Greek for Bible Readers

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“Men see apostles,” and “Apostles see men”: two simple sentences with the same words. In English, word order tells who is seeing whom, but in Greek, word order does not distinguish subjects and objects. That is the function of inflection (word change) of Greek nouns. The pattern of inflection of a noun is called a declension.

In Greek, grammatical relationships are indicated by particular suffixes applied to the nouns. If a noun is the subject of a verb, it must, in Greek, be put into the nominative case with the appropriate suffix. If it is the object of a verb, Greek puts it into the accusative case. Thus “Men see apostles” would be a[nqrwpoi blevpousin ajpostovlou~, where the suffixes –oi (nominative plural) and –ou~ (accusative plural) indicate subject and object respectively. However, keep in mind: The subject will not always be found before the verb, nor will the object always be found after the verb. In Greek it is the case form that decides which word is the subject or the object.

Greek has four basic cases: (1) the nominative, representing the subject (“Men see apostles”); (2) the genitive, representing the possessor (“The wisdom of men”); (3) the dative, representing the indirect object (“He gave gifts to men”); and (4) the accusative, representing the object (“Apostles see men”).

The vocative, which represents the person or thing addressed (“Forward, men!”), is not widely used in Greek. In English, the only surviving case ending in nouns is that of the genitive (e.g., men’s, boy’s). Otherwise the function of a noun is shown by its position (as with “Men see apostles” and “Apostles see men”) or by a preposition: “The wisdom of men” (for the genitive case) or “He gave gifts to men” (for the dative case).

In addition to case, Greek nouns have gender. In English we observe natural gender: “man” is masculine, “woman” is feminine and “car” is neuter. When referring to these we would say “he, “she” and “it,” respectively. Greek observes natural gender with living beings (generally), but other nouns—which may describe things, qualities and so on—are not necessarily neuter. For example, ajnhvr (man) is masculine and gunhV (woman) is feminine, but qavnato~ (death) is masculine, aJmartiva (sin) is feminine and tevknon (child) is neuter. Generally we cannot see why a particular noun is a particular gender, but the gender of individual nouns is not difficult to learn since in most instances it is shown by its ending.

Greek nouns can be grouped according to their endings. These ending changes indicate both case and number. Case, as we have seen, involves the function of the noun in its relation to the verb or other parts of the sentence. Number indicates whether the noun is singular or plural. Both case and number are indicated by different forms called case-number suffixes. These suffixes are attached to the noun stem by means of stem vowels. Together, the stem vowel and the case-number suffix constitute the noun’s ending.

Nouns with the same pattern of endings are called declensions. There are three basic declensions in Greek. The first declension is characterized by stems ending in the vowel a, the second declension by stems ending in the vowel o, and the third declension by stems ending in consonants. Nouns of the second declension are studied first because of their greater regularity and because this declension contains the largest number of New Testament nouns.

The second declension can be divided into two main groups: (1) nouns whose nominative singular ends in –o~, which, with a few exceptions, are masculine; and (2) nouns whose nominative singular ends in –on, which are all neuters. The above chart compares the declension of a[nqrwpo~ (man), a masculine noun, with the declension of dwßor (gift), a neuter noun. (There are a few feminine nouns of the second declension; they follow the declension of a[nqrwpo~.)

By removing the suffix –o~ from a[nqrwpo~, we obtain the stem a[nqrwp-. This stem remains constant while the various stem vowels and case-number suffixes are added to it. These endings may be used with any masculine noun. Similarly, the stem of dwßron is dwßr–É dwßron is the paradigm word for all neuter nouns of the second declension.

The verb eijmiv (I am) equates what follows with what precedes and therefore requires a complement in the nominative case (to “complete” the idea) instead of an object in the accusative case. If it is remembered that eijmiv is virtually equivalent to an equal sign (=), its use will be easily understood:

blevpw a[nqrwpon “I see a man.”

eijmi; a[nqrwpo~ “I am a man” (i.e., “I” = “man”).

“Men see apostles,” and “Apostles see men”: two simple sentences with the same words. In English, word order tells who is seeing whom, but in Greek, word order does not distinguish subjects and objects. That is the function of inflection (word change) of Greek nouns. The pattern of inflection of a noun is called a declension.