J. N. Madvig, Syntax of the Greek Language: Part III, Order and Position of Words and Sentences

The Order and Position of Words and Sentences.

a) The position of words in Greek, as in Latin, is, in detail, less tied down to fixed and definite rules than in English and other modern languages, and rests, in great measure, on the emphasis which is meant to be laid on the several words according to the sense of the passage, and at the same time on the consideration of euphony. The simplest order is, that the subject, with all that belongs to it, stands first, and then the predicate, viz. either the verb last, with all remaining definitions (object, &c.) between, or the verb first, and then the other definitions: Τισσαφέρνης διαβάλλει Κῦρον πρὸς τὸν ἀδελφόν. These definitions are arranged among themselves according to their importance and their connexion with the verb. Interrogative sentences begin with the interrogative pronominal word or particle, accessory sentences with the conjunction or the relative word.

b) For the sake of emphasis, a deviation from the simple order of the words takes place, such that the word which expresses the most important notion is advanced to the beginning, or sometimes kept back to the end of the sentence: Ἐπηγάγοντο δὲ τοὺς Θηβαίους καὶ ἀνέῳξαν τὰς πύλας Πλαταιέων ἄνδρες, Ναυκλείδης τε καὶ οἱ μετ᾽ αὐτοῦ (Thuc. 2, 2). Παρεσκευάζοντο δὲ καὶ οἱ Λακεδαιμόνιοι (Thuc. 2, 7). Kindred or opposed terms are made to stand out prominently by juxta-position.

REM. 1. One or more words conveying a notion on which there is a special emphasis may also stand before the interrogative word, as also before a relative which refers to a demonstrative following, and before a conjunction if the subordinate sentence begins the period: Περὶ δὲ τοῦ πολέμου τί ὑμῖν δοκεῖ; Περὶ δὲ τοῦ πολέμου ἃ ἔλεγες, ὁμολογῶ ἀληθῆ εἶναι. Οἱ δὲ τῶν Ἀργείων ἄνδρες, ἀκούσαντες, ἐπειδὴ ἀνήνεγκαν τοὺς λόγους ἔς τε τὰς ἀρχὰς καὶ τὸν δῆμον, ἐψηφίσαντο Ἀργεῖοι καὶ ἄνδρας εἵλοντο δώδεκα (Thuc. 5, 28). But in prose the verb may never stand before the relative or conjunction.

REM. 2. Between two connected words, sometimes a third is inserted which is less prominent, or which belongs at the same time to both: Διὰ τὴν Δαρείου τελευτὴν καὶ Ἀρταξέρξου.

a) A genitive or an adjective to a substantive without article stands first with some emphasis, and because of the opposition: εὔζωνος ἀνήρ, τῆς πατρίδος σωτήρ, otherwise usually afterwards: ἀνὴρ ἀγαθός. For the order of the adjectives, of the genitive, and other additions to substantives with the article, see the doctrine of the article (Part I. Chap. II.). Sometimes the definitions belonging to a substantive are detached from it by the circumstance, that the substantive itself, or its definitions, are drawn off, with emphasis, to the beginning or end of the sentence, provided no obscurity or ambiguity is thereby occasioned, especially with the verb in the middle place: Ἐρῶ, ἃ παρὰ σοφωτάτων ἤκουσά ποτε ἀνδρῶν καὶ ἐμπειροτάτων. Τούτων τῶν ἀνδρῶν οὐδὲ τὰ ὀνόματα οἶδα. (Τῶν βαρβάρων τινὲς ἱππέων. Xen. An. 2, 5, 32. Τῶν ἀφ᾽ Ἡρακλέους τινὶ πεφυκότων. Isocr. Phil. 76. Other peculiarities of position in the partitive genitive may be seen in § 50 a, R.)

b) Adverbs belonging to the verb stand either next to it (before it, if it closes the sentence), or, in case of special emphasis, in the beginning or at the end of the sentence; sometimes they are inserted without emphasis between other accessory definitions which are made prominent. Adverbs belonging to adjectives usually stand before them; adverbs of degree, and οὕτω, rarely stand after them (πεφυκὼς οὕτως, Pl., βελτίων πολύ, ὕστερον οὐ πολλῷ, γενναῖος πάνυ, καλὸς λίαν. Pl.). (Μάλα γέ τινες ὀλίγοι, Pl. Rep. 7, 531. Μάλα καὶ ἄνδρες ἄλκιμοι, Xen. Hell. 6, 2, 37.)

c) On the placing of prepositions, see § 80.

a) The indefinite pronoun τίς and the indefinite correlative adjectives (ποιός, ποσός) and adverbs (πώς, &c.) can never begin a sentence.

b) The particles ἄρα, αὖ, δέ, δή, γάρ, μέν, μήν, νύν, οὖν, τέ, τοί, τοίνυν, which in various ways connect sentences, form transitions, or give prominence to particular notions, never stand at the beginning of a sentence, but always after one or more words, to which, in part, they closely adhere; so ἄν. See the Lexicon [and Appendix], and on δέ, τέ, μέν, § 185, R. 4, and § 188, R. 1; on the position of ἄν, § 139. So γε always after the word to which it gives prominence (limiting and restrictive), or after the first of several, when it thus belongs to a set of words taken together (κατά γε τὸν σὸν λόγον, Pl. Gorg. 471: εἴπερ γε, ὦ φίλε, ἄδικος, Pl. ibid.).

REM. But in the parenthetic insertion of φημί (see c) the words mentioned under a and b are sometimes put first, the interposed matter coalescing, so to say, with the rest of the sentence: Τί οὖν, ἂν φαίη ὁ λόγος, ἔτι ἀπιστεῖς; (Pl. Phæd. 87.) Ἔδοξε, πού φησι, τῇ βουλῇ ἢ τῷ δήμῳ (Pl. Phæd. 258).

c) The verb φημί is put, when a person's own words are reported, by preference after one or more words of the speech reported: Καὶ ὁ Σωκράτης, Ἵνα τοίνυν, ἔφη, μὴ ἀμφίβολον ᾖ, ὁρίσατέ μοι, μέχρι πόσων ἐτῶν δεῖ νομίζειν νέους εἶναι τοὺς ἀνθρώπους (Xen. Mem. 1, 2, 35. More rarely: Καὶ ὁ Σωκράτης ἔφη· "Ἵνα --", for εἶπεν· "Ἵνα --"). When to the φημί thus used its subject is given, this stands by preference after it: Τί οὖν, ἔφη ὁ Σωκράτης, ποιητέον σοι δοκεῖ; more rarely ὁ Σωκράτης ἔφη. (Separated: Εἰ δὲ μὴ ταύτῃ γε, ἔφη, πείθῃ, ὦ Σιμμία, ὁ Σωκράτης, σκέψαι, ἐὰν τῇδέ πῃ σοι σκοπουμένῳ συνδόξῃ. Pl. Phæd. 73.)

REM. The position of the words in poetry has various freedoms for which no rules can be given in this place.

In Greek, as in Latin, accessory sentences of every kind may be inserted into every principal sentence, by which means, as also by the position of the relative clauses before the demonstrative, a manifold and diversified variety is obtained in the structure of the period: in which the main thing to be considered is, that every accessory sentence should be inserted in its proper place, i.e. precisely where the thought or statement contained in it naturally presents itself to one's mind, and, especially in the historical style, that the succession of time and the causal connexion of the several parts of the action and of the circumstances, should be carefully observed.

REM. When a dependent sentence, especially interrogative, is drawn to the beginning, either by a pronoun referring to what goes before, or by the emphasis and an antithesis, either the whole leading sentence, if it be short, or some words of it, may be inserted before the interrogative word or the conjunction: Τὰ τῶν πολεμίων, σαφῶς, ὅπως ἔχει, ἐρῶ.