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6.3:  Nuts and bolts: adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions, particles

In previous lessons you learned nouns, adjectives, a few pronouns (personal pronouns and a couple of interrogatives), verbs, a small number of adverbs and even fewer prepositions. The functions of the first four parts of speech are surely clear. Let us review the function of adverbs: they modify the verb of a sentence, but they may also modify an adjective or another adverb. Both in Greek and in English, adverbs may indicate time, place, manner, degree, and a variety of other circumstances  that it is not necessary to classify. Perhaps adverbs are the "ancestors" of the other three kinds of auxiliary words in Greek: prepositions, conjunctions, and the elusive family of short words called particles ("small portions"). What is specific about the functions of these three parts of speech? 
 

Prepositions are capable of expressing relationships of place, time, manner, degree, and many other nuances, but they cannot do that on their own. When a Greek preposition is used by itself, it is used as an adverb. Normally a preposition precedes (sometime follows) a noun or an adjective, or a composite expression. It may even be placed in front of a simple verb, modifying its connotations; then we call it a preverb. In English we use such elements either as preverbs or separately: cf. "outgrow", "understate," but "bail out," "go under."  We have already seen that prepositions accompanying declinable words govern one specific case; some govern two; a few may take three different cases. In combinations of the same preposition with different cases, it is the intrinsic value of the case that imposes its meaning.   Consider the preposition  πρός, which with the genitive  means "from" (e.g. ἐπιστολὴ πρὸς τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ  = a letter from the brother), but with the accusative  means "towards" (ἐπέμπομεν ἀγγέλους πρὸς τοὺς φίλους  = we used to send messengers to, i.e. towards our friends).   Click here and here to review the prepositional phrases presented in lesson 4.
 

So much for prepositions. How to distinguish from them the conjunctions? Some students memorize a list of English prepositions, and when a short word comes up that is not on the list, they dub it a conjunction... not a very scientific method, and not necessary. Conjunctions may connect single words, phrases, or utterances including or implying a conjugated verb, i.e. sentences or clauses. It is this latter function that interests us the most. There are two types of conjunctions. 

Coordinating conjunctions:   καί (and),  ἀλλά  (but),   ἤ (or) . 
Subordinating conjunctions:    εἰ (if),   ἐπειδή  (when or since),  ὅτε  (when, while), etc. 

Particles are defined by Smyth as ".... adverbs that affect the sentence as a whole or give emphasis to particular words of any kind." Rather than dwell on the problematic definition of particles, we will take them as a class of words traditionally recognized by grammarians. Some have characteristic traits such as being enclitic (i.e. lacking an accent of their own and "leaning upon" the preceding word) and most never occupy the first position in the sentence or in any group of words they modify). The examples will define them best. 

τε: "and." It is equivalent to  καί and is often paired with it or with another  τε as "both...and." 
γάρ: equivalent to English "for." It indicates that the second utterance is the cause or the explanation of the first, without making it a dependent clause.¹ 
δέ: connects or contrasts two utterances. It may be translated as "and" or "but," or left untranslated. The pair   μέν ... δέ is usually translated as "on the one hand... on the other hand." 
δή  is emphatic (= indeed, certainly, in fact). Whether to translate it or not, or how to choose an English equivalent, depends on the context. 
οὖν: "therefore," "and so," etc. 

EXAMPLES.²
[ τοὺς δειλοὺς οὐ γιγνώσκω.]  [ ἀνδρεῖος γάρ εἰμι.]  

I do not recognize cowardly men. For I am brave.
( ἐπειδὴ ἄνθρωποί ἐσμεν), [ ἔχομεν ψυχάς.] 

Since we are human beings, we have spirits. 
[ τί οὖν δὴ ἔλεγε ὁ διδάσκαλος πρὸ τοῦ θανάτου; ]       [adapted from Plato, Phaedo 57a, concerning Socrates] 
What then did the teacher say before //his// death (before he died)? 

Note 1: For practical purposes, I adopt the following terminology. A main clause makes sense by itself, a subordinate clause does not: if someone says "if it is late," we wonder "then what?". I use the definition "main clause" also for what should be called "independent clause," because no other clause depends from it, and I use "sentence" and "main clause" interchangeably. 

Note 2: I use this graphic convention to mark clauses: [independent or main clauses] (dependent clauses). When a dependent clauses is "embedded" in its main clause, as in this example, one can put the square brackets outside the entire structure, [(When she came), she called me.] or, if it seems clearer, mark them separately: (When she came) [she called me.]