Infinitives and Indirect Discourse

One action, several aspect and voice forms

An infinitive names an action without finite person or number. You already know λύειν and λῦσαι. Present infinitives view action as ongoing or general, aorist infinitives as a whole, and perfect infinitives commonly as a resulting state. Outside indirect discourse these are not simply present, past, and past-perfect clock times.

Voice still matters: λύεσθαι can be middle or passive; λύσασθαι is aorist middle; λυθῆναι is aorist passive. A perfect active is λελυκέναι, and a perfect middle/passive is λελύσθαι. None has a past augment; perfect forms keep reduplication.

A complementary infinitive completes a verb such as 'want' or 'be able'. When its subject is the same as the main verb's, Greek usually leaves that subject unexpressed. θέλω γράφειν means 'I want to write': I am both the one wanting and the one writing.

• δύναμαι λῦσαι τὸν δοῦλον. — I am able to release the servant.
• θέλω διδαχθῆναι. — I want to be taught.

The accusative subject and the article

An infinitive can have its own expressed subject, normally in the accusative: θέλω τὸν μαθητὴν γράφειν, 'I want the disciple to write'. τὸν μαθητήν does the writing; it is not the infinitive's direct object. Any object of γράφειν would also be accusative, so meaning and structure distinguish them.

With a neuter singular article, the infinitive can function as a noun phrase: τὸ πιστεύειν, 'believing / the act of believing'. The article takes the case required by the larger sentence, but the infinitive itself does not decline. An infinitive's own subject remains accusative even when its article is genitive or dative.

Common prepositional combinations include ἐν τῷ plus infinitive, often 'while / when'; μετὰ τὸ plus infinitive, 'after'; and πρὸ τοῦ plus infinitive, 'before'. Translate the complete phrase as natural English, not as a string of literal articles and cases.

• ἐν τῷ λέγειν αὐτόν — while he was speaking
• μετὰ τὸ ἀκοῦσαι τοὺς μαθητάς — after the disciples heard

Purpose and result

An infinitive may express purpose, especially with τοῦ, εἰς τό, or πρὸς τό: 'in order to'. A bare infinitive can also express purpose after motion. These forms must be read in context, since an articular infinitive can have other functions too.

ὥστε commonly introduces result with an infinitive: 'so that / with the result that'. Distinguish what someone intended from what actually followed; an English 'to' phrase can hide that difference. The infinitive construction alone does not prove whether the result was realized in every context.

Infinitives may also act as the subject of impersonal expressions: δεῖ γράφειν, 'it is necessary to write'. δεῖ τὸν μαθητὴν γράφειν means 'the disciple must write'. The accusative identifies the person to whom the necessity applies.

• ἦλθεν τοῦ διδάξαι τοὺς μαθητάς. — He came in order to teach the disciples.
• δεῖ ἡμᾶς ἀκούειν. — We must listen.

Reporting what someone says or thinks

Direct speech quotes a speaker's words: 'I am a disciple'. Indirect discourse reports their content: 'He says that he is a disciple'. Greek may use ὅτι with a finite verb or an infinitive construction after a verb of saying, thinking, or believing.

In an accusative-and-infinitive report, the reported subject is accusative: λέγει τὸν μαθητὴν εἶναι πιστόν, 'he says that the disciple is faithful'. The predicate adjective πιστόν agrees with that accusative subject. Do not translate the subject as an object, 'he says the disciple'.

In indirect discourse infinitival tense-forms can convey time relative to the reporting verb: a present commonly reports contemporaneous action, an aorist earlier action, and a future subsequent action. Context remains important. Greek with ὅτι may also preserve a direct quotation, so decide from the whole passage rather than the conjunction alone.

• νομίζω τὸν μαθητὴν εἶναι πιστόν. — I think that the disciple is faithful.
• λέγει ὅτι ὁ μαθητὴς ἦλθεν. — He says that the disciple came.

Vocabulary (6)

δεῖ

it is necessary, one must (+infinitive)

νομίζω

I think, believe, suppose

ὥστε

so that, with the result that

δοκέω

I think, suppose; I seem

μέλλω

I am about to (+infinitive)

ὀφείλω

I owe; I ought (+infinitive)