Herbert Weir Smyth, A Greek Grammar for Colleges

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B. CLASSIFICATION ACCORDING TO FUNCTION

[*] 2290. Greek possesses a great variety of ways to join protasis and apodosis, but certain types, as in English, are more common than others and have clear and distinct meanings. In the case of some of the less usual types the exact shade of difference cannot be accurately known to us; as indeed to the Greeks themselves they were often used with no essential difference from the conventional types. In the following classification only the ordinary forms are given.

ACCORDING TO TIME

[*] 2291. This is the only functional distinction that characterizes all conditional sentences. Here are included also 2292, 2295, 2296.

1. Present

Protasis: a primary tense of the indicative.

Apodosis: any form of the simple sentence.

εἰ ταῦτα ποιεῖς, καλῶς ποιεῖς if you do this, you do well.

2. Past

Protasis: a secondary tense of the indicative.

Apodosis: any form of the simple sentence.

εἰ ταῦτα ἐποίεις, καλῶς ἐποίεις if you were doing this, you were doing well, εἰ ταῦτα ἐποίησας, καλῶς ἐποίησας if you did this, you did well.

3. Future

a. Protasis: ἐά_ν with the subjunctive.

Apodosis: any form expressing future time.

ἐὰ_ν ταῦτα ποιῇς (ποιήσῃς), καλῶς ποιήσεις if you do this, you will do well.

b. Protasis: εἰ with the future indicative.

Apodosis: any form expressing future time.

εἰ ταῦτα ποιήσεις, πείσει if you do this, you will suffer for it.

c. Protasis: εἰ with the optative.

Apodosis: ἄν with the optative.

εἰ ταῦτα ποιοίης (ποιήσειας), καλῶς ἂν ποιοίης (ποιήσειας) if you should (were to) do this, you would do well.

According to Fulfilment or Non-fulfilment

[*] 2292. Only one class of conditional sentences distinctly expresses non-fulfilment of the action.

1. Present or Past

Protasis: εἰ with the imperfect indicative.

Apodosis: ἄν with the imperfect indicative.

εἰ ταῦτα ἐποίεις, καλῶς ἂν ἐποίεις if you were (now) doing this, you would be doing well; if you had been doing this, you would have been doing well.

2. Past

Protasis: εἰ with the aorist indicative.

Apodosis: ἄν with the aorist indicative.

εἰ ταῦτα ἐποίησας, καλῶς ἂν ἐποίησας if you had done this, you would have done well.

N.—Greek has no special forms to show that an action is or was fulfilled, however clearly this may be implied by the context. Any form of conditional sentence in which the apodosis does not express a rule of action may refer to an impossibility.

According to Particular or General Conditions

[*] 2293. A particular condition refers to a definite act or to several definite acts occurring at a definite time or at definite times.

[*] 2294. A general condition refers to any one of a series of acts that may occur or may have occurred at any time.

[*] 2295. General conditions are distinguished from particular conditions only in present and past time, and then only when there is no implication as to the fulfilment of the action. General conditions have no obligatory form, as any form of condition may refer to a rule of action or to a particular act; but there are two common types of construction:

1. Present

Protasis: ἐά_ν with the subjunctive.

Apodosis: present indicative.

ἐὰ_ν ταῦτα ποιῇς (ποιήσῃς), σὲ ἐπαινῶ if ever you do this, I always praise you.

2. Past

Protasis: εἰ with the optative.

Apodosis: imperfect indicative.

εἰ ταῦτα ποιοίης (ποιήσειας), σὲ ἐπῄνουν if ever you did this, I always praised you.

[*] 2296. But equally possible, though less common, are:

εἰ ταῦτα ποιεῖς, σὲ ἐπαινῶ and εἰ ταῦτα ἐποίεις, σὲ ἐπῄνουν.