# About μήπως after a verb meaning "hope"



## abcd_89

Hello everyone! 
I encountered  "strange" Greek sentence while reading a linguistic paper:

Elpizo mipos  ine kati             aplo.
hope  *lest  *     is   something  simple
"I hope it is something simple."

I don't know Greek and I find this sentence with its gloss hard to understand because "lest" implies something negative but the translation of the whole sentence is not negative at all.
So I looked up "mipos" in an online dictionary. It seems that it has multiple meanings: whether, as if, lest....
I was wondering if anyone could explain to me what is "mipos" really doing in the sentence. Does it really mean "lest"? 

Thank you in advance!


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## διαφορετικός

"Μήπως" denotes a probability that something will happen (or a probability of a "fact" of _any_ kind), but at the same time the uncertainty that it will happen. It is used in direct, indirect, and rhetoric questions and in expressions of fear and hope. "Lest" has a similar meaning, but maybe it's true that "lest" always has a negative meaning, so that it is not appropriate in the context of "hope".
I guess, in this sentence, "μήπως" can be understood as a special version of the conjunction "that". Probably it could be replaced by "να" (because usually "hope" itself expresses probability and uncertainty already).


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## velisarius

"Lest" is not an accurate translation in that context.

_ hope *lest *is something simple_ - is simply nonsense.


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## abcd_89

Thank you for your explanation (to διαφορετικός and velisarius). 
Does mipos in this sentence mean something like "whether": "I hope whether it is something simple". I know, again, this English translation does not make sense. But does the original sentence imply that the speaker hopes that "it is something simple" yet is uncertain about "whether it is something simple"?


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## Perseas

abcd_89 said:


> Elpizo mipos ine kati aplo.


The speaker expresses a desire, a longing.

About "μήπως" this interpretation fits :
*2.* ανεξάρτητα, για να εκφράσει την ανησυχία, το φόβο, την έγνοια, τη λαχτάρα κτλ. του (My translation: _it functions independently to express anxiety, fear, concern, longing etc_.).
_Aς κάνουμε την προσευχή μας,_ _μήπως_ _και μας λυπηθεί ο Θεός_.
Παράλληλη αναζήτηση



abcd_89 said:


> Does mipos in this sentence mean something like "whether": "I hope whether it is something simple".



I am not sure about an accurate English translation, but it isn't "whether". Perhaps "I hope it should be something simple" or "I hope that it stands a chance that it is something simple."


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## ireney

It's closer to " I hope it may perhaps be something simple" as I see it.  Or perhaps, as Perseas  said "I  hope there is a chance"


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## διαφορετικός

Is there a difference in meaning between "ελπίζω *μήπως* είναι κάτι απλό" and "ελπίζω *να* είναι κάτι απλό"?


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## ireney

Well, at least the way I see it, the second is just a simple wish. The first one, well, one is really afraid of what being complicated may entail and/or is pretty sure it's going to end up being complicated but hopes against hope that it's not.


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## διαφορετικός

Thank you, ireney.


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## διαφορετικός

Does μήπως (in general) express (or emphasize) an uneasiness connected to the uncertainty about the relevant question / hope / fear?


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## velisarius

I doubt that many native speakers use "Ελπίζω μήπως..." 

_Φοβάμαι μήπως χαθώ/Φοβάμαι μην χαθώ.  - _"I'm afraid of getting lost", or "I'm afraid I'll get lost". Do native speakers feel there's much difference?


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## Perseas

velisarius said:


> I doubt that many native speakers use "Ελπίζω μήπως..."


Hmm, when I read the sentence "Ελπίζω μήπως είναι κάτι απλό", I thought to myself "why μήπως and not να"? But on second thought I realized that it's a natural expression. Searching on google, I found these phrases, which I find okay:
_ελπίζω μήπως σταθώ τυχερός
ελπίζω μήπως αλλάξει κάτι στη ζωή μου
ελπιζω μήπως με διαψεύσεις ακόμα και τώρα
ελπίζω μήπως φέτος τα καταφέρω
ελπίζω μήπως αυτή η πίεση φέρει αποτέλεσμα_



velisarius said:


> _Φοβάμαι μήπως χαθώ/Φοβάμαι μην χαθώ.  - _"I'm afraid of getting lost", or "I'm afraid I'll get lost". Do native speakers feel there's much difference?


There is no difference.



διαφορετικός said:


> Does μήπως (in general) express (or emphasize) an uneasiness connected to the uncertainty about the relevant question / hope / fear?


I think so.

For example:
a. Ελπίζω ότι θα νικήσουμε. (The speaker simply hopes that they will win).
b. Ελπίζω να νικήσουμε. (The speaker both hopes and wishes that they will win).
c. Ελπίζω μήπως (καταφέρουμε και) νικήσουμε. (Here emotional involvement, like uneasiness, is more obvious/stronger, in my opinion).


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## διαφορετικός

Thank you, Perseas.


διαφορετικός said:


> Does μήπως (in general) express (or emphasize) an uneasiness connected to the uncertainty about the relevant question / hope / fear?





Perseas said:


> I think so.


Does this only apply to the case with ελπίζω - or also to the following examples from Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής ?

Μήπως είναι ακόμη στο γραφείο;
Ρώτησέ τους μήπως (και) θέλουν τίποτε.
Aνησυχούσε μήπως φύγει και δεν τον ξαναδούν
Μήπως έχει παρενέργειες αυτό το φάρμακο;


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## Perseas

διαφορετικός said:


> Does this only apply to the case with ελπίζω - or also to the following examples from Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής ?
> 
> Μήπως είναι ακόμη στο γραφείο;
> Ρώτησέ τους μήπως (και) θέλουν τίποτε.
> Aνησυχούσε μήπως φύγει και δεν τον ξαναδούν
> Μήπως έχει παρενέργειες αυτό το φάρμακο;


In the 1st and 4th sentence, "μήπως" introduces a direct question. You could also drop it and the meaning would be the same. You can use it when asking for an information or when you have a doubt for something (e.g. "is something true?" or "does it really happen?"). Sometimes the question sounds with it somehow more soft, not so abrupt.
In the 2nd sentence, "μήπως" introduces an indirect question. You could replace it with "αν". (The direct question would be "Μήπως θέλετε τίποτα;").

The 3rd sentence is a different case. Here "μήπως" is a conjunction (διστακτικός σύνδεσμος), and introduces a subordinate clause which expresses worry, uneasiness.


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## διαφορετικός

Thank you again, Perseas.

It is interesting that the dictionary uses the 4th sentence as an example for an emotional expression ("ανεξάρτητα, για να εκφράσει την ανησυχία, το φόβο, την έγνοια, τη λαχτάρα κτλ. του ομιλητή").  I believe that I understand why you did not recognize it as such: because it cannot be distinguished from a plain direct question ...


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## Perseas

διαφορετικός said:


> It is interesting that the dictionary uses the 4th sentence as an example for an emotional expression ("ανεξάρτητα, για να εκφράσει την ανησυχία, το φόβο, την έγνοια, τη λαχτάρα κτλ. του ομιλητή").


Probably I should have added "or emotional expression" in previous post...


Perseas said:


> In the 1st and 4th sentence, "μήπως" introduces a direct question. You could also drop it and the meaning would be the same. You can use it when asking for an information or when you have a doubt for something (e.g. "is something true?" or "does it really happen?")...


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## διαφορετικός

Thanks again, Perseas.


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## uanasis

abcd_89 said:


> Hello everyone!
> I encountered  "strange" Greek sentence while reading a linguistic paper:
> 
> Elpizo mipos  ine kati             aplo.
> hope  *lest  *     is   something  simple
> "I hope it is something simple."
> 
> I don't know Greek and I find this sentence with its gloss hard to understand because "lest" implies something negative but the translation of the whole sentence is not negative at all.
> So I looked up "mipos" in an online dictionary. It seems that it has multiple meanings: whether, as if, lest....
> I was wondering if anyone could explain to me what is "mipos" really doing in the sentence. Does it really mean "lest"?
> 
> Thank you in advance!



The "Elpizo mipos ine kati aplo" is a mixed expression because "mipos" expresses a probability and a version of a fact in a question, but "elpizo", that means "I hope", does not expresses a question. So this phrase is a merging of the two phrases:
"Mipos ine kati aplo;" (= Is this something simple?) and
"Elpizo oti ine kati aplo." (= I hope it is something simple) or "Elpizo, oti ine" (= I hope it is.)
So the translation is:
Is this something simple? I hope it is.


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## uanasis

Additionally, if you wish more about "mipos", this expression:
"Elpizo mipos ine kati aplo" is not correct, 
because "mipos" expresses some undesirable, anexpected or unusual and not a desirable  posibility
instead of "elpizo" (= I hope), that expresses only some desirable  posibility.
So this expression is contradictory. Using "mipos" with "elpizo" it is like to say:

"I hope to happen something undesirable to me"

Because of this meaning, "mipos" is composed from "mi" that means "don't" and "pos" that means "somehow",
that doesn't express hope, and comes usually with words that express fear, worry, something unexpected or unsusual, like:

"fovame" (= I'm afraid)
"anisiho (= I'm worrying)
"skeftome" (= I'm thinking),

that doesn't express hope. So we say:

"anisiho mipos ine" = I'm worrying that perhaps it is
"fovame mipos ine" = I'm afraid perhaps it is
"skeftome mipos ine" = I'm thinking perhaps it is

If we want to give a little more emphsis,  instead of saying "mipos ine" we can say "min ine", 
where "min" is "mi" when it is leading words begining with a vowel in order to sounds good.


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