Talk:Optative (Ancient Greek)

another Morphology
i know there's other opt which end like -μην what are the other shapes?--84.110.188.3 (talk) 06:53, 2 June 2012 (UTC)

Wishes - distinction between time or Real (potential?) or irreal (impossible or unlikely) wishes?
This article states that wishes for the future (may it happen!) are expressed in the Optative, while wishes for the present or the past are expressed by forms of the indicative. The same forms which are used for counterfactuality. While the latter wishes would always be counterfactual if one knew everything, since present and past cannot be changed so that a wish become reality, it is possible that a wish concerning the future is seen as unlikely or unattainable or expected not to become reality. And since we don't know everything about the present and the past, a wish concerning the past (or actual present) need not be counterfactual, it could indeed be reality, too. Counterfactual wishes in Germanic languages, Latin or Romance languages are expressed by the same mood and tense forms like simple counterfactuality, but they could also concern the future. But a present-concerning wish or past-concerning wish that is not known to be counterfactual (which could indeed be true) may be expressed by the same mood forms or syntactical structure that would express a real wish for the future.

Does Ancient Greek work different? (No general distinction if a wish is potential or counterfactual?) 2A0A:A541:F206:0:25F8:DE54:7F40:E478 (talk) 23:29, 19 December 2023 (UTC)