lesson 8 index     printable pages

8.5: Tips on translating middle, passive, deponent verbs

A general rule of thumb:  We need to respect the citations given in a vocabulary or dictionary, and the translations offered.  Verbs have been cited in this course so far with two stems or "principal parts":  present and future.  The third principal part will be presented in lesson 9.  If a stem is not listed (as a principal part of the citation) in a dictionary, it is not attested in the texts.  If a stem is not listed in the vocabularies of the course, the reason may also be that in the lesson where the vocabulary belongs we have not studied yet that particular form, that it is irregular, etc. 

The middle voice of active verbs

If an active verb was used in the middle voice, a complete vocabulary or dictionary will list the middle forms with the corresponding translation in the same entry.  A general formula like "The subject does something in his/her/its own interest" will often point you in the right direction, but beware: read the next paragraph.

If an active verb is not listed in the middle voice, it is most likely not to have been used in the middle voice.  Let us not invent any middle usages that never existed!  In this course you are expected to use only the middle meanings of active verbs that are listed, and to remember only the few deponent verbs highlighted in the vocabulary.

Example

γεύω = to give someone a taste of something (in the gen)

γεύομαι = to taste something (in the gen)

The passive voice of transitive verbs

To have a passive voice a verb needs to be transitive in Greek.  Roughly Greek and English will be similar in this respect, although you will find verbs that are intransitive in English but take a D O in Greek, and viceversa.   We should not try to impose our syntax on that of the language we are translating.

Verbs with three voices:

·        how to tell middle from passive?

So far we have seen that in the present tense middle and passive endings are the same.  How to tell the difference?  The context will help, especially if a passive verb is accompanied by a complement of the agent:

ἡ ἐπιστολὴ γράφεται ὑπὸ τοῦ νεανίου = the letter is being written by the young man

or a middle verb is transitive and has a direct object:

γράφεται τὸν ἄνθρωπον ἀνομίας = he indicts the man //on a charge of// lawlessness

If those signs are not given, the sense will guide us to make the distinction.  And sometimes a text will allow of two interpretations...

·        which is the meaning of the passive of a verb with three voices?

It is the  passive of the active, not the passive of the middle meaning. 

Example

γράφω in the active voice = to write;    γράφομαι as middle = to indict, but

γράφομαι as passive means “to be written,”  not “to be indicted.”

Deponent verbs

If a verb is cited only with middle/passive endings, that means it is deponent and does not have active endings (it has "deposed" them, put them down, as it were). 

Example

δέχομαι, δέξομαι  = to welcome, receive

γί(γ)νομαι   γενήσομαι = to become, come to be, be born

Some verbs are deponent only in some of their stems, not in all:

ὁράω, ὄψομαι = to see

ἀκούω, ἀκούσομαι = to hear (but it has a regular active future in koinē Greek: ἀκούσω)

λαμβάνω, λήψομαι (λήμψομαι in koinē Greek) = to take, receive

Even if its meaning is transitive, a deponent verb cannot be conjugated in the passive.  There must be a limit to confusion even in Greek, right?

What do you do if you need to translate into Greek a passive meaning, and the only verb you know for the active meaning is deponent?  Tough.  You need a synonym.

Example

For “to be received” we cannot use δέχομαι  because its middle-passive forms are dedicated to the active meaning.  We will need to use another verb, such as λαμβάνω.  The Greek language had other resources to resolve such difficulties, but their structure is too complex for this stage of our studies.