Featured Greek 101

There are two normal positions for an adjective: with the form, article/adjective/noun, it is the normal way to use an adjective, called the attributive form. When you do not have an article before the adjective, as in μικρος ὁ ἀνθρωπος, you have the predicate position meaning “the man is small,” even if there is no verb. Both forms occur quite often in the Greek NT.

Now, a Greek adjective does not just modify a noun, it can become a noun when you add the article in front of it. So, ὁ μικρος means “the small one.”

So don't be surprised if the Greek adjectives act in what is a strange way to an English speaker. The adjective can be an even odder bird in Japanese, where if you add the right ending it can become an adverb or even a past tense verb!

 

And now for the Greek definite article (a, an in English). There is no indefinite article in Greek! When the Greeks wanted to be indefinite about the noun, they simply did not put an article there. However, the definite article is very important in Greek. It always comes right before the noun (or adjective or participle--more on these later), and occurs in masculine, feminine and neuter forms, and must agree with (match) the word it modifies.

Here is the paradigm:

Masculine sing.:
ὁ
του
τῳ
τον

Masc. plu.:
οἱ
των
τοις
τους

Fem. sing.
ἡ
της
τἡ
την

Fem. plu.:
αἱ
των
ταις
τας

Neut. sing.:
το
του
τῳ
το

Neut. plu.
τα
των
τοις
τα

In general, the Greek definite article corresponds to the English one. (As stated already, there is no Greek indefinite article, "a" and "an" in English.

One main difference in the Greek and English article is that the Greek article is used in some ways that the English one is not. For example, in Greek the article is sometimes used before proper names. However, it should not be translated in those cases: "Jesus," not "the Jesus."

 

Correct.

 

I see that I did not give you any adjectives for vocabulary, so here are some important ones:

ἀγαθος--good. This is the word used for moral good.
καλος--good, beautiful
ἐσχατος--last. This is where we get the word "eschatology," study of the last things.
πιστος--faithful. Sometimes it means just "faith" when used as a noun. With the article before it, it becomes "the faith," the body of beliefs we have as Christians.
ἁγιος--holy. When used as a noun with the article before it, it becomes "saint."
δικαιος--righteous, just
πονηρος--evil
αἰωνιος--eternal

 

Now for another verb tense. Remember "verbal aspect"? There were three: imperfective, perfective, and aoristic. The term "imperfective" comes from (ready?) the imperfect tense! It depicts continued action in past time in the indicative. The present tense can also show imperfective aspect as well as aoristic aspect (which looks at the action as a whole.

So, here is the imperfect paradigm for our favorite verb, λυω¨

ἑλυον--I was loosing.
ἑλυες--You (sing.) were loosing.
ἑλυε---He/She/It was loosing.
ἑλυομεν--We were loosing.
ἑλυετε--You (plu.) were loosing.
ἑλυον--They were loosing.

Memorize this before the test.

 

Notice the helpful thread by 37818, "The two spellings of...." McCree78 has correctly explained the spellings.

In my intro to the alphabet on this thread, I neglected to mention such phonetic changes (changes in pronunciation). Such changes do not affect the meaning in the slightest. The paradigms in the Greek textbooks usually note the "movable nu," and I tell my students about it, but they are not graded off for not having it on words on their quizzes or tests.

37818 also mentioned the phonetic change in ἀπο to ἀπ', a preposition which has as its basic gloss "from," Instead of the final vowel, an apostrophe is added. Here are some more such prepositions with their meanings, and then one conjunction. Notice that a couple of these make further changes if the next word starts with a rough breathing mark (the "h" sound). Consider this to be another vocabulary lesson.

δια = δι' ("through" or "by" with the gen., "on account of" with the acc.)

κατα = κατ', or καθ' before rough breathing ("down from" or "against" with the gen., "according to" with the acc.)
μετα = μετ' or μεθ' with the rough breathing ("with" with the gen., "after" with the acc.)
ἀντι = ἀντ' or ἀνθ' with the rough breathing ("instead of," but only taking the gen.)

However,
περι does not have a phonetic change ("about, concerning" with the gen., "around" with the acc.)
προ does not have a phonetic change ("before" with the gen.)
παρα = παρα does not have a phonetic change ("from" with the gen., "upon, on, at" with the dat. or acc.)

And the conjunction:
ἀλλα = ἀλλ' (but)

Notice that some of these prepositions have different meanings depending on the case of the object of the preposition. The meaning can change completely depending on the preposition and its case. So never say about a preposition, "It always means...." That will get marked off on a test!

 

And now, let's have the personal pronouns. First of all, here is the paradigm for the first person personal pronoun, "I, me, my."

ἐγω--I (nominative, the subject)
ἐμου or μου--of me, my (genitive)
ἐμοι or μοι--to me (dative)
ἐμε or με--me (accusative, direct object)
ἡμεις--we
ἡμων--of us, our
ἡμιν--to us
ἡμας--us

Notice that the singular and plural are quite different. Notice also the differing pronunciation, with the smooth breathing mark (no "h" sound) in the singular, and the rough breathing mark ("h" sound) on the plural. Also, there are two phonetic (sound) forms of the singular in the gen., dat. and acc. The meaning does not change at all no matter which form is used, though.

Now, here is the second person personal pronoun, "you."

συ--you (sing)
σου--of you, your (sing.)
σοι--to you
σε--you
ὑμεις--you (plu.)
ὑμων--of you, your (plu.)
ὑμιν--to you (plu.)
ὑμας--you (plu.)

Uh, oh. How do you remember the difference between the 1st person plu., beginning with an eta, and the 2nd person plu., beginning with an upsilon? This is a tough one for the students. I recommend thinking "upsilon for 'you,'" but students sometimes come up with their own method.

Something to remember about the usage is that Greek verbs have the person in the endings ("I loose," "you loose," etc.), but when the actual word is added it acts to strengthen the statement. So, when you read something like "I myself" or "He himself," that's because a personal pronoun has been added to the sentence to make the statement stronger.

Check out Matt. 3:11, "I indeed baptize," where the word "indeed" is the strengthener--ἐγω μεν βαπτιζω. In fact, there are two words here that strengthen the "I," ἐγω and μεν. This would be extremely hard to express in English, giving one more reason why the original languages are so important. What would you say? "I myself, even me..."? That's awkward English.

 

And now for the third person personal pronoun. This one is more complicated than the first or second person personal pronouns. For starters, it has a full paradigm with masculine, feminine and neuter forms like an adjective or the Greek article. Note that the endings are the same as the article, so if you have learned the article well, this is an easy one. Here it is:

Masculine sing.:
αὐτος
αὐτου
αὐτῳ
αὐτον

Masc. plu.:
αὐοἱ
αὐτων
αὐτοις
αὐτους

Fem. sing.
αὐτἡ
αὐτης
αὐτῃ
αὐτην

Fem. plu.:
αὐταἱ
αὐτων
αὐταις
αὐτας

Neut. sing.:
αὐτο
αὐτου
αὐτῳ
αὐτο

Neut. plu.
αὐτα
αὐτων
τοις
αὐτα

But then we have to discuss the usages. Uh, oh. This is a little complicated.

1. The third person pronoun is “used in place of nouns and other substantives to avoid monotony” (Black, p. 67). So they are used to improve a writer’s style, just like other Greek pronouns and like English pronouns. So, you wouldn’t say, “George went to the store. There George bought a loaf of bread. Then George took it home.” You stick the pronouns in place of George to make it sound better. The name “George” is then called the antecedent of the pronoun, meaning the noun that the pronoun refers back to.

2. Greek third person pronouns can provide emphasis, just like the first and second person ones. Remembering that Greek verbs have the person and number in the ending, you don’t need the pronoun where there is a verb. But when the pronoun is used, it emphasizes the noun. Often this emphasis cannot be translated well.

3. There are special uses of the third person pronoun. One is that when it is used like an adjective (in what is called the attributive position, with an article before the adjective), it takes the meaning “same.” This is called the adjectival pronoun. “No fair,” you say, “The English word “he” doesn’t do that. Tough bananas. This is Greek, not English. The student must learn to think in Greek when doing Greek.

4. Another special usage is when this pronoun is used in what is called the predicate position, like a verb (with no article before the pronoun), then it takes the meaning “self.” (See #1.) For example, instead of λυει δουλον “He looses the slave,” it becomes αὐτος λυει δουλον, “He himself looses the slave.”

 

And now (tada!) it is time for another verb tense: the perfect tense. In the indicative, this is usually a past tense, but remember, in Greek verbs it is not time that is important but aspect. The aspect for the perfect tense is particularly important. It is the (ready for this?) perfective aspect!

What perfective aspect means is that the action occurs in past time but the results are continuing. Some students have a hard time with this concept. It is very important in exegesis, but hard to translate into most languages, especially English, because the Greek perfective aspect is different from the English past perfect tense.

The example we Greek nerds like to give is from when Jesus on the cross said, "It is finished." (John 19:30). In the Greek, this was τετελεσται, in the perfect active indicative of τελεω, "I finish." So, when Jesus said "It is finished" He meant, "I have finished dying for the sins of the world, and the results will be permanent." Nothing needs to be added to the atonement of Christ!

So, here is the perfect active indicative of λυω

λελυκα--I have loosed.
λελυκας--You (sing.) have loosed.
λελυκε--He/she/it has loosed.
λελυκαμεν--We have loosed.
λελυκατε--You (plu.) have loosed.
λελυκασι(ν)--They have loosed.

Here are a few perfect tense vocabulary words:

ἡμαρτηκα--I have sinned.
ἐγνωκα--I have known.
εὐρηκα--I have found. This has come down to us as "Eureka," which is what Archimedes supposedly uttered when he figured out how to measure the purity of gold, and jumped out of the bath tub.
πεπιστευκα--I have believed.
σεσωκα--I have saved.

There is also a pluperfect tense, included in Dr. Black's Lesson 10, but it is rare and I don't require the students to spend much time on it.

 

And now for the demonstrative pronouns: "this" and "that." They are not so difficult, so relax. Now in some languages you have other demonstratives, as in "this," "that," and "that over there." But Greek just has "this" and "that," so be thankful! and the paradigms are pretty much endings you have had already. Here we go with "This," ὁυτος.

Masculine sing.:
οὐτος
τοὐτου
τουτῳ
τουτον

Masc. plu.:
οὐτοι
τουτων
τουτοις
τουτους

Fem. sing.
αὐτἡ
ταυτης
ταυτῃ
ταυτην

Fem. plu.:
αὐταἱ
ταυτων
ταυταις
ταυτας

Neut. sing.:
ταὐτο
ταυτου
ταυτῳ
ταυτο

Neut. plu.
ταυτα
ταυτων
ταυτοις
ταυτα

Then we have "that," ἐκεινος.

Masculine sing.:
ἐκεινος
ἐκεινου
ἐκεινῳ
ἐκεινον

Masc. plu.:
ἐκεινοἱ
ἐκεινων
ἐκεινοις
ἐκεινους

Fem. sing.
ἐκεινἡ
ἐκεινης
ἐκεινῃ
ἐκεινην

Fem. plu.:
ἐκειναἱ
ἐκεινων
ἐκειναις
ἐκεινας

Neut. sing.:
ἐκεινο
ἐκεινου
ἐκεινῳ
ἐκεινο

Neut. plu.
ἐκεινα
ἐκεινων
ἐκεινοις
ἐκεινα

 

There is something I need to say about the perfect tense from a couple of posts ago. As you have no doubt noticed the extra letters at the beginning of each word in the paradigm. For λυω, there was an λυ-. For the perfect tense, you take the first consonant of the word, add an epsilon, then tack it on to the front of the word. Then you add the kappa and alpha, and then endings. So, you have λελυκα for the 1st person singular. Now, this actually makes the perfect tense easy to spot in the Greek New Testament, so it's helpful to know. Translating the perfect--now that's a different story!

 

I have already mentioned aoristic aspect, which looks at the action as a whole. I was taught back in Greek class back in the 1970's that it could be represented by a single point, and described as "point action in past time." However, this is a little misleading. In the aorist active indicative, this tense is almost always past time, but in other forms it can even be used in the future. So the aorist aspect is very important. Again, the aorist represents the action as a whole. So, the Greek aorist is not completely analogous to the English simple past.

To get the aorist, we have to add an augment, the aorist morpheme sigma + alpha, and the aorist endings. The augment is an epsilon added to the beginning of the word, but it may combine to form different letters. For example, if the aorist is added to a word beginning with an epsilon, it becomes an eta.

Here is the aorist active indicative of λυω--

ἐλυσα--1st person singular, "I loosed."
ἐλυσας--2nd person singular, "You loosed."
ἐλυσε--3rd person singular, "He/she/it loosed."
ἐλυσαμεν--1st person plural, "We loosed."
ἐλυσατε--2nd person plural, "You loosed."
ἐλυσαν--3rd person plural, "They loosed."

 

Here are some more vocabulary words.

Masculine 2nd declension nouns:
διαβολος--slanderer, devil
θρονος--throne
καιρος--time, occasion
οὐρανος--heaven, sky. Interestingly enough, this appears in the plural quite often in the NT: "the heavens." This can be explained by the fact that the Jews believed in several levels of "heaven." One thing that surprises me about translating this word is that it is not rendered "sky" more often. The KJV only has "sky" 4 times from this word.
σταυρος--cross
φιλος--friend
φοβος--fear

Neuter 2nd declension nouns:
βιβλιον--book
δαιμονιον--demon
μυστηριον--mystery, secret
παιδιον--child. This word usually means a small child, a toddler. It contrasts with τεκνον, a more general word for child.
σημειον--sign, miracle. More often than not, this word should be translated "miracle," but sometimes it is just "sign," as in an event or item that points to something.

 

Starting on Sunday I am quarantined before surgery on Wednesday, so I'm going to try to finish up this thread before then.

You may remember that I said that English only has two voices: active and passive. However, Greek has three voices, active, passive, and middle. You may be asking what in the world a mood is. We're not talking sad, happy, disappointed, elated. A mood in grammar "refers to the way in which the speaker chooses to relate the grammatical subject of a verb to the action of that verb" (Black, p. 13).

So, with the active mood, the subject is doing the action: "I walked my dog." With the passive voice, the subject is acted upon: "The dog was walked by my son." Now, the third mood that Greek has but English does not is the middle voice, which pictures the subject of the sentence acting for itself: "I walked the dog for myself."

Now fortunately for the student, the middle and passive voices are often the same. Here is the Greek middle and passive:

λυομαι--1st sing.
λυῃ--2nd sing.
λυεται--3rd sing.
λυομεθα--1st plu.
λυεσθε--2nd plu.
λυονται--3rd plu.

Now, in an interesting development sometime long before Paul wrote his epistles, some of these middle/passive verbs became active. These are called deponent verbs, passive in form but active in meaning. There is currently a discussion among Greek scholars about this. Some say that those deponent verbs are still middle voice, but others say that they are true deponents.

At any rate, here are a few important deponent verbs:

ἀρχομαι--I rule
βουλομαι--I wish, I will
δεχομαι--I receive
εὐαγγελιζομαι--I preach the Gospel, I give good news, I evangelize
λογιζομαι--I consider, I calculate
ψευδομαι--I lie

 

Looks like I won't get to any more here before my surgery. I hope you enjoyed the thread. If you have any questions, I can answer them in a week or two.

 

Thanks, Rob. Recovering nicely from surgery.