I finally have some time to get back into Greek again!
I’m supposed to translate the sentence “I would be sorry if you were not to persist with Greek.”
My attempt is:
λυποίμην ἄν, εἰ μὴ?οὐκ? ἐπιμένοις τῇ Ἑλληνικῇ.
I asked ChatGPT5 what the correct negation is, and it gave me this answer, which strikes me as too simple:
This is a core rule of Ancient Greek negation, and your question goes straight to the heart of how Greek mood works.
Short answer
Because the verb is in the optative mood, and:
μή negates non-indicative moods οὐ negates the indicative
Since ἐπιμένοις is optative, it must be negated by μή, not οὐ(κ).
The rule (clean and absolute)
Mood / construction
Negation
Indicative
οὐ(κ)
Optative
μή
Subjunctive
μή
Imperative
μή
Infinitive
μή
Participle (usually)
μή
So:
οὐ = factual denial (“it is not the case that…”)
μή = potential, feared, intended, hypothetical, or willed non-reality
Okay, thanks, Michael. So is my translation okay?:
“I would be sorry if you were not to persist with Greek.” = “λυποίμην ἄν, εἰ μὴ ἐπιμένοις τῇ Ἑλληνικῇ.” Is ἐπιμένοις + dative correct? Would “διατελοῖς τῇ Ἑλληνικῇ**”** be better?
Always turn on “thinking” mode for grammar questions, especially for Ancient Greek and Latin. I only have a work ChatGPT account at the moment, but here is Gemini in thinking mode on what I think you asked.
Great answer, thanks! What an improvement over a reference to a section of Smyth or the Cambridge grammar (neither of which I have). ChatGPT5 doesn’t have thinking mode but your answer was so impressive maybe I’ll switch to Gemini, at least for Greek grammar questions.
I’m using ChatGPT5.2. If I remember correctly you are using a more advanced version with ”m” in the name. When I click on the plus sign, “thinking mode” isn’t on the menu (although there’s an “agent mode”). When I asked it if it has a thinking mode, it gave a long answer beginning like this:
Do you have a thinking mode?
Short answer: yes — but not in the way people sometimes imagine.
Here’s the clear, policy-safe explanation.
How my “thinking” works
I do reason internally when answering questions:
I analyze context
weigh interpretations
connect facts
choose wording carefully
That internal reasoning is not shown step by step unless it’s helpful and appropriate (e.g. in math or logic explanations).
So:
I do think
I don’t expose raw internal chain-of-thought by default
What you can ask for instead (and get)
You can always ask me to:
explain my reasoning in a clear, structured way
compare interpretations
justify a conclusion
walk through an argument step by step (cleanly, not verbatim internal notes)
That’s different from dumping internal scratch work, but functionally gives you the insight you care about.
It specifically says it doesn’t have anything called “thinking mode” and there’s no hyperlink “Thinking” in my version. I clicked on + the first time and it doesn’t show the same menu (see popup menu below).
It specifically says it doesn’t have anything called “thinking mode” and there’s no hyperlink “Thinking” in my version. I clicked on + the first time and it doesn’t show the same menu (see popup menu below).
That’s the Pro version, which I don’t have. Judging by the descrription “Thinking: Thinks longer for better answers” it probably corresponds to “Deep Research” in my popup menu.
Deep research is something else again. Also, ChatGPT knows very little about its own features in Instant mode (mostly due to training cutoffs?). It thought you were asking about self-awareness in the above, and was giving you a version of the canned spiel.
Gemini is great! Thanks for mentioning it. I just asked “How to decline μηνις” and Gemini (show thinking) came up not just with the declension but detailed grammatical notes and contextual usage, tips for starting “Pharr”, etc. etc. I’m most impressed.
Note: I found today that Claude’s newest Opus 4.5 was very confused by Smyth’s formatting when I asked it to implement some accentuation rules in code. Apparently Smyth 70ff, with the sentences broken by big bold section numbers, is a bit confusing for it. Maybe not an issue if you cite the Cambridge Grammar?
“Show thinking” is completely separate from modes like “Fast” and “Thinking”. “Show thinking” just means that you get the self-reflection content in your browser. In “Fast” mode, not much reflection goes on, it’s just zippy answers. In “Thinking” mode, it goes slowly and more carefully and is far more compute-intensive on the service provider side (more expensive).
Yes you have the construction, and εἰ μὴ ἐπιμένοις τῇ Ἑλληνικῇ would do, but διατελοῖς (correct -οῖς to οιης!) better, e.g. ei mh diateloihs thn ellhnikhn askwn. (Forgive temporary absence of Greek font on new computer!)
Michael
I do think
I don’t expose raw internal chain-of-thought by default
