than (used in comparison see under comparison of adjectives)

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1 LESSON TWELVE: PRONOUNS Memorization of Vocabulary twelve αὐτος ἤ οὗτος ἐκεινος ἐµαυτον ὅς, ἥ, ὅ- µειζων he/she/it than (used in comparison see under comparison of adjectives) this that (demonstrative pronoun) myself (accusative form) who (for masculine and feminine) what (for the neuter) greater (comparative form of µεγας, great see under comparison of adjectives) A. Introduction A simple, but not exhaustive, definition of a pronoun is a word that helps us not to repeat people s names or descriptions whenever we make reference of them, be able to point people out even when we do not know their names [ that man this woman ] or perform similar function. For example, if we give report on someone (by name or description) we will use he or she once we have specified the person we are talking about, at the very beginning and this will make our task easier as story tellers and the hearers less tired as listeners. There are different classifications of pronouns, with labels given as appropriate, and so we will examine each category on its own. Most of the pronouns can be studied following the end forms of three of our six master words. The three are λογος, ἀρχη and ἐργον. The ones which do not fit into this arrangement are the 1 st and 2 nd personal pronouns which will be studied last and τις which is one of our master words and so needing memorization on its own so that our knowledge of it will assist us in learning some other forms. B. The different Categories and their forms 1. Third personal pronoun (he, she, it, they) Greek language, as we have it in the New Testament, does not have a third personal pronoun as such but αὐτος which is at times referred to as intensive or emphasizing pronoun (requiring the translation, he himself etc.) serves that function. It has masculine, feminine, and neuter forms: Masculine (end forms as those of λογος) Nominative αὐτος αὐτοι (he, they) Accusative αὐτον αὐτους (him, them) 1

2 Genitive αὐτου αὐτων (of him/them his, their) Dative αὐτῳ αὐτοις (to/for him, to/for them) Feminine (end forms as those of ἀρχη) Nominative αὐτη αὐται (she, they) Accusative αὐτην αὐτας (her, them) Genitive αὐτης αὐτων (of her/them her, their) Dative αὐτῃ αὐταις (to/for her, to/for them) Neuter (end forms can be related to those of εργον and the neuter article το τα) Nominative αὐτο αὐτα (it, they) Accusative αὐτο αὐτα (it, them) Genitive αὐτου αὐτων (of it/them its, their) Dative αὐτῳ αὐτοις (to/for it, to/for them) It is to be noted that: a. There are also other ways of expressing third person. These include (a) the demonstrative pronouns, ἐκεινος (see 1 John 2:6 translation of the ἐκεινος [cf. 3:3, 5, 7, 16, 4:17] phrase here as he walked is better than that one walked ; notice also John in this phrase used both ἐκεινος [in reference to Jesus who walked] and οὗτος [in reference to he who ought to walk, (b) the article (ὁ), at times followed by particle δε (whose basic meaning is: but and, even but also may be left untranslated). An example of this usage but without the δε is in 1 John 4:4: µειζων ἐστιν ὁ ἐν ὑµιν ἤ ὁ ἐν τῳ κοσµῳ (he [translating the article] who is in you is greater than he in the world) b. The word αυτος has more functions than serving as personal pronoun. Its full function include: 1) Usage as third personal pronoun (see above) 2) Usage as emphasizing pronun. There are times when αυτος and its forms is used with another word, especially nouns, in such a way that it lays emphasis. For example, αὐτος ὁ λογος (no article with it, comparable to the predicative use of adjective see lesson on adjectives) would read the word itself. With a personal pronoun like ἡµεις (for full study of the 1 st and 2 nd personal pronouns, see the end of this lesson) to read ἡµεις αὐτοι, we would need to translate we ourselves. John 3:28, for example, has αὐτοι ὑµεις µοι µαρτυρειτε ὁτι εἰπον (you yourselves bear witness with me that I said.). There is a sense in which there are two levels of emphasis here. To begin with, µαρτυρειτε is sufficient to communicate you bear witness as the -τε ending has the 2 nd person plural 2

3 inbuilt. Then we have the personal pronoun υµεις which also carries emphasis (see comments under no. 2 below). After that we also have the αυτοι. The idea seems to be you yourselves, in full view, bear witness or something similar to it. 3) Usage as identical adjective - to be translated as same. The construction for this is usually article followed by form of αὐτος. For example, if instead of αὐτος ὁ λογος used in no. 2 above, we had ὁ αὐτος λογος (that is, the normal attributive position of an adjective see lesson on adjectives), we would not translate it as the word itself (as in no. 2 above) but as the same word. (see Duff, p. 102) So, following the same pattern of differentiating attributive and predicative use of the adjective (that is, attributive has article with the adjective and predicative use does not) we can observe that αὐτη ἡ ἀρχη would mean the beginning itself while ἡ αὐτη ἀρχη or ἡ ἀρχη ἡ αὐτη (the important thing being that αυτη has the article) would mean the same beginning. 2. Demonstrative Pronouns By this we mean, this/these and that/those. The Greek words are οὗτος/οὗτοι and ἐκεινος/ἐκεινοι, respectively. a. The forms of οὗτος (this) Masculine (relate its endings to those of λογος) Nominative οὗτος οὗτοι (this, these) Accusative τουτον τουτους (this, these) Genitive τουτου τουτων (of this, of these) Dative τουτῳ τουτοις (to, for this/these) (Note the beginning τ in all forms except the nominative) Feminine (relate its endings to those of αρχη) Nominative αὕτη αὕται (used with feminine nouns) Accusative ταυτην ταυτας Genitive ταυτης τουτων (plural is same as in masculine and neuter) Dative ταυτῃ ταυταις (Note the beginning τ in all forms except the nominative) 3

4 Neuter (relate its endings with those of εργον and the neuter article το τα) Nominative τουτο ταυτα (used with neuter nouns) Accusative τουτο ταυτα Genitive τουτου τουτων Dative τουτῳ τουτοις b. The forms of ἐκεινος (that) Masculine (endings are the same as those of λογος) Singular Plural Nominative ἐκεινος ἐκεινοι (that, those) Accusative ἐκεινον ἐκεινους (that, those) Genitive ἐκεινου ἐκεινων (of that, of those) Dative ἐκεινῳ ἐκεινοις (to/for that, to/for those) Feminine (endings are the same as those of αρχη) Nominative ἐκεινη ἐκειναι (used with feminine nouns) Accusative ἐκεινην ἐκεινας Genitive ἐκεινης ἐκεινων Dative ἐκεινῃ ἐκειναις Neuter (relate endings with those of εργον and το τα) Nominative ἐκεινο ἐκεινα (used with neuter nouns) Accusative ἐκεινο ἐκεινα Genitive ἐκεινου ἐκεινων Dative ἐκεινῳ ἐκεινοις 3. Reflexive Pronouns For obvious reasons, this would not have nominative form (that is, the case for expressing the subject). We do not say Myself love God. Therefore, the forms we have are accusative, genitive and dative. The forms are as follows: 4

5 a. First Person (myself, ourselves) Masculine (relate them to the forms of λογος) Accusative ἐµαυτον ἑαυτους (myself/ourselves) Genitive ἐµαυτου ἑαυτων (of myself, of ourselves) Dative ἐµαυτῳ ἑαυτοις (to/for myself/ourselves) Feminine (relate them to the forms of ἀρχη) Accusative ἐµαυτην ἑαυτας (used with feminine nouns) Genitive ἐµαυτης ἑαυτων Dative ἐµαυτῃ ἑαυταις Note: Neuter forms are not included for 1 st person since most nouns that are neuter do not speak, to be able to say myself. b. Second person (yourself, yourselves) Masculine (relate endings to those of λογος) Accusative σεαυτον ἑαυτους (yourself, yourselves) Genitive σεαυτου ἑαυτων (of yourself, of yourselves) Dative σεαυτῳ ἑαυτοις (to/for yourself, to/for yourselves) Feminine (relate endings to those of ἀρχη) Accusative σεαυτην ἑαυτας (used with feminine nouns) Genitive σεαυτης ἑαυτων Dative σεαυτῃ ἑαυταις Note: No neuter forms for these also since most neuter nouns are not spoken to. c. Third person (himself, herself, itself, themselves) Masculine (endings same as those of λογος) Accusative ἑαυτον ἑαυτους (himself, themselves) Genitive ἑαυτου ἑαυτων (of himself, of themselves) Dative ἑαυτῳ ἑαυτοις (to, for himself, to/for themselves) 5

6 Feminine (endings same as those of ἀρχη) Accusative ἑαυτην ἑαυτας (herself/themselves) Genitive ἑαυτης ἑαυτων (of herself, of themselves) Dative ἑαυτῃ ἑαυταις (to/for herself, to/for themselves) Neuter (relate endings to those of ἐργον and το τα) Accusative ἑαυτο ἑαυτα (itself/themselves) Genitive ἑαυτου ἑαυτων (of itself, of themselves) Dative ἑαυτῳ ἑαυτοις (to/for itself, to/for themselves) Note: Observe the features εµα, εσα and εα in the singular, 1 st, 2 nd, and 3 rd person respectively. Also, observe the similarities in the plural. 4. Relative pronoun By this we mean, who, which that. This class of words is called relative because, as their function, they are related to another pronoun or a noun within the same context. Whenever used, a relative pronoun must agree with its relative in gender and number. Case may change if its function in its clause (relative clause) is different from the function of its antecedent in its clause (antecedent clause). For example, I saw the person who helped me, person is object of saw and therefore will be in the accusative case. The relative pronoun who refers to the person but in its own clause serves as the subject of helped and for this reason it will be expressed in the nominative case. The three features (gender, number, and case) however, are part of any relative pronoun. The relative pronoun differs with some forms of the article only in matter of accent. For this reason, we will list the relative pronoun forms here with both breathings and accents though that has not been the case where there is no confusion of forms. Having the breathings only has been sufficient. The forms are: 6

7 Masculine (declined like λογος) Nominative ὅς οἵ (who, that; cf. the plural οἵ with the plural article) Accusative ὅν οὕς (whom, that) Genitive οὗ ὧν (of whom, whose) Dative ᾧ οἷς (to/for whom) Note: These are the same as the endings of λογος Feminine (declined like ἀρχη) Nominative ἥ αἵ (who, that; cf. the sing feminine article ἡ) Accusative ἥν ἅς (whom, that) Genitive ἧς ὧν (of whom, whose) Dative ᾗ αἷς (to/for whom) Note: These are the same as the endings of ἀρχη Neuter (relate it to ἐργον and to το τα) Nominative ὅ ἅ (which, that; cf. sing. masculine article ὁ) Accusative ὅ ἅ (which, that) Genitive οὗ ὧν (of which, whose) Dative ᾧ οἷς (to/for which) Note: These are the same as the endings of ἐργον (except for the nominative and accusative singular) and the same as the endings of neuter article το. 7

8 Exercise 12 Identify all third personal, demonstrative, reflexive, and relative pronouns found in 1 John 1:5-2:6 1:5 Καὶ ἔστιν αὕτη ἡ ἀγγελία ἣν ἀκηκόαµεν ἀπ αὐτοῦ καὶ ἀναγγέλλοµεν ὑµῖν, ὅτι ὁ θεὸς φῶς ἐστιν καὶ σκοτία ἐν αὐτῷ οὐκ ἔστιν οὐδεµία. 6 Ἐὰν εἴπωµεν ὅτι κοινωνίαν ἔχοµεν µετ αὐτοῦ καὶ ἐν τῷ σκότει περιπατῶµεν, ψευδόµεθα καὶ οὐ ποιοῦµεν τὴν ἀλήθειαν 7 ἐὰν δὲ ἐν τῷ φωτὶ περιπατῶµεν ὡς αὐτός ἐστιν ἐν τῷ φωτί, κοινωνίαν ἔχοµεν µετ ἀλλήλων καὶ τὸ αἷµα Ἰησοῦ τοῦ υἱοῦ αὐτοῦ καθαρίζει ἡµᾶς ἀπὸ πάσης ἁµαρτίας. 8 ἐὰν εἴπωµεν ὅτι ἁµαρτίαν οὐκ ἔχοµεν, ἑαυτοὺς πλανῶµεν καὶ ἡ ἀλήθεια οὐκ ἔστιν ἐν ἡµῖν. 9 ἐὰν ὁµολογῶµεν τὰς ἁµαρτίας ἡµῶν, πιστός ἐστιν καὶ δίκαιος ἵνα ἀφῇ ἡµῖν τὰς ἁµαρτίας καὶ καθαρίσῃ ἡµᾶς ἀπὸ πάσης ἀδικίας. 10 ἐὰν εἴπωµεν ὅτι οὐχ ἡµαρτήκαµεν, ψεύστην ποιοῦµεν αὐτὸν καὶ ὁ λόγος αὐτοῦ οὐκ ἔστιν ἐν ἡµῖν. 2:1 Τεκνία µου, ταῦτα γράφω ὑµῖν ἵνα µὴ ἁµάρτητε. καὶ ἐάν τις ἁµάρτῃ, παράκλητον ἔχοµεν πρὸς τὸν πατέρα, Ἰησοῦν Χριστὸν δίκαιον 2 καὶ αὐτὸς ἱλασµός ἐστιν περὶ τῶν ἁµαρτιῶν ἡµῶν, οὐ περὶ τῶν ἡµετέρων δὲ µόνον ἀλλὰ καὶ περὶ ὅλου τοῦ κόσµου. 3 Καὶ ἐν τούτῳ γινώσκοµεν ὅτι ἐγνώκαµεν αὐτόν, ἐὰν τὰς ἐντολὰς αὐτοῦ τηρῶµεν. 4 ὁ λέγων ὅτι Ἔγνωκα αὐτόν, καὶ τὰς ἐντολὰς αὐτοῦ µὴ τηρῶν, ψεύστης ἐστίν, καὶ ἐν τούτῳ ἡ ἀλήθεια οὐκ ἔστιν 5 ὃς δ ἂν τηρῇ αὐτοῦ τὸν λόγον, ἀληθῶς ἐν τούτῳ ἡ ἀγάπη τοῦ θεοῦ τετελείωται. ἐν τούτῳ γινώσκοµεν ὅτι ἐν αὐτῷ ἐσµεν 6 ὁ λέγων ἐν αὐτῷ µένειν ὀφείλει καθὼς ἐκεῖνος περιεπάτησεν καὶ αὐτὸς περιπατεῖν. Samuel M. Ngewa Africa International University 8