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Lesson 6 - Postpositives, Personal Pronouns, Uses of
αὐτός, Direct Objects in Cases
Other than the Accusative |
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Postpositives |
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Words that often begin a clause
when translated into English, but never begin a
clause in Greek are called postpositives. A
postpositive is positioned (posited) after (post)
other words in the clause. Often, a postpositive will
be the second word in its clause. The following
conjunctions are postpositives. Notice their position
in the illustrative phrases.
γάρ |
for |
θεοῦ γάρ ἐσμεν συνεργοί (1 Co. 3:9)
for
we are fellow-workers of God |
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ὁ γὰρ
ναὸς τοῦ θεοῦ ἅγιός ἐστιν (1 Co. 3:17) for the temple of God is holy |
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δέ |
but, and |
πιστὸς δὲ
ὁ θεός (1
Co. 10:13)
and
God is faithful |
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ὁ
δὲ
ἀρχιερεὺς Ἁνανίας (Ac. 23:2)
but
the high priest, Ananias |
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οὖν |
therefore |
λέγουσι οὖν τῷ τυφλῷ (Jn. 9:17)
Therefore, they
say to the blind man |
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εἰ οὖν Δαυὶδ καλεῖ αὐτὸν
κύριον(Mt. 22:45)
Therefore,
if David calls him Lord |
This last example illustrates that even in English,
the placement of the conjunction is somewhat fluid,
at least in the case of "therefore." We
could say "If, therefore, David..." just as
well as "Therefore, if David..."
Postpositives do not have to be the second word in
the clause. Notice the position of δέ
in the following
phrases:
ὁ Φῆστος δὲ θέλων τοῖς Ἰουδαίοις χάριν καταθέσθαι (Ac. 25:9)
but
Festus, wishing to gain favor with the Jews
κατ' ἐκεῖνον δὲ
τὸν καιρόν (Ac. 12:1)
and
at that time
οὐ θέλομεν δὲ
ὑμᾶς ἀγνοεῖν (1 Th. 4:13) and
we do not wish you to be ignorant
καὶ ὁ χιλίαρχος δὲ
ἐφοβήθη (Ac. 22:29) and
even the commander was afraid
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ἀλλά and
δέ |
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You have already learned
the word ἀλλά, "but."
Note the following:
- The final vowel of
ἀλλά is often elided before a
word
beginning with a vowel. That is, the final vowel
is dropped
so that you would see only
ἀλλ' with an apostrophe
taking the place of the final
α.
For example,
ἀλλ' οἱ μαθηταί (Jn. 4:2)
"but
the disciples"
- Don't confuse
ἀλλά and
ἄλλος (other). The
neuter
form ἄλλα looks very much like
ἀλλά. However,
notice that ἄλλος, in all its forms, is
always accented
on the penult and
ἀλλά is never accented on the
penult.
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BUT
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OTHER (only the
neuter is given here)
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ἀλλά |
nom |
ἄλλο |
ἄλλα |
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indecl. |
gen |
ἄλλου |
ἄλλων |
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dat |
ἄλλῳ |
ἄλλοις |
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acc |
ἄλλο |
ἄλλα |
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- Both
ἀλλά and δέ may be translated "but".
However,
ἀλλά has a strong adversative
meaning, whereas δέ is
a mild adversative, and is often translated
"and," having no
adversative sense at all.
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1st &
2nd Person Pronouns |
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I am repeatedly amazed to find that
students in the classroom have difficulty knowing
what first person means as opposed to 2nd person and
3rd person. And even after having learned these
distinctions in the context of verbs, it seems we
have to do it again when we get to pronouns. Let's
review this point:
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singular |
plural |
1st person |
I or me. |
we, us |
2nd person |
you |
you (pl.; in Alabama, we said, ya'll) |
3rd person |
he, she, it, him, her |
they, them |
The first person pronoun "I
" is ἐγώ.
Think of ego. My ego is all about me.
The first person pronoun has no gender, but is
declined for case and number as follows:
1st Person Pronoun |
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sing. |
plur. |
nom. |
ἐγώ |
ἡμεῖς |
gen. |
ἐμοῦ |
ἡμῶν |
dat. |
ἐμοί |
ἡμῖν |
acc. |
ἐμέ |
ἡμᾶς |
The highlighted forms are emphatic. If no emphasis is
intended, the initial ε is dropped resulting in the
forms, μου, μοι, and με, all of which are enclitic.
The second person
pronoun "you" is
σύ.
Again, it has no gender, but is declined
for case and number:
2nd Person Pronoun |
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sing. |
plur. |
nom. |
σύ |
ὑμεῖς |
gen. |
σοῦ |
ὑμῶν |
dat. |
σοί |
ὑμῖν |
acc. |
σέ |
ὑμᾶς |
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3rd Person Pronoun |
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In contrast to the 1st and 2nd person pronouns,
the 3rd person pronoun is declined for number case and
gender, as follows:
3rd Person Pronoun
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masculine |
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feminine
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neuter
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sing. |
plur. |
sing. |
plur. |
sing. |
plur. |
nom. |
αὐτός |
αὐτοί |
αὐτή |
αὐταί |
αὐτό |
αὐτά |
gen. |
αὐτοῦ |
αὐτῶν |
αὐτῆς |
αὐτῶν |
αὐτοῦ |
αὐτῶν |
dat. |
αὐτῷ |
αὐτοῖς |
αὐτῇ |
αὐταῖς |
αὐτῷ |
αὐτοῖς |
acc. |
αὐτόν |
αὐτούς |
αὐτήν |
αὐτάς |
αὐτό |
αὐτά |
Notice that the endings for the 3rd person pronoun
are typical 1st and 2nd declension endings. Also
notice that in the neuter gender, the final
ν is dropped in the nominative
and accusative singular. Remember that the same thing
happens in the definite article, and also in the
declension of the adjective
ἄλλος
(other).
Uses of the 3rd Person Pronoun
The various uses of the 3rd person pronoun can be
summarized as follows:
- When in the attributive
position, it means "same."
ὁ αὐτὸς λόγος |
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the same word |
ὁ λόγος ὁ αὐτός |
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- When NOT in the
attributive position, in the nominative case,
it often intensifies.
αὐτὸς ὁ λόγος |
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the word itself |
ὁ λόγος αὐτός |
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or without a noun:
αὐτὸς λέγω = I myself say
- When NOT in the
attributive position, in any of
the oblique cases
(i.e., any case other than the nominative
case) it is usually being used as a regular 3rd person
pronoun.
We need to consider the first two of these more
thoroughly.
- In the attributive position
Remember the discussion (Lesson 4) of
these word orders: Definite Article | Adjective
| Noun
Definite
Article |
Noun | Definite
Article | Adjective
We
saw that in both cases, the adjective is in
the attributive position. If a 3rd person
pronoun stands in the place of the adjective,
it functions as an adjective meaning
"same". It will agree with the noun
it modifies in number, case, and gender.
Consider the following examples:
τὴν αὐτὴν ἀγάπην (Ph. 2:2)
the same
love
ὁ αὐτὸς κύριος (1 Co. 12:5)
the same
Lord
ὁ δὲ αὐτὸς θεός (1 Co. 12:6)
but the same
God (notice the postpositive
δέ. Its presence does
not preclude this construction from being
attributive.)
τῆς ἐπαγγελίας τῆς
αὐτῆς (He. 11:9)
of the same
promise (here the word order is Def.
art | Noun | Def. art. | Adj.,
the promise the
same. Remember that this order
also is the attributive position.)
In
lesson 4, we noted that an adjective can be
used as a substantive. This is also true of
the 3rd person pronoun in the attributive
position. Consider the following example:
τὰ αὐτὰ γράφειν (Ph.3:1)
to write the same
things
(γράφειν is the infinitive
form of γράφω.
There is no word here for things. Rather
τὰ αὐτά
functions as a substantive.
Because τὰ αὐτά is neuter plural,
things is the natural
noun to supply in English.)
- Not in the attributive position, in the
nominative case
αὐτός is usually in the
nominative case when functioning as an intensifier ("...self").
There are examples of intensive
αὐτός in other cases, but we
will reserve discussion of those for the 3rd level course. In
the present course, all examples of
αὐτός as an intensifier will be in the nominative case.
We need to give some special attention to
this intensive function in connection with verbs. It is
important to dismiss all thought of a third
person pronoun (he, she, it, him, her, they,
them). In this capacity, αὐτός
has no person. Person is determined by the
verb. For example, αὐτὸς λέγω means I myself say, not
he himself says. Only its number
(singular vs. plural) and gender are
significant. The number must agree with the
verb. The gender will be dictated by the
explicit or implicit subject. The fact that
the masculine αὐτός is used rather than the feminine
αὐτή indicates that
the speaker is a man rather than a woman.
Consider the following carefully:
αὐτὸς λέγω |
= I
myself say (spoken by a man) |
αὐτὴ λέγω |
= I
myself say (spoken by a woman) |
αὐτὸς λέγεις |
= you
yourself say (spoken to a man) |
αὐτὴ λέγεις |
= you
yourself say (spoken to a woman) |
αὐτὸς λέγει |
= he
himself says |
αὐτὴ λέγει |
= she
herself says |
αὐτὸ λέγει |
= it
itself says |
Now
you try to translate the next one |
αὐτοὶ γινώσκετε |
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Now try translating a
passage of scripture. The
sentence below is taken from Acts 10:26. You
will encounter a personal pronoun used as
such and a pronoun used intensively, both of
which we have covered in this lesson. The
other three words were introduced in previous
lessons. If you get stuck, point your mouse
at the confusing word to get help. After you
have settled on your translation, look at
Acts 10:26.
It should be
noted that in NT Greek, nominative
αὐτός is
sometimes used as a regular 3rd person
pronoun. For example, in Mt. 5:4, we read,
μακάριοι οἱ πενθοῦντες, ὅτι αὐτοὶ
παρακληθήσονται. Blessed
are they who mourn, because they will be
comforted may be an adequate translation,
rather than they themselves will be comforted.
Here is
another way to organize your thinking about the 3
uses of αὐτός:
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Verbs with
Direct Object in Cases Other than the Accusative |
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So far, we have associated the
accusative case with the direct object. However, for
some verbs, what would be a direct object in English
may be in the genitive or dative case in Greek.
The verb πιστεύω
may take an accusative object, but more often
it is used with the dative case (or with a
prepositional phrase). Consider Jesus' words in Jn.
8:45, οὐ πιστεύετέ μοι,
you do not believe me. μοι
is the dative singular 1st
person pronoun we learned earlier in this lesson, and
it serves as the object of πιστεύετε.
The verb ἀκούω may be used with the genitive case as well as
the accusative case. In classical Greek, the
distinction in case represented a distinction in
meaning. For example, ἀκούω
with the genitive case had more to do with hearing
from someone, whereas the accusative case was
used for hearing what was said. Robertson
discussed ἀκούω with the
two cases and described the distinction this way:
The accusative (case of extent) accents the
intellectual apprehension of the sound, while the
genitive (specifying case) calls attention to the
sound of the voice without accenting the sense. (A
Grammar of the Greek New Testament, A. T.
Robertson, p. 506).
This distinction was not consistently
observed in Hellenistic Greek, and certainly we often
see the two cases used with ἀκούω
interchangeably in the New Testament. However, the
distinction is not entirely lost in the New
Testament. And it so happens, noting this distinction
helps us work through what some have considered a
contradiction in the book of Acts.
In the story of Saul's conversion as
told in Acts 9, Luke tells us "the men who
traveled with him stood speechless, hearing the voice
(φωνῆς, genitive case),
but not seeing anyone" (Ac. 9:7). But in Acts
22, Luke records Saul's recounting of the story, and
in verse 9 Saul says, "they that were with me
saw the light, but they did not hear the voice (φωνήν, accusative case) of the
one speaking to me." So did they hear the voice
or not? In both cases the verb for hear is a
form of ἀκούω but the
case of the word φωνή is
genitive in one and accusative in the other. It
appears that Luke is making the old classical
distinction; they heard the sound (the genitive case
in Acts 9:7) but did not comprehend the meaning (the
accusative case in Acts 22:9).
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Assignment
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