Important Rules to Remember When Learning Ancient Greek Part 1

Posted on January 11, 2012 Updated on June 11, 2012

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 \

  

• 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:

• 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
  

Resources that may help you further:

Perseus Vocabulary Tools

New Testament Greek Grammar Books