| INDIRECT QUESTIONS
Indirect Questions work like the Indirect Statement
oti
Construction.
They use the Indicative or Optative, depending
on the tense of the main verb.
They are introduced by Interrogative Words.
Click here for Interrogative
Words.
Click here
for Present Optative Paradigm.
Click here for
Future Optative Paradigm.
Click here for
Aorist Optative Paradigm.
hrwtoun autouV tineV eien.
"They asked them who they were."
ouk egnwmen ei blhqeih.
"We did not know whether he had been hit."
ouk eipen o ti poihsoi.
"He did not say what he was going to do."
Note:
1. A. If the introductory verb is in
a Primary Tense (Present, Future, Perfect)
you keep the same tense and mood.
B. If the introductory verb is in a Secondary
Tense (Imperfect, Aorist, Pluperfect) you use the same tense
as the speaker did, but you change
it into the optative mood.
In the first sentence, they actually
asked: "Who ARE you?" They used the present tense; therefore you use the
present optative.
In the third sentence, the question is: "What
WILL he do." So you use the future optative.
2. Sometimes the Greeks ignore rule 1.B. and they
keep the verb in its original tense and mood. This is called the Graphic
Construction.
hrwtoun autouV tineV eisi.
"They asked them who they were."
ouk egnwmen ei eblhqh.
"We did not know whether he had been hit."
ouk eipen o ti poihsei.
"He did not say what he was going to do."
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