LESSON THIRTEEN: PRONOUNS CONTINUED

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1 LESSON THIRTEEN: PRONOUNS CONTINUED Memorization of Vocabulary thirteen ἐγω ἐµος ἡµετερος θρησκεια καιρος ὀνοµα ὀφθαλµος σος ὑµετερος συ τίς τις ὅστις ἀλληλους I my our religion fitting time name eye your (singular) your (plural) you who? anyone whoever one another (accusative form) 5. Reciprocal Pronoun (endings are same as those of λογος) This refers to the pronoun ἀλληλους best rendered in the English as one another or each other. Since it cannot function as subject it has no nominative form. It has no singular forms either. The forms found in the New Testament are all masculine, namely: Accusative: ἀλληλους (one another, serving as direct object) Genitive: ἀλληλων (of one another) Dative: ἀλληλοις (to/for one another) 6. Personal Pronouns While the pronouns introduced above can be learned by relating the form endings to those of the master words (particularly λογος, αρχη, εργον), the forms of personal pronoun (1 st and 2 nd persons, since 3 rd person is covered above) for the most part, require memorization on their own. It would be good to spend some time memorizing them. They are: a. First person (I, we) Nominative ἐγω ἡµεις (I/We serving as subject of action) Accusative ἐµε ἡµας (me, us serving as recipient of action) Genitive ἐµου ἡµων (my, our possession) 1

2 Dative ἐµοι ἡµιν (to/for me, to/for us beneficiary) Note: The singular forms, except the nominative case form, also occur without the ε, to read µε, µου and µοι) b. Second person (you) Nominative συ ὑµεις (you) Accusative σε ὑµας (you) Genitive σου ὑµων (of you, yours) Dative σοι ὑµιν (to, for you) Note: The use of the personal pronouns may at times be for emphasis. For example, if a writer or speaker says αγαπαω, this is rightly translated as I love. If, however, the writer has εγω αγαπαω, the inclusion of the personal pronoun εγω with αγαπαω may be for deliberate intention to emphasize (I myself love). This must be noted in exegesis even if the myself will be left out in the translation to avoid over-translation. One possible way of handling it at the translation level is to put the myself in brackets: I (myself) love. In this way, the non-reader of Greek will know there is some emphasis in the Greek. 7. Possessive pronouns In addition to using the genitive of personal pronoun (µου, σου, αὐτου, ἡµων, ὑµων - see above) Greek also has possessive adjectives (referred to as adjectives because in function they always qualify a noun, whether the noun is spelt out or to be understood). These are: For 1 st person: a. ἐµος (used with masculine nouns) and translated as my b. ἐµη (used with feminine nouns) and also translated as my c. ἐµον (used with neuter nouns) and also translated as my Their corresponding plurals are ἡµετερος for masculine nouns, ἡµετερα for feminine nouns and ἡµετερον for neuter nouns. They all mean our 1 For the 2 nd person: a. σος (for masculine nouns) and means your (singular) b. ση (for feminine nouns) c. σον (for neuter nouns) 1 Their gender in a given context is dictated by the gender of the noun they qualify. For example, in 1 John 1:4 we have the feminine form ἡµετερα (our) because it qualifies κοινωνια (fellowship) which is feminine. 2

3 Their corresponding plurals are ὑµετερος (masculine), ὑµετερα (feminine) and ὑµετερον (neuter). They all mean your (plural) 2 Note: Having the function of an adjective, it means that it is at times used substativally, with what is meant being got from the gender, number, and case used. For example, το σον (cf. το ἀγαθον) being neuter would be understood your thing while the same in the plural (τα σα) will mean your things. When used attributively, it usually takes the article for example, see the NT examples mentioned in the footnote. Though the declined forms do not occur much, the masculine forms (ἐµος, σος, ἡµετερος and ὑµετερος) would decline like λογος; the feminine forms (ἐµη, ση, ἡµετερα and ὑµετερα) like ἀρχη/ἡµερα while the neuter forms (ἐµον, σον, ἡµετερον and ὑµετερον) would decline like ἐργον. 8. Interrogative and indefinite pronouns These two will be put together here because the only difference between them is an accent. The interrogative (who? which? what?) has acute accent in first syllable while the indefinite (anyone, anything, someone, a certain one etc.) does not have any or has one in second syllable. 3 The masculine and feminine share forms and are as follows: Interrogative pronoun (for both masculine and feminine) (for both masculine and feminine) Nom. τίς τίνες (who?) Acc. τίνα τίνας (who?) Gen. τίνος τίνων (whose) Dat. τίνι τίσι(ν) (to/for whom?) Indefinite pronoun (for both masculine and feminine) Nom. τις τινες (anyone, some) Acc. τινά τινάς (anyone, some) Gen. τινός τινῶν (of anyone, of some) Dat. τινί τισί(ν) (to/for anyone/some) 2 Some examples of these are found in Matthew 7:3 (εν τῳ σῳ ὀφθαλµῳ); 18:20 (εἰς το ἐµον ὀνοµα); John 7:6 (ὁ καιρος ὁ ἐµος... ὁ δε καιρος ὁ ὑµετερος ) and Acts 26:5 (της ἡµετερας θρησκειας) 3 τις as indefinite pronoun is enclitic. That is, it has no accent of its own. This is because it is read with the preceding word. 3

4 For the neuter, the forms are: Interrogative pronoun Nom. τί τίνα (what?) Acc. τί τίνα (what) Gen. τίνος τίνων (of what) Dat. τίνι τίσι(ν) (to, for what?) Indefinite pronoun Nom. τι τινά (anything, some) Acc. τι τινά (anything, some) Gen. τινός τινῶν (of anything/some) Dat. τινί τισί(ν) (to/for anything/ some) 9. There is also the indefinite pronoun ὁστις (whoever) which is a combination of the relative pronouns ὃς (masculine), ἣ (feminine) and ὃ (neuter) with the indefinite pronoun τις. Its full forms are as follows: Masculine Nominative ὃστις οἱτινες (who, whoever) Accusative ὃντινα οὕστινας (who, whoever) Genitive οὓτινος or ὃτου ὧντινων (of whom/whoever) Dative ᾧτινι οἱστισι (to/for whom/whomever) Feminine Nominative ἣτις αἱτινες (same as masc., as both are person) Accusative ἣντινα ἁστινας Genitive ἣστινος ὧντινων Dative ἣτινι αἱστισι Neuter Nominative ὃτι (or ὁτι) ἁτινα (what, whatever) Accusative ὃτι (or ὁτι) ἁτινα (what, whatever) Genitive οὓτινος or ὃτου ὧντινων (of whatever) Dative ᾧτινι οἱστισι (to, for whatever) Notes: a. Basically, it is the nominative forms that are found in the New Testament. 4

5 b. By way of observing contexts where this pronoun is used, there is the appearance that it had become interchangeable with the ordinary relative pronoun. 4 So, context not demanding the indefiniteness, who and what will be all right for translation. Exercise 13 Go through 1:1-4 and 2:21-25 and identify all the pronouns found in these passages, listing and stating what class each pronoun belongs to. For example, 1 John 1:1 ὃ: relative pronoun (neuter). Note: it occurs in this verse 4 times but one listing will do. 1:1 Ὃ ἦν ἀπ ἀρχῆς, ὃ ἀκηκόαµεν, ὃ ἑωράκαµεν τοῖς ὀφθαλµοῖς ἡµῶν, ὃ ἐθεασάµεθα καὶ αἱ χεῖρες ἡµῶν ἐψηλάφησαν, περὶ τοῦ λόγου τῆς ζωῆς 2 καὶ ἡ ζωὴ ἐφανερώθη, καὶ ἑωράκαµεν καὶ µαρτυροῦµεν καὶ ἀπαγγέλλοµεν ὑµῖν τὴν ζωὴν τὴν αἰώνιον ἥτις ἦν πρὸς τὸν πατέρα καὶ ἐφανερώθη ἡµῖν 3 ὃ ἑωράκαµεν καὶ ἀκηκόαµεν ἀπαγγέλλοµεν καὶ ὑµῖν, ἵνα καὶ ὑµεῖς κοινωνίαν ἔχητε µεθ ἡµῶν. καὶ ἡ κοινωνία δὲ ἡ ἡµετέρα µετὰ τοῦ πατρὸς καὶ µετὰ τοῦ υἱοῦ αὐτοῦ Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ. 4 καὶ ταῦτα γράφοµεν ἡµεῖς ἵνα ἡ χαρὰ ἡµῶν ᾖ πεπληρωµένη. 2: 21 οὐκ ἔγραψα ὑµῖν ὅτι οὐκ οἴδατε τὴν ἀλήθειαν, ἀλλ ὅτι οἴδατε αὐτήν, καὶ ὅτι πᾶν ψεῦδος ἐκ τῆς ἀληθείας οὐκ ἔστιν. 22 Τίς ἐστιν ὁ ψεύστης εἰ µὴ ὁ ἀρνούµενος ὅτι Ἰησοῦς οὐκ ἔστιν ὁ Χριστός; οὗτός ἐστιν ὁ ἀντίχριστος, ὁ ἀρνούµενος τὸν πατέρα καὶ τὸν υἱόν. 23 πᾶς ὁ ἀρνούµενος τὸν υἱὸν οὐδὲ τὸν πατέρα ἔχει ὁ ὁµολογῶν τὸν υἱὸν καὶ τὸν πατέρα ἔχει. 24 ὑµεῖς ὃ ἠκούσατε ἀπ ἀρχῆς ἐν ὑµῖν µενέτω ἐὰν ἐν ὑµῖν µείνῃ ὃ ἀπ ἀρχῆς ἠκούσατε, καὶ ὑµεῖς ἐν τῷ υἱῷ καὶ ἐν τῷ πατρὶ µενεῖτε. 25 καὶ αὕτη ἐστὶν ἡ ἐπαγγελία ἣν αὐτὸς ἐπηγγείλατο ἡµῖν, τὴν ζωὴν τὴν αἰώνιον. Samuel M. Ngewa Africa International University 4 Note for example how different translations render ἥτις in 1 John 1:2 5