ἄν

a particle indicating that something can or could occur on certain conditions, or by the combination of certain fortuitous causes. In Latin it has no equivalent; nor do the English haply, perchance, German wohl (wol),etwa, exactly and everywhere correspond to it. The use of this particle in the N. T., illustrated by copious examples from Greek writers, is shown by Winers Grammar, § 42; (cf. Buttmann, 216ff (186ff). Its use in classic Greek is fully exhibited (by Prof. Goodwin) in Liddell and Scott, under the word). It is joined:
I. in the apodoses of hypothetical sentences
1. with the imperfect, where the Latin uses the imperfect subjunctive, e. g. Lk 7:39 (ἐγίνωσκεν ἄν, sciret, he would know); Lk 17:6 (ἐλέγετε ἄν ye would say); Mt 23:30 (non essemus, we should not have been); Jn 5:46; Jn 8:42; Jn 9:41; Jn 15:19; Jn 18:36; 1 Cor 11:31; Gal 1:10; Gal 3:21 (but WH marginal reading brackets); Heb 4:8; Heb 8:4, Heb 8:7.
2. with the indicative aorist (where the Latin uses the pluperfect subjunctive like the future perfect subjunctive, I would have done it), to express what would have been, if this or that either were (εἰ with the imperfect in the protasis preceding), or had been (εἰ with the aorist or pluperfect preceding): Mt 11:21 and Lk 10:13 (ἄν μετενόησαν they would have repented; Mt 11:23; Mt 12:7 (ye would not have condemned); Mt 24:43 (he would have watched), 22 and Mk 13:20 (no one would have been saved, i. e. all even now would have to be regarded as those who had perished; cf. Winer's Grammar, 304 (286)); Jn 4:10 (thou wouldst have asked); Jn 14:2 (εἶπον ἄν I would have said so); Jn 14:28 (ye would have rejoiced); Rom 9:29 (we should have become); 1 Cor 2:8; Gal 4:15 (R G); Acts 18:14. Sometimes the condition is not expressly stated, but is easily gathered from what is said: Lk 19:23 and Mt 25:27 (I should have received it back with interest, namely, if thou hadst given it to the bankers).
3. with the pluperfect: Jn 11:21 (R Tr marginal reading) (οὐκ ἄν ἐτεθνήκει (L T Tr text WH ἀπέθανεν) would not have died, for which, in Jn 11:32, the aorist οὐκ ἄν ἀπέθανε); Jn 14:7 (not Tdf.) (εἰ with the pluperfect preceding); 1 Jn 2:19 (they would have remained with us). Sometimes (as in Greek writings, especially the later) ἄν is omitted, in order to intimate that the thing wanted but little (imperfect) or had wanted but little (pluperfect or aorist) of being done, which yet was not done because the condition was not fulfilled (cf. Alex. Alexander Buttmann (1873) in the Studien und Kritiken for 1858, p. 489ff; (N. T. Gram., p. 225 (194)); Fritzsche on Romans, vol. ii., 33; Winer's Grammar, § 42, 2, p. 305 (286)), e. g. Jn 8:39 (where the ἄν is spurious); Jn 15:22, Jn 15:24; Jn 19:11; Acts 26:32; Rom 7:7; Gal 4:15 (ἄν before ἐδώκατέ has been correctly expunged by L T Tr WH).
II. Joined to relative pronouns, relative adverbs, and adverbs of time and quality, it has the same force as the Latincumque orcunque, -ever, -soever (German irgend,etwa).
1. followed by a past tense of the indicative, when some matter of fact, something certain, is spoken of; where, "when the thing itself which is said to have been done is certain, the notion of uncertainty involved in ἄν belongs rather to the relative, whether pronoun or particle" (Klotz ad Der., p. 145) (cf. Winer's Grammar, § 42, 3 a.); ὅσοι ἄν as many as: Mk 6:56 (ὅσοι ἄν ἥπτοντο (ἥψαντο L text T Tr text WH) αὐτοῦ as many as touched him (cf. Buttmann, 216 (187))); Mk 11:24 (ὅσα ἄν προσευχόμενοι αἰτεῖσθε (Griesbach omits ἄν), but L text T Tr WH have rightly restored ὅσα προσεύχεσθε καί αἰτεῖσθε). καθότι ἄν in so far or so often as, according as (German jenachdemgerade): Acts 2:45; Acts 4:35. ὡς ἄν: 1 Cor 12:2 (in whatever manner ye were led (cf. Buttmann, § 139, 13; 383 (329f))).
2. followed by a subjunctive,
a. the present, concerning that which may have been done, or is usually or constantly done (where the German usesmögen); ἡνίκα ἄν whensoever, as often as": 2 Cor 3:15 L T Tr WH; ὅς ἄν whoever, be he who he may: Mt 16:25 (L T Tr WH ἐάν); (Mk 8:35 (where T Tr WH future indicative; see WH's Appendix, p. 172)); Lk 10:5 (L T Tr WH aorist); Lk 10:8; Gal 5:17 (T Tr WH ἐάν, L brackets ἐάν); 1 Jn 2:5; 1 Jn 3:17; Rom 9:15 (Ex 33:19); Rom 16:2; 1 Cor 11:27 etc. ὅστις ἄν: 1 Cor 16:2 (Tr WH ἐάν; WH marginal reading aorist); Col 3:17 (L text Tr WH ἐάν). ὅσοι ἄν: Mt 7:12 (T WH ἐάν); (L T Tr WH ἐάν). ὅπου ἄν whithersoever: Lk 9:57 (L Tr ἐάν); Rev 14:4 (L Tr (T edition 7 not 8, WH) have adopted ὑπάγει, defended also by Buttmann, 228 (196)); Jas 3:4 (R G L Tr marginal reading in brackets). ὁσάκις ἄν how often soever: 1 Cor 11:25f (where L T Tr WH ἐάν). ὡς ἄν in what way soever: 1 Thess 2:7 ((cf. Ellicott at the passage; Buttmann, 232 (201))), L T Tr WH ἐάν).
b. the aorist, where the Latin uses the future perfect; ὅς ἄν: Mt 5:21, Mt 5:22 (εἴπῃ whoever, if ever anyone shall have said); Mt 5:31f (in Mt 5:32 L T Tr WH read πᾶς ὁ ἀπολύων); Mt 10:11; Mt 26:48 (Tdf. ἐάν); Mk 3:29, Mk 3:35; Mk 9:41, etc. ὅστις ἄν: Mt 10:33 (L Tr WH text omit ἄν); ; Jn 14:13 (Tr marginal reading WH present); Acts 3:23 (Tdf. ἐάν), etc. ὅσοι ἄν: Mt 21:22 (Treg. ἐάν); Mt 23:3 (T WH ἐάν); Mk 3:28 (Tr WH ἐάν); Lk 9:5 (L T Tr WH present); Jn 11:22; Acts 2:39 (Lachmann οὕς); . ὅπου ἄν: Mk 14:9 (T WH ἐάν); (L T Tr WH ἐάν). ἄχρις οὗ ἄν until (donec): 1 Cor 15:25 Rec.; Rev 2:25. ἕως ἄν until (usquedum): Mt 2:13; Mt 10:11; Mt 22:44; Mk 6:10; Lk 21:32; 1 Cor 4:5, etc. ἡνίκα ἄν, of future time, not until then, when... or then at length, when...: 2 Cor 3:16 (T WH text ἐάν) (cf. Kühner, 2:951; Jelf, 2:565). ὡς ἄν as soon as (Buttmann, 232 (200)): 1 Cor 11:34; Phm 2:23. ἀφ' οὗ ἄν ἐγερθῇ, Lk 13:25 (from the time, whatever the time is, when he shall have risen up). But ἐάν (which see) is also joined to the pronouns and adverbs mentioned, instead of ἄν; and in many places the manuscripts and editions fluctuate between ἄν and ἐάν (examples of which have already been adduced); (cf. Tdf. Proleg., p. 96; WH's Appendix, p. 173 "predominantly ἄν is found after consonants, and ἐάν after vowels"). Finally, to this head must be referred ὅταν (equivalent to ὅτε ἄν) with the indicative and much more often with the subjunctive (see ὅταν), and ὅπως ἄν, although this last came to be used as a final conjunction in the sense, that, if it be possible: Lk 2:35); Acts 3:20 (); ; Rom 3:4; see ὅπως, IL 1 b. (Cf. Winers Grammar, 309 (290f); Buttmann, 234 (201).)
III. ἄν is joined to the optative (Winers Grammar, 303 (284); Buttmann, 217 (188)); when a certain condition is laid down, as in wishes, I would that etc.: Acts 26:29 (εὐξαίμην (Tdf. εὐξάμην) ἄν, I could pray, namely, did it depend on me); in direct questions (Winers Grammar, the passage cited; Buttmann, 254 (219)): Acts 8:31 (πῶς ἄν δυναίμην; i. e. on what condition, by what possibility, could I? cf. Xenophon, oec. 11, 5); Acts 17:18 (τί ἄν θέλοι... λέγειν what would he say? it being assumed that he wishes to utter some definite notion or other); Acts 2:12 R G; independent sentences and indirect questions in which the narrator introduces another's thought (Winers Grammar, § 42, 4; Buttmann, the passage cited]: Lk 1:62; Lk 6:11; Lk 9:46; (Lk 15:26 L brackets Tr WH; cf. Lk 18:36 Lbr. Trbr. WH marginal reading); Acts 5:24; Acts 10:17; Acts 17:20 R G.
IV. ἄν is found without a mood in 1 Cor 7:5 (εἰ μή τί ἄν (WH brackets ἄν), except perhaps, namely, γένοιτο (but cf. Alexander Buttmann (1873) as below)). ὡς ἄν, adverbially,tanquam (so already the Vulg.), as if: 2 Cor 10:9 (like ὥσπερ ἄν in Greek writings; cf. Kühner, 2:210 (sec. 398 Anm. 4; Jelf, § 430); Buttmann, 219 (189); (Liddell and Scott, under the word, D. III.)).
G302 — ἄν (2)
, contracted from ἐάν, if; followed by the subjunctive: Jn 20:23 (Lachmann ἐάν. Also by the (present) indicative in 1 Jn 5:15 Lachmann; see Buttmann, 223 (192); Winers Grammar, 295 (277)). Further, L T Tr WH have received ἄν in Jn 13:20; Jn 16:23; (so WH Jn 12:32; cf. Winers Grammar, 291 (274); Buttmann, 72 (63)).