The Present and Aorist Infinitives. The Articular Infinitive. Indirect Discourse

§295

The first aorist active infinitive is accented upon the penult, even where this involves an exception to the rule of verb accent. Thus πιστεῦσαι, to believe, not πίστευσαι. The accent of the aorist passive infinitive is also irregular.

§296

The second aorist active infinitive of λείπω is λιπεῖν, and the second aorist middle infinitive is λιπέσθαι. These are like the present infinitives in their endings except for the irregular accent. They are formed, of course, upon the second aorist stem.

§298

The infinitive is a verbal noun. In many cases the use of the Greek infinitive is so much like that of the infinitive in English as to call for no comment. Thus θέλω ἀκούειν τὸν λόγον means I wish to hear the word. Here the English is a literal translation of the Greek.

§299

There is ordinarily no distinction of time between the tenses in the infinitive, but the distinction is the same as that which prevails in the subjunctive. The present infinitive refers to the action in its continuance or as repeated; the aorist infinitive refers to it in no such special way. It is usually impossible to bring out the distinction in an English translation.

§300

The negative of the infinitive is μή.

§301

The Greek infinitive, being a verbal noun, can have the article, like any other noun. It is treated as an indeclinable neuter noun and so has the neuter article.

§302

The infinitive with the article can stand in most of the constructions in which any other noun can stand. Thus καλόν ἐστι τὸ ἀποθανεῖν ὑπὲρ τῶν ἀδελφῶν, means the act of dying in behalf of the brethren is good, or, less literally, it is good to die in behalf of the brethren. Here τὸ ἀποθανεῖν is a noun in the nominative case, being the subject of the verb ἐστιν.

§303

Of particular importance is the use of the articular infinitive after prepositions.

Examples: μετὰ τὸ λῦσαι, after the act of loosing; ἐν τῷ λύειν, in or during the process of loosing; διὰ τὸ λυθῆναι, on account of the fact of being loosed; μετὰ τὸ λυθῆναι, after the fact of being loosed; πρὸ τοῦ λῦσαι, before the act of loosing; εἰς τὸ λῦσαι, into the act of loosing. This last preposition, εἰς, is very frequently used with the articular infinitive to express purpose. If one act is done so as to get into another act, it is done for the purpose of that other act. Thus εἰς τὸ λῦσαι means in order to loose.

§304

So far, the infinitive has been viewed as a noun. But it is also part of a verb, and as part of a verb it can have not only, as the participle can, adverbial modifiers and a direct object, but also, unlike the participle, a subject. The subject of the infinitive is in the accusative case.

Examples: (1) ἐν τῷ λέγειν αὐτοὺς ταῦτα, in (or during) the circumstance that they were saying these things = while they were saying these things. Here αὐτούς is the subject of the infinitive λέγειν and ταῦτα is the direct object of it.

(2) pera τὸ ἀπολυθῆναι τὸν ὄχλον ἀπῆλθεν ὁ κύριος, after the circumstance that the crowd was dismissed, the Lord went away, or after the crowd had been dismissed, the Lord (3) διὰ δὲ τὸ λέγεσθαι τοῦτο ὑπὸ τῶν ὄχλων ἀπῆλθεν ὁ ἀπόστολος, and on account of the circumstance that this was being said by the crowds, the apostle went away, or because this was being said by the crowds, the apostle went away.

(4) ταῦτα δὲ εἶπον ὑμῖν eis τὸ μὴ γενέσθαι ὑμᾶς δούλους τῆς ἁμαρτίας, and these things I said to you, with the tendency toward the result that you should not become servants of sin, or and these things I said to you in order that you might not become servants of sin.

§305

It will be observed that the articular infinitive with prepositions is usually to be translated into English by a clause introduced by a conjunction. But it must not be supposed that the details of such translation have anything to do with the details of the Greek original. It is rather the total idea expressed by the Greek phrase which is transferred into a totally different idiom.

§306

Indirect discourse is sometimes expressed by the accusative and infinitive.

Example: ἔλεγον of ἄνθρωποι αὐτὸν εἶναι τὸν προφήτην, the men were saying that he was the prophet.

§307

But usually indirect discourse is expressed by ὅτι with the indicative. The usage is exactly like that in English except for the following important difference:

§308

In indirect discourse in Greek, in part contrary to the English usage, the same mood and tense are retained as those which stood in the direct discourse lying back of the indirect.

(1) λέγει ὅτι βλέπει τὸν ἀπόστολον, he says that he sees the apostle. Here the direct discourse lying back of the indirect is I see the apostle, for such are the actual words of the speaker; such are the words which would have stood in the quotation if quotation marks had been used. In this sentence there is no difference between the Greek and the English usage.

(2) εἶπεν ὅτι βλέπει τὸν ἀπόστολον, he said that he saw the apostle. Here βλέπει is in the present tense because the direct discourse lying back of the indirect discourse is I see the apostle—those were the actual words of the speaker. The tense of the direct discourse, I see, is retained in the indirect discourse (though of course the person is changed). English, on the other hand, changes the tense in the indirect discourse, when the leading verb is in past time. Thus, although a perfectly literal translation was possible in (1) it is impossible in (2).

(3) εἶπεν ὁ μαθητὴς ὅτι εἶδεν τὸν ἀπόστολον, the disciple said that he had seen the apostle. Here the direct discourse was I saw the apostle, or I have seen the apostle. English throws the tense in the indirect discourse a step further back (had seen instead of saw or has seen); Greek retains the same tense.

(4) εἶπεν ὅτι ὄψεται τὸν ἀπόστολον, he said that he would see the apostle. The direct discourse was I shall see. English changes shall to would (or should with the first person); Greek retains the same tense.

§309

Proper names (spelled with a capital letter) often have the article. Of course the article must be omitted in an English translation,

§310

The declension of ᾿Ἰησοῦς, ὁ, Jesus, is as follows:

A table appears here in the book.

§311

Certain nouns, referring to persons or things which instead of being only one of a class are quite unique, are treated as proper nouns, the article being either inserted or omitted. So θεός or ὁ θεός, God; πνεῦμα or τὸ πνεῦμα, the Spirit; κόσμος or ὁ κόσμος, the world; νόμος or ὁ νόμος, the Law.