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Attic Greek is the ancient dialect of Greek that was spoken in Attica , which includes Athens . Of the ancient dialects, it is the most similar to later Greek. It differs from most Greek dialects, including Doric , by frequently changing long ''ā'' to ''ē''; from Ionic in not changing all of them. The Homeric dialect was an artificial compound, which resembled Ionic; but it also differed from Attic in losing the augment on the past tenses, and much more frequent use of the dual and other archaic forms. The later Koiné was largely Attic but Attic differed from it and most other dialects in saying "tt" for "ss" (e.g. ''tettares tattomenoi'' for ''tessares tassomenoi''). GRAMMAR Nouns Attic Greek nouns have three numbers (singular, dual, and plural), three genders (masculine, feminine, and neuter) and five cases ( declension); and the "Third Declension", an umbrella grouping of a large and reasonably diverse assortment of consonant-stem paradigms. Alpha Declension The alpha declension is predominantly, but not exclusively, feminine. Nouns belonging to the alpha declension have stems ending in alpha, short or long. In certain circumstances the alpha may change its length or become eta. In the table below of feminine nouns there are three examples: long-alpha stem (ᾱ-stems), short-alpha stems (α-stems), and a stems which can end in eta (η-stems). The short alpha stem is not present in masculine nouns, thus only ᾱ-stems and η-stems are declined. Omicron Declension Nouns in the omicron declension can be masculine, feminine, or neuter, though they are predominantly masculine and neuter. Masculine and feminine nouns are declined alike. The Article Attic Greek has only a Definite Article , which declines with its noun. It does not have an indefinite article which can be translated as "a(n)," "some," or "a certain." Frequently proper names take the definite article. The definite article in Greek admits certain constructions that are now found in familiar modern European languages. A common construction is a definite article followed by a definite article in the genitive, the noun in the genitive, and finally the noun of the first article. For example: . Literally "the (of the man) deed", the English sense is "the deed of the man." This sort of construction is a relic of the definite article's earlier status -- clearly evident in the Homeric Texts -- as a Demonstrative Pronoun . Attic also makes frequent use of this sort of construction with Prepositional Phrases and even with Adverbs (e.g., , literally "the now women", i.e., "modern women"). The demonstrative force is so strong that the noun can often be dispensed with altogether: e.g., , literally "the (MASC. PL.) with someone", i.e., "the comrades of" so-and-so. The definite article is declined thus: Verbs Verbs have three numbers (singular, dual, plural), three persons ( First Person , Second Person , Third Person ), seven tenses ( Present , Imperfect , Aorist , Future , Present Perfect , Pluperfect , and Future Perfect ), two aspects (simple (or aorist) and continuous), three voices ( Active Voice , Middle Voice , Passive Voice ), and four moods ( Indicative Mood , Imperative Mood , Subjunctive Mood , Optative Mood ). Note that the aorist construction is more than a tense: with the augment it is a tense and an aspect: past simple; without the augment (as is the case for participles, infinitives, and imperatives) it signifies simple aspect only. SEE ALSO REFERENCES EXTERNAL LINKS |
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