(week 2) Chapter 5 BBG1-Textbook
Case System
Chapter 5 is an overview of English noun grammar, and we get into cases in chapter 6.
English uses word order to determine the meaning of a sentence. Consider this sentence.
“The student ate dinner.”
Who ate what? Did the student eat the dinner or did the dinner eat the student? How do you know? You know the
student did the eating because “student” comes/before/“ate” in word order. What was eaten? The dinner. How do
you know? “Dinner” comes/after/the verb in word order.
The word that does the action of the verb (in this case, “ate”) is the subject (“student”) and is in the subjective
case. The word that receives the action of the verb is the direct object (“dinner”) and is in the objective case.
Greek does not rely on word order. Rather, it appends different suffixes onto the word. The suffixes are called
“case endings.” Consider this sentence.
ὁ θεὸς ἀγαπᾷ τὸν κόσμον.
ὁ θεός/means “God,” and the/ς/shows that it is the subject of the verb/ἀγαπᾷ/(which means “love”). In Greek this
is the nominative case./κόσμος/means “world,” and the/ν/shows it is the direct object of the verb. In Greek this is
the accusative case.
You can even change the order around and have the same basic meaning.
ἀγαπᾷ τὸν κόσμον ὁ θεός.
This still means, “God loves the world.”
The/ὁ/before/θεός/and the/τόν/before/κόσμον/are different forms of the definite article, usually translated “the,” as
in “the world.” But Greek uses/ὁ/where English does not, such as with proper names,/ὁ θεός. In translation we can
just ignore the/ὁ/in this case.
In this chapter you will learn the following:
Overview
terms used in English grammar (inflection, case, number, gender, lexical form);
other terms such as definite article, predicate nominative, and declension;
parts of speech (noun, adjective, preposition, subject/predicate);
a brief introduction to verbs.
VIDEO:
As strange as it may seem, the first major obstacle many of you must overcome is your lack of knowledge of
English grammar. For whatever reasons, many do not know enough English grammar to learn Greek grammar. I
cannot teach about the Greek nominative case until you know what a case is. You must learn to crawl before
walking.
For this reason, I begin our discussion of Greek nouns (chapters 6-14) with a short introduction to the English
grammar relevant to studying nouns. Also, at the beginning of every chapter I will introduce some of the finer
points of English grammar that are relevant for that unit.
There is a lot of information in this unit. The purpose is not to overwhelm you, but to introduce you to nouns and
provide a central location for reference. As you have questions in the later chapters, refer back to this unit
Sometimes a word changes its form. This is called “inflection.”
A word might change its form when it performs different FUNCTIONS in a sentence. For example, the personal
pronoun is “she” when it is the subject of the sentence (e.g., “She is my wife.”), but changes to “her” when it is
the direct object (e.g., “The teacher flunked her.”).
A word might also change its form when its MEANING changes. For example, the personal pronoun is “he” if it
refers to a male, and “she” if it refers to a female. If the king and queen have one son, he is the “prince,” but if
they have two, they are “princes.” If their child is a girl she is called a “princess.”
All these changes are examples of inflection. Compared with most languages, English is not highly inflected.
Greek, on the other hand, is highly inflected. Almost every word is altered depending upon its use in the sentence
and its meaning.
The following grammatical concepts can affect the form of a word in both languages.
Case
Words perform DIFFERENT FUNCTIONS IN A SENTENCE. These different functions ARE CALLED
“CASES.” In English there are three cases: subjective, objective, and possessive. SOME English words change
their form when they switch functions, while other words stay basically the same. (In the following examples, the
personal pronoun “he” will change depending upon its case.)
Subjective case
If a word is the/subject/of the sentence, it is in the/subjective/case. (“He/is my brother.”) The subject is that
which does the action of the active verb.
The subject is usually the first noun (or pronoun) before the verb in a sentence. For example: “Bill/ran to the
store.” “He/broke the window.” Word order shows that both/Bill/and/He/are the subjects of their verbs.
However, sometimes it is hard to determine which word is the subject. You can usually find out by asking the
question “who?” or “what?” For example, “Who ran to the store?” Bill. “What broke the window?” He did.
Possessive case
If a word shows possession, it is in the/possessive/case. (“His/Greek Bible is always by/his/bed.”)
Possession:
“the reputation OF the teacher is good”
“the teacher’S reputation is good”
“HIS books are easy to understand”
Objective case
If a word is the/direct object, it is in the/objective/case. The direct object is the person or thing that is directly
affected by the action of the verb. This means that whatever the verb does, it does so to the direct object. (“The
teacher will flunk/him/if he does not take Greek seriously.”)
The direct object usually follows the verb in word order. For example: “Robin passed her/test.” “The waiter
insulted/Brian.”/Test/and/Brian/are the direct objects.
You can usually determine the direct object by asking yourself the question “what?” or “whom?” Robin passed
what? Her test. The waiter insulted whom? Brian.
case function example
Subjective subject He/borrowed my computer
Possessive possession He borrowed/my/computer
Objective direct object He borrowed my/computer.
I chose the pronoun “he” for some of the illustrations above because it changes its form quite readily. Most words
will not, except for the possessive case. For example, the word “teacher” stays the same whether it is the subject
(“The/teacher/likes you.”) or the direct object (“You like the/teacher.”). However, to form the possessive it will
change by the addition of an apostrophe s. (“She is the/teacher’s/pet.”)
Number
Words can be either/singular/or/plural, depending upon whether they refer to one, or more than one. For
example, “Students/(plural) should learn to study like this/student” (singular).
Gender
Some words, mostly pronouns, change their form depending upon whether they are referring to a/masculine,
feminine, or/neuter/object. For example, “He/(masculine) gave/it/(neuter) to/her/(feminine).” (He,/it, and/her/are
all forms of the same pronoun, the third person singular personal pronoun.)
Another example is the word “prince.” If the heir to the throne is male, then he is the “prince.” But if the child is
female, she is the “princess.” Most English words do not change to indicate gender. “Teacher” refers to either a
woman or a man.
If a word refers to neither a masculine nor feminine thing, then it is neuter.
Natural gender
Natural gender/means that a word takes on the gender of the object it represents. We refer to a rock as an “it”
because we do not regard the rock as male or female. But we refer to a man as “he” and a woman as “she.”
In Greek, pronouns follow natural gender but nouns for the most part do not./ἁμαρτία/is a feminine noun meaning
“sin,” although “sin” is not a female concept;/ἁμαρτωλός/can be a masculine noun meaning “sinner,” although
“sinner” is not a masculine concept.
Declension
In English, there are different ways to form the plural. For example, to form the plural of most words you add an
“s” (“books”). However, other words form their plurals by changing a vowel in the word (“man” becomes
“men”). Although these two words form their plurals differently, both plurals perform the same function. They
indicate more than one item.
Notice that it does not matter how a word forms its plural as far as meaning is concerned. “Children” and
“childs,” if the latter were a word, would mean the same thing.
A declension is a pattern of inflection. English does not have declensions anymore,[1]/but it does have patterns.
Words forming their plural by adding “s” are one pattern. A sub-pattern would be words adding “es.”
Another pattern is words that change their stem vowel, such as “goose” to “geese.”
Greek has three declension patterns, three basic patterns of inflection to indicate things like case and number.
/
[1]/English retains vestiges of its old declension system, visible mostly in pronouns (“who” changing to “whom”),
but the system of cases largely dropped out during Middle English.
Noun./A noun is a word that stands for someone or something. In the sentence, “Bill threw his big black book at
the strange teacher,” the words “Bill,” “book,” and “teacher” are nouns.
Adjective./An adjective is a word that modifies a noun (or another adjective). In the sentence above, “big,”
“black,” and “strange” are adjectives that modify nouns. In the sentence, “The dark brown Bible costs too much,”
“dark” is an adjective modifying another adjective “brown.”
Preposition./A preposition is a word that shows the relationship between two other words. For example, the
relationship can be spatial (“The Greek text is/under/the bed.”) or temporal (“The student always studies/after/the
ball game.”).
The word or phrase following the preposition is the/object/of the preposition (“bed” in the first example, “the ball
game” in the second).
Subject and predicate./A sentence can be broken down into two parts. The term/subject/describes the subject of
the verb and what modifies the subject./Predicate/describes the rest of the sentence, including the verb, direct
object, etc.
Definite article./In English, the definite article is the word “the.” In the sentence, “The student is going to pass,”
the definite article is identifying one student in particular — not just any student, but/the/student.
Indefinite article./In English, the indefinite article is the word “a.” In the sentence, “A good student works every
day on her Greek,” the article is indefinite because it does not identify any one particular student. It is indefinite
about the person of whom it is speaking.
If the word following the indefinite article begins with a vowel, the indefinite article will be “an.”
The formal study of verbs has been deferred until chapter 15. For now, you are to concentrate on nouns and learn
them well.
However, there is an important grammatical note you need to learn in order to make sense of the exercises./The
ending of the Greek verb indicates person and number.
“I” and “we” are considered first person, “you” is second person, and everything else (including “he,” “she,” “it,”
and all nouns) are third person.
The/εις/ending on/γράφεις/tells you that the subject is “you.”/γράφεις/means “you write.”
The/ει/ending on/γράφει/tells you that the subject is “he,” “she,” or “it.”/γράφει/means “he writes,” “she writes,”
or “it writes.”
You will see how this works out in the exercises.
An important consequence of this is that a Greek sentence does not need to have an expressed subject; the subject
can be contained in the verb. So,/σὺ γράφεις/and/γράφεις/both mean, “You write.” The “you” can come from
either the pronoun/σύ/or the personal ending.
In the exercises, I will always include the pronoun (e.g., “he,” “they,” “we”) in the translation of the verb. If there
is an expressed subject, you would not use the pronoun.
ἄνθρωπος γράφει/(he/she/it writes)/τὸ βιβλίον.
A man writes the book.
In this sentence, you would not translate, “A man he writes the book.” You would simply say, “A man writes the
book.” However, if the subject were not expressed (i.e., if/ἄνθρωπος/were not present), then you would translate,
“He writes the book.”
One more point./γράφει/can mean “he writes,” “she writes,” or “it writes.” The/ει/ending is used with all three
genders. Only context will help you decide which gender is correct. I will always translate verbs in the exercises
up to chapter 15 with all three pronouns, and it is up to you to decide which is the more appropriate translation
based on context.
ὁ θεὸς ἀγαπᾷ/(he/she/it loves)/τὸν κόσμον.
God loves the world.
CHAPTER 6
Exegetical Insight
The nominative case is the case that the subject is in. When the subject takes an equative verb like “is” (i.e., a verb
that equates the subject with something else), then another noun also appears in the nominative case—the predicate
nominative. In the sentence, “John is a man,” “John” is the subject and “man” is the predicate nominative. In
English, the subject and predicate nominative are distinguished by word order (the subject comes first). Not so in
Greek. Since word order in Greek is quite flexible and is used for emphasis rather than for strict grammatical
function, other means are used to distinguish subject from predicate nominative. For example, if one of the two
nouns has a definite article, it is the subject.
As we have said, word order is employed especially for the sake of emphasis. Generally speaking, when a word is
thrown to the front of the clause it is done so for emphasis. When a predicate nominative is thrown in front of the
verb, by virtue of word order it takes on emphasis. A good illustration of this is John 1:1c. The English versions
typically have, “and the Word was God.” But in Greek, the word order has been reversed. It reads,
καὶ θεὸς ἦν ὁ λόγος
and God was the Word.
We know that “the Word” is the subject because it has the definite article, and we translate it accordingly: “and
the Word was God.” Two questions, both of theological import, should come to mind: (1) why was/θεός/thrown
forward? and (2) Why does it lack the article?
In brief,[1]/its emphatic position stresses its essence or quality: “What God was, the Word was” is how one
translation brings out this force. Its lack of a definite article keeps us from identifying the/person/of the Word
(Jesus Christ) with the/person/of “God” (the Father). That is to say, the word order tells us that Jesus Christ has
all the divine attributes that the Father has; lack of the article tells us that Jesus Christ is not the Father. John’s
wording here is beautifully compact! It is, in fact, one of the most elegantly terse theological statements one could
ever find. As Martin Luther said, the lack of an article is against Sabellianism; the word order is against Arianism.
To state this another way, look at how the different Greek constructions would be rendered:
καὶ ὁ λόγος ἦν ὁ θεός
“and the Word was the God”
(i.e., the Father; Sabellianism)
καὶ ὁ λόγος ἦν θεός
“and the Word was a god”
(Arianism)
καὶ θεὸς ἦν ὁ λόγος
“and the Word was God”
(Orthodoxy).
Jesus Christ is God and has all the attributes that the Father has. But he is not the first person of the Trinity. All
this is concisely affirmed in/καὶ θεὸς ἦν ὁ λόγος.
Daniel B. Wallace
/
[1]/This verse is dealt with in more detail by Wallace, GGBB, pages 266-269.
In this chapter you will learn:
to identify whether a noun is first or second declension;
two cases and their endings: the nominative (used when the noun is the subject); the accusative (used
when the noun is the direct object);
the forms of the word “the” and how they “agree” with the noun they are modifying;
two hints for effective translation;
the first three of eight noun rules.
/Introduction
This is by far the longest chapter in this text. You are meeting some important ideas for the first time, and I want
to cover them adequately. Most of it is grammar and not much is memory work, so take heart. There is a review
part way through and a summary at the end.
The chapters in/BBG/are laid out consistently.
Each one starts with an exegetical insight designed to illustrate some point you will be learning in the
unit.
Overview of the material you will learn
A discussion of relevant English grammar
Greek grammar
A summary of the entire discussion
Vocabulary
Sometimes there is an Advanced Information section and an Exegesis section.
In many chapters there is a “Halftime Review.”
The Form of the Greek Noun
Do not memorize the endings in the following illustrations. All I want you to see is how inflection works.
Case endings./The case of a word in Greek is indicated by the “case ending.” This is a suffix added to the end of
the word. For example, the basic word for “apostle” is/ἀποστολο.
If the word is functioning as the subject of the verb, it takes a case ending that is equivalent to the
subjective case in English:/ς/(ἀπόστολος).
If it is functioning as the direct object of the verb, it takes a case ending that is equivalent to the
objective case in English:/ν/(ἀπόστολον).
ὁ ἀπόστολος πέμπει τὸν ἀπόστολον.
The apostle sends the apostle.
In English, we normally use word order to determine the function of a word. If the word is the subject of the verb,
it comes before the verb; if it is the direct object of the verb, it comes after the verb. But in Greek, it is the case
ending,/not the word order, that indicates the function of a word; therefore, it is extremely important to learn the
case endings well.
The following issues affect which case ending is used in a specific instance.
Stem./If you take the case ending off a noun you are left with the stem. The stem of/λόγος/is/λογο. It is the stem
of a noun that carries the actual meaning of the word.
You must be able to identify the stem of a word. It is listed in the Vocabulary section marked with an asterisk
(*λογο).
Gender./A noun is either masculine, feminine, or neuter. A noun has only one gender and it never varies.[1]
A word is not always the gender you might expect./ἁμαρτωλός/means “sinner” and is masculine, but it does not
mean that a sinner is male./ἁμαρτία/means “sin” and is a feminine noun, but it does not mean that sin is a
feminine trait. This is called “grammatical gender.”
However, certain patterns will help you remember the gender of a word. Words listed in the vocabulary section
that end in/ος/are usually masculine, words ending with/ον/are usually neuter, and words ending in/η/or/α/are
mostly feminine.
Number./Instead of adding an “s” to a word, Greek indicates singular or plural by using different case endings.
ἀπόστολος/means “apostle”
ἀπόστολοι/means “apostles”
The difference between the singular and plural is indicated by the case endings/ς/and/ι.
Declensions./I discussed earlier how there are different inflectional patterns that English nouns follow in forming
their plural. Some add “s,” some add “es,” and others change the vowel in their stem (e.g., “men”). The pattern a
word follows does not affect its meaning, only its form. “Children” and “childs” would mean the same thing, if
the latter were actually a word.
In Greek there are basically three inflectional patterns. Each of these patterns is called a “declension.” What
declension a particular noun follows has no bearing on the meaning of the word./The different declensions affect
only the form of the case ending.
Nouns that have a stem ending in an/α/or/η/are/first declension, take first declension endings, and are
primarily feminine (e.g.,/γραφή).
Nouns that have a stem ending in an/ο/are/second declension, take second declension endings, and are
mostly masculine or neuter (ἀπόστολος;/ἔργον).
If the stem of a word ends in a consonant it is/third declension. We will deal with the third declension
in chapter 10.
For example, a first declension case ending for the subject of the verb is nothing; the stem stands by itself
(γραφή;/ὥρα).
ἡ ὥρα ἐστὶν νῦν.
The hour is now.
A second declension case ending for the subject of the verb is/ς/(ἀπόστολος).[2]
ὁ ἀπόστολος λέγει τὸν λόγον.
The apostle speaks the word.
Remember: declension affects only the case ending used; it does not affect meaning.
Since the final letter of the noun stem determines its declension,/a noun can belong to only one declension.
Indeclinable./Some words in Greek are indeclinable, such as personal names and words borrowed from other
languages. Their form, therefore, does not change regardless of their meaning or function in the sentence. For
example, the word for “Israel” is written as/Ἰσραήλ/whether it is the subject or the direct object.
First Two Cases
Nominative./In this chapter, you will learn two of the five Greek cases. The first is the nominative case. The
primary function of the nominative case is to indicate the/subject/of a verb. In other words, if a word is the
subject of the verb, it will have a nominative case ending.
As you have seen above, one of the nominative singular case endings is/ς. In the following sentence, which word
is the subject? (ἀγαπᾷ/means “he loves” and/τόν/means “the.”)
ὁ θεὸς ἀγαπᾷ τὸν κόσμον.
Accusative./If a word is the/direct object/of a verb it will be in the accusative case. This means that it will have
an accusative case ending.
One of the accusative singular case endings is ν. In the following sentence, which word is the direct object?
Χριστὸν ἀγαπᾷ ὁ θεός.
Word Order and Lexicons
Word order./Notice in the example above that you do not determine whether a word is the subject or the object
by its order in the sentence as you do in English./The only way to determine the subject or direct object of a Greek
verb is by the case endings.
This cannot be stressed too much. Your natural inclination will be to ignore the case endings and assume that the
word before the verb is the subject and the word after the verb is the direct object. Fight this tendency!
In Greek, the ending/ς/shows you that this word is in the nominative case and therefore is the subject. The
ending/ν/shows you that this word is accusative and therefore is the direct object.[3]/In the following examples,
locate the subjects and direct objects. Note that although each example has the same meaning (“God loves the
world”), the order of the words is different.
Θεὸς ἀγαπᾷ τὸν κόσμον.
ἀγαπᾷ τὸν κόσμον Θεός.
τὸν κόσμον Θεὸς ἀγαπᾷ.
ἀγαπᾷ Θεὸς τὸν κόσμον.
As a general rule, as you translate, try to maintain the same order as the Greek if possible. There is a rhythm to
the order of words in Greek, although it is a different rhythm than in English. Try to keep the same English order
as the Greek, for now, and this will keep you from making certain mistakes.
It is hard to speak of “normal” Greek word order since it varies so much, but technically normal word order is
verb, subject, direct object, with the sentence frequently introduced by a conjunction.
Lexicons and lexical form./Whereas most people call them “dictionaries,” scholars call them/lexicons.
The form of the word found in the lexicon is called the/lexical form./The lexical form of a Greek noun is its form
in the nominative singular. For example, the lexical form of/κόσμον/(accusative singular) is/κόσμος.
Your vocabulary words are given in their lexical forms. Whenever you are asked to explain the form of an
inflected Greek word, you must be able to indicate its lexical form; otherwise, you will not be able to look up the
word in the lexicon and find its meaning.
[1]/There are a few words that are both masculine and feminine, but you will not meet them for some time.
[2]/If/ἀπόστολος/(masc) and/ἀποστόλη/(fem) were both words, they would have the same meaning
(except/ἀπόστολος/would designate a man and/ἀποστόλη/a woman).
[3]/As you will see, these letters are also endings for other cases, but for the sake of this illustration I make the
simplification.
You are halfway through this lesson, so let’s stop and review what you have learned. I will include these reviews
in all the chapters unless they are short.
Greek uses different case endings to indicate the case (nominative; accusative), gender (masculine;
feminine; neuter), and number (singular; plural).
The stem of the word is the basic form of the word that carries its meaning. It is discovered by
removing the case ending.
Stems ending in an/α/or/η/are in the first declension; stems ending in ο are in the second declension.
If a word is the subject of a verb, it is in the nominative case and uses nominative case endings.
If a word is the direct object of a verb, it is in the accusative case and uses accusative case endings.
Word order does not determine the function of a word.
Normal Greek order is verb, subject, direct object, often with an initial conjunction.
The lexical form of a noun is the nominative singular.
Form./The following chart is called a “paradigm.” It is the paradigm of the case endings used by the first and
second declensions, nominative and accusative.[4]/A dash (-) means that no case ending is used and the stem of
the noun stands by itself. The underline (α) means that the case ending joins with the final stem vowel.[5]/These
endings must be learned perfectly.
2 1 2
masc fem neut
nom sg ς – ν
acc sg ν ν ν
nom pl ι ι α
acc pl υς[6] ς α
When attached to the final stem vowel, they look like this.
2 1 2
masc fem neut
nom sg ος η α ον
acc sg ον ην αν ον
nom pl οι αι α
acc pl ους ας α
As you can see, we have to make allowance for the two stem vowels in the feminine.
The Structure of the Paradigms
The singular forms are on top, and the plural below.
The order left to right is masculine, feminine, neuter.
The “2 - 1 - 2” along the top means that the masculine follows the second declension, the feminine
follows the first declension, and the neuter follows the second.
Important
Learn these endings! Without them, you will never be able to translate anything.
Be sure to memorize the endings by themselves, not only what they look like when attached to a word.
Otherwise you may not be able to identify the endings on other nouns.
The key to learning these paradigms is to realize that/translation does not require you to repeat
paradigms; it requires you to recognize the endings when you see them.
I suggest that you read the paradigms left to right, not top to bottom. When you are translating a verse,
you will be looking for a word in the nominative, and at first you do not care about its number or
gender.
Use flash cards. Put each ending on a different card, carry them with you wherever you go, mix them
up, and review them over and over again.
Always say the endings out loud. The more senses you employ in memorization the better. Pronounce
the ending out loud; listen to yourself speak; write the ending down; look at what you have written.
Hints
The masculine and feminine case endings are often similar or even identical. In the nominative and
accusative, the neuter is usually distinct from the masculine.
In the neuter, the nominative and accusative singular are always the same, and the nominative and
accusative plural are always the same. Context will usually show you whether the neuter word is the
subject or direct object.
/
//
[4]/If you have studied Greek before, you will notice a few differences. Just about every grammar teaches that the
final stem vowel is part of the case ending,/ος/and not/ς. Not only is this incorrect, but in my opinion it makes
learning Greek more difficult. If you learn the true case endings, you will find that memorization is kept to a
minimum!
[5]/This is called “contraction,” and I will discuss it in detail later. For example, the stem of the
noun/ἔργον/is/ἔργο. When it is in the neuter plural its form is/ἔργα. The omicron and alpha have “contracted” to
alpha./ἔργο + α > ἔργα.
[6]/If you really want to be technical, the ending for the masculine accusative plural is/νς. But because of the
nature of the nu, it drops out. In order to compensate for the loss of the nu, the omicron of the stem lengthens to
ου when followed by a sigma (*λογο + νς > λογος > λόγους). It is easier to memorize the ending as/υς.
Paradigm of the word and case endings./Now let’s add the case endings to the nouns. Be sure to differentiate
between the stem and the case ending.
2 1 2
masc fem neut
nom sg λόγος γραφή ὥρα ἔργον
acc sg λόγον γραφήν ὥραν ἔργον
nom pl λόγοι γραφαί ὧραι ἔργα
acc pl λόγους γραφάς ὥρας ἔργα
Notice which endings are going to give you trouble. The/ν/and/α/occur in several places.
Feminine./In the paradigm there are two feminine nouns,/γραφή/and/ὥρα. The only difference between the forms
of these two words is the final stem vowel./γραφή/ends in/η, and/ὥρα/ends in/α. If you think of the/α/and/η/as
being related vowels, then you will not have to learn two different patterns for feminine nouns. They are identical
except for the final stem vowel.
Notice, however, that in the plural the stem of/γραφή/ends in an/α/and not an/η. All first declension nouns that
have/η/in the singular shift to/α/in the plural.
Parse./When asked to “parse” a noun, you should specify five things about the word.
1. Case (nominative, accusative)
2. Number (singular, plural)
3. Gender (masculine, feminine, neuter)
4. Lexical form (nominative singular)
5. Inflected meaning
For example,/λόγους/is accusative plural masculine, from/λόγος, meaning “words.”
This is only my suggestion. Teachers may vary on their preferred order of parsing.
Parsing neuter nouns./When parsing a neuter word that is either nominative or accusative, my suggestion is to
list both possibilities.
For example,/ἔργον/is/nominative or accusative/singular neuter, from/ἔργον, meaning “work.”
When you are translating a sentence and come across one of these forms, it is important to see that the word can
be either the subject or direct object. If you assume that it is the subject when in fact it is the direct object, you
may never be able to translate the sentence. But if you are accustomed to parsing it as “nominative/accusative,”
you will be less likely to make this mistake.
These are the first three of the famous eight noun rules. Learn them exactly!
1. Stems ending in alpha, or eta are in the first declension, stems ending in omicron are in the
second, and consonantal stems are in the third.
2. Every neuter word has the same form in the nominative and accusative.
/ἔργον/could be either nominative or accusative.
3. Almost all neuter words end in alpha in the nominative and accusative plural.
All of the eight noun rules are listed in the Reference Library.
Summary./The definite article is the only article in Greek. There is no indefinite article (“a”). For this reason you
can refer to the Greek definite article simply as the “article.”
Agreement./The article agrees with the noun it modifies in case, number, and gender. For this reason, unlike
nouns, the article can occur in any gender.
In other words, if a noun is nominative, singular, masculine (ἄνθρωπος), the article that modifies it will be
nominative, singular, masculine (ὁ).
The lexical form of the article is the nominative, singular, masculine (ὁ). As a general rule, the lexical form of any
word that occurs in more than one gender is the masculine form.
Form./Here is the paradigm of the article. Compare the forms to the case endings to see all the similarities. The
feminine follows the first declension, the masculine and neuter the second.
2 1 2
masc fem neut
nom sg ὁ ἡ τό
acc sg τόν τήν τό
nom pl οἱ αἱ τά
acc pl τούς τάς τά
Hints
The article begins with either a rough breathing or a tau. Then you have the characteristic vowel of that
declension and the case ending. The only exception is the neuter singular.[7]
The article does not care about the declension of the word it is modifying./ἡ/will modify a feminine
noun whether it is first or second declension.[8]/This makes the article consistent, easy to learn, and
important.
Here is the noun paradigm with the definite article.
2 1 2
masc fem neut
nom sg ὁ λόγος ἡ γραφή ἡ ὥρα τὸ ἔργον
acc sg τὸν λόγον τὴν γραφήν τὴν ὥραν τὸ ἔργον
nom pl οἱ λόγοι αἱ γραφαί αἱ ὧραι τὰ ἔργα
acc pl τοὺς λόγους τὰς γραφάς τὰς ὥρας τὰ ἔργα
Knowing the forms of the article is the key to recognizing the forms of nouns in Greek. If you learn the forms of
the Greek article well, you will not have much more to learn for nouns. Almost all nouns are preceded by the
article. If you cannot decline a noun you can look at the article and will know what the noun is.
A second reason why the article is important is that most of the case endings found on nouns are similar to the
definite article. Therefore, if you know the article, you know many of the case endings.
/
/
[7]/Here are some more hints.
The vowel in the feminine article is always eta in the singular, never alpha as can be the case with
nouns.
The nominative singular is easy to memorize. In the feminine and masculine there is no case ending and
no tau. The vowel stands alone, and since you have already associated the eta with the first
declension and omicron with the second you already know these forms. But note the breathing.
The neuter could not follow suit, otherwise it would have been identical to the masculine. Therefore
you have the characteristic tau followed by the omicron that you associate with the second
declension.
In both the masculine and feminine, the nominative plural endings are a vowel followed by an iota.
Again you see the characteristic omicron and alpha. If you learn that the vowel-iota combination
indicates nominative plural, then if it is/οι/the word is masculine, and if it is/αι/the word is feminine.
τήν/and/τόν/are exactly alike except that the feminine has an eta and the masculine has an omicron.
In the accusative plural you have the characteristic omicron and alpha. You will discover that the
vowel-sigma combination is typical for the accusative plural, and the alpha is common in neuter
plural words (Noun Rule 3).
/
[8]/You have not yet seen any second declension feminine nouns.
When students start learning Greek, one of their initial problems is that a Greek sentence looks like a collection of
unrelated words. One of the keys to this problem is learning to split a sentence into its different parts. At this
point, you can separate the subject and the direct object from the verb.
θεὸς σώσει ψυχάς.
God will save souls.
The subject is/θεός/and the direct object is/ψυχάς. You would divide the sentence like this:
θεὸς / σώσει / ψυχάς.
If there is an article, keep it with the noun.
ὁ θεὸς / σώσει / ψυχάς.
As you get further into Greek and sentence structure becomes more complex, this practice becomes more
significant.
Article./As in English, the Greek article is generally translated “the.” The rule is to translate according to the
presence or absence of the article. If an article is present, translate it. If there is no article, do not use “the.”
If there is no article you may insert “a” before the noun if it makes better sense in English. For example, “ὁ
ἄνθρωπος” means “the man” and “ἄνθρωπος” means “man” or “a man.”
You will soon discover that the Greeks do not use the article the same way we do. They use it when we never
would, and they omit it when English demands it. Languages are not codes, and there is not an exact word for
word correspondence. Therefore, you should be a little flexible at this point. As you work through the following
chapters, I will note some of the differences. You will meet these two differences in this unit:[9]
Names./Greek often uses the definite article before a proper name. For example, you will often find/ὁ
᾿Ιησοῦς/(“the Jesus”). You may omit the article in your translation of proper names.
Abstract nouns./Greek often includes the article with abstract nouns such as “the Truth” (ἡ ἀλήθεια). English
does not normally use the article with abstract nouns and you may omit it in translation.
Postpositive./A postpositive is a word that cannot be the first word in a Greek sentence or clause, even though in
your translation it is the first word. It usually is the second word and sometimes the third. There are only a few
postpositives, but in this chapter you will learn/δέ, meaning “but.”/ὁ δὲ εἶπεν/... is translated “But he said ....”[10]
/
/
[9]/See Chapter 36 for more discussion on the article.
[10]/In this example you can see another use of the Greek article./ὁ δέ/often means, “but he,” the article
functioning as a personal pronoun. The Greek article is a lot of fun and full of variety and meaning. But more on
this later.
1. The fog./You are now entering the fog. You will have read this chapter and think you
understand it—and perhaps you do—but it will seem foggy. That’s okay. If living in the fog
becomes discouraging, look two chapters back and you should understand that chapter clearly.
In two more chapters this chapter will be clear, assuming you keep studying.
2. Greek uses case endings to show the noun’s function. Different case endings are used to
designate case (nominative, accusative), number (singular, plural), and gender (masculine,
feminine, neuter).
3. The stem of a noun is what is left after removing the case ending. It carries the basic meaning of
the word.
4. The subject of a verb uses nominative case endings, and the direct object uses accusative case
endings.
5. Memorize the paradigm of the case endings and the article.
6. The article agrees with the noun that it modifies in case, number, and gender.
7. Learn the endings by themselves. Then learn the full paradigm that lists the article, noun stem,
and case endings.
8. 2 1 2
masc fem neut
nom sg ς – ν
acc sg ν ν ν
nom pl ι ι α
acc pl υς ς α
10. 2 1 2
masc fem neut
nom sg ὁ λόγος ἡ γραφή ἡ ὥρα τὸ ἔργον
acc sg τὸν λόγον τὴν γραφήν τὴν ὥραν τὸ ἔργον
nom pl οἱ λόγοι αἱ γραφαί αἱ ὧραι τὰ ἔργα
acc pl τοὺς λόγους τὰς γραφάς τὰς ὥρας τὰ ἔργα
11. The first three noun rules.
Stems ending in alpha or eta are in the first declension, stems ending in omicron are
in the second, and consonantal stems are in the third. The declension of a noun
affects only its form, not its meaning.
Every neuter word has the same form in the nominative and accusative.
Almost all neuter words end in alpha in the nominative and accusative plural.
12. Normal Greek order is verb, subject, direct object, often with an initial conjunction.
13. Divide the sentence you are translating into its parts: subject; verb; direct object. Keep the
article with the noun it modifies.
Exegesis
It is often helpful for students to see how the grammar they have just learned is actually used in exegesis. That’s
what this section is for. If you are struggling as a student, this may be too much information for you, but it is here
when you are ready. If you are in a class, your teacher will tell you if you are responsible for this information.
Nominative
The primary function of the nominative case is to indicate the subject of the verb.
Another use will be introduced in chapter 8.
Accusative
1. The primary use of the accusative is to indicate the direct object.
/ἠγάπησεν ὁ θεὸς/τὸν κόσμον/(John 3:16).
/God loved/the world.
2. Some verbs require two objects to complete their meaning (double accusative).
/ἐκεῖνος/ὑμᾶς/διδάξει/πάντα/(John 14:26).
He will teach/you all things.
Sometimes a translation will add a word like “as” before the second accusative to help you
understand its meaning.
/ἀπέστειλεν τὸν υἱὸν αὐτοῦ/ἱλασμόν/(1 John 4:10).
He sent his Son/as/the propitiation.
3. The accusative can behave as an adverb, modifying the verb (adverbial accusative; accusative of
manner or measure).
/δωρεὰν/ἐλάβετε,/δωρεὰν/δότε/(Matt 10:8).
Freely/you received,/freely/give.
/ζητεῖτε/πρῶτον/τὴν βασιλείαν τοῦ θεοῦ/(Matt 6:33).
Seek/first/the kingdom of God.
CHAPTER 7
Introduction
English shows possession by adding “ ’s” onto the end of a word: “God’s word.” We can also use the “of”
construction: “the word of God.”
Greek shows possession by putting genitive case endings onto the word./ὁ λόγος τοῦ θεοῦ/means, “God’s word.”
The/υ/on/θεοῦ/shows it is in the genitive case. (τοῦ/is another form of/ὁ.)
The indirect object is the word that is indirectly involved in the action of the verb. Consider this sentence:
“Karen threw Brad the ball.”
The direct object is “ball”; she threw the ball. But she threw the ball to Brad. Brad is the indirect object. (If
“Brad” were the direct object, he would get hurt.) In Greek, we put the indirect object in the dative case by
putting dative case endings on the word. The dative carries other meanings as well, such as “by,” “in,” and “for”
along with “to.”
Exegetical Insight
“Peace on earth, good will toward men” (Luke 2:14, KJV). You have probably all received Christmas cards
containing this part of the angels’ song to the shepherds on the fields of Bethlehem. But most modern translations
read differently: “on earth peace to men on whom his [God’s] favor rests” (NIV); “and on earth peace among
those whom he [God] favors” (NRSV). The difference between the KJV and the others is the difference between
the nominative and the genitive.
The Greek manuscripts used to translate the KJV contain/εὐδοκία/(nominative), whereas the older manuscripts
used to translate the modern versions contain/εὐδοκίας/(genitive) — literally translated, “of good will” or
“characterized by [God’s] good pleasure.” In other words, the peace that the angels sang that belonged to the
earth as a result of the birth of Christ is not a generic, worldwide peace for all humankind, but a peace limited to
those who obtain favor with God by believing in his Son Jesus (see Romans 5:1). What a difference a single letter
can make in the meaning of the text!
In this chapter you will learn:
the final two major cases, the genitive (when the noun is showing possession) and the dative (when the
noun is used as the indirect object);
the concept of key words;
Noun Rules 4, 5, and 6.
The/possessive case/in English is used to indicate possession. You can either put “of” in front of the word
(“The Word/of God/is true.”), an “apostrophe s” after the word (“God’s/Word is true.”), or just apostrophe
if the word ends in “s” (“The/apostles’/word was ignored.”).
The/indirect object, technically, is the person/thing that is “indirectly” affected by the action of the verb.
This means that the indirect object is somehow involved in the action described by the verb, but not
directly.
For example, “Karin threw Brad a ball.” The direct object is “ball” since it is directly related to the action
of the verb. It is what was thrown. But “Brad” is also related to the action of the verb, since the ball was
thrown to him. “Brad” is the indirect object. If Karin threw Brad, then “Brad” would be the direct object.
One way to find the indirect object is to put the word “to” in front of the word and see if it makes sense.
“Karin threw Brad a ball.” “Karin threw to Brad a ball.” To whom did Karin throw the ball? To Brad.
“Brad” is the indirect object.[1]/The indirect object answers the question “to whom?” or “to what?”
English does not have a separate case for the indirect object. It uses the same form as the direct object
(objective case). “Him” is used for both a direct and an indirect object.
/
[1] /In English when the word “to” is used, it would go after the direct object. “Karin threw the ball to
Brad.”
The/genitive/case in Greek can be used when showing possession. Instead of adding an “apostrophe s” or
using “of,” the genitive case endings are added to the Greek word. For example, if the sentence “Everyone
breaks the laws of God” were in Greek, “God” would be in the genitive case and have a genitive case
ending.
υ/is a genitive singular ending, and/ων/is the genitive plural ending.[2]/If you were to see the
word/λόγου/you would know it is singular and may be showing possession. If you were to see the
word/λόγων/you would know it is plural and also may be showing possession.
In English the possessive case can be indicated by the apostrophe. “Everyone breaks God’s laws.” Greek,
however, does not have this construction, and so all Greek constructions are in the form “of ....” “Laws of
God” (νόμοι τοῦ θεοῦ) would never be/τοῦ θεοῦ’s νόμοι. Therefore, in translating you should think with
the “of” construction.[3]
The word in the genitive usually follows the word it is modifying (νόμοι τοῦ θεοῦ). The word it modifies
is called the/head noun.
You now meet an important technique that is helpful in learning Greek. It is the use of what I call/key
words. Key words are words that are associated with a particular case that you should put in front of the
translation of the actual word. Doing this will help you understand the function of the case.
The key word for the genitive is “of.”
ἡ δόξα ἀνθρώπου
The glory of mankind.
[2] /The final stem vowel is absorbed by the omega, just like the alpha does in the nominative and
accusative plural neuter (λογο/+/ων/>/λόγων).
[3] /Follow this practice for now. Once you are comfortable with the genitive case, your teacher may allow
you to shift to the “ ’s ” construction in your translation.
The dative case in Greek has a wide range of usage, roughly equivalent to the ideas behind the English
“to,” “in,” and “with.” In the following examples,/τῷ/is the dative form of the definite article.
ἄγγελος κυρίου κατ᾿ ὄναρ ἐφάνη/αὐτῷ/(Matt 1:20).
An angel of the Lord appeared/to him/in a dream.
Μακάριοι οἱ πτωχοὶ/τῷ πνεύματι/(Matt 5:3).
Blessed are the poor/in spirit.
πᾶς ὁ ὀργιζόμενος/τῷ ἀδελφῷ/αὐτοῦ/(Matt 5:22).
everyone who is angry/with/his/brother
These become three key words for the dative, with “to” being primary. Context will help you determine
which is appropriate in a specific instance.
Under the category of “to” comes the/indirect object. The indirect object functions the same in Greek as
it does in English. In Greek, the indirect object is put in the dative case, which means it uses the dative
case endings. For example, if the sentence “God gave the world his Son” were in Greek, “the world”
would be in the dative case since it is the indirect object.
ἔδωκεν ἄν/σοι/ὕδωρ ζῶν/(John 4:10).
He would give/you/living water.
For the time being it is best to use the key word “to” in your translation of the indirect object. As you
become comfortable with the construction, your teacher may allow you a little more flexibility.
Iota is the dative singular case ending and/ις/is a dative plural. In the singular, the final stem vowel
lengthens[4]/and the iota subscripts. (“Subscript” means it is written under a letter.)
αι/⇒/ᾳ///*βασιλεια/+/ι/⇒/βασιλείᾳ
ηι/⇒/ῃ///*ἀγαπη/+/ι/⇒/ἀγάπῃ
οι/⇒/ῳ///*λογο/+/ι/⇒/λογοι/⇒/λογωι/⇒/λόγῳ
If you were to see the word/λόγῳ/you would know it is singular and may be functioning as the indirect
object. If you were to see the word/λόγοις/you would know it is plural and may be functioning as the
indirect object
[4] /Because alpha lengthens to long alpha, and eta is already long, you do not see the lengthening in the
first declension; but it is visible in the second declension because omicron lengthens to omega.
Here is the full paradigm for the first and second declension. The genitive and dative are placed between the
nominative and accusative.[5]
/
2 1 2
masc fem neut
nom sg ς – ν
gen sg υ[6] ς υ[6]
dat sg[7] ι ι ι
acc sg ν ν ν
nom pl ι ι α
gen pl ων ων ων
dat pl ις ις ις
acc pl υς ς α
When attached to the final stem vowel they look like this.
2 1 2
masc fem neut
nom sg ος η α ον
gen sg ου ης ας ου
dat sg ῳ ῃ ᾳ ῳ
acc sg ον ην αν ον
nom pl οι αι α
gen pl ων ων ων
dat pl οις αις οις
acc pl ους ας α
When attached to words, they look like this.
2 1 2
masc fem neut
nom sg λόγος γραφή ὥρα ἔργον
gen sg λόγου γραφῆς ὥρας ἔργου
dat sg λόγῳ γραφῇ ὥρᾳ ἔργῳ
acc sg λόγον γραφήν ὥραν ἔργον
nom pl λόγοι γραφαί ἔργα
gen pl λόγων γραφῶν ἔργων
dat pl λόγοις γραφαῖς ἔργοις
acc pl λόγους γραφάς ἔργα
Hints
1. Both the masculine and neuter have the same case endings in the genitive and dative. This
is/always/true.
2. In the dative an/ι/is/always/present for all three genders. In the singular it is subscripted.
3. The dative plural is also an/ι/and a/ς. The dative plural is also a longer ending (two letters) than
the singular (one letter); you can associate “longer” with the plural.
4. All three genders have the ending “ων” in the genitive plural. This is/always/true.
5. Many feminine nouns ending in/ας/can be either genitive singular or accusative plural. Look
either at the definite article (τῆς/τάς) or the context to decide.
/
//
[5]/In my opinion, it would be preferable to order the cases as nominative, accusative, dative, and genitive. It
seems smoother to move from subject to object to indirect object. In the neuter the nominative and accusative are
the same, and this arrangement would keep them together. But I gave in to conventional usage and listed the cases
in the standard format.
[6]/As is the case with the masculine accusative plural case ending/υς, the genitive singular ending actually is not
upsilon. It is omicron which, when combined with final stem vowel contracts to/ου. (This is a slight
simplification. See Smyth, #230 D1 for details.) But I have found it easier to memorize the ending as/υ.
[7]/In the singular (first and second declensions), the iota will always subscript. This is the only place in the noun
system where the iota subscripts.
Because the article is the key to learning the noun system, you should commit it to memory. There are no more
forms of the article, no more possibilities; this is all you need to know. Learn them well.
2 1 2
masc fem neut
nom sg ὁ ἡ τό
gen sg τοῦ τῆς τοῦ
dat sg τῷ τῇ τῷ
acc sg τόν τήν τό
nom pl οἱ αἱ τά
gen pl τῶν τῶν τῶν
dat pl τοῖς ταῖς τοῖς
acc pl τούς τάς τά
The Full Paradigm
Here is the full paradigm of first and second declension nouns with the article.
2 1 2
masc fem neut
nom sg ὁ λόγος ἡ γραφή ἡ ὥρα τὸ ἔργον
gen sg τοῦ λόγου τῆς γραφῆς τῆς ὥρας τοῦ ἔργου
dat sg τῷ λόγῳ τῇ γραφῇ τῇ ὥρᾳ τῷ ἔργῳ
acc sg τὸν λόγον τὴν γραφήν τὴν ὥραν τὸ ἔργον
nom pl οἱ λόγοι αἱ γραφαί τὰ ἔργα
gen pl τῶν λόγων τῶν γραφῶν τῶν ἔργων
dat pl τοῖς λόγοις ταῖς γραφαῖς τοῖς ἔργοις
acc pl τοὺς λόγους τὰς γραφάς τὰ ἔργα
Halftime Review
1. The genitive case can indicate possession (“of”). The word it modifies is the head noun.
2. The dative case can indicate the ideas of “to” (indirect object), “in,” and “with.”
3. The most important paradigm to memorize is the "Full Paradigm" on the previous page.
You have already learned the first three of the eight noun rules. You now need to learn the next three. Be sure to
memorize them exactly.
4. In the dative singular, the/ι/subscripts if possible.
γραφη/+/ι/⇒/γραφῇ. This rule explains what happens to the dative singular case endings in the
first and second declension. An iota can subscript only under a long vowel.
5. Vowels often change their length (“ablaut”).
λογο/+/ι/⇒/λογῷ. “Ablaut” is the technical term for this. By “change their length” I mean that
they can shorten (ω/to/ο), lengthen (ο/to/ω) as in the dative singular, or disappear entirely.[8]
6. In the genitive and dative, the masculine and neuter will always be identical.[9]
There are only two more rules to learn, and you will see them in chapter 10 on third declension nouns.
/
/
[8]/As I said earlier, the accusative plural case ending is actually/νς. When the nu drops out the stem vowel
omicron lengthens to ου to “compensate” for the loss. This is called “compensatory lengthening” and is common
(λογο/+/νς/⇒/λογος/⇒/λόγους). This is a form of ablaut.
[9]/This may lead you to think that the masculine and neuter forms are more closely aligned than the masculine
and feminine. As you will see in chapter 10, the masculine and feminine are actually more similar.
Partially declined words. Certain words are not fully declined, or else they follow rare patterns. This is
especially true of proper nouns. Instead of listing all of these separate paradigms, you will be told about the
differences as you meet the words.
In this chapter you will meet the name “Jesus.” Proper names are usually preceded by the definite article. Here is
its declension.
nom sg ὁ ᾿Ιησοῦς
gen sg τοῦ ᾿Ιησοῦ
dat sg τῷ ᾿Ιησοῦ
acc sg τὸν ᾿Ιησοῦν
How can you tell the difference between the dative and genitive? Correct!
The definite article that precedes his name will tell you.
Alternate first declension pattern. There are 36 first declension words in the New Testament that shift their
final stem vowel in the genitive and dative singular from/α/to/η. Only four of these words occur with any
frequency (see MBG, n-1c; see MBG for an explanation of this coding).
nom sg δόξα - nom pl δόξαι
gen sg δόξης - gen pl δοξῶν
dat sg δόξῃ - dat pl δόξαις
acc sg δόξαν - acc pl δόξας
Here is the rule for the alpha to eta shift./If a first declension word has a stem ending in:α:where the preceding
letter is:ε, ι, or ρ, it will form the genitive and dative singular with:α. Otherwise, the:α:will shift to:η./Ask your
teacher if you need to memorize this rule.
All feminine plural stems end in/α, regardless of their form in the singular.
Detective Work
One way to approach parsing is to think of it as a detective game. Some case endings occur in only one location.
For example,/λόγους/must be accusative plural. It can’t be anything else. A subscripted iota must be dative
singular. These are the easy endings.
But other endings can occur in two or more locations. These are the endings that may require more detective
work, and it is important to know which endings fit in which category. For example,/ἔργα/can be nominative or
accusative plural./ὥρας/can be genitive singular or accusative plural.
Hints for translating genitive and dative forms.
1. Be sure to use your key words when you translate a word in the genitive or dative.
2. Whenever you see a noun, do not stop but look further to see if there is a word in the genitive
following it.
ὁ λόγος τοῦ θεοῦ σώσει ψυχάς.
The word of God will save souls.
3. As you divide the sentence, you already know to keep the article with the noun it modifies. Now
you will also keep the genitive (and its article) with the noun it modifies.
ὁ λόγος τοῦ θεοῦ / σώσει / ψυχάς.
1. There is a chart in the Reference Library that covers all the Greek cases and their different uses.
Use it for reference.
2. The genitive case may indicate possession. It uses genitive case endings, and its key word is
“of.”
3. The dative case is used to express the ideas of “in,” “with,” and especially “to.”
4. The indirect object “indirectly” receives the action of the verb. If you can put the word “to” in
front of it, it is the indirect object. It answers the question “to whom?” or “to what?” It uses the
key word “to” and dative case endings.
5. Memorize all the case endings and the twenty-four forms of the definite article. When you study
the full paradigm, be sure to identify the true case endings.
6. Rule 4: In the dative singular, the iota subscripts if possible.
7. Rule 5: Vowels often change their length (“ablaut”).
8. Rule 6: In the genitive and dative, the masculine and neuter will always be identical.
9. If a first declension word has a stem ending in α where the preceding letter is/ε,/ι, or/ρ, it will
form the genitive and dative singular with/α. Otherwise, the/α/will shift to/η.
10. When dividing a sentence into its parts, be sure to keep the article and the word in the genitive
with the words they modify.
You now know the four main cases and most of the case endings. Congratulations!
Exegesis
Genitive
1. The most common use of the genitive is when the word in the genitive gives some description of
the head noun (descriptive).
ἐνδυσώμεθα τὰ ὅπλα/τοῦ φωτός/(Rom 13:12).
Let us put on the armor/of light.
2. The head noun can be possessed by the word in the genitive (possessive).
ὕπαγε πώλησόν/σου/τὰ ὑπάρχοντα/(Matt 19:21).
Go, sell/your/possessions.
3. In a general sense, if you have a noun that in some way equals the meaning of another noun, the
writer can put the noun in the genitive, and it is said to be in apposition to the head noun. It is as
if you drew an equals sign between the two words. The translations will often add a word or
punctuation to help make this clear.
λήμψεσθε τὴν δωρεὰν/τοῦ ἁγίου πνεύματος/(Acts 2:38).
You will receive the gift,/the Holy Spirit.
4. The word in the genitive can indicate something that is separate from the head noun or verb. It
will often use the helping word “from” (separation).
ἀπηλλοτριωμένοι/τῆς πολιτείας/τοῦ ᾿Ισραὴλ/(Eph 2:12)
being alienated/from the commonwealth/of the Israel
5. This category and the next two are extremely important. They occur with a head noun that
expresses a verbal idea (i.e., the cognate noun can also occur as a verb). These three categories
often present the translator with significantly different interpretations.
Sometimes the word in the genitive functions as if it were the subject of the verbal idea implicit
in the head noun (subjective). You can use the helping word “produced” to help identify this
usage. “The love produced by Christ.”
τίς ἡμᾶς χωρίσει ἀπὸ τῆς ἀγάπης/τοῦ Χριστοῦ/(Rom 8:35).
Who will separate us from/Christ’s/love?
6. The word in the genitive functions as the direct object of the verbal idea implicit in the head
noun (objective). This is the opposite of the subjective genitive. You can use the key word
“receives.” “The blasphemy received by the Spirit.”
ἡ/τοῦ πνεύματος/βλασφημία οὐκ ἀφεθήσεται/(Matt 12:31).
The blasphemy/against the Spirit/will not be forgiven.
7. Sometimes it appears that the word in the genitive is a combination of both the objective and
subjective genitive (plenary).
ἡ γὰρ ἀγάπη/τοῦ Χριστοῦ/συνέχει ἡμᾶς/(2 Cor 5:14).
For the love/of Christ/compels us.
8. The genitive can indicate a familial relationship between a word and its head noun
(relationship). Often the head noun is not expressed, so it is up to the translator’s interpretive
skills to determine the exact nature of the relationship.
Σίμων ᾿Ιωάννου/(John 21:15)
Simon,/son of John
Μαρία ἡ ᾿Ιακώβου/(Luke 24:10)
Mary the/mother of James
9. Sometimes the noun in the genitive is a larger unit, while its head noun represents a smaller
portion of it (partitive).
τινες τῶν κλάδων/(Rom 11:17)
some/of the branches
Dative
It is common for grammars to break the dative into three sub-sections: dative proper; locative; instrumental.
Dative Proper (“to”)
1. The indirect object functions the same in Greek as it does in English, with the indirect object
placed in the dative case.
ἐξουσίαν ἔδωκεν/αὐτῷ/κρίσιν ποιεῖν/(John 5:27).
He has given/him/authority to execute judgment.
2. The dative can express the idea of “for” (dative of interest).
ἡ γυνή σου ᾿Ελισάβετ γεννήσει υἱόν/σοι/(Luke 1:13).
Your wife Elizabeth will bear a son/for you.
When the idea is for the person’s advantage, as in Luke 1:13 above, we call it a “dative of
advantage.” When context tells us that it is not for the person’s advantage, we can call it a
“dative of disadvantage” and often use a different preposition based on the meaning of the
phrase.
μαρτυρεῖτε/ἑαυτοῖς/(Matt 23:31).
You testify/against yourselves.
3. The dative can indicate what in English is awkwardly expressed by the phrase “with respect to,”
or here with “to” (reference, respect).
λογίζεσθε ἑαυτοὺς εἶναι νεκροὺς/τῇ ἁμαρτίᾳ/(Rom 6:11).
Consider yourselves to be dead/to sin.
Locative (“in,” “with”)
4. There is a little more nebulous use of the dative, indicating the sphere or realm in which
something occurs (sphere).
μακάριοι οἱ καθαροὶ/τῇ καρδίᾳ/(Matt 5:8).
Blessed are the pure/in heart.
5. A time designation in the dative specifies when something occurs (time).
τῇ τρίτῃ ἡμέρᾳ/ἐγερθήσεται/(Matt 17:23).
On the third day/he will be raised.
6. The dative can indicate the idea of “with” (association).
μὴ γίνεσθε ἑτεροζυγοῦντες/ἀπίστοις/(2 Cor 6:14).
Do not be unequally yoked/with unbelievers.
Instrumental (“by”)
7. The dative can indicate the manner in which something is done (manner).
παρρησίᾳ/λαλεῖ/(John 7:26).
He speaks/boldly.
8. The dative can also show the means (or the instrument) by which an action was accomplished
(means, instrument).
Τῇ/γὰρ/χάριτί/ἐστε σεσῳσμένοι/(Eph 2:8).
For it is/by grace/you have been saved.
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