Biblical Greek (Advanced): 08. Optative

The optative mood is probably the most puzzling of all moods in the New Testament. By the time of the New Testament, its usage was replaced by the subjunctive. This mood expresses possibility, which is evaluated from the subjective point of view. It is often used to express a wish, prayer, or something possible.

There is a chart of all tense forms (only some instances are attested in the NT):

Present

Future

Aorist

Perfect

Although there might be special forms of the optative, usually the typical element of the ending is ι, and more concretly οι (present and aorist II active/middle), αι (aorist I active/middle), and ειη (aorist passive).

Semantically, the optative can express prayer, benediction, blessing, or wish (voluntative optative); rhetorical questions (deliberative or oblique optative); and fourth class conditional clause (potential optative).

There are about 68 occurrences of the optative in the New Testament of which 45 are aorists and 23 are presents. Most of the cases are found in Luke and Paul.

The most common forms of the optative which are worth to remeber are these: γένοιτο (from γίνομαι), εἴη (from εἰμί). Once you see these forms you are sure these are optatives.