PASSIVE and MIDDLE (MEDIUM)

PASSIVE:

the user imparts the information that the action is performed on the subject:

(Active: Οἱ ἄνδρες δέουσιν: The men tie up.)

Οἱ ἄνδρες δέονται: The men are being tied up.

Οἱ ἄνδρες ἐδέθησαν: The men were tied up.

MIDDLE or MEDIUM may be new to English-speakers: the user of the form imparts the information that the subject, while actually performing the action, is also engaged as (in)direct object:

Οἱ ἄνδρες καλύπτονται could equally well mean: The men are covering themselves. as The men are being covered.  [The same form is used for Medium and Passive in durative and perfect, but in future and aorist Medium and Passive have separate forms, as may be concluded from the column on phase markers].

Medium has a few meanings that might not be understood without some elucidation:

a) Οἶκον ἐποιήσατο can of course mean He built himself a house,but       also He had himself a house built. (Causative medium).

b) Διανέμονται may mean They divide themselves, but also They divide among themselves. (Reciprocal medium).

            Some verbs, such as πείθω, παύω, φαίνω (a complete enumeration is hardly possible) have meanings that necessitate other kinds of translation of Medium and/or Passive: πείθω (= I persuade), M πείθομαι: I persuade myself> I believe; P πείθομαι: I am persuaded> I believe, I obey.

            Παύω  (= I cause to desist), Μ παύομαι: I (cause myself to) desist, P παύομαι: I (am made to) desist.

            Φαίνω (= I shine, give light, show), P φαίνομαι: I am shown> I appear, I seem.

These shades of meaning are all treated lexically and one is advised to take sharp note of such phenomena when consulting the lexicon, especially with ἵστημι and composites of this important verb.

Furthermore there are verbs that go without Active forms, so-called deponents; when referring these to their lexical forms one will not find an A dur pr-ind 1^st sg (in –ω or –μι),  but a MP dur pr-ind 1^st sg ( in  

–μαι) in the lexicon, e.g. when looking up μετεπέμψατο one finds not μεταπέμπω, but μεταπέμπομαι as lexical source form; βουληθέντες will reveal a source form βούλομαι, not βούλω. When translating this kind of word the normal translating prescriptions for M and P may of course be ignored: μετεπέμψατο means simply he summoned, βουληθέντες: having wanted to.

Brevity being the hallmark of this grammar, this will have to suffice. In examples of other grammatical phenomena one will occasionally find above-treated material.