν + σ = ν OR σ
  • Consonant combinations: → Double consonants: ζ = 'dz', ξ = 'ks', ψ = 'ps' → πσ, βσ, φσ = ψ → κσ, γσ, χσ = ξ → π + **῾ = φ, τ + **῾ = θ, κ + **῾ = χ

Accents

  • Over one of last three syllables in a word: antepenultimate-penultimate-ultimate (a-p-u)
  • RECESSIVE: place accent as early in the word as possible
    • Words w/ 3+ syllables: check u → (long → acute on p), (short → acute on a)
    • Words w/ 2 syllables: accent always on p
      • If (p is short) OR (p is long & u is long)→ acute on p
      • Else (p is long & u is short) → circumflex on p
  • PERSISTENT: keep accent same in all forms of word unless forced by rules to change
    • If necessary, first change nature, then position
    • Most nouns
    • General rules:
      • Inflected forms accented on p → remains on p (same as recessive rule for 2 syllable words!)
        • (p is long & u is short) → circumflex on p
        • (p is long & u is long) → acute on p
        • (p is short) → acute on p
      • Inflected forms accented on a... (same as recessive rule for 3+ syllable words)
        • Remains acute on a UNLESS:
        • (u is long) → acute on p
      • Accent is on monosyllabic nom. sing. noun...
        • Remains on corresponding syllable, EXCEPT:
        • Genitive & dative cases → accent on u (long → circumflex, short → acute)
  • 6 possible patterns
    1. a-p-ú + pause
    2. a-p-ù + no pause
    3. a-ṕ-u BUT NOT if [p is long & u is short] ****4. á-ṕ-u [u is short]
    4. a-p-û [u is long]
    5. a-p̂-u [p is long & u is short] (MUST if long p is accented]
  • ENCLITIC: for words acting as suffix with their preceding word, like εἶναι and φάναι (only two enclitic verbs) (E = enclitic, W = preceding word)
    • E = 1 or 2 syllables & W = (acute on a OR circumflex on p) → ADD acute to u of W; no accent on E
    • E = 2 syllables & W = (acute on p) → RETAIN accent on u of E
    • E = 1 syllables & W = (acute on p) → NO accent on E
    • E = 1 or 2 syllables & W = (accent on u) → NO accent on E
  • Kinds
    • ACUTE (´)
      • Only over u if before a comma or pause; else use GRAVE (`)
      • NOT over p if (p is long & u is short)
      • Can only be over a if (u is short)
    • CIRCUMFLEX (ˆ)
      • Only over long vowels in p or u
      • MUST be over p if (p is accented & long) & (u is short)
      • CANNOT be over p is u is long

Nouns

  • Identified by gender, #, & case
  • Persistent accent
  • Declensions: 1) -η,-α; 2) -ο; 3) the rest
  • Identified in dictionary by: 1) definite article, 2) nom. sing., 3) gen. sing.
    • Get noun stem by dropping ending from gen. sing. form

Cases

  • NOMINATIVE — subject
  • GENITIVE — attribution, motion away from/out of
  • DATIVE — indirect object; positional on, in, or under; temporal in or at; instrumentality (by or with)
  • ACCUSATIVE — direct object, motion to/into; duration
    • Internal/adverbial accusative — restating the object with an adjective, but translated as an adverb (ex. I sing a loud [song] → I sing loudly)
  • VOCATIVE — being addressed

1st declension endings

| Case | Singular (-η) | Singular (-α) | Plural | | -------------- | ------------- | ------------- | ------ | | Nominative | -η | -α | -αι | | Genitive | -ης | -ας | -ῶν | | Dative | -ῃ | -ᾳ | -αις | | Accusative | -ην | -αν | -ας | | Vocative | -η | -α | -αι |

  • -αι = short when u for accentuation
  • If nom. sing. has acute accent on u, both dat. & gen. sing. & pl. → circumflex (not expected pattern)
  • Accent on genitive plural is always circumflex!

2nd declension endings

| Case | Singular (-ος) | Singular (-ον) | Plural (m.) | Plural (n.) | | -------------- | -------------- | -------------- | ----------- | ----------- | | Nominative | -ος | -ον | -οι | -α | | Genitive | -ου | -ου | -ων | -ων | | Dative | -ῳ | -ῳ | -οις | -οις | | Accusative | -ον | -ον | -ους | -α | | Vocative | -ε | -ον | -οι | -α |

  • -οι = short when u for accentuation
  • Genitive plural accent does not shift to circumflex as in 1st declension.
  • As in 1st declension: if nom. sing. has acute accent on u, both dat. & gen. sing. & pl. → circumflex

3rd declension endings

| Case | Singular (m./f.) | Singular (n.) | Plural (m./f.) | Plural (n.) | |---|---|---|---|---| | Nominative | -ς | - | -ες | -α | | Genitive | -ος | -ος | -ων | -ων | | Dative | -ι | -ι | -σι(ν) | -σι(ν) | | Accusative | -α, -ν | - | -ας | -α | | Vocative | -, -ς | - | -ες | -α |

  • When adding σ to noun stem: if σ follows a dental stop consonant (τ, δ, θ), dental disappears: ex. τ + σ = σ
  • Similarly can happen with dental nasal consonant, ν, but sometimes σ disappears (ν + σ = ν)
  • In both cases, may be accompanied by compensatory lengthening of surrounding vowel to make up for loss of consonant (but can only lengthen a short vowel)

Verbs

  • Identified by person, #, tense, mood, voice (active/passive/middle)
  • Recessive accent
  • Neuter plural nouns take a singular verb!
  • Six principle parts (all 1st person singular & indicative)
    1. present active
    2. future active
    3. aorist active
    4. perfect active
    5. perfect passive
    6. aorist passive

Special cases

  • Infinitives
    • Uses → with certain verbs in ordering/commanding
    • Present infinitive active = present tense stem (1PP) + —ειν (—ω verbs) or —ναι (—μι verbs)
      • Tense indicates aspect only, not time; progressive/repeated— "to educate (habitually)," "to be educating"
      • For those ending in —ναι, always accent on penult
    • Aorist infinitive active = un-augmented aorist tense stem (3PP w/o ἐ—) + —αι
      • Always accented on penult → not recessive!
      • —αι counts as short for accentuation purposes
      • Tense indicates aspect only: *simple— "*to educate (once and for all)"
    • Perfect infinitive active = perfect active tense stem (4PP) + —έναι
      • Tense indicated aspect only: completed— "to have educated"
      • Always accented on penult
  • Irregular verbs
    • εἶναι — to be
      • Present active infinitive: εἶναι
      • Does not follow recessive accent— rather, acts as enclitic, as if suffix to previous word
      • BUT: when prefix added (as in παρέιναι, to be present), follows recessive accent
    • φάναι — to say, assert
      • Present active infinitive: φάναι
      • ENCLITIC accent, as εἶναι (only two enclitic Greek verbs)
    • Present indicative active forms:

| Person | Singular | Plural | | -------------- | -------- | ------- | | 1st person | εἰμί | ἐσμέν | | 2nd person | εἶ | ἐστέ | | 3rd person | ἐστί(ν) | εἰσί(ν) |

| Person | Singular | Plural | |---|---|---| | 1st person | φημί | φαμέν | | 2nd person | φῄς | φατέ | | 3rd person | φησί | φασί |

Tenses

  • Indicates TIME & ASPECT
  • TIME → past, present, future
    • Primary = present & future
    • Secondary = past (indicative tenses formed by adding ἐ- to stem)
  • ASPECT
    • Simple (aorist infinitive)
    • Progressive/repeated (present infinitive)
    • Completed (perfect infinitive)

Mood

  • INDICATIVE — factual statements, questions
  • SUBJUNCTIVE — "If...", "So that...", "Let us..."
  • OPTATIVE — "If we should...", "We might...", "May we always..."
  • IMPERATIVE — commands
  • Subjunctive & optative → dependent clauses; tense only indicates aspect, not time!
  • Sequence of moods
    • *PRIMARY
      • Main verb = present, future, perfect indicative
      • Dependent verb = present or aorist subjunctive → purpose clauses translated as "may"
    • SECONDARY
      • Main verb = imperfect, aorist, pluperfect indicative
      • Dependent verb = present, aorist optative → purpose clauses translated as "might"

| Tense | Time | Aspect | Translation | | -------------- | ------- | ---------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------- | | Present | Present | Progressive/repeated | I am falling; I fall (habitually) | | Perfect | Present | Completed | I have fallen | | Aorist | Past | Simple | I fell | | Imperfect | Past | Progressive/repeated | I was falling; I used to fall; I fell (habitually) | | Pluperfect | Past | Completed | I had fallen | | Future | Future | Simple; progressive/repeated | I shall fall; I shall be falling; I shall fall (habitually) | | Future perfect | Future | Completed | I shall have fallen |

Verb forms (active voice)

| Name | How to form | Endings | | ---------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | ---------------------------- | | Present indicative active | Unaugmented aorist tense stem (3PP without ἐ—) + ending | Present indicative active | | Future indicative active | Future tense stem (2PP) without —ω + ending | Present indicative active | | Aorist subjunctive active | Unaugmented aorist tense stem (3PP without ἐ—) + ending | Present subjunctive active | | Present subjunctive active | Present tense stem (1PP) + ending | Present subjunctive active | | Aorist optative active | Add endings to unaugmented aorist tense stem (3PP without ἐ—) | Aorist optative active | | Imperfect indicative active | Add past indicative augment (ἐ—) to present tense stem (1PP) + endings | Imperfect indicative active | | Pluperfect indicative active | Add past indicative augment (ἐ—) to perfect active stem (4PP), and add endings | Pluperfect indicative active | | Aorist indicative active | Remove —α from augmented aorist tense stem (3PP) + endings | Aorist indicative active | | Present optative active | Add endings to present tense stem (1PP) | Present optative active | | Perfect indicative active | Remove —α from perfect active stem (4PP) and add ending | Perfect indicative active |

Endings (—ω ||| —μι conjugations)

| Type | 1st person | 2nd person | 3rd person | Notes | | ---------------------------- | ------------------------ | ----------------------- | ----------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------ | | Present indicative active | —ω —ομεν ||| —μι —μεν | —εις —ετε ||| —ς —τε | —ει —ουσι(ν^) ||| —σι —ασι | ^When next word starts with a vowel, or at the end of a sentence | | Imperfect indicative active | —ον —ομεν | —ες —ετε | —ε(ν) —ον | | | Aorist indicative active | —α —αμεν | —ας —ατε | —ε(ν) —αν | | | Present subjunctive active | —ω —ωμεν | —ῃς —ητε | —ῃ —ωσι(ν) | | | Perfect indicative active | —α —αμεν | —ας —ατε | —ε(ν) —ᾱσι(ν) | Same as aorist indicative active except for 3rd p plural | | Pluperfect indicative active | —η —εμεν | —ης —ετε | —ει(ν) —εσαν | | | Present optative active | —οιμι —οιμεν | —οις —οιτε | —οι —οιεν | Final dipthong —οι counts as long for accentuation (only in 3rd p sing!) | | Aorist optative active | —αιμι —αιμεν | —αις/—ειας —αιτε | —αι/—ειε(ν) —αιε/—ειαν | Final dipthong —αι counts as long for accentuation (only in 3rd p sing!) |

  • Present indicative markers
    • —νυ— added after verb stem
    • Reduplication → doubling of initial consonant sound, as in δίδωμι, τίθημι
    • Stems all end in a long vowel, which shortens in the plural forms and the infinitive

Adjectives

  • Positions
    • Predicate: adjective precedes article, or follows article/noun (ex. ἡ πατρὶς αὐτή or αὐτὴ ἡ πατρίς)
    • Attributive: modifies noun with definite article, adjective follows definite article (ex. ἡ αὐτὴ πατρίς)

Vocabulary

Definitive article (the)

  • Forms w/o accent → pronounced closely with following word = proclitics (also some prepositions)
  • When used with phrases including attributive (adjective, genitives, prepositional phrases), article can come 1) just before noun, 2) before both noun and attributive, or 3) just before attributive → changes in emphasis
  • Used with particular individuals, generic clauses, (can be with) abstract nouns or famous/previously mentioned people, in place of posessive pronoun; not with well-known or unique things

| Case | Singular (m.) | Singular (f.) | Singular (n.) | Plural (m.) | Plural (f.) | Plural (n.) | |---|---|---|---|---|---|---| | Nominative | ὁ | ἡ | τό | οἱ | αἱ | τά | | Genitive | τοῦ | τῆς | τοῦ | τῶν | τῶν | τῶν | | Dative | τῷ | τῇ | τῷ | τοῖς | ταῖς | τοῖς | | Accusative | τόν | τήν | τό | τούς | τάς | τά |

Prepositions

  • εἰς (+ acc) → into, to, in regard to
  • μετὰ (+ acc) → after; (+ gen) → with
  • πρός (+ acc) → to, toward; (+ dat) → near, in addition to

Conjunctions/phrases

  • μὲν οὖν... μέντοι... → indeed... however...
  • ἆρα → can be used to introduce a question, not separately translated
  • μή → no, not (infinitive mood); οὐ, οὐκ, οὐχ → no, not (indicative)

Pronouns

  • If pronouns are specified with a verb, usually for stress (ex. "I myself did this," vs "I did this")
  • μοι → 1st p sing, dative (to me)
  • ἡμᾶς → 1st p pl, acc

Third person pronoun (αὐτός)

| Case | Singular (m.) | Singular (f.) | Singular (n.) | Plural (m.) | Plural (f.) | Plural (n.) | | -------------- | ------------- | ------------- | ------------- | ----------- | ----------- | ----------- | | Nominative | αὐτός | αὐτή | αὐτό | αὐτοί | αὐταί | αὐτά | | Genitive | αὐτοῦ | αὐτῆς | αὐτοῦ | αὐτῶν | αὐτῶν | αὐτῶν | | Dative | αὐτῷ | αὐτῇ | αὐτῷ | αὐτοῖς | αὐταῖς | αὐτοῖς | | Accusative | αὐτόν | αὐτήν | αὐτό | αὐτούς | αὐτάς | αὐτά |

Verbs

  • δίδωμι (give)
    • Stem = δω-
      • To form present indicative, reduplicate initial sound and add ι for pronunciation → διδω-
      • Long vowel stem shortens in plural forms, infinitive → διδο-
  • τίθημι (put, make)
    • Stem = θη-
      • To form present indicative, reduplicate constant and add ι for pronunciation → τιθη-
        • Aspirated constanants cannot begin consecutive syllables → starts with un-aspirated counterpart, τ
      • Long vowel stem (η) shortens for plural, infinitive (ε)
  • ἵστημι (stand)
    • Stem = στη-
      • Reduplication to form present indicative: add ι for pronunciation → σιστη-; replace σ with aspiration because beginning of a word & before a vowel → ἱστη-
      • Long vowel stem η shortens to α for plural & infinitive; contracts in 3rd p pl to ᾶ (ἱστάασι → ἱστᾶσι)
  • ἵημι (throw)
    • Verb stem = ἡ- (aspiration suggests it was originally ση-))
      • To form present indicative, reduplicate & add ι for pronunciation; drop σ, replacing with aspiration because initial letter before vowel → ἱη-
      • Shorten vowel for plural and infinitive (ἱη- → ἱε-)
        • 3rd p pl, contract vowels so ἱέασι → ἱᾶσι