AUX: auxiliary
Definition
An auxiliary is a function word that accompanies the lexical verb of a verb phrase and expresses grammatical distinctions not carried by the lexical verb. In Modern Greek these may be, depending on the auxiliary, person, number, tense and mood. In periphrastic verb tenses, aspect is contributed by the content verb form.
The verb έχω / echo “have” and the particles θα and για, ας are assigned the tag AUX in periphrastic verb tenses, both active and passive ones.
να is tagged AUX when introduces the verb (or the auxiliary “to be”) of a main clause, e.g., Να.AUX έρθεις.root γρήγορα “Come early.”, Ούτε να.AUX τ’ ακούσει.root “He would not even hear it.” Ούτε βουλευτής.root να.AUX ήσουν.AUX! “Imagine what would happen if you were an MP!”
There is one multiword auxiliary δε πα να “may, let”.
The verb είμαι /ime “to be” is assigned the tag AUX always, even when it heads a verb multiword expression (because normally in multiwords headed by είμαι the remaining lexicalised parts can be used independently, e.g., είμαι στους πέντε δρόμους-στους πέντε δρόμους η Ελλάδα, στην τετράδα η Γερμανία).
Examples
- Tense auxiliaries: έχει φύγει / echi figi “he/she/it is gone”, θα φύγει / tha figi “he/she/it will go”
- Auxiliaries with passive verb forms: έχει γραφτεί / echi grafti “he/she/it has been written”, θα γραφτεί / tha grafti “he/she/it will be written”
- Auxiliary use of είμαι: το τριαντάφυλο είναι λουλούδι” / to triantafilo ine louloudi “a rose is a flower”, ο Αλέξανδρος είναι ψηλός / o Alexandros ine psilos “Alexandros is tall”, το γράμμα είναι γραμμένο με σκούρο μελάνι / to grama ine grameno me skouro melani “the letter has been written with dark ink”
- Auxiliary use of να: Να προσέχεις “Βe careful.”
- Auxiliary use of ας: Καλύτερα ας έχουμε το κεφάλι μας ήσυχο. “It is better for us to be on the safe side.”
- Auxiliary use of για: Για έλα κατά δω “Do come here.”
- Auxiliary use of δε πα να: Δε πα να καταρρεύσουν όλες οι τράπεζες. “May all banks collapse.”
Important note
There are two treebanks of Modern Greek and differ with respect to AUX assignment.
References
AUX in other languages: [bej] [bg] [bm] [cs] [cy] [da] [el] [en] [es] [et] [fi] [fro] [fr] [ga] [grc] [gub] [hu] [hy] [it] [ja] [ka] [kk] [kpv] [ky] [myv] [no] [pcm] [pt] [qpm] [ru] [sl] [sv] [tr] [tt] [uk] [u] [urj] [xcl] [yue] [zh]