This list of Greek interrogatives and responses is provided for the benefit of teachers of ancient Greek who wish to use oral Greek questions as part of their Greek language pedagogy.
N. Please see below* if the Greek
words do not display properly.
| GREEK INTERROGATIVE | ENGLISH EQUIVALENT | GREEK RESPONSE |
| 1. tÛw, tÛna, tÛnow, tÛni | who? whom? whose? (etc.) | noun or equivalent (in same case) |
| 2. tÛ, tÛ, tÛnow, tÛni | what? | noun or equivalent |
| 3. tÛ poieÝ + nom. | what is x doing? | active verb (+ complement) |
| 4. tÛ p‹sxei + nom. | what is x suffering? | passive verb (+ compl) |
| 5. ”ra+ verb | does x _______ ? | verb, oé + verb |
| 6. ”rƒ oé + verb, oékoèn ... | expects positive answer | verb |
| 7. ”ra m® + verb, mÇn ... | expects negative answer | oé + verb |
| 8. pñteron ... *³ ... | X or Y? (alternative propositions) | X or Y? (correct proposition) |
| 9. tÛw ____ , tÛ ____ | which ____, what___? | adjective or equivalent |
| 10. pñsow h on | how great a, how much __ ? | adj. or equiv. |
| 11. poÝow a on | what kind of ____ ? | adj. or equiv. |
| 12. pñterow a on | which of two? | adj. or equiv. |
| 13. pñsoi ai a | how many? | adj. or equiv. |
| 14. pñstow h on____ | which (number) ____ ? | ordinal number |
| 15. poè | where? in what place? | ¤n, êpñ + dat., or equiv. |
| 16. pñyen | where from? | Žpñ + gen., or equiv. |
| 17. poÝ | where to? | prñw, eÞw + acc., or equiv. |
| 18. pñte | when? | dat. phrase or equiv. |
| 19. pñson xrñnon | how long? | acc. phrase or equiv. |
| 20. pos‹kiw | how often? | adverb |
| 21. phlÛkow | how old? | genit. phrase (¤tvn+ number) |
| 22. êpò tÛnow | by whom? | êpñ + personal gen. noun |
| 23. sçn tÛni | with whom? | sæn + personal abl. noun |
| 24. tÛni mhxan» | by what means? | dat. of nonpersonal noun |
| 25. pÇw, tÛni trñpÄ | in what manner? how? | adv. or equiv. phrase |
| 26. tÛnow, tÛnvn (with compar.) | than whom? than what? | genit. noun |
| 27. pñsÄ | by how much? | dat. of degree of difference |
| 28. katŒ tÛ, pròw tÛ | in respect to what? | acc. of respect; kat‹/prñw+ acc. |
| 29. diŒ tÛ | why? for what reason? | ÷ti (¤peÛ) + clause; or equiv. phrase |
| 30. tÛnow §neka, ¤pÜ tÒ | for what purpose? | Éw
+ fut. participle; ána/÷pvw +
clause,
or equiv. |
| 31. pÇw ¤xñntvn,
tÛnvn genñmenvn |
under what circumstance? | gen. absolute |
James F. Johnson, Austin College. Corrections/suggestions appreciated. Contact: jimjohnson@austincollege.edu.
* If the Greek words above do not display properly, you probably do not have the font Athenian installed on your computer. To download this font, go to the Perseus Project Web Site. Also, be sure that the Fonts Preference on your browser is set to "Use page-specified fonts."