Hello
elvam2167! I'll do my best to help you.
elvam2167 wrote:I have some questions regarding the following explanation.
"1. Ἡ διάθεσις τοῦ ῥήματος
αʹ. Ὅταν τὸ ῥῆμα φανερώνῃ ἐνέργειαν, λέγεται «ἐνεργητικόν ῥῆμα» ἢ «ῥῆμα ἐνεργητικῆς διαθέσεως», π.χ. Ὁ Πέτρος ποτίζει τὰ ἄνθη του. Ἡ Φωτεινὴ ῥάπτει τὸ φόρεμά της.
βʹ. Ὅταν τὸ ῥῆμα φανερώνῃ πάθος, λέγεται «παθητικόν ῥῆμα» ἢ «ῥῆμα παθητικῆς διαθέσεως», π.χ. Ὁ Δημήτριος ἐτιμωρήθη. Ἡ σανὶς ἐκόπη.
γʹ. Ὅταν τὸ ῥῆμα φανερώνῃ, ὅτι τὸ ὑποκείμενον, δηλαδὴ τὸ πρόσωπον, τὸ ζῶον ἢ τὸ πρᾶγμα ἐνεργεῖ, ἡ δὲ ἐνέργειά του ἐπιστρέφει εἰς τὸν ἴδιον, λέγεται «μέσον ῥῆμα» ἢ «ῥῆμα μέσης διαθέσεως», π.χ. Ἡ Μαρία κτενίζεται. Ὁ Πατὴρ ἐνδύεται.
δʹ. Ὅταν τὸ ῥῆμα δὲν φανερώνῃ οὔτε ἐνέργειαν, οὔτε πάθος, ἀλλὰ ἁπλῶς μἰαν κατάστασιν οὐδετέραν, λέγεται «οὐδέτερον ῥῆμα» ἢ «ῥῆμα οὐδετέρας διαθέσεως», π.χ. Ἡ θάλασσα ἡσυχάζει. Ὁ γάτος κοιμᾶται."
I understand active verb (ἐνεργητικόν ῥῆμα) and passive verb (παθητικόν ῥῆμα). But what do μέσον ῥῆμα and οὐδέτερον ῥῆμα mean? I am guessing the first means reflexive (Maria combed herself (as opposed to someone else) but the second completely confuses me. Finally, hy does each type of verb have two different endings? For example, the active verb can be called » but also . Someone said it's because these are in the genitive, but would that not be οῦ for the singular and ῶν for the plural, since ρήμα is a neuter noun? I know that masculine and feminine nouns can have ῆς endings at times, but I have never seen this with a neuter.
You are right,
μέσον ῥῆμα can mean "reflexive" or "middle verb" (as opposed to "active" and "passive" verbs). Middle verbs indicate that the subject performs an action which returns to it. E.g.
κτενίζομαι (= I comb myself).
Οὐδέτερον ῥῆμα means "neutral verb". A neutral verb means that the subject neither performs nor receives an action; it is just in a neutral state. A very common middle verb is
κοιμοῦμαι-κοιμᾶμαι (= to sleep); when we sleep, we neither act nor we receive an action.
Now, as for your question about "ἐνεργητικόν ῥῆμα" and "ῥῆμα ἐνεργητικῆς": When we say "ῥῆμα ἐνεργητικῆς", the word "διαθέσεως" is implicit at the end. So, it would be "ῥῆμα ἐνεργητικῆς διαθέσεως" (= verb of the active diathesis). Thus, the feminine form of the adjective "ἐνεργητικὸς" is used (ἐνεργητικὴ) to match the implicit word "διαθέσεως", which is genitive singular of the feminine noun "διάθεσις" ("διάθεση" in
Dimotiki).
elvam2167 wrote:I thought that, in the section quoted, we were discussing the active and passive voice. But section 2 is called "Ἡ φωνὴ τοῦ ῥήματος". So I reread above the text with which I started this post, and now I am even more confused!
"Είς τὴν κλίσιν τῶν ῥημάτων διακρίνομεν τὰ ἑξῆς χαρακτηριστικά: 1. τὴν διάθεσιν , 2. τὴν φωνήν, 3. τὴν ἔγκλισιν, 4. τὸν χρόνον, 5. τὸν ἀριθμόν, καὶ 6. τὸ πρόσωπον.
Αὐτὰ τὰ ἓξ χαρακτηριστικὰ ὀνομάζονται «παρεπόμενα» τοῦ ῥήματος."
I understand everything except 1 and 2. In section 2, it says the following.
"2. Ἡ φωνὴ τοῦ ῥήματος
Παραδείγματα:
ἐγὼ διδάσκω - ἐγὼ διδάσκομαι
ἐγὼ γυμνάζω - ἐγὼ γυμνάζομαι
ἐγὼ θυσιάζω - ἐγὼ θυσιάζομαι
Ἐὰν προσέξωμεν τὴν κατάληξιν τῶν ἀνωτέρω ῥημάτων δυνάμεθα νὰ τὰ διαιρέσωμεν εἰς δύο κατηγορίας, τὰς ὁποίας ὀνομάζομεν «φωνάς».
Ἡ πρώτη κατηγορία περιλαμβάνει ὅσα ἔχουν κατάληξιν εἰς «ω» καὶ λέγεται «φωνὴ ἐνεργητική», π.χ. λέγω, κτυπῶ, δίδω.
Ἡ Δευτέρα κατηγορία περιλαμβάνει ὅσα ἔχουν κατάληξιν εἰς «μαι» καὶ λέγεται «φωνὴ παθητική», π.χ. διδάσκομαι, ἐκπαιδεύομαι."
What is the difference between α. and β. in 1 and the active and passive in 2?
Unlike English, in Greek we don't only use
voices to show where an action is directed at, but we also use
diatheses. To my knowledge, there's not another term to properly describe this phenomenon in English other than the Greek word itself; so, I'm going to use the word "diathesis".
In fact,
diatheses (διαθέσεις) are those that indicate whether
the subject performs an action (active), receives an action (passive), performs an action which returns to it (middle) or is simply in a neutral state (neutral).
Consequently, diatheses play the role that voices play in English.
Now, in Greek,
voices (φωναὶ)
only indicate the ending of the verb, NOT where the action of the verb goes. There are only two voices, active (ἐνεργητικὴ) and passive (παθητική), because there are only two different endings that differentiate the verbs:
-ω for the active and
-μαι for the passive voice.
Therefore, the
only criterion to categorize verbs as active or passive, is their
ending.
So, remember:
DIATHESIS → MEANING OF THE VERB
VOICE → ENDING OF THE VERBSome examples from
Dimotiki (the above rules are the same as in
Katharevousa)
1. Το παιδί γράφει ένα γράμμα. = The child writes/is writing a letter.The verb "γράφει" belongs to the
active voice [= ἐνεργητικὴ φωνὴ] (because in the first person singular of the present indicative it ends in
-ω [γράφω]) and it also belongs to the
active diathesis [= ἐνεργητικὴ διάθεσις] (because it indicates that the subject performs an action).
2. Ο μαθητής τιμωρήθηκε από το δάσκαλο. = The student was punished by the teacher.The verb "τιμωρήθηκε" belongs to the
passive voice [= παθητικὴ φωνὴ] (because in the first person singular of the present indicative it ends in
-μαι [τιμωρούμαι]) and it also belongs to the
passive diathesis [= παθητικὴ διάθεσις] (because it indicates that the subject receives an action).
3. Ο πατέρας μου ξυρίζεται κάθε μέρα. = My father shaves (impl. himself) every day.The verb "ξυρίζεται" belongs to the
passive voice [= παθητικὴ φωνὴ] (because in the first person singular of the present indicative it ends in
-μαι [ξυρίζομαι]) and it also belongs to the
middle diathesis [= μέση διάθεσις] (because it indicates that the subject performs an action which returns to it).
4. Βαριέμαι. = I am bored.The verb "Βαριέμαι" belongs to the
passive voice [= παθητικὴ φωνὴ] (because in the first person singular of the present indicative it ends in
-μαι [βαριέμαι]) and it also belongs to the
neutral diathesis [= οὐδετέρα διάθεσις] (because it indicates that the subject neither performs nor receives an action, but it is just in a neutral state).
Considering all this, we can easily come to the conclusion that the voice of a verb (φωνὴ) is fixed, because it is determined by its ending; but the diathesis of a verb (διάθεσις) can change depending on the context.
For example, let's take the third sentence "Ο πατέρας μου ξυρίζεται κάθε μέρα." = My father shaves every day.
Its verb (ξυρίζεται) is (as we already said) passive voice and middle diathesis.
Let us now change the sentence and rephrase it like this:
"Ο πατέρας μου ξυρίζεται κάθε μέρα από τον κουρέα." = My father gets shaved by the barber every day.
The verb "ξυρίζεται" has remained in the passive voice (because it still has the same ending as before), but now it no longer belongs to the middle diathesis; it now belongs to the passive diathesis, because it indicates that the subject receives an action from someone else ("the barber" hereto).
I hope I helped you and I didn't confuse you. If you have further questions, don't hesitate to ask.