Topic · from the English index · as printed

Urgency

expressed by οὐ with future

FUTURE INDICATIVE

The future with οὐ interrogative is used in questions in an imperative sense to express urgency, warning, or irony: οὐκ ἔξιμεν . . . οὐκ ἐπὶ τὴν ἐκείνου πλευσόμεθα; shall we not go forth . . . shall we not set sail against his country? D. 4.44, οὐ φυλάξεσθε; will you not be on your guard? 6. 25. In exhortations addressed to oneself: οὐκ ἀπαλλαχθήσομαι θῡμοῦ; shall I not cease from my passion? E. Med. 878.

a. μή with the future in a prohibitive sense is used in a few suspected passages (L. 29.13, D. 23.117).