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11:57 Mar 7, 2001
English to Greek (Ancient) translations [Non-PRO]
English term or phrase: Transformed
To be changed...
Charissa Sudbury

Summary of answers provided
na +1Metamorpho:the:nai, OR metamorphousthai, OR metamemorpho:sthai (see also below).Wigtil



1 day19 hrs peer agreement (net): +1
Metamorpho:the:nai, OR metamorphousthai, OR metamemorpho:sthai (see also below).

There is some complication in your request, since you actually offer two different phrases for translation, a) "to be changed" and b) "transformed". If you have more context available (the whole sentence, or the whole paragraph, if possible), it would be much easier to give a MUCH SIMPLER answer, rather than the complexity shown below.

The forms shown here transcribe the forms of the Ancient Greek infinitive verbs meaning, "to be transformed/changed" or "to have been transformed/changed". The PH and TH represents Greek phi and theta respectively, the e: and the o: represents eta and omega respectively.

The three options:
1. The form METAMORPHOUSTHAI is a present-tense infinitive, specifying no particular time but clearly indicating ongoing or continuing action, or even repeated action(s).
2. METAMORPHO:THE:NAI is an aorist-tense form, which indicates no particular time frame, but usually just a single instance (rather than continuous or repeated actions).
3. The form METAMEMORPHO:STHAI is a perfect-tense form, indicating a continuing (present-time) effect of a prior action.

Infinitives are most often used with auxiliary verbs, as in: "The criminal mind needs to be transformed," or, "Is it necessary for the uranium to have been transformed into plutonium before the bomb will work?" (Grammatically this is quite different from part B, below.) The English infinitive "to be transformed" is a present tense, much like the Greek present infinitive in sense. The English "to have been transformed" is a perfect infinitive, much like the Greek perfect. There is no real English sense-equivalent for the Greek aorist tense.

By itself, these forms are participles, which function as adjectives modifying some noun. English participles in the passive voice typically show no indication of time whatsoever, and the time reference is usually a vague past sense. We must use an expanded form like "being transformed" to specify a present-time idea.

Again, there are three tense options in Ancient Greek (see above). Since these are adjectives, there is an array of additional variations in ending reflecting the case, gender, and number of any given Greek noun:
1. Present: METAMORPHOUMENOS (masc. nominative singular), METAMORPHOUMENE: (fem.), etc.
2. Aorist: METAMORPHO:THEIS (masc.), METAMORPHO:THEISA (fem.), etc.
3. Perfect: METAMEMORPHO:MENOS (masc.), METAMEMORPHO:MENE: (fem.), etc.


Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Vicky Papaprodromou
1597 days
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