Movable nu
# Movable nu

In ancient Greek grammar, movable nu, movable N or ephelcystic nu (Ancient Greek: νῦ ἐφελκυστικόν nû ephelkustikón, literally "nu dragged onto" or "attracted to") is a letter nu (written ν; the Greek equivalent of the letter n) placed on the end of some grammatical forms in Attic or Ionic Greek. It is used to avoid two vowels in a row (hiatus) and to create a long syllable in poetic meter.

## Grammatical forms

Movable nu may appear at the end of certain forms of verbs, nouns, and adjectives. In grammatical paradigms, it is usually written with a parenthesis to indicate that it is optional.

third person plural present and future :

| λέγουσι(ν) | "they say" | present |
| - | - | - |
| τιθέασι(ν) | "they place" | present |
| λέξουσι(ν) | "they will say" | future |
| third person singular perfect and past |||
| τέθνηκε(ν) | "he has died", "is dead" | perfect |
| ἔλεγε(ν) | "he was saying" | imperfect |
| εἶπε(ν) | "he said" | aorist |
| ἐτεθνήκει(ν) | "he had died", "was dead" | pluperfect |
| third person singular present (athematic verbs) |||
| τίθησι(ν) | "he places" | "he places" |
| ἐστί(ν) | "it is" | "it is" |
| dative plural |||
| Ἕλλησι(ν) | "to Greeks" | "to Greeks" |
| πᾶσι(ν) | "to all" | "to all" |
| ἀνθρώποισι(ν) | "to men" | Epic and Ionic |
| κούρῃσι(ν) | "to girls" | Epic and Ionic |

## Usage

Movable nu is used before words starting in a vowel to prevent hiatus.

* πᾶσιν ἔλεγεν ἐκεῖνα "he said those things to everyone"

It is often omitted before consonants, but may be included there to produce a heavy syllable where the poetic meter requires one

* πᾶσι λέγουσι ταῦτα "they say these things to everyone"
* πᾶσι λέγουσιν ταῦτα "they say these things to everyone" with the dactylic pattern – ⏑ ⏑ | – – | – ×

It is often used at the end of clauses or verses.

