Abstract

The Greek grammarians identified five moods (ἐγκλίσεις, enklíseis): indicative, imperative, optative, subjunctive and infinitive. The first three correspond to specific speech acts (respectively: assertions, directives, wishes), while the last is described as a kind of zero mode. As for the subjunctive, as its name suggests, it is a subordinate mode. Its value varies according to the function of the conjunction preceding it.