Encyclopedia of Ancient Greek Language and Linguistics

Get access

Negation
(4,619 words)

Abstract

Ancient Greek has two complementary negators, the assertive ou and the prohibitive mḗ. While ou occurs with indicatives, mḗ is used with imperatives and subjunctives. Subordinate clauses, infinitives and participles allow for either ou or mḗ according to their function in the sentence and the communicative intention of the speaker…

Cite this page
Dagmar Muchnová, “Negation”, in: Encyclopedia of Ancient Greek Language and Linguistics, General Editor: Georgios K. Giannakis. Consulted online on 26 March 2023 <http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/2214-448X_eagll_COM_00000245>
First published online: 2013



▲   Back to top   ▲