Greek for Bible Readers

019

Adjectives constitute one of the most prominent classes of words in the New Testament. This lesson introduces the paradigms of first and second declension adjectives as well as the more characteristic features of the Greek use of the adjective.

An adjective is a word that describes a noun, as in “the good apostle,” or the gift is beautiful. A Greek adjective agrees with the noun that it modifies in gender, number and case. Most adjectives are called three-termination adjectives since they have inflections for masculine, feminine and neuter genders. A smaller number of two-termination adjectives have no separate forms for the feminine, but instead use the masculine forms for both masculine and feminine.

The great majority of New Testament adjectives (546, or 85 percent) are three-termination adjectives of the first and second declensions. In this pattern, the feminine forms of the adjective follow the first declension and the masculine and neuter forms follow the second declension.

The table below shows the declension of three different types of adjectives: ajgaqov~ (good), a consonant stem adjective (i.e., an adjective whose stem ends in a consonant); mikrov~ (small), an e,i, r stem adjective; and ajduvnato~ (impossible), a two-termination adjective.

Greek adjectives are used in three distinct ways: attributively, predicatively and substantivally. The attributive adjective attributes a quality to the noun it modifies, as in oJ ajgaqo;~ a[nqrwpo~, “the good man.” Notice that the adjective in this example stands between the definite article and the noun. This is called the ascriptive attributive position. A Greek adjective may also follow the noun, though in this case the adjective as well as the noun must have the article: oJ a[nqrwpo~ oJ ajgaqov~, “the good man” (literally, “the man, the good one”). This latter position is called ihe re- strictive attributive position and is somewhat more emphatic than the ascriptive attributive position, the implication being that there are other men who are not good. In John 10:11 (“I am the good shepherd”), Jesus uses the the restrictive attributive adjective: oJ poimh;n oJ kalov~, “the good shepherd.” (Kalov~ is another word for “good” or “beautiful.”) Observe that the adjective in the attributive position imme diately follows the article: either oJ ajgawo;~ a[nqrwpo~, or oJ a[nqrwpo~ oJ ajgaqov~.

An adjective may also be used as the complement of the verb “to be,” even when the verb is only implied. Here it is said to be the predicate adjective, because it tells us what is predicated of, or asserted about, a person or thing (e.g., “The man is good”). In this use, the adjective in Greek is placed either before or after the article and its noun but never between the article and its noun. This is called the predicate position. Thus, “the man is good” may be expressed as either a[nqrwpo~ algaqov~, or ajgaqo;~ oJ a[nqrwpo~. Notice that whereas the article immediately precedes the adjective in the attributive position, there is no immediately pre ceding article in the predicate position. This means that it is possible for Greek to drop the verb “to be” without any confusion in meaning (for example, see Romans 7:12: oJ vovmo~ a{gio~, kai; hJ ejntolh; aJgiva, “the law is holy, and the commandment is holy”). Although the New Testament writers generally used the verb “to be” with predicate adjectives, in cases where there is no verb you must know how to distinguish between the attributive position and the predicate position.

Finally, as in English, the Greek adjective may serve as a noun: “Only the good die young.” This use is called the substantival adjective. In Greek, this function of the adjective is considerably more common than in English, and Greek can use its endings to make distinctions that are impossible with English adjectives. Hence the masculine oiJ ajgaqoiv means “the good men” or “the good people,” but the feminine aiJ ajgaqaiv and the neuter ta; ajgaqav 063mean “the good women” and “the good things” respectively. Likewise, an adjective may be used substantivally in the singular, as in oJ ajgaqov~, “the good man,” or hJ ajgawh;, “the good woman.” A New Testament example appears in Matthew 13:19: “the evil one [oJ ponhro~] comes and snatches away what has been sown.”

Sometimes an adjective is found in an indefinite construction, where the English “a” or “an” is used. Since Greek has no indefinite article, neither the noun nor the adjective will have an article. In such instances only the context can determine whether the adjective is being used attributively or predicatively. For example, if we find ajgaqo;~ a[nqrwpo~ standing alone as a complete sentence, the adjective will be a predicate adjective (“A man is good”). However, in a sentence such as ajgaqo;~ a[nqrwpo~ blevpei to;n ajpovstolon, the adjective is obviously an attributive adjective (“A good man sees the apostle”). In the New Testament, an attributive adjective generally has the article, but not always (see Philippians 1:6: e[rgon ajgaqovn, “a good work”).

We summarize the uses of the Greek adjective in the chart below:

The Attributive Adjective

oJ ajgaqo;~ a[nqrwpo~ the good man or oJ a[nqrwpo~ oJ ajgaqov~

The Predicate Adjective

oJ a[nqrwpo~ ajgaqov~ the man is good or ajgaqo;~ oJ a[nqrwpo~

The Substantival Adjective

Adjectives constitute one of the most prominent classes of words in the New Testament. This lesson introduces the paradigms of first and second declension adjectives as well as the more characteristic features of the Greek use of the adjective.