Aorist Optative
Introduction
<forthcoming>
Intermediate
While the optative is athematic throughout its formation (because personal markers are added directly to the optative marker without intervening connecting vowels), the verb’s formation in the aorist indicative determines its formation in the aorist optative. That is, asigmatic verbs that are thematic in the indicative use the /οι/ optative marker in the active and middle (e.g. indicative ἐπίθομεν is optative πίθοιμεν). Like the aorist indicative passive, the aorist optative passive is formed differently than the middle.
Asigmatic Thematic Aorist Optative Active: πιθ/, “persuade”
| Singular | Plural | |
| 1st Person | πιθ/οι/μι > πίθοιμι | πιθ/οι/μεν > πίθοιμεν |
| 2nd Person | πιθ/οι/ς > πίθοις | πιθ/οι/τε > πίθοιτε |
| 3rd Person | πιθ/οι/ø > πίθοι | πιθ/οι/εν > πίθοιεν |
Asigmatic Thematic Aorist Optative Middle: πιθ/, “persuade”
| Singular | Plural | |
| 1st Person | πιθ/οι/μην > πιθοίμην | πιθ/οι/μεθα > πιθοίμεθα |
| 2nd Person | πιθ/οι/σο > πίθοιο | πιθ/οι/σθε > πιθοισθε |
| 3rd Person | πιθ/οι/το > πίθοιτο | πιθ/οι/ντο > πιθοιντο |
Asigmatic verbs that are athematic in the indicative use the /ιη/ optative marker in the active singular and /ι/ in the active plural and throughout the middle (e.g. δοίην active, δοίμην middle). Thus, so far the aorist optative is formed the same way as the progressive optative—sans, of course, the use of progressive aspect markers.
Asigmatic Athematic Aorist Optative Active: δο/, “give”
| Singular | Plural | |
| 1st Person | δο/ιη/ν > δοίην | δο/ι/μεν > δοῖμεν* |
| 2nd Person | δο/ιη/ς > δοίης | δο/ι/τε > δοῖτε |
| 3rd Person | δο/ιη/ø > δοίη | δο/ι/εν > δοῖεν |
*Again, the /ιη/ optative marker may also populate the plural, resulting in the forms δοίημεν, δοίητε, and δοίησαν.
Asigmatic Athematic Aorist Optative Middle: δο/, “give”
| Singular | Plural | |
| 1st Person | δο/ι/μην > δοίμην | δο/ι/μεθα > δοίμεθα |
| 2nd Person | δο/ι/σο > δοῖο | δο/ι/σθε > δοῖσθε |
| 3rd Person | δο/ι/το > δοῖτο | δο/ι/ντο > δοῖντο |
In place of /οι/, the sigmatic aorist normally uses /αι/ in the active and middle. In the active, however, an alternate marker /ει/ is common in the 2nd person singular, 3rd person singular, and 3rd person plural. To these are added personal markers typical of the alpha formation. Thus 2nd singular /ει/ας, 3rd singular /ει/ε, and 3rd plural /ει/αν.
Sigmatic Aorist Optative Active: ποιε/, “do, make”
| Singular | Plural | |
| 1st Person | ποιε/σ/αι/μι > ποιήσαιμι | ποιε/σ/αι/μεν > ποιήσαιμεν |
| 2nd Person | ποιε/σ/αι/ς > ποιήσαις or ποιήσειας | ποιε/σ/αι/τε > ποιήσαιτε |
| 3rd Person | ποιε/σ/αι/ø > ποιήσαι or ποιήσειε | ποιε/σ/αι/εν > ποιήσαιεν or ποιήσειαν |
Sigmatic Aorist Optative Middle: ποιε/, “do, make”
| Singular | Plural | |
| 1st Person | ποιε/σ/αι/μην > ποιησαίμην | ποιε/σ/αι/μεθα > ποιησαίμεθα |
| 2nd Person | ποιε/σ/αι/σο > ποιήσαιο | ποιε/σ/αι/σθε > ποιήσαισθε |
| 3rd Person | ποιε/σ/αι/το > ποιήσαιτο | ποιε/σ/αι/ντο > ποιήσαιντο |
The aorist passive optative is formed always with /θη/, regardless of whether the verb is sigmatic or asigmatic. The /θη/ passive marker combines with the optative marker /ιη/ in the singular, producing -θειη-, and with /ι/ in the plural, producing -θει-. (The η of the aorist passive marker shortens to ε before the ι of the optative marker.) As in the progressive passive optative of athematic verbs, in later Greek /ιη/ may be used also in the plural, in which case /σαν is used instead of /εν as the 3rd person plural marker.
Asigmatic Thematic Aorist Optative Passive: πιθ/, “persuade”
| Singular | Plural | |
| 1st Person | πιθ/θη/ιη/ν > πεισθείην* | πιθ/θη/ι/μεν > πεισθεῖμεν |
| 2nd Person | πιθ/θη/ιη/ς > πεισθείης | πιθ/θη/ι/τε > πεισθεῖτε |
| 3rd Person | πιθ/θη/ιη/ø > πεισθείη | πιθ/θη/ι/εν > πεισθεῖεν |
*Verb bases like πιθ/ that exhibit ablaut are basic e-grade in the aorist passive.
Asigmatic Athematic Aorist Optative Passive: δο/, “give”
| Singular | Plural | |
| 1st Person | δο/θη/ιη/ν > δοθείην | δο/θη/ι/μεν > δοθεῖμεν |
| 2nd Person | δο/θη/ιη/ς > δοθείης | δο/θη/ι/τε > δοθεῖτε |
| 3rd Person | δο/θη/ιη/ø > δοθείη | δο/θη/ι/εν > δοθεῖεν |
Sigmatic Aorist Optative Passive: ποιε/, “do, make”
| Singular | Plural | |
| 1st Person | ποιε/θη/ιη/ν > ποιηθείην | ποιε/θη/ι/μεν > ποιηθεῖμεν |
| 2nd Person | ποιε/θη/ιη/ς > ποιηθείης | ποιε/θη/ι/τε > ποιηθεῖτε |
| 3rd Person | ποιε/θη/ιη/ø > ποιηθείη | ποιε/θη/ι/εν > ποιηθεῖεν |
Vocabulary for this lesson (see here for the full lexicon)
δο/
give
πιθ/
persuade; M obey
ποιε/
do, make; (with adverb) treat, act
reading morphologically 