Questions and Relative Pronouns

Who? What? Which?

The interrogative τίς (masculine/feminine), τί (neuter) asks 'who?', 'what?', or 'which?'. It may stand alone or modify a noun. τίς λέγει; means 'Who is speaking?' and τίνα λόγον λέγει; means 'Which message is he speaking?'

Its genitive is τίνος and dative τίνι. Masculine/feminine accusative singular is τίνα; nominative plural τίνες and accusative plural τίνας. Neuter τί serves as both nominative and accusative singular, and τίνα as both plural forms.

The acute accent normally stays acute even before another word, helping distinguish this question word from the indefinite τις. A Greek question ends with ;, not an English question mark. τί can also ask 'why?' in an adverbial use.

• τίς ἐστιν ὁ μαθητής; — Who is the disciple?
• τίνι λέγεις τὸν λόγον; — To whom are you speaking the message?

Someone or something

The indefinite τις, τι means 'someone', 'something', or 'a certain'. It has essentially the same endings as the interrogative but is normally enclitic, with different accent behavior. ἄνθρωπός τις is 'a certain person', not 'which person?'.

A preceding word can acquire an extra accent because the indefinite leans on it. At other positions the indefinite itself may receive an accent, so 'unaccented = indefinite' is a useful first clue, not an absolute rule. Read both accent and context.

As an adjective the indefinite agrees with its noun: τινὲς μαθηταί, 'some disciples'. As a pronoun it stands alone: τις ἦλθεν, 'someone came'. Neuter τι can mean 'something' or function adverbially, depending on the sentence.

• ἄνθρωπός τις ἦλθεν. — A certain person came.
• βλέπω τι. — I see something.

Relative clauses

A relative pronoun introduces a clause describing someone or something: ὅς, ἥ, ὅ, 'who / which / that'. It agrees with its antecedent in gender and number, but its case normally comes from its job inside the relative clause.

In ὁ μαθητὴς ὃν βλέπω ἀκούει, 'the disciple whom I see listens', μαθητής is nominative as subject of 'listens', while ὃν is accusative as object of 'see'. Agreement does not require their cases to match. Sometimes case attraction occurs, especially toward a genitive antecedent; recognize that as a contextual variation.

The indefinite relative ὅστις, ἥτις, ὅ τι can mean 'whoever', 'anyone who', or 'who/which' with a descriptive force. Its neuter ὅ τι is written as two words to distinguish it from conjunction ὅτι. With ἄν and a subjunctive, a relative clause can refer indefinitely to whatever person or action fits.

• ὁ λόγος ὃν ἀκούεις ἀληθής ἐστιν. — The message which you hear is true.
• ὃς ἂν πιστεύσῃ — whoever believes

Recognizing 'I know' in questions and reports

οἶδα has perfect forms but normally present meaning, 'I know'. Its common indicative forms are οἶδα, οἶδας, οἶδε(ν), οἴδαμεν, οἴδατε, οἴδασι(ν). Treat these as one useful family rather than inventing a present οἴδω. οὐκ οἶδα means 'I do not know', not necessarily 'I have not known'.

The infinitive is εἰδέναι, 'to know', and the participle is εἰδώς, εἰδυῖα, εἰδός, 'knowing', already met in lesson 20. The pluperfect ᾔδειν or ᾔδη means 'I knew'; third singular ᾔδει means 'he/she knew'. A change from οἰδ- to εἰδ- or ᾐδ- does not mean a different vocabulary item.

A question word can introduce what is known or unknown: οὐκ οἶδα τί λέγει, 'I do not know what he is saying'. Here τί is accusative as the object of λέγει, and λέγει keeps its own subject. Find the small question clause before translating the whole statement.

• οἴδαμεν τὸν λόγον. — We know the message.
• οὐκ οἶδα τί λέγει. — I do not know what he is saying.
• ᾔδει τὸν νόμον. — He/she knew the law.

Vocabulary (6)

τίς, τί

who? what? which? (interrogative)

τις, τι

someone, something, a certain (indefinite)

ὅς, ἥ, ὅ

who, which, that (relative)

ὅστις, ἥτις, ὅ τι

whoever, anyone who; who, which

ποῖος, -α, -ον

what kind of? which?

ὅσος, -η, -ον

as much as; as many as