sentences and conjunctions
About sentences and
conjunctions
We call sentence the smallest part of the written
speech that can stand alone with a complete meaning. The basis of the sentence
is the verb. One word, a verb, can be a sentence. For example:
Κοιμάμαι. This is
a complete sentence that has a meaning: we know that the subject (me) is
sleeping.
Sometimes we do not write the verb, because we can
guess it easily. For example:
Τι κάνεις;
Καλά.
The first sentence is ok, the verb is κάνεις
The second sentence is also ok, because we understand
that the verb is είμαι.
Sentences are joined together with the conjunctions.
Conjunctions
that connect main sentences, or equal
parts of speech.
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Η Ελένη διαβάζει
Helen reads
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και
and
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γράφει ελληνικά κείμενα.
writes Greek texts.
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Δε σε βλέπω
Ι can neither see you
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ούτε/μήτε*
nor
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σε ακούω.
listen to you.
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Θα διαβάσεις
You will read
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ή
or
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θα
τραγουδήσεις;
you will sing?
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Είτε της αρέσει
Whether she likes it
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είτε
or
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δεν της αρέσει,
θα πάει στην πόλη.
not, she will go to the city.
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Δεν έφαγα
I did not eat
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αλλά/μα/
όμως/ωστόσο**
but
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δεν πεινάω.
I am not hungry.
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Δεν κάναμε
τίποτα
We did not do anything
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παρά/μόνο**
but
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περιμέναμε για ώρες.
waiting for hours.(The
only thing that we did was to wait for hours)
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Τον γνώριζε καλά
She knew him very well
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αν και /ενώ
even if/whereas
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δεν τον είχε
συναντήσει ποτέ της.
she had never met him.
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Στον κήπο έχουμε άσπρα
In our garden we have white
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και
and
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κόκκινα λουλούδια
red flowers.
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*The words ούτε and μήτε are synonyms, they
have exactly the same meaning. We use oύτε in
everyday conversations whereas μήτε is used
more in literature.
In literature text we also find the conjunctions ουδέ and μηδέ that
have the same meaning as ούτε. (Σε τούτα δω τα μάρμαρα κακιά σκουριά δεν
πιάνει, μηδέ αλυσίδα στου Ρωμιού και
στου αγεριού το πόδι)
**The words μα, αλλά, όμως, ωστόσο, are
synonyms. Synonyms are also the words αν και, ενώ.
Subordinate clauses= δευτερεύουσες προτάσεις, are
those clauses that do not have a complete meaning, therefore they cannot stand
alone. A subordinate clause may begin
with the following conjunctions:
Αποτελεσματικοί σύνδεσμοι are conjunctions that show result/ outcome/
effect (=αποτέλεσμα)
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Δεν έβρισκαν αυτοκίνητο.
They could not find a car
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Λοιπόν,
So,
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γύρισαν με τα πόδια.
they came back on foot.
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The clause, «Λοιπόν, γύρισαν με τα πόδια» is a
subordinate clause that shows result/ effect. It could be a main clause
without the conjunction «λοιπόν». Γύρισαν με τα πόδια= main
clause. It is the conjunction «λοιπόν» that turns it to a subordinate clause. And, on the
same time, it is the conjunction «λοιπόν» that conjuncts it to the previous main clause «δεν έβρισκαν αυτοκίνητο». Ιn other words the
conjunction «λοιπόν» gives the result of
this main clause to the subordinate clause «λοιπόν, γύρισαν με τα πόδια».
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Ελάτε μέσα μαζί
μου.
Come
inside with me.
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Ώστε,
So,
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συμφιλιωνόμαστε;
do we become friends?(=is everything OK now between
us?)
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Σύμφωνα με το
Πυθαγόρειο θεώρημα: a2 + b2 = h2
According to the Pythagorean Theorem: a2
+ b2 = h2
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Άρα/ επομένως
Therefore,
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a2 = h2_ b2
a2 = h2_ b2
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Έχει τόσα χρόνια
να με δει
He has so many years to see me
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που
that
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δεν θα με
θυμάται.
He would not remember me.
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Επεξηγηματικός σύνδεσμος is the
conjunction that shows the explanation.
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Αστειεύομαι,
Ι am
joking,
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δηλαδή
that means
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λέω αστεία.
I say jokes.
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Ειδικοί σύνδεσμοι, are
the conjunctions that fill in (complete) the meaning of a previous sentence,
acting as a subject, object or explanation(=επεξήγηση) to this sentence.
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Φαίνεται
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ότι
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θα βρέξει
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«ότι θα βρέξει» is called ειδική πρόταση and it is the subject of the impersonal verb φαίνεται. It
seems THAT IT IS GOING TO RAIN. The fact of the rain is what it seems, and to
understand it better you can say it φαίνεται βροχή. Who
seems/appears? The rain.
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Βλέπω
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πως/ότι
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έγραψες καλά.
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«πως έγραψες καλά» is called ειδική πρόταση and
it is the object of the verb βλέπω. What
do I see? I see THAT YOU HAVE WRITTEN GOOD. Βλέπω=verb, εγώ=subject, πως έγραψες καλά=object.
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Ένα μόνο με πονούσε,
There was one thing that hurt me,
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που/ότι/πως
the
fact that
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ήμουν ακόμα
μικρός.
I was still young.
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«που ήμουν ακόμα μικρός» is
called ειδική πρόταση and it is the
explanation of the word ένα. What
exactly was the one thing that hurt me? The fact that I was still young.
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Είναι ψέμα
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πως
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αυτός άρχισε τον
καυγά. (subject)
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It is a lie that he has started the fight.
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Ήξερα
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ότι
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ήσουν εκεί.
(object)
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Ι knew
you were there.
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Είναι κρίμα
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που
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έμεινε μόνος
του. (subject)
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It is a pity that he was left alone.
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Την άκουγε
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που
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μιλούσε για τα
όνειρά της.(object)
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Χρονικοί σύνδεσμοι, are
the conjunctions that give to the subordinate clause a time identity,
(before, after, in the same time, every time etc). They identify the time
relationship between two sentences…
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Θα περάσουν δυο
μέρες
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ώσπου
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να το κάνεις.
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Two days will pass by, until you do it.
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Xαίρεται
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όταν
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δουλεύει.
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He/she is happy while working
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Μιλήσαμε για τους
συνδέσμους
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μόλις/όταν
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έφτασε η Nίκη στο Ίντερνετ.
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We talked about conjunctions as
soon as/when Niki was on internet.
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….είναι μακρύς ο
δρόμος
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σαν
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βγεις στον πηγαιμό
για την Ιθάκη.
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…it is a long way when you start going (your journey) to
Ithaka.
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subject–verb–object υποκείμενο -ρήμα - αντικείμενο
Syntax Συντακτικό
In linguistic
typology, subject–verb–object (SVO) is a sentence structure
where the subject comes first, the verb second, and the object third. In modern and ancient Greek there is a free syntactic order,
although SVO tends to be preferred.
Poetry is a typical example of this kind
of freedom.
Let`s have a closer look:
Την πόρτα ανοίγω το βράδυ,
τη λάμπα κρατώ ψηλά,
να δούνε της γης οι θλιμμένοι,
να ’ρθούνε, να βρουν συντροφιά.
τη λάμπα κρατώ ψηλά,
να δούνε της γης οι θλιμμένοι,
να ’ρθούνε, να βρουν συντροφιά.
(lyrics by
Tasos livaditis, music by Mikis Theodorakis, from the album
In the following table there are all the above clauses written in the
SVO structure.
Subject
υποκείμενο
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Verb
ρήμα
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Object
αντικείμενο
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1
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Εγώ
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ανοίγω
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την πόρτα
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2
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Εγώ
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κρατώ
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τη λάμπα
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3
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Οι θλιμμένοι
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να δουν
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4
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Οι θλιμμένοι
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να `ρθούνε
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5
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Οι θλιμμένοι
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να βρουν
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συντροφιά
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Notes:
·
The meaning of the clauses does not change when we change the place of
the verb, the subject or the object.
·
When the subject is a personal pronoun, it is usually omitted because it
can be implied by the ending of the verb, which is different for each person:
Present tense
Singular
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Plural
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1rst
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εγώ ανοίγω
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εμείς ανοίγουμε
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2nd
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εσύ ανοίγεις
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εσείς ανοίγετε
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3rd
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αυτός, αυτή, αυτό ανοίγει
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αυτοί, αυτές, αυτά ανοίγουν(ε)
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Aorist
Singular
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Plural
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1rst
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εγώ άνοιξα
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εμείς ανοίξαμε
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2nd
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εσύ άνοιξες
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εσείς ανοίξατε
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3rd
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αυτός, αυτή, αυτό άνοιξε
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αυτοί, αυτές, αυτά άνοιξαν
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Therefore,
instead of saying εγώ ανοίγω (= I open), we can just say ανοίγω and it is completely understood that the subject is I, εγώ.
The problem
is only for the 3rd person, both in plural and singular, because the
ending stands for all genders, masculine, feminine and neuter. So, when we say ανοίγει it can be he, she, or it opens. In this case we have to write
the subject. Η Μαρία ανοίγει ένα μπουκάλι. Αυτός ανοίγει
ένα βιβλίο. Το κλειδί ανοίγει την πόρτα.
But this again is not necessary when we are writing a story and the
subject is the same in many clauses that follow one another: Ο Νίκος βγήκε από το
αυτοκίνητο και κλείδωσε. Μετά περπάτησε μέχρι τη θάλασσα. Ήθελε να κολυμπήσει... In all those clauses, the verbs
have the same subject, Νίκος. In English we have to use the
pronoun he: Nikos got out of the car and locked. Then, he walked to the sea. He wanted to swim.
·
The
following clauses are called purpose clauses. For more details about purpose clauses, τελικές προτάσεις, see here
3
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Οι θλιμμένοι
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να δουν
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4
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Οι θλιμμένοι
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να `ρθούνε
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5
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Οι θλιμμένοι
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να βρουν
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συντροφιά
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