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Concise conditional clauses
studieniveau:
2
μὴ κακολόγει τοὺς πλησίον· εἰ δὲ μή, ἀκούσῃ ἐφ᾿ οἷς λυπηθήσῃ
‘Do not speak ill of your neighbours; otherwise you will hear hurtful things.’ (Χείλων )
A conditional clause may lack a predicate, specifically in the following two cases:
- firstly, the predicate of the conditional clause can be omitted if it is the same as that of the main clause (= ellipsis);
- secondly, the word group εἰ μή (also εἰ, εἰ μὴ εἰ or μὴ εἰ) can precede a substantive or participle as a particle introducing a concise (usually negated) condition.
Translation tips
εἰ δὲ μή ‘if not’, εἰ μή ‘unless, except’, εἰ μὴ εἰ ‘unless if, except if’, εἰ μὴ δία ‘unless through, except through’