2Nd Declension (O Ending)

Introduction to Greek Grammar (Mounce ch. 1-4) The Greek Alphabet: Small Letter Capital Name Sound a A Alpha a as in father b B Beta b as in Bible g G Gamma g as in God d D Delta d as in dog e E Epsilon e as in met z Z Zeta z as in zoo h H Eta e as in obey q Q Theta th as in thing i I Iota i as in inside k K Kappa k as in kitchen l L Lambda l as in lamb m M Mu m as in mother n N Nu n as in new x X Xsi x as in axe o O Omicron o as in pot p P Pi p as in peach r R Rho r as in rod s, j S Sigma s as in study t T Tau t as in talk u U Upsilon u as in book f F Phi ph as in phone c C Chi ch as in chasm y Y Psi ps as in lips w W Omega o as in tone 1 Vowels: English Greek Short Long Vowels Vowel Vowel a a e e h i i o o w u u Notice how in Greek there are two more vowels. There is a long “e” and a long “o.” The difference is in their pronunciation. It will be important to identify them for translation. Dipthongs: A dipthong is basically two vowels that go together to form one sound. The second vowel is always a iota (i) or an upsilon (u). These are not separate letters or consonants, but rather combinations of vowels that go together to produce a unique sound. Dipthong Sound Example ai as in aisle ai;rw “I lift up” ei as in eight eivj “into, in, towards” oi as in oil oivki,a “house, home, property” au as in sauerkraut auvto,j “he, she, it” ou as in soup ouvde, “neither, not” ui as in suite ui`o,j “son” eu,hu as in feud euvdoke,w “I am pleased” 2 There are also three letters that take a subscripted iota. The letters alpha (a), eta (h), and omega (w) will have a small iota (i) underneath the letter. When this happens, it is called in improper dipthong. There is no effect on the pronunciation, but they are very important in translation so you must recognize them. Each of these improper dipthongs are have the same pronunciation as their letter. a| a as in father w[ra| “hour” h| e as in obey grafh,| “scriptures” w| o as in tone lo,gw| “word” Consonants: Letters other than vowels are called consonants. The consonants can be classified as follows: Liquid l, m, n, r Mute Palatal k, g, c Labial p, b, f Dental t, d, q Sibilant s (j), z, x, y Notice that there are two forms for the sigma (s). The alternate form (j) is only found when the sigma is found at the end of a word. There is no change in meaning. Note the word sei,smoj (seismos). The letters are put in different groups based on the way the air flows out of the mouth when they are pronounced. Liquids have a smooth air flow. Mutes momentarily stop the air flow. Sibilants produce a “hissing” sound. These groupings are important, because whatever happens to the ending of a word that ends in a tau (t), also happens in the same way to a delta (d) or a theta (q). The same is true for the Palatals and the Dentals. If you learn this pattern, then you can predict what changes are going to take place (or have taken place) to a given word. 3 Note this chart below for what happens when a Palatal, Labial, or Dental combines with a s. Palatal k, g, c + s = x Labial p, b, f + s = y Dental (z) t, d, q + s = s When the Palatal consonants are followed by a sigma (s) in a word, they combine together to form a different letter altogether (x). This makes sense, because if a kappa (k) combines with a sigma (s), you would get a “ks” kind of sound which is a ksi (x). Notice that the dentals as well as the zeta (z) combine with a sigma (s) to form a sigma (s). In essence, the dental or zeta drops off altogether and the only letter remaining is the sigma (s). EXAMPLE: sko,lop + s = sko,loy sa,rk + s = sa,rx ca,rit + s = ca,rij In addition to the dentals “dropping out” when followed by a sigma, there are two other rules that are needed: 1. When a nu (n) is followed by a sigma (s), the nu drops out. lo,go + ns = lo,goj (lo,gouj) 2. A tau (t) cannot stand at the end of a word, and will drop off. pant + s = pa/j ovno,mat = o;noma 4 Breathing: Every word beginning with a vowel has a breathing mark. There are two breathing marks; rough and smooth. The breathing marks looks like the chart below: BREATHING NAME SOUND v Smooth No sound is made ` Rough Like the letter ‘h” in help Sounded before the vowel or dipthong is pronounced The rough breathing is placed over the 1st vowel and adds an ‘h’ sound to the word. The word u`pe,r is pronounced “huper.” Every word that begins with a rho (r) or an upsilon (u) takes a rough breathing. The smooth breathing is placed over the 1st vowel and is not pronounced. The word avpo,stoloj is pronounced a po, sto los.” Accents: There are three accents in the Greek language. They always stand over vowels, or the 2nd letter of a dipthong, but never over consonants. Almost every Greek word has an accent. It is placed over a vowel, and show which syllable receives the accent, or strong tone when the word is pronounced. Accents can only stand over one of the last three syllables of a word. There are three accents, and they are as follows: Acute , pitch goes up on the accented syllable Circumflex / pitch goes up then down on the accented syllable Grave . pitch goes down on the accented syllable Accents are not critical for Beginning Greek Grammar, however you will need to recognize accents, especially the circumflex for verbs because the accents indicate that the word has changed from its Lexical Form somewhat. For now, just memorize the three accents and their purpose. 5 Punctuation: There are four punctuation marks used in the Greek New Testament. They are listed below: Comma ( Full Stop Å Colon \ Question Mark È Syllabification: There are as many syllables in a word as it has separate vowels or dipthongs. Wherever possible, a syllable should begin with a consonant. Where two or more consonants appear together, just divide between the consonants. Greek word form syllables basically in the same way as English. Follow common sense Syllabification is important in that it will cause you to be able to pronounce words correctly. 1. There is one vowel or dipthong per syllable. 2. A single consonant by itself goes with the following vowel. If the consonant is the last letter in the word, it will go with the preceding vowel. 3. Two consecutive vowels, which do not form a dipthong, are divided and go in different syllables. 4. Two or more consonants that do not begin a word are divided, and the first consonant goes with the preceding vowel. 5. Two or more consonants that begin a word go with the following vowel. 6. Double consonants (two letters that are the same) are divided. 7. A consonant plus a mu (m) or a nu (n) goes with the following vowel. 8. Compound words (two words joined together) are divided where they are joined. 6 Grammar Refresher (Mounce ch. 5) Parts of Speech: Greek grammar is identical to English with the parts of speech. The parts of speech that we will be dealing with in the Greek New Testament are listed below: Definite Article. The definite article is the word “the.” This is the only thing that it can be, and it describes a noun. Noun. A noun is a person, place, thing, or abstract concept. Names of people and places are nouns. Things that are concrete like “book,” or “car” are nouns. Abstract concepts or thoughts like “wisdom” or “happiness” are nouns. Adjective. An adjective is a word that modifies or describes a noun. It usually answers the questions “What kind of?” or “How many?” Pronoun. A pronoun is a word that stands in for a noun. The noun that it points back to is called its “antecedent.” It can be personal or impersonal (I, you, he, she, it, they). Verb. A verb is a word that describes an action or a state of being. States of being are usually described by the verb “to be.” (is, was, will be, am, are). A verb can also be called the predicate. Adverb. An adverb is a word that modifies or describes a verb, adjective, or another adverb. It can never modify or describe a noun. It usually answers questions such as “Where?” “When?” “How?” “Why?” and “To what degree?” Preposition. A preposition is a word that shows a relationship between two other words. The relationship can be spatial or directional (under the bed, to the church), or it can be temporal (after the sermon). Conjunction. A conjunction is a part of speech that connects to words, two phrases, two clauses, or even two sentences or paragraphs together.

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