How to say:"at night"?

Here you can discuss all things Ancient Greek. Use this board to ask questions about grammar, discuss learning strategies, get help with a difficult passage of Greek, and more.
Post Reply
Shine
Textkit Neophyte
Posts: 14
Joined: Fri Sep 26, 2003 6:59 pm
Location: Lithuania
Contact:

How to say:"at night"?

Post by Shine »

To say "when"( in the evening, at night, this year) in Latin is used Abl-nocte, anno, or Abl+in-in pace, or Locativus-interdiu, noctu (if i`m not mistaken) and what about Greak language?
Should I use Dat [size=125]ἡμερᾳ\, νυκτὶ[/size] or it is better Dat+[size=125]ἐν ‐ ἐν ἡμερᾳ, ἐν νυκτὶ[/size]or Gen [size=125]ἡμέρας, νυκτὸς[/size]? or maybe it is Acc?

annis
Textkit Zealot
Posts: 3399
Joined: Fri Jan 03, 2003 4:55 pm
Location: Madison, WI, USA
Contact:

Post by annis »

Dative is for a specific point in time.

Accusative is for an extent of time (like "all day" or similar).

Smyth has a nice example contrasting these in section 1540:

ταύτην μὲν τὴν ἡμέραν αὐτοῦ ἔμειναν, τῇ δὲ ὑστεραίᾳ κτλ. throught that day they waited there, but on the following (day), etc.

For the genitive take a look at the Smyth grammar: it has several sections devoted to the different meanings, secc 1444-1447.
William S. Annis — http://www.aoidoi.org/http://www.scholiastae.org/
τίς πατέρ' αἰνήσει εἰ μὴ κακοδαίμονες υἱοί;

Skylax
Textkit Enthusiast
Posts: 672
Joined: Fri Jun 06, 2003 8:18 am
Location: Belgium

Post by Skylax »

[size=134]τῇδε τῇ νυκτί[/size] dative without preposition = (precisely) this night
[size=134]ἐν νυκτί[/size] = Latin nocte
[size=134] νυκτός[/size] = Latin noctu

Shine
Textkit Neophyte
Posts: 14
Joined: Fri Sep 26, 2003 6:59 pm
Location: Lithuania
Contact:

Post by Shine »

To Annis
Thank you for explanations, now everything seems much easier, just don`t have Smyth grammar, yet :(

To Skylax,
You probanbly know almost all answers, just a real one on-line Greak language teacher :)
By the way how to say 'thank you' in Greak?
1.[size=125]χάριν αποδίδωμι[/size]
2.[size=125]χάριν οἶδα[/size]
3.[size=125] χάριν ἔχω[/size]
4.something else :)

annis
Textkit Zealot
Posts: 3399
Joined: Fri Jan 03, 2003 4:55 pm
Location: Madison, WI, USA
Contact:

Post by annis »

Shine wrote:To Annis
Thank you for explanations, now everything seems much easier, just don`t have Smyth grammar, yet :(
I don't know what sort of internet connection you have, but we have a copy in PDF here at Textkit. :) It's large, and might take a while to download.

As for "thank you" I have seen both 2 and 3.
William S. Annis — http://www.aoidoi.org/http://www.scholiastae.org/
τίς πατέρ' αἰνήσει εἰ μὴ κακοδαίμονες υἱοί;

Post Reply