Home >  Grammar notes > Relatives

Normally, relative pronouns 'pick up' an antecedent in the previous clause:

Ἀριαῖος δέ, ὃν ἡμεῖς ἠθέλομεν βασιλέα καθιστάναι ἡμᾶς τοὺς Κύρου φίλους κακῶς ποιεῖν πειρᾶται.
Ariaios, who we wanted to make king, is trying to treat us, the friends of Cyrus, badly.
Xenophon Anabasis 3.2.5

The relative pronoun is in the case required by the syntax of the relative clause:

...μεθήκουσίν σ’ Ὀδυσσέως πάρα
οἵδ’, ᾧ σε δούλην κλῆρος ἐκπέμπει πάτρας.
These men have come for you from Odysseus, to whom the lot has decided that you be sent from your country.
Euripides Troades 1269-71

ἄλλους μὲν γὰρ πάντας, ὅσοι Τρωσὶν πολέμιζον,
πευθόμεθ’, ἧχι ἕκαστος ἀπώλετο λυγρῷ ὀλέθρῳ,
κείνου δ’ αὖ καὶ ὄλεθρον ἀπευθέα θῆκε Κρονίων.
We know the fate of all the other Greeks that fought at Troy, but his fate Zeus has kept hidden.
Homer Odyssey 3.86-88

When the relative clauses have general reference (ie the sense suggests 'ever'), the relative clause may be in the subjunctive mood:

οὔ νύ τ’ ἀοιδοὶ
αἴτιοι, ἀλλά ποθι Ζεὺς αἴτιος, ὅς τε δίδωσιν
ἀνδράσιν ἀλφηστῇσιν, ὅπως ἐθέλῃσιν, ἑκάστῳ.
You should not blame the suitors - it is Zeus who is responsible, Zeus who hands out to each grain-eating man as he wants.
Homer Odyssey 1.347-9


Often the main clause is marked by a 'deictic' word, then known as 'correlatives':

τοιοῦτος γίγνου περὶ τοὺς γονεῖς, οἵους ἂν εὔξαιο περὶ σεαυτὸν γενέσθαι τοὺς σεαυτοῦ παῖδας.
Be the kind of children to your parents as you would have your children be to you.
Isocrates On Demonicus 1.14

περὶ πολλοῦ ἂν ποιησαίμην, ὦ ἄνδρες, τὸ τοιούτους ὑμᾶς ἐμοὶ δικαστὰς περὶ τούτου τοῦ πράγματος γενέσθαι, οἷοίπερ ἂν ὑμῖν αὐτοῖς εἴητε τοιαῦτα πεπονθότες·
I would greatly value your being the kind of jurors in this case as you would be towards yourselves if you had suffered such problems.
Lysias Speeches 1.1

In many correlative constructions, the relative clause comes first:

ὅσα μὲν οὖν ἐκεῖνος κακὰ ὑπ’ αὐτοῦ πέπονθε, πολὺ ἂν ἔργον εἴη λέγειν· ὅσα δὲ εἰς ἐμὲ αὐτὸν ἐξημάρτηκεν, ἡγοῦμαι ταῦθ’ ὑμῖν προσήκειν ἀκοῦσαι.
It would be a big job to tell you everything that he suffered at his hands. But I think it would be right for you to hear about all the wrongs he did to me.
Lysias Speeches 3.6

ὅσας μὲν οὖν εἴληφα, δεσμίους χέρας
σῴζουσι πανδήμοισι πρόσπολοι στέγαις·
ὅσαι δ’ ἄπεισιν, ἐξ ὄρους θηράσομαι,
Public servants are watching all the women I caught
And I will chase out of the mountains all those that got away.

Euripides Bacchae 228-231

ὅθεν οὖν ἡμεῖς τε ῥᾷστα διδάξομεν καὶ ὑμεῖς μαθήσεσθε, ἐντεῦθεν ὑμῖν ἄρξομαι διηγεῖσθαι.
I will start to explain from the point where I can most easily instruct and you can most easily understand.
Lysias Against Agoratus 13.5

The antecedent is not always explicit:

θανόντα γάρ με θάψεθ’ οὗ τὸ μόρσιμον,
Once I have died you will bury me where it is fated.
Euripides Children of Heracles 1030

ἡμεῖς γὰρ ἐπεθυμήσαμεν, ὦ βουλή, Θεοδότου, Πλαταϊκοῦ μειρακίου, καὶ ἐγὼ μὲν εὖ ποιῶν αὐτὸν ἠξίουν εἶναί μοι φίλον, οὗτος δὲ ὑβρίζων καὶ παρανομῶν ᾤετο ἀναγκάσειν αὐτὸν ποιεῖν ὅ τι βούλοιτο.
Men of the council, we were both in love with Theodotus, a young boy from Plataea. I treated him well and considered him a friend, whereas he broke the law and abused him, and thought he would force him to do what he wanted.
Lysias Speeches 3.5

οἱ δ’ ἀπήγαγον τὸν ἄνδρα διὰ τῆς ἀγορᾶς μάλα μεγάλῃ τῇ φωνῇ δηλοῦντα οἷα ἔπασχε
They led the man off through the market-place as he proclaimed in a loud voice what he was suffering.
Xenophon Hellenica 2.3.56

Download these notes as a pdf


Further examples of constructions associated with this topic: