2
NOUNS: PART 1
NOMINATIVE AND ACCUSATIVE CASES
2.1. This chapter introduces you to Greek nouns, the grammatical terms that are used to describe them, their forms (that is, morphology), and some of their functions in Greek sentences. But first we need some linguistic background to understand why Greek nouns differ from English ones. We will also consider some basic grammatical terminology in relation to English.
2.2. In the first chapter you learned that there are several different types of languages, and each type communicates meaning by certain structures. How does that affect our understanding of Greek nouns? In analytical languages such as English, word function is determined by word order. Consider this English sentence:
Tom hit Bill.
Who hit whom? Who is the hitter and who is the “hittee”? How do you know? Now we will change this sentence a bit. Using the same words spelled the same way, we could say:
Bill hit Tom.
What does this do to the meaning of the sentence? The change in meaning is substantial. That is because English word order normally follows the pattern:
subject ► verb ► object
We know which person did the hitting and who was hit, since English usually places the subject first, then the verb, followed by the direct object.[1]
2.3. Another type of language is called an inflected language. In this case, word function is not indicated by word order; rather, it is indicated by changes in the form (that is, the spelling) of the words in the sentence. Since Greek is an inflected language, this means that word order is not semantic in Greek. That is, changing the order of the words does not change the meaning as it does in English. We will take our sample sentence above and rewrite it as six variations in “Greeklish.”
Tomος hit Billον.
Billον hit Tomος.
Hit Billον Tomος.
Hit Tomος Billον.
Billον Tomος hit.
Tomος Billον hit.
If these were real Greek sentences, all six would say the same thing, despite the fact that the words occur in six different sequences.[2] Note that the “Greeklish” endings on the nouns stay the same from sentence to sentence, so the meaning also stays the same. The word with the ending -ος is always the subject of the sentence, and the word with the -ον ending is always the direct object. In other words, the -ος word is doing the action, and the -ον word is receiving the action. In all six instances, Tom is the one doing the hitting, and Bill is being hit.
The forms of the words in Greek are thus much more crucial to understanding the meaning of the statement than they are in English. It also means that you will need to pay better attention to spelling than some of you do in your own language. Varying a few letters in a word can change the meaning of a sentence quite drastically. If we change: “Tomος hit Billον” to “Tomον hit Billος,” then Bill becomes the responsible agent instead of Tom.
English Grammatical Terminology
2.4. Since Greek uses word endings and not word order to indicate syntactic relationships and thus communicate meaning, you will need to understand the various grammatical categories used in Greek more clearly than you do in your own language. In the process of learning Greek grammar, you will probably learn quite a bit of English grammar as well.
Gender
2.5. Gender is a tough category to understand correctly, especially in twenty-first-century Western, English-speaking society. The terms used here differ from what you often hear. Just remember that we are using technical grammatical terminology in this book, not the nontechnical usage of popular speech. First, gender is not the same as sex. Sex is a physiological category: male or female. Gender is a grammatical category: masculine, feminine, or neuter. Words do not possess sex; they are characterized by gender. The genders are simply groups of words that use the same inflectional endings—linguistic classifications, not biological ones. Sometimes it seems that gender and sex coincide. Such coincidences are called natural gender. That is, if a feminine-gender word refers to a person (or animal) of the female sex, this can be termed natural gender. Many English words have natural gender, but that is not as true in Greek.
English does not use the category of gender very much, certainly far less than Greek. It can indicate gender in three ways: (1) by adding or changing an ending (prince, princess; widow, widower), (2) by changing the word (boy ► girl; uncle ► aunt), or (3) by adding another word (friend ► boyfriend or girlfriend; bride ► bridegroom).
There are some other elements of gender in our language, though some of these conventions are changing. The English pronouns he, she, and it indicate masculine, feminine, and neuter. Ships and hurricanes were traditionally referred to as feminine (she) and were usually given ladies’ names—though this obviously has nothing to do with sex. Man and he were formerly either masculine or generic, but current usage in some parts of our society has begun to restrict these words to male reference. This is gradually becoming “standard usage.” Although the generic use of man is still intelligible, it may sometimes cause offense.
Number
2.6. The category of number (singular and plural) is more familiar to us—and Greek number is very much like English number. The most common way to indicate number in English is to add the letter s to a noun to make it plural (dog ► dogs), but there are other ways to indicate the difference in number: child ► children; ox ► oxen; mouse ► mice. Sometimes the same word is used to indicate both singular and plural: sheep.
Case
2.7. Case identifies the function of a noun or pronoun in a sentence. Function refers to whether a word is the subject, direct object, or indirect object, and so on, in a sentence.
There are three cases in English. They are named subjective, objective, and possessive. (Greek uses different names and adds more cases; we will learn those a bit later.) The subjective case is used for the subject of a sentence; it identifies who is doing the action described by the verb:[3]
Pinocchio broke his nose.
He broke his nose.
The objective case is used for the direct object; it identifies who or what receives the action of the verb.
Pinocchio broke his nose.
Pinocchio broke him.[4]
The possessive case is a statement of possession:[5]
Pinocchio broke his nose.
Jiminy Cricket told Geppetto about Pinocchio’s nose.
His master lost his puppet.
English words sometimes change their spelling when they change case, but most of the time they do not. Greek words almost always change their spelling when they change case.
2.8. Browse through this section first, then come back and study it more carefully. Some things that are not clear at first will fit together better once you get the big picture. Your goal in this section is not to memorize specific “Greek things” but to understand how the system works. I will tell you when you encounter material that you must memorize. In many instances below I will give you only one example, not the entire range of possibilities.
Gender
2.9. Greek nouns always have grammatical gender. A given word always has the same gender, and it never changes. The three gender categories in Greek are masculine, feminine, and neuter. The word λόγος (“word”) is masculine. Always. Even if it is a woman speaking—or if it is emanating from the ear buds of an iPod, having been synthesized by a computer program. The word δόξα (“glory”) is feminine, and the word ἱερόν (“temple”) is neuter. (You will learn how to identify this information shortly—it is typically found in the ending on the word.)
Remember that this is a grammatical statement; it does not tell us anything about the sex of the object. The gender of some words may sound “natural” to us: υἱός, “son,” for example, is masculine. That seems perfectly sensible to us. Other words, however, do not seem at all natural: κοράσιον, “little girl,” is neuter (even nice little girls!); χείρ, “hand,” is feminine regardless of whether it is a man’s hand or a woman’s hand; and ἀκροβυστία, “foreskin,” is feminine! That makes no sense at all to us, but that is only because we are presupposing that gender is the same as sex. Remember that gender is a grammatical category no different than number in its associations. The category of gender tells us which endings to use on nouns and how to spell other words (such as adjectives) that are related to them.
Number
2.10. The grammatical category of number works in Greek just as it does in English. Singular and plural are the only categories for number in Koine Greek.[6] The only difference is how you know a word is singular or plural. Again, it is the ending on the word that indicates this. The same endings that indicate case and gender also identify the grammatical number of the word. For example, λόγος (“word”) is singular and λόγοι (“words”) is plural.
Case
2.11. As in English, case identifies the function of a noun or pronoun in a Greek sentence. Greek uses five cases (only four of which are common) to indicate how words in a sentence function. Remember that word order is very flexible in Greek, so case is much more important for understanding meaning than it is in English. The Greek cases are
nominative
genitive
dative
accusative
vocative
The nominative is the case used to identify the subject of a sentence, and the accusative identifies the object. These are parallel to the subjective and objective cases in English. (We will study the other cases later.) The word ἀπόστολος means “apostle.” When it is spelled with -ος at the end (ἀπόστολος), we know that the word is functioning as the subject of a sentence, because it is in nominative case. But if we change -ος to -ον (ἀπόστολον), we know that the word is now functioning as the direct object of the sentence, because it is in the accusative case. If the subject or object were plural, we would use -οι and -ους instead of -ος and -ον respectively.
For starters, the following examples use English word order. Which words are nominative and which are accusative? What is the subject and what is the direct object in each sentence? (The word γινώσκει is a verb that means “he knows”; τοὺς διαλογισμούς means “the thoughts”; the other words are in the vocabulary list for this chapter.)
κύριος γινώσκει τοὺς διαλογισμούς (1 Cor. 3:20).
θεὸς γινώσκει τοὺς διαλογισμούς.
κύριος γινώσκει Χριστόν.
Χριστὸς γινώσκει θεόν.
Unlike English, Greek word order does not determine the function of a word in the sentence or the meaning of the sentence. Function and meaning are determined by case. All these sentences say the same thing (“The Lord knows the thoughts”):
κύριος γινώσκει τοὺς διαλογισμούς.
γινώσκει τοὺς διαλογισμοὺς κύριος.
τοὺς διαλογισμοὺς κύριος γινώσκει.
γινώσκει κύριος τοὺς διαλογισμούς.
Declension
2.12. Declension refers to different ways to change the ending of a word to indicate its function in the sentence, or we could say that it is a set of endings in a fixed pattern used to indicate case and number. Various languages have varying numbers of such sets; Greek has three declensions, Latin has five. Let me illustrate this concept with “goofy English.” We could say that there are three English declensions for plural.
The s declension: This declension would include all the words that form their plurals by adding an s to the word[7]—for example, cat ► cats; truck ► trucks; mother ► mothers; book ► books; window ► windows; computer ► computers; iPod ► iPods.
The en declension: This declension would include all the words that form their plurals by adding en to the word—for example, ox ► oxen; child ► children; brother ► brethren.[8]
The zero declension: This declension would include all the words that do not change their form to create a plural. Only the context can determine whether the words in the zero declension are singular or plural[9]—for example, fish, series, deer, corps, bellows, species.
If you ask an English teacher about these declensions, you would get a puzzled look, but it may help you understand how Greek is structured. For nouns, Greek has three declensions, that is, different patterns of endings, with profound names:
first declension
second declension
third declension
That means there are three sets of endings that we will use on Greek nouns to indicate number and case. You will learn two sets of endings in this chapter and a third one later.
Stem and Ending
2.13. The stem is the word with the case ending removed. For example, the stem of the word ἀπόστολος is ἀποστολο-. Ending is a rather general word for what is appended to the stem. It is similar to a suffix. Endings can sometimes be composed of multiple parts, each of which has its own name.[10]
First and Second Noun Declensions
2.14. The endings that are used on Greek nouns to indicate case and number are shown in the following chart. Memorize this chart exactly!
First- and Second-Declension Case Endings
| 2nd Decl. (M/f) | 1st Decl. (F/m) | 2nd Decl. (N) | |
| NS | ος | α or η | ον |
| GS | ου | ας or ης | ου |
| DS | ῳ | ᾳ or ῃ | ῳ |
| AS | ον | αν or ην | ον |
| NP | οι | αι | α |
| GP | ων | ων | ων |
| DP | οις | αις | οις |
| AP | ους | ας | α |
You read this kind of chart as follows: the first main column, titled “2nd Decl. (M/f),” tells you that second-declension nouns (which are usually—but not always—masculine)[11] use a set of eight endings to indicate the case/number indicated in the left column; first-declension nouns (which are almost always feminine),[12] use the endings in the center column, and so forth.
The first four rows are singular endings (S), the last four are plural (P). The N, G, D, A are the four cases: nominative, genitive, dative, and accusative. We have talked about only nominative and accusative thus far; we will study the genitive and dative cases in the next chapter. “NS” thus refers to an ending that is nominative singular. The same ending tells you two things: case and number. “AP” tells you the ending is accusative plural, and so forth.[13]
2.15. The vast majority of second-declension nouns are masculine (and so use the endings in column 1) or neuter (and so use the endings in column 3); a small number of second-declension nouns are feminine (and use the endings in column 1). The endings in columns 1 and 3 are almost identical. The second-declension neuter column is just a variation of column 1; only the nominative and accusative forms differ. First-declension nouns all follow the same pattern in the plural, but first-declension singular nouns may end with forms using alpha, eta, or a consistent hybrid pattern. In the hybrid pattern, the vowel switches from alpha to eta in the genitive and dative singular forms, resulting in the vowel pattern α η η α.[14] There is also a third declension, which you will meet in chapter 11.
| 2nd Decl. (M/f) | 1st Decl. (F/m) | 2nd Decl. (N) | |
| NS | ς | — | ν |
| GS | υ | ς | υ |
| DS | ι | ι | ι |
| AS | ν | ν | ν |
| NP | ι | ι | α |
| GP | ων | ων | ων |
| DP | ις | ις | ις |
| AP | υς | ς | α |
Technically, the vowel on the front of the ending shown in the chart above is part of the stem, not the ending (it is called a connecting vowel or a stem vowel). This vowel determines the declension category: stems that end with an omicron are second declension; those with an alpha or eta are first declension. It is easier to memorize the endings with the vowel because then you can pronounce the ending as a syllable. It also enables you to distinguish a number of forms that otherwise have identical endings.[15]
2.16. Here is a similar chart, but with actual words instead of just the endings. The meanings of the words are as follows: λόγος, “word”; ὁδός, “road”; ὥρα, “hour”; γραφή, “writing” or “Scripture”; δόξα, “glory”; and ἔργον, “work.”
First- and Second-Declension Nouns
| 2nd Declension | 1st Declension | 2nd Declension | ||||
| M | (f) | F | N | |||
| NS | λόγος | ὁδός | ὥρα | γραφή | δόξα | ἔργον |
| GS | λόγου | ὁδοῦ | ὥρας | γραφῆς | δόξης | ἔργου |
| DS | λόγῳ | ὁδῷ | ὥρᾳ | γραφῇ | δόξῃ | ἔργῳ |
| AS | λόγον | ὁδόν | ὥραν | γραφήν | δόξαν | ἔργον |
| NP | λόγοι | ὁδοί | ὧραι | γραφαί | δόξαι | ἔργα |
| GP | λόγων | ὁδῶν | ὡρῶν | γραφῶν | δοξῶν | ἔργων |
| DP | λόγοις | ὁδοῖς | ὥραις | γραφαῖς | δόξαις | ἔργοις |
| AP | λόγους | ὁδούς | ὥρας | γραφάς | δόξας | ἔργα |
Lexical Form
2.17. In an English dictionary you know that you will not find an entry for the plural form of a noun; it is always listed under the singular. There are similar conventions for Greek. To find a Greek word in a Greek-English lexicon, you need to know its “lexical form.”
A term you need to remember: lexical form = the way a word is spelled in the dictionary/lexicon. For nouns, the lexical form is always the nominative singular form.
Parsing
2.18. To parse a Greek noun means to describe it grammatically. Use this formula for consistency and completeness:
Gender, Number, Case ► Lexical Form, Gloss
The lexical form gives the complete form found in the lexicon. A gloss is a simple English equivalent of the lexical form without necessarily considering the context. It is not a translation of the inflected form.
For example, if I were to ask you to parse λόγους, you would tell me: masculine plural accusative ► λόγος, ου, ὁ, “word.”[16] You know this because you recognize the ending, -ους, as matching the masculine plural accusative form in the chart that you just memorized.
Declension and Gender
2.19. First-declension nouns (that is, nouns with first-declension endings) are usually feminine, sometimes masculine. Second-declension nouns are usually masculine or neuter, sometimes feminine. Remember: the M/F/N headings as you see on the charts above are general guidelines, not invariables; the 2/1/2 heading, however, is always true.[17] That is, if a word has one of the endings from the center column, it is a first-declension word. Always. Whether it is masculine or feminine.
Examples
2.20. Read each of the following examples aloud, and then identify all the words that you can identify as subjects or as direct objects. You do not have enough information yet to identify all the words or to figure out what these sentences mean, but you can find at least one word whose function you can identify in each sentence (sometimes two) based on what you have learned thus far. You do not have to translate these sentences.
John 3:16, ἠγάπησενa ὁ θεὸς τὸν κόσμον.
Matt. 9:8, οἱ ὄχλοι ἐδόξασανa τὸν θεόν.
Matt. 22:37, Ἀγαπήσεις τὸν θεόν.
Acts 2:32, τὸν [Χριστὸν] ἀνέστησενa ὁ θεός.
Rom. 8:3, ὁ θεὸς τὸν υἱὸν πέμψας.
Rev. 16:21, ἐβλασφήμησανa οἱ ἄνθρωποι τὸν θεόν.
Gen. 1:1, ἐποίησενa ὁ θεὸς τὸν οὐρανὸν καὶ τὴν γῆν.
Gen. 2:7, ἔπλασενa ὁ θεὸς τὸν ἄνθρωπον.
The words above marked with a superscript a end with a nu, but they are verbs, not nouns. Later you will learn how to tell the difference.
The Article
2.21. In English, the words that we call articles are special adjectives used mostly with nouns to indicate “definiteness” (i.e., how specific is the referent?). English has two articles: the definite article, the (the book), which identifies a specific, identifiable referent, and the indefinite article, a or an (a book; an apple), which refers to any such object in a class.
Greek has only one article. The article functions differently in Greek than it does in English in that it can do more things than the English article can, but what the English definite article does, the Greek article can do also. This means that, for starters, you can think of the Greek article as roughly similar to the English definite article, the, in some of its uses, even though we will expand and modify that conception in due time. There is no such thing as a definite article in Greek—only an article that may or may not express definiteness. Likewise, the lack of an article is not necessarily an expression of indefiniteness but may express a qualitative meaning or some other nuance. You will learn these other uses inductively throughout the book.[18] (There is no specific word in Greek equivalent to our English a or an.)
In Greek, the article must agree with the noun it modifies in gender, number, and case. Always. The Greek article always precedes the word it governs (e.g., ὁ θεός; never θεὸς ὁ), just as in English the article always precedes the word it modifies (the book, or an apple, never book the, or apple an). Some other words, such as a conjunction or modifier, may intervene between the article and the word it modifies (e.g., ὁ δὲ θεός), but the article still precedes the word it modifies. If you remember these things, you will be able to identify the function of words that you do not otherwise recognize, since there is only one set of articles and they are used for everything in Greek that uses an article.
Complete Article Chart
2.22. This chart must be memorized exactly. Be sure to include the rough breathing marks where needed and the iota subscripts. Knowing the forms in this chart well is very important, and it will help you understand more sentences than you can count.
| Masc. | Fem. | Neut. | |
| NS | ὁ | ἡ | τό |
| GS | τοῦ | τῆς | τοῦ |
| DS | τῷ | τῇ | τῷ |
| AS | τόν | τήν | τό |
| NP | οἱ | αἱ | τά |
| GP | τῶν | τῶν | τῶν |
| DP | τοῖς | ταῖς | τοῖς |
| AP | τούς | τάς | τά |
Article “Tidbits”
2.23. Personal names may or may not have the article in Greek, but if they do, we omit it in English translation since English does not use the article with names. You will see both Ἰησοῦς and ὁ Ἰησοῦς in the NT, but both are translated simply “Jesus.”[19] We would not say, “The Jesus died,” any more than we would say, “The Robert died.” Translation must communicate in proper grammar in the receptor language or it is not accurate translation.
Abstract nouns often have the article in Greek but usually do not have it in English. Abstract nouns refer to intangible, abstract entities or concepts, not physical objects you can point a finger at and say “that is x.” For example,
love, ἡ ἀγάπη
truth, ἡ ἀλήθεια
holiness, ὁ ἁγιασμός
guilt, τὸ αἴτιον
In most cases, these are represented in English without an article. For example, Rom. 13:10, ἡ ἀγάπη τῷ πλησίον κακὸν οὐκ ἐργάζεται, means, “Love does not do evil to a neighbor.”
2.24. Common sentence patterns in Greek include subject ► verb ► object (just like English), object ► verb ► subject, and verb ► subject ► object. Some of these are more common than others, but all of them occur. We will begin by learning some of the common kinds of nouns and verbs that can be used in simple sentences using these patterns. Later we will learn more complex types of sentences.
a For beginning Greek we typically use an abridged, beginner’s lexicon such as Danker’s Concise Lexicon (CL) or Trenchard’s Concise Dictionary of New Testament Greek. In due time you will move to the unabridged, full-fledged lexicon by Bauer, Danker, Arndt, and Gingrich (BDAG).
The kernel of a sentence consists of the main statement, stripped of all its modifiers. It typically consists of subject, verb, and direct object (or predicate nominative). Sometimes it is only a subject and a verb—and since, as you will learn later, Greek includes a subject in every verb, it may be only one word: the verb.
2.25. In the following texts you will find a mixture of Greek and English. Only the parts of the statement that you can recognize are in Greek. You will find reading exercises like this in the early chapters of the book; later the texts will be all Greek, with notes or explanations for the parts you do not know yet. In the parallel column you will be asked questions about the text on the left. Your answer should be first in Greek; that is, what Greek word answers the question? (Do not base your answers on English word order!) Once you know that, then you can use your lexicon to find out what it means.
| Mark 2:10, ἐξουσίαν has ὁ υἱός. | Who has what? How do you know? |
| Mark 2:23, On the Sabbath Jesus was going through the grain fields καὶ οἱ μαθηταί were picking heads of grain. | Who was/were picking grain? Was it one person or several? How do you know? |
| Mark 4:15, When they hear, ὁ σατανᾶςa takes away τὸν λόγον that was sown. | Who does the taking away? What is taken away? How do you know? |
a This word is a bit odd; decide how it is functioning based on the article. |
|
| Mark 11:3, If anyone says to you, “Why are you doing this?” say, Ὁ κύριος χρείαν has. | The last phrase says that someone has something. Who has what? |
| Mark 12:41, ὁ ὄχλος threw χαλκόν into τὸ γαζοφυλάκιον. | Who was throwing? What were they throwing? Into what were they throwing it? |
| Mark 13:12, Will betray ἀδελφὸς ἀδελφόν. | Two instances of the same word. What is different? How does the difference help you understand what is happening? |
| Mark 13:22, ψευδόχριστοι καὶ ψευδοπροφῆται will give σημεῖα. | Who is giving what? |
| Luke 2:35, Your τὴν ψυχήν will pierce ῥομφαία. | Who or what will do the piercing? What is pierced? |
| John 1:45, Found Φίλιππος τὸν Ναθαναήλ.a | Who did the finding? Who was found? |
a The word Ναθαναήλ is indeclinable; that is, it does not use case endings, so it never changes its spelling. (Many Hebrew names appear this way when transliterated into Greek.) You can tell what case it is in this passage by the article. |
|
| Ruth 1:6, Has visited κύριος τὸν λαὸν his to give them ἄρτους. | Who did the visiting? Who was visited? What does the case of ἄρτους tell you about this word’s function in the sentence? |
| Jdt. 2:17, He took καμήλους καὶ ὄνους καὶ ἡμιόνους for their τὴν ἀπαρτίαν.a | What did he take? What case and gender is ἀπαρτίαν? |
a Not in NT lexicons: ἡμίονος, ου, ὁ/ἡ, “mule”; ἀπαρτία, ας, ἡ, “baggage, supplies.” |
|
| Barn. 6.10, For speaks ὁ προφήτης παραβολήν. | Who speaks? What does he speak? |
2.26. You will not understand much of the following text. Use it for reading practice. Identify as many things in this text as you can (articles, case endings, etc.). If you have begun learning the vocabulary for this chapter, you should recognize several words from that list.
The Word Was in the Beginning
1Ἐν ἀρχῇ ἦν ὁ λόγος, καὶ ὁ λόγος ἦν πρὸς τὸν θεόν, καὶ θεὸς ἦν ὁ λόγος. 2οὗτος ἦν ἐν ἀρχῇ πρὸς τὸν θεόν. 3πάντα δι᾿ αὐτοῦ ἐγένετο, καὶ χωρὶς αὐτοῦ ἐγένετο οὐδὲ ἓν ὃ γέγονεν. 4ἐν αὐτῷ ζωὴ ἦν, καὶ ἡ ζωὴ ἦν τὸ φῶς τῶν ἀνθρώπων· 5καὶ τὸ φῶς ἐν τῇ σκοτίᾳ φαίνει, καὶ ἡ σκοτία αὐτὸ οὐ κατέλαβεν.
6Ἐγένετο ἄνθρωπος, ἀπεσταλμένος παρὰ θεοῦ, ὄνομα αὐτῷ Ἰωάννης· 7οὗτος ἦλθεν εἰς μαρτυρίαν ἵνα μαρτυρήσῃ περὶ τοῦ φωτός, ἵνα πάντες πιστεύσωσιν δι᾿ αὐτοῦ. 8οὐκ ἦν ἐκεῖνος τὸ φῶς, ἀλλ᾿ ἵνα μαρτυρήσῃ περὶ τοῦ φωτός.
2.27. The vocabulary lists in each chapter are organized first by part of speech, then roughly by NT frequency. Where related words are in the same chapter (e.g., compound forms), they are often listed together.
| Part of Speech | Definition | Possible Glosses | Frequency | |
| Word | NT | LXX | ||
| Article | ||||
| ὁ, ἡ, τό | A diverse, multipurpose marker: (1) a defining marker, the Greek article, “the”; (2) as a demonstrative, “this one, that one” | the; this/that one | 19,870 | 88,439 |
| Conjunctions | ||||
| καί | A function word that marks connection or addition: (1) connective (copula), “and,” joining equal words, clauses, etc. (i.e., a coordinating conjunction); (2) additive (adjunctive/adverbial), “also, even” [See the “Vocabulary Notes.”] | and (conj.); even, also (adv.) | 9,153 | 62,240 |
| δέ | A multipurpose coordinating, postpositivea conjunction or narrative marker linking two grammatically equal items that have some difference in referent (subject, participant, time, place, etc.) | but, now, and | 2,792 | 4,887 |
| ὅτι | A conjunction that links two clauses by (1) defining, “that”; (2) introducing a subordinate clause or indirect statement; (3) introducing a direct statement = quotation marks; (4) indicating cause, “because,” inference, “for,” or a query, “why?” | because, that, since | 1,296 | 4,041 |
| γάρ | A multipurpose, postpositivea marker that may function as a narrative connector or as an expression of reaction or perspective, “for” (usually a subordinating conjunction): (1) explanatory; (2) astonishment; (3) causal; or (4) inferential | for | 1,041 | 1,529 |
| Nouns | ||||
| θεός, οῦ, ὁ | An immortal entity/deity, whether in a monotheistic or polytheistic context, may refer to a supreme being in any religion, or in a lesser sense to the devil, or even to human beings who have some special status | god, God | 1,317 | 3,984 |
| κύριος, ου, ὁ | Person who is in control due to possession, ownership, or position; or who is esteemed for authority or high status, whether human or divine | lord, master, sir | 717 | 8,591 |
| ἄνθρωπος, ου, ὁ | Human being, often used generically of men or women, either in distinction from God or in reference to a specific person | man, person, human being, mankind, humankind | 550 | 1,430 |
| Χριστός, οῦ, ὁ | Expected fulfiller of the hopes of Israel for an end-time deliverer; also sometimes used almost as a personal name for Jesus | Messiah, Christ | 529 | 51 |
| υἱός, οῦ, ὁ | Male offspring (human or animal), or by extension, someone closely related (not necessarily by birth) or characterized by some quality | son, descendant, offspring, child, or (if context allows) person | 377 | 5,190 |
| ἀδελφός, οῦ, ὁ | Male sibling (i.e., “brother”); in an extended sense, one with common interests, community fellow | brother; compatriot, “brother(s) and/or sister(s)” | 343 | 924 |
| λόγος, ου, ὁ | An expression of the content of thought, whether an individual term (“word”) or longer expressions (written or oral; widely varied English glosses may be used, e.g., “statement,” “question,” or “report”); the personified expression of God, “the Logos” | word, statement, message; Logos | 330 | 1,238 |
| οὐρανός, οῦ, ὁ | That part of the universe surrounding the earth, including the atmosphere (“sky”) and/or the place where other cosmic bodies are located (“the heavens”); the place where God’s presence is manifested (“heaven”) | sky, the heavens; heaven | 273 | 682 |
| νόμος, ου, ὁ | A principle or standard relating to behavior, whether traditional and unwritten (“custom, norm”) or written as legislation (“law”) in general or a specific legal corpus (“the law,” e.g., the Mosaic law) | law, principle; custom, norm | 194 | 427 |
| κόσμος, ου, ὁ | An orderly arrangement of things, whether the entire cosmos (“universe”), our planet (“world”), society/culture, or the human beings who live in or compose one of the above | world, universe, people | 186 | 72 |
a A postpositive conjunction is one that never stands first in its clause. In an English equivalent, these words need to be relocated to the front of the clause even if it occurs as the second or third word (or even later) in Greek. See further the discussion of δέ in §8.9.
2.28. The simple conjunction καί, which occurs more than 9,000 times in the NT, is a very complex word and used in a great variety of ways. Although a beginner may often get by with the simple “and,” it is worth keeping in mind the potential variety. These other uses will become more evident as your reading ability increases. BDAG explains that καί is “found most frequently by far of all Gk. particles in the NT; since it is not only used much more commonly here than in other Gk. lit. but oft. in a different sense, or rather in different circumstances, it contributes greatly to some of the distinctive coloring of the NT style. . . . The vivacious versatility of [καί] . . . can easily be depressed by the [translation] ‘and,’ whose repetition in a brief area of text lacks the support of arresting aspects of Gk. syntax” (494).
2.29. Key Things to Know for Chapter 2
Do you understand the function of gender, number, and case?
How do you know what word in a Greek sentence is the subject and what is the direct object?
You must be able to write from memory the chart of the first- and second-declension noun endings.
You must be able to write the chart of the Greek article letter-perfect from memory.