In Koine Greek, sentence order does not necessarily change to indicate a question, as it does in English (for example: I am a man is a statement, whereas Am I a man? is a question). Questions are indicated in Greek by a semi-colon - ";", which is equivalent to the English question-mark - "?".
The addition of certain words can change the emphasis of a question. For example, in English, "I am a man, aren't I?" changes the emphasis of the question so that an answer in the affirmative is expected. In contrast, "I'm not a man, am I?" implies that an answer in the negative is expected. Similarly, in Koine Greek, the addition of certain words changes the emphasis of the question.
When the word ουκ or ουχι is used in a question, it may convey an expectation that the answer is "yes".
When the word μη or μητι is used in a question, it may convey an expectation that the answer is "no".
When the word μη or μητι is used in a question, it may convey an element of doubtfulness. In these cases The word μη (or μητι) can be translated as "maybe" or "perhaps".
This page was last modified on 20 June 2008, at 20:58.