Ancient Greek grammar for readers
Short notes for reading the Greek of these texts, which is Koine, the everyday Greek of the Roman East. Every example comes from a text in this course.
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“The” does a lot of work
Greek's word for “the” changes with its noun's job, so it is your best clue when reading. Greek even uses it with names, where English would drop it.
There is no word for “a”. A noun with no “the” is often “a”, but not always: ἐν ἀρχῇ is “in the beginning”.
| ὁ | nominative | the one doing it |
| τὸν | accusative | the one it is done to |
| τοῦ | genitive | of the |
| τῷ | dative | to or for the |
ἐδάκρυσεν ὁ Ἰησοῦς.
Jesus wept.
Literally “the Jesus wept”. Leave the “the” out in English.
Καὶ εἶπαν οἱ ἀπόστολοι τῷ κυρίῳ·
The apostles said to the Lord,
οἱ marks who is speaking, τῷ who is spoken to.
Endings show who does what
As with “the”, nouns change their endings with their job, so the order of the words can vary. A final -ν often marks the one the action is done to.
| ἄνθρωπος | nominative | the person does it |
| ἄνθρωπον | accusative | it is done to the person |
| ἀνθρώπου | genitive | of the person |
| ἀνθρώπῳ | dative | to or for the person |
Τότε οὖν ἔλαβεν ὁ Πιλᾶτος τὸν Ἰησοῦν
So Pilate then took Jesus
ὁ Πιλᾶτος does the taking; τὸν Ἰησοῦν is taken.
Καὶ παράγων εἶδεν ἄνθρωπον τυφλὸν
As he passed by, he saw a man blind
ἄνθρωπον is what he saw. No “the”, so “a man”.
The verb says who
A Greek verb's ending tells you who is doing it, so “I” and “you” are only added for emphasis.
| λέγω | I | I say |
| λέγεις | you | you say |
| λέγει | he, she, it | he says |
| λέγετε | you all | you all say |
| λέγουσιν | they | they say |
ὁ δὲ ἔφη· Πιστεύω, κύριε·
He said, “Lord, I believe!”
One word, πιστεύω, says “I believe”.
ἀπεκρίθη αὐτοῖς Ἰησοῦς· Ἄρτι πιστεύετε;
Jesus answered them, “Do you now believe?
The -ετε means “you all”.
The verb “to be”
This is the verb you will meet most, and it follows no pattern, so it is worth learning by sight. “Was” is ἦν.
| εἰμι | I | I am |
| ἐστε | you all | you all are |
| ἐσμεν | we | we are |
| ἦν | past | he, she or it was |
ἐγὼ καὶ ὁ πατὴρ ἕν ἐσμεν.
I and the Father are one.”
ἐσμεν: “we are”.
οὗτος ἦν ἐν ἀρχῇ πρὸς τὸν θεόν.
The same was in the beginning with God.
ἦν: “was”.
Nouns come in families
Greek nouns fall into three families, called declensions. As in Latin, dictionaries give the “of” form because it shows the family.
The third family hides its stem: the basic form πατήρ becomes πατρός. If a form looks strange, check the basic form the app shows you.
| ψυχή, ψυχῆς | first family | a soul |
| λόγος, λόγου | second family | a word |
| πατήρ, πατρός | third family | a father |
ἐγώ εἰμι ὁ ἄρτος τῆς ζωῆς·
I am the bread of life.
τῆς ζωῆς is the “of” form: “of life”.
The past starts with ε
Past-tense verbs usually gain an ἐ- at the front, called the augment. When a verb begins with a vowel, that vowel lengthens instead. With a prefix, it comes after the prefix: ἀπ-ε-κρίθη.
Greek has two main pasts. The aorist, often with a -σ-, is a plain “did”. The imperfect is “was doing” or “kept doing”.
| πιστεύουσιν | present | they believe |
| ἐπίστευσαν | aorist | they believed |
καὶ πολλοὶ ἐπίστευσαν εἰς αὐτὸν ἐκεῖ.
Many believed in him there.
ἐ- at the front, -σ- in the middle: an aorist.
ἐκεῖνος δὲ ἔλεγεν περὶ τοῦ ναοῦ
But he spoke of the temple
An imperfect: “he was speaking”.
Stories slip into the present
Greek storytellers often use the present tense for past events, especially “he says”. This is the same habit as “so he says to me” in English. Translations usually change it to the past.
Stories also often begin a sentence with the verb, before the person doing it.
λέγει αὐτῇ ὁ Ἰησοῦς· Ἐγώ εἰμι,
Jesus said to her, “I am he,
λέγει is really “says”. It also comes first, before Jesus.
Words that come second
Several small linking words can never start a sentence: δέ “and, but”, γάρ “for”, οὖν “so”. Look at the second word when working out how a sentence connects to the last one.
ὁ δέ at the start of a line usually means “and he” or “but he”, switching to the other speaker.
ὁ δὲ λέγει αὐτοῖς·
But he said to them,
δὲ is second, and ὁ δὲ means “but he”.
ἔλεγον οὖν οἱ Ἰουδαῖοι·
The Jews therefore said,
οὖν “therefore” is second, though English can put it later.
Endings in -μαι and -ται
Endings like -μαι, -ται and -νται mark the middle or passive: the subject has it done to them, or acts for themselves. Some everyday verbs only exist in this form and still mean a plain action: ἔρχομαι just means “I come”.
In the past, a -θη- usually marks the passive, though ἀπεκρίθη simply means “he answered”.
ἔρχομαι πρὸς ὑμᾶς.
I will come to you.
The form looks passive, and the meaning is plain “come”. It is present in form, and the translation uses “will”.
ἀπεκρίθη ὁ Πιλᾶτος·
Pilate answered,
The -θη- is here, but Pilate is doing the answering.
Participles are everywhere
Greek loves participles, verb forms that act like adjectives. They often end in -ων. Without “the”, one usually means “while doing” or “after doing”.
With “the”, it means “the one who does it”, which English says with a whole clause.
Καὶ παράγων εἶδεν
As he passed by, he saw
παράγων: “passing by”.
ὁ ἐμὲ μισῶν καὶ τὸν πατέρα μου μισεῖ.
He who hates me, hates my Father also.
ὁ … μισῶν: “the one hating”.
Small words choose the ending
Each small word like “in” or “from” goes with a particular case: εἰς “into” with the accusative, ἐν “in” with the dative, ἐκ “out of” with the genitive. Some, like πρός, depend on the meaning.
ἐξῆλθον ἐκ τῆς πόλεως καὶ ἤρχοντο πρὸς αὐτόν.
They went out of the city, and were coming to him.
ἐκ takes the genitive, and πρός the accusative here.
εἰς τὴν φυλακὴν
into prison
εἰς with the accusative: movement into.
Two words for “not”
οὐ (οὐκ before a vowel) denies a fact. μή goes with commands, wishes and “if”. In a question, μή can hint that the answer is “no”.
λέγει· Οὐκ οἶδα.
He said, “I don’t know.”
A plain fact: οὐκ.
μὴ φοβεῖσθε.
Don’t be afraid.
A command: μή.
Practise on real texts
These notes make most sense once you have seen the forms in context. Urling brings each one up as you meet it in a text.
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Notes written by Claude and checked against Smyth's Greek Grammar (1920), whose main subject is the older Attic Greek. Not yet reviewed by a Greek teacher.