Important Rules to Remember When Learning Ancient Greek Part 1

There are many reasons why one may study ancient Greek and Koine Greek; as a student of the classics, archaeology, new testament studies, pure interest, but when we learn a new language we are often bowled over by the amount of rules and terms to remember with just the basics. So in response to some of my students I am here providing some of the most important rules when learning basic Greek so one can remember them, refer to them and read the Greek better.

The Alphabet:

24 Letters, many similar to English ones
7 vowels
Short vowels = α ε ι ο υ
Long vowels = α η ι ω υ = note Eta and Omega are long forms of Epsilon and Omicron
Γγ is pronounced as ng. Thus ἅγγελος is angelos (angel)
There is still debate over how eta is pronounced
Iota can sometimes behave as a consonant when it begins a work (ie. Like a Y in English). Thus IAKWB is Yakob
Ensure that there is a difference in sound between k and x, by over-emphasising the h sound in x.
Watch Nu – it looks like an English V
Watch Rho – it looks like an English P
The letter sigma is written in two different ways, depending on where it is in the word. Lunate sigma at end of word. Eg. χριστός
It can often be helpful to know that in English words derived from Greek the U has become a Y, eg. Mystery
DIPHTHONG = Two different vowels combined into one syllable
Four sibilants or s sounds = ζ ξ σ ψ

Accents and Breathings:

Rough breathing mark ( = initial h
Smooth breathing mark ) = no initial h sound
E(n = one = hen
E)n = in = en
Initial rho and upsilon always have the rough breathings, eg. ῥῆμα (word) and ὑποκριτής (hypocrite)
With a rho = H not pronounced
If with a capital letter = breathing goes to left

Acute /
Grave \
Oldest Known Image of Jesus from Duras Europos 235AD
Circumflex ~
Accents occasionally distinguish between words that are otherwise identical. Eg. εἰ means ‘if’; εἶ means ‘you are’
Accents serve to indicate which syllable in a Greek word is to be stressed in pronunciation

Apostrophe indicates the omission of the final short vowel before a word that begins with a vowel or a diphthong δι’ αὐτου= (through him)
This is called ELISION
DIAERESIS (¨) occurs where two vowels that normally combine to form a diphthong are to be pronounced separately
CORONIS (‘) indicates the combination of two words with the loss of an intermediate letter or letters. Combination of two words = CRASIS eg. I’m, eg. κἀγώ = καί ἐγω “and I”

Present and Future Verbs:

ACTIVE VOICE = subject is performing an action
PASSIVE VOICE = subject is being acted upon
MIDDLE VOICE = subject is pictured as acting in its own interest

AFFIRMATION is said to be INDICATIVE mood
Express a command = IMPERATIVE mood
Express a contingency = SUBJUNCTIVE mood
Express a verbal idea without limiting it by person and number = INFINITIVE MOOD
Expresses a polite request = OPTATIVE mood

PRIMARY (or PRINCIPLE) TENSES = present, future, perfect and future perfect
SECONDARY (or HISTORICAL) TENSES = imperfect, aorist and pluperfect

Greek has separate sets of person-number suffixes for the primary tenses and for the secondary tenses
Greek adds a vowel before the suffixes –men and –te = CONNECTING VOWEL

By removing the –w we obtain the present stem
The conjugation of present active indicative of –w verb = substitute present stem of that verb, add primary suffices with appropriate connecting vowels
Greek indicates future time by adding a sigma to the present stem = FUTURE TIME MORPHEME = ‘will’ equivalent

When the stem of a verb ends in a consonant, a phonological change will occur when the future time morpheme sigma is attached.
Π, β, φ, + σ = ψ
Κ, γ, χ + σ = ξ
Τ, δ, θ drop out before the σ

‘Not’ is expressed by the adverb οὐ
Used with the indicative mood
μή is used with all other moods
Both precede the word to which they refer

Finite verbs convey = tense, voice, mood, person, and number
+ its source (lexical or vocabulary form) of the verb

Nouns of the Second Declension:

NOMINATIVE = subject
ACCUSATIVE = object
GENITIVE = possessor
DATIVE = indirect object
VOCATIVE = person or thing addressed

Greek nouns can be grouped together according to the manner in which their endings change
Change in case and number
Number = singular or plural
Nouns with the same pattern of ending are called declensions
Three basic declensions in Greek

Second declension may be divided into two main groups = nouns whose nominative singular end in –os; and those than end in –on
There are also several feminine nouns of the second declension
Some second declension nouns are irregular in their formulation eg. ἰησοῦς

ABLATIVAL GENITIVE = indicates a source = ‘from a house’
LOCATIVE DATIVE = ‘in a field’
INSTRUCTIONAL DATIVE = ‘by a word’
DATIVE OF PERSONAL ADVANTAGE = ‘for a man’
Definite article = THE
NT writers typically placed the subject after the verb

Nouns of the First Declension:

Papyrus 66: This manuscript contains almost the complete Gospel of John

Next most regular declension after the second
Five paradigms
Differences between these paradigms are due to certain phonetic changes and are confined to the singular
No neuter nouns of the first declension
If the stem of a word ends in the phonemes ε, ι, or ρ, then the α of the nominative singular is retained
If the stem of the word ends in a sibilant phoneme then the α of the nominative singular lengthens to -ης and –η
If the stem ends in a phoneme other than ε, ι, ρ, or a sibilant, then the η in the nominative singular is retained throughout the singular
Mostly feminine
112 masculine nouns of the first declension
All five paradigms have the same plural endings
Prepositions with One Case
- Used with a noun (or pronoun) in order to clarify the relationship of the noun to some other word in a sentence
- Located before the noun = PRE-POSITION
- In Greek, numerous prepositions take a single case, but others take two or even three cases
- Four Greek Prepositions that are used with a single case
- Απο = takes genitive case = from, away from, of = αφ’ before rough breathing
- Εις = takes accusative case = into, to, for, in
- Εκ = takes genitive case = out of, from, by
- Εν = takes the dative case = in, within, by, with, among
- A preposition is always to be read in conjunction with what it governs in a sentence
- This combination is called a prepositional phrase
The Paradigm of the Definite Article
- The feminine article followed the paradigm of φωνη
- The masculine and neuter inflections follow ανθρωπος/δωρον with the exception of the nominative singular
- The root of the definite article is the rough breathing in the nominative masculine and feminine (singular and plural) and τ elsewhere

Adjectives:

A Greek adjective agrees with the noun that it modifies in gender, number, and case.
Most adjectives will therefore have 24 forms like the article
Called THREE-TERMINATION ADJECTIVES as have for masculine, feminine and neuter
Smaller number of TWO-TERMINATION ADJECTIVES with no separate forms for the feminine
Frequently these include COMPOUND ADJECTIVES = composed of two of more constituent parts eg. Αδυνατος ‚impossible‛
Feminine forms follow the first declension
Masculine and neuter forms follow the second declension
When stem ends in ε, ι, or ρ, the feminine singular will use α; otherwise it will use η
Summary of the Uses of the Adjective