4
PRONOUNS: PART 1
PERSONAL PRONOUNS
4.1. In this chapter you will meet the personal pronouns, first in their familiar English dress, then their Greek cousins. There are other types of pronouns that will be introduced later.
We will start with an example that will take you way back—back to first grade. What is the pronoun in the following four-sentence cluster?
“Look, Sally. Look, look, look! Look at the fire truck. It is red.”
A pronoun is a word substitute for a noun. The pronoun in the cluster just above is “it.” Pronouns are used in language for variety. Instead of a noun constantly being repeated, a pronoun is used to refer back to a noun already identified in the context. An antecedent is a word (or sometimes a phrase or concept) in the preceding context to which a pronoun refers. In the example above and in figure 4.1, the antecedent is “the fire truck.”
Figure 4.1
English pronouns may be described grammatically according to person, gender, number, and case. Most of these classifications are familiar, but this is the first time that we have met the grammatical category of person.
Person
4.2. There are three subcategories within the grammatical classification of person:
First person: I (sg.); we (pl.)
Second person: you (sg. or pl.)
Third person: he, she, it (sg.); they (pl.)
I (the speaker) am speaking to you (a second party, the hearer) about him, her, them, or it (a third party, that is, anyone or anything besides the speaker or the hearer). By the nature of their reference, first- and second-person pronouns normally occur in oral dialogue or written discourse such as a letter rather than in historical narrative. Third-person pronouns occur in any statement regardless of what the genre is.[1]
Case
4.3. We have already talked about case in connection with nouns, but we need to think about it now in relation to pronouns—one instance in which English also has distinct spellings for the same word when used in different cases.
Which pronoun is correct in each of the following sentences?
I will learn Greek. (or) Me will learn Greek.
Joe will teach I. (or) Joe will teach me.
Him will teach he. (or) He will teach him.
The correct pronoun is immediately obvious to native speakers of English, but their judgment is usually “because it sounds right.” The difference, though you may not know the technical terminology from English, is one of case. I and he are subjective case in English (= nominative case in Greek); me and him are objective case (= accusative case in Greek). In English, subjects are always in the subjective case, and objects (whether direct objects, indirect objects, or the objects of prepositions) are always in the objective case.
Gender
4.4. English also distinguishes the gender of some pronouns. There is no difference in the form or spelling in first- or second-person pronouns to distinguish gender; we use I and you regardless of the person to whom we refer. But third-person pronouns do distinguish gender; in this case we use he, she, or it.
He will teach Joe.
She will teach Joe.
It will teach Joe.
All these forms (he, she, it) are essentially the same word, the personal pronoun.
The pronoun uses different forms, depending on person, number, and case. The case of a pronoun is determined by its function in the sentence.
4.5. In the material below, we will initially study the first- and second-person pronouns, and then in the following section we will examine the third-person pronoun. Greek pronouns function almost identically to English pronouns. One difference is that Greek has four cases instead of just two.[2]
First- and Second-Person Pronouns
4.6. The lexical form of the first- and second-person pronouns are ἐγώ and σύ.
| 1st Person | 2nd Person | |||
| NS | ἐγώ | I | σύ | you |
| GS | ἐμοῦ (μου) | my | σοῦ (σου) | your |
| DS | ἐμοί (μοι) | (to) me | σοί (σοι) | (to) you |
| AS | ἐμέ (με) | me | σέ (σε) | you |
| NP | ἡμεῖς | we | ὑμεῖς | you |
| GP | ἡμῶν | our | ὑμῶν | your |
| DP | ἡμῖν | (to) us | ὑμῖν | (to) you |
| AP | ἡμᾶς | us | ὑμᾶς | you |
The singular of the oblique cases (the cases other than nominative) of ἐγώ and σύ are said to be enclitic forms. That is, they can lose their accent to the preceding word in some situations. The first-person singular forms also drop the initial epsilon when they are enclitic; there is no difference in meaning.[3]
When a first- or second-person nominative-case pronoun is used, it always has some degree of emphasis. Every Greek verb, as you will learn in due time, has a default, built-in subject as part of the verb form itself, so there is no need to specify the subject with a pronoun. When a writer chooses to use a pronoun anyway, there is a certain degree of attention drawn to the subject of the statement. This emphasis is not strong; it is closer to a verbal inflection in which there is a noticeable stress on the pronoun.
4.7. Pronouns function in a sentence the same way that nouns do; they can occur in any place that a noun can. That is, nominative pronouns will function as subjects, accusatives as objects. Like a genitive noun, a genitive pronoun usually follows the word it modifies, as it does in the following example, which has three genitive pronouns:
| Mark 1:2, Καθὼς γέγραπται (it is written) ἐν τῷ Ἠσαΐᾳ τῷ προφήτῃ, Ἰδοὺ ἀποστέλλω (I am sending) τὸν ἄγγελόν μου πρὸ προσώπου σου, ὃς κατασκευάσει (will prepare) τὴν ὁδόν σου. | As it is written in Isaiah the prophet, “Behold, I am sending my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way.” |
τὸν ἄγγελον ◄ μου . . . προσώπου ◄ σου . . . τὴν ὁδόν ◄ σου
my messenger . . . your face . . . your way
But a genitive pronoun may sometimes precede the noun, as in the next example.
| Mark 2:5, ἰδών (seeing) ὁ Ἰησοῦς τὴν πίστιν αὐτῶν λέγει (he said) τῷ παραλυτικῷ, Τέκνον, ἀφίενταί (are forgiven) σου αἱ ἁμαρτίαι. | Jesus, seeing their faith, said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven.” |
σου ► αἱ ἁμαρτίαι, your sins
There is no difference in meaning regardless of which pattern a writer uses.
4.8. Examples of First- and Second-Person Pronouns
| Mark 1:8, ἐγὼ ἐβάπτισα (I baptized) ὑμᾶς ὕδατι. | I baptized you with water. |
| Mark 1:11, Σὺ εἶ (are) ὁ υἱός μου. | You are my son. |
| Mark 6:22, Αἴτησόν (ask!) με καὶ δώσω (I will give) σοι. | Ask me, and I will give [it] to you. |
| Gen. 3:13, Ὁ ὄφις ἠπάτησέν (deceived) με, καὶ ἔφαγον (I ate). | The snake deceived me, and I ate. |
| Exod. 2:19, εἶπαν (they said), Ἄνθρωπος Αἰγύπτιος (Egyptian) ἐρρύσατο (rescued) ἡμᾶς καὶ ἤντλησεν (he drew water) ἡμῖν καὶ ἐπότισεν (he watered) τὰ πρόβατα ἡμῶν. | They said, “An Egyptian man rescued us, and he drew water for us, and he watered our flock.” |
| Mark 3:32, λέγουσιν (they said) αὐτῷ, Ἰδοὺ ἡ μήτηρ (mother) σου καὶ οἱ ἀδελφοί σου καὶ αἱ ἀδελφαί σου ἔξω (are outside) ζητοῦσίν (they are seeking) σε. | To whom are they speaking? How much of this statement is a direct quote? What is the relationship between the people outside and the person to whom these words are spoken? Who is being sought? |
| John 1:49, ἀπεκρίθη (he answered) Ναθαναήλ, Ῥαββί, σὺ εἶ (are) ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ θεοῦ, σὺ βασιλεὺς (king) εἶ τοῦ Ἰσραήλ. | What case is σύ, and how is it functioning in these two clauses? |
| Gen. 3:14, γῆν φάγῃ (you will eat) πάσας (all) τὰς ἡμέρας τῆς ζωῆς σου. | What will “you” eat? What case is ζωῆς, and why is it in that case? Can you explain the person, number, case, and antecedent of σου? |
| Gen. 4:9, εἶπεν (said) ὁ θεὸς πρὸς Κάϊν, Ποῦ ἐστιν Ἅβελ ὁ ἀδελφός σου; ὁ δὲa εἶπεν, Οὐ γινώσκω· μὴ φύλαξ (a guard) τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ μού εἰμι ἐγώ; | Two oral statements are quoted here. How do you know where each begins? Who is speaking in each one? How do you know? How is Κάϊν related to Ἅβελ? How does the grammar tell you this? |
a ὁ δέ, “But he” |
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The Third-Person Pronoun: αὐτός
4.10. The third-person pronoun is αὐτός, αὐτή, αὐτό (= masculine, feminine, neuter). Notice that there is gender in the third-person pronouns, unlike first- and second-person pronouns, which do not distinguish gender. If you were to put the third-person pronoun into English, the masculine forms usually would be some form of “he, his, him”; the feminine, “she” or “her”; and the neuter, “it” or “its.” The plural is “they,” “their,” or “them” regardless of gender. (See also the sidebar below on “Generic Pronouns” for additional English options.)
| Masc. | Fem. | Neut. | |
| NS | αὐτός | αὐτή | αὐτό |
| GS | αὐτοῦ | αὐτῆς | αὐτοῦ |
| DS | αὐτῷ | αὐτῇ | αὐτῷ |
| AS | αὐτόν | αὐτήν | αὐτό |
| NP | αὐτοί | αὐταί | αὐτά |
| GP | αὐτῶν | αὐτῶν | αὐτῶν |
| DP | αὐτοῖς | αὐταῖς | αὐτοῖς |
| AP | αὐτούς | αὐτάς | αὐτά |
This third-person pronoun occurs more than 5,200 times in the NT, so you will see it very frequently. The pronoun αὐτός agrees with its antecedent in gender and number. Its case is determined by the pronoun’s function in the clause, just as were the first- and second-person pronouns considered earlier in this chapter.
You should not think of αὐτός as meaning “he,” even when it occurs in masculine gender (though it will often be represented that way in English). Rather it is a word that refers to its antecedent: “the person or thing to which I have just referred.” One of your first concerns is to determine to whom or what a particular pronoun refers. Only then do you know the “meaning” of the pronoun and what an appropriate English equivalent might be. (See the section on “Natural Gender” and the sidebar on “Generic Pronouns” below.)
Examples of the Third-Person Pronoun
4.11. Do you understand this simplest use of αὐτός? If so, you should be able to understand these sentences.
| Mark 1:8, ἐγὼ ἐβάπτισα (baptized) ὑμᾶς ὕδατι (with water), αὐτὸς δὲ βαπτίσει (will baptize) ὑμᾶς ἐν πνεύματι ἁγίῳ. | I baptized you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit. |
| Mark 1:12, Καὶ εὐθὺςa τὸ πνεῦμα αὐτὸν ἐκβάλλει (he sent) εἰς τὴν ἔρημον. | Then the Spirit sent him into the wilderness. |
a In this verse and many others from Mark’s Gospel καὶ εὐθύς is translated as simply “then”; elsewhere it may be best represented in English as “so” or “now.” Mark uses it to mean, “the next thing I want to tell you is. . . .” This is a unique Markan idiom; it does not mean “and immediately.” For more information about this construction, see Decker, “Use of εὐθύς.” |
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| Mark 1:13, ἦν μετὰ τῶν θηρίων, καὶ οἱ ἄγγελοι διηκόνουν (they were ministering) αὐτῷ. | He was with the wild animals, and the angels were ministering to him. |
| Gen. 1:22, ηὐλόγησεν (blessed) αὐτὰ ὁ θεός. | God blessed them. |
| Gen. 2:18, εἶπεν (said) κύριος ὁ θεός, Οὐ καλὸν εἶναι (to be) τὸν ἄνθρωπον μόνον· ποιήσωμεν (let us make) αὐτῷ βοηθὸν κατ᾿ αὐτόν. | The Lord God said, “For the man to be alone is not good. Let us make for him a helper corresponding to him.” |
| Mark 1:20, ἐκάλεσεν (he called) αὐτούς. καὶ ἀφέντες (leaving) τὸν πατέραa αὐτῶν Ζεβεδαῖον ἀπῆλθον (they departed). | What Greek word tells us who was called? How do you know? Whom did they leave? Whose father was it? |
a πατήρ, πατρός, ὁ, “father.” This is a third-declension noun; go by the article to identify the case. |
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| Mark 1:26, σπαράξαν (it shook) αὐτὸν τὸ πνεῦμαa καὶ ἐξῆλθεν (it came out). | Who did the shaking? How do you know? Who or what was shaken? |
a The reference here is to an unclean spirit, a demon. |
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| Mark 1:37, εὗρον (they found) αὐτὸν καὶ λέγουσιν (they said) αὐτῷ . . . | Why are αὐτόν and αὐτῷ in different cases? |
| Gen. 2:22, ἤγαγεν (he brought) αὐτὴν πρὸς τὸν Ἀδάμ. | Who was brought? What can you tell about the antecedent grammatically? (The antecedent is not included in the clause cited.) |
| Gen. 4:8, εἶπεν (said) Κάϊν πρὸς Ἅβελ τὸν ἀδελφὸν αὐτοῦ, Διέλθωμεν (let us go) εἰς τὸ πεδίον. | What case is αὐτοῦ, and why is it in that case? What is the antecedent of αὐτοῦ? |
Natural Gender
4.13. Since there are differences between the Greek and English use of pronouns, when translating you must use the proper English gender regardless of gender in Greek. This is not a grammatical difference but a cultural convention. The best way to explain this is with an example.
If a third-person pronoun in Greek refers to ὁ κόσμος, then it will be masculine gender in Greek, because the antecedent, ὁ κόσμος, is masculine; thus αὐτός will be used rather than αὐτή or αὐτό. But in English it should not be thought of as the equivalent of “he,” but rather as “it,” because English speakers do not refer to the world as “he.”
We must understand pronouns in terms of natural gender in each language. Remember that what is “natural” in Greek may not be natural in English. If you were involved in an official translation project, that would be part of the translation task. If a translated text does not communicate naturally in the target language, it has done only a partial job of translation. It is no mark of distinction to produce English that sounds odd. The NT did not sound odd to its original readers, and contemporary translations should not sound odd either.
| John 7:7, ὁ κόσμος cannot hate ὑμᾶς, ἐμὲ δέ it does hate, ὅτιa ἐγὼ μαρτυρῶ (I testify) περὶ αὐτοῦ ὅτιa τὰ ἔργα αὐτοῦ πονηρά ἐστιν (they are). | Can you identify the two “recipients” of the verb “hate”? (What case must both words be?) Even though both instances of αὐτοῦ are masculine, do not think of them as “he/him.” How would you say it in English? |
a The first ὅτι introduces a reason, “because”; the second tells us what Jesus testified, “that.” |
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a The adverb αὐτοῦ is likewise rare in other Koine literature such as Philo (5× vs. 733×). The adverb αὐτοῦ does not occur at all in Josephus (the genitive pronoun occurs 2,061×), the Apostolic Fathers (556× for the pronoun), or the Pseudepigrapha (which has the pronoun 1,688×). These figures verify that the rule of thumb works across a wide corpus of Koine writings.
| Mark 11:2, καὶ λέγει αὐτοῖς, Ὑπάγετε (Go!) εἰς τὴν κώμην, καὶ εὑρήσετε (you will find) πῶλον δεδεμένον (tied)· λύσατε (Loose!) αὐτόν. | Why is αὐτοῖς dative? What gender is πῶλον? What is the antecedent of αὐτόν? How would you put it into English? |
| Matt. 16:18, οἰκοδομήσω (I will build) μου τὴν ἐκκλησίαν καὶ πύλαι ᾅδουa οὐ κατισχύσουσιν (they will overcome) αὐτῆς.b | Who will do the building? Whose ἐκκλησία is this? How should αὐτῆς be put into English? What pronoun would we use in our language? |
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a πύλαι ᾅδου, “gates of Hades” (probably a reference to death; see Isa. 38:10). b αὐτῆς is genitive, but it is the direct object of κατισχύσουσιν; you will learn why later. |
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4.14. Advanced Information for Reference:
Diagramming Pronouns
| Mark 1:2, ἀποστέλλω (I am sending) τὸν ἄγγελόν μου [καὶ] κατασκευάσει (he will prepare) τὴν ὁδόν σου. | I am sending my messenger, and he will prepare your way. |
Figure 4.2
Note particularly the function of the genitive pronouns in this passage. Two coordinate clauses are joined by a vertical dashed line, and the conjunction is placed on that line.
4.15. The pronouns in this paragraph are marked with bold type. Words that you do not know or that you cannot easily identify with your lexicon are glossed. Verbs are identified with “v:” preceding the gloss.
The Coming of the Counselor
1Ταῦτα (these things) λελάληκα (v: I have spoken) ὑμῖν ἵνα (so that) μὴ σκανδαλισθῆτε (v: you fall away). 2ἀποσυναγώγους ποιήσουσιν (v: they will make) ὑμᾶς· ἀλλ᾿ ἔρχεται (v: is coming) ὥρα ἵνα πᾶς ὁ ἀποκτείναςa ὑμᾶς δόξῃ (v: will think) λατρείαν προσφέρειν (v: to offer) τῷ θεῷ. 3καὶ ταῦτα ποιήσουσιν ὅτι (because) οὐκ ἔγνωσαν (v: they know) τὸν πατέρα (Father) οὐδὲ ἐμέ. 4ἀλλὰ ταῦτα λελάληκα ὑμῖν ἵνα ὅταν ἔλθῃ (v: it comes) ἡ ὥρα αὐτῶν μνημονεύητε (v: you may remember) αὐτῶνb ὅτι ἐγὼ εἶπον (v: told) ὑμῖν.
Ταῦτα δὲ ὑμῖν ἐξ (from) ἀρχῆς οὐκ εἶπον, ὅτι μεθ᾿ (with) ὑμῶν ἤμην (v: I was). 5νῦν δὲ ὑπάγω (v: I go) πρὸς (to) τὸν πέμψαντά (one who sent) με, καὶ οὐδεὶς ἐξ (from/of) ὑμῶν ἐρωτᾷ (v: is asking) με, Ποῦ ὑπάγεις (v: you are going); 6ἀλλ᾿ ὅτι ταῦτα λελάληκα ὑμῖν ἡ λύπη πεπλήρωκεν (v: fills) ὑμῶν τὴν καρδίαν. 7ἀλλ᾿ ἐγὼ τὴν ἀλήθειαν λέγω (v: am speaking) ὑμῖν, συμφέρει (v: it is better) ὑμῖν ἵνα ἐγὼ ἀπέλθω (v: go away). ἐὰν γὰρ μὴ ἀπέλθω, ὁ παράκλητος οὐκ ἐλεύσεται (v: will come) πρὸς ὑμᾶς· ἐὰν δὲ πορευθῶ (v: I go), πέμψω (v: I will send) αὐτὸν πρὸς ὑμᾶς.
a πᾶς ὁ ἀποκτείνας, “everyone who kills”
b The genitive αὐτῶν is the direct object of the verb μνημονεύητε. Some verbs take a genitive rather than the usual accusative for their objects. You will learn more about this in §7.23.
Repeated Words
ἀπέλθω, “I go away”
εἶπον, “I tell/told”
ἵνα, “that, so that, in order that”
λελάληκα, “I have spoken”
ποιήσουσιν, “they will do/make”
πρός, “to”
ταῦτα, “these things”
4.16. Vocabulary for Chapter 4
| Part of Speech | Definition | Possible Glosses | Frequency | |
| Word | NT | LXX | ||
| Conjunction | ||||
| ἵνα | A conjunction that normally introduces a subordinate clause indicating purpose, result, content, or explanation (governs subjunctive mood) | in order that, that | 663 | 615 |
| Nouns | ||||
| καρδία, ας, ἡ | The physical organ that pumps blood in the body; metaphorically (always so in the NT), the person/personhood, often with cognitive, affective, volitional, or moral overtones; middle, center | heart, mind (wide range; see lexicon) | 156 | 963 |
| Πέτρος, ου, ὁ | Personal name, in the NT the apostle Peter; stone (LXX, but not so used in the NT) | Peter, stone | 156 | 13 |
| προφήτης, ου, ὁ | A person who expounds matters transcending normal insight or awareness, known only by special revelation (in the NT almost always an OT or Christian prophet, rarely a non-Christian, polytheist; in the LXX usually a “true” prophet, but also used of “false” prophets); by metonymy, the writing of a prophet or sometimes the OT as a whole [For declension, see the “Vocabulary Notes” on μαθητής in §3.18.] | prophet; the Prophets | 144 | 328 |
| λαός, οῦ, ὁ | A group of humans either gathered together or identified geographically, ethnically, or with reference to their relationship to God | people | 142 | 2,064 |
| δοῦλος, ου, ὁ | A male slave, a person who is the legal property of another whom he must obey (pl. may be generic) | slave | 124 | 383 |
| θάνατος, ου, ὁ | Death, either natural/physical or spiritual | death | 120 | 362 |
| ἀγάπη, ης, ἡ | High interest in and regard for the well-being of another, love, affection | love | 116 | 19 |
| οἶκος, ου, ὁ | A physical structure for habitation (“house”) or a place where people live (“home”); the people who live in a house (“household, family”) | house, home; household | 114 | 2,062 |
| Pronouns | ||||
| αὐτός, ή, ό | Pronoun: personal, third person (“he, she, it, they”); adjective [see §§6.18–25]: intensive (“-self”) or identifying (“[the] same”) | (1) he, she, it, they; (2) him-, her-, itself; (3) same | 5,595 | 29,416 |
| ὑμεῖς | Personal pronoun, second-person plural nominative of σύ | you (pl.) | 1,840 | 3,335 |
| ἐγώ | Personal pronoun, first-person singular nominative | I | 1,725 | 12,529 |
| σύ | Personal pronoun, second-person singular nominative | you (sg.) | 1,069 | 10,692 |
| ἡμεῖς | Personal pronoun, first-person plural nominative of ἐγώ | we | 864 | 176 |
| μου and ἐμοῦ | Personal pronoun, first-person singular genitive of ἐγώ | my | 677 | 4,834 |
4.17. Key Things to Know for Chapter 4
Can you distinguish the three categories of grammatical person?
What is an antecedent of a pronoun?
You must be able to recognize all the forms of the pronouns in this chapter when you see them in context.