Genitive and Dative

Greek 1 Ch. 7

Translation Procedure: The idea behind the translation procedure laid forth in your textbook is to separate the different components of the Greek sentence into intelligible parts. Up to this point you are able to identify the subject and direct object of the verb. So let’s identify those things in this sentence:

ὁ Σατανᾶς αἴρει (he removes) τὸν λόγον (Mark 4:15)

When we break this sentence down we would divide it like this:

ὁ Σατανᾶς / αἴρει / τὸν λόγον (Side note: you are actually translating the Bible now. Be excited). Also, see how we have kept the article with the noun in dividing this sentence. Make that your practice.

Article Translation: When the article is present you can typically translate it using “the,” and when it is not present translate using the indefinite article “a.” In the Mark 4:15 passage we would translate τὸν λόγον “the Word” not “a word.”

You’ll notice however that the Greek includes an article before Σατανᾶς. We would not translate it “the Satan” just “Satan.” Greek often uses the article before a proper name, and in this case you omit it from translation. The same is true for abstract nouns (you’ll see this in translation later).

Postpositive: There are certain terms that cannot be the first word in the Greek sentence or clause, but it will be the first word in translation. There are only a few of these words, but they are used with great frequency. You’ll find Paul frequently starting sentences with δέ translated “but” or “and.”

Ex. ⸀ἐγὼ ἐβάπτισα ⸀ὑμᾶς ὕδατι, αὐτὸς δὲ βαπτίσει ὑμᾶς ⸀ἐν πνεύματι ἁγίῳ. Mk 1:8.

Genitive and Dative

English Review:

Possessive Case: used to indicate possession. This is indicated with either the word “of” (ex. “The church of God,” meaning the “the church belonging to God”) or an “apostrophe s” after the word (“God’s church”).

Indirect Object: The person/thing that is indirectly affected by the action of the verb. The indirect object is somehow involved in the action described by the verb, but not directly.

Ex. “Peter threw the fish to Andrew, his brother.” What is the direct object in this sentence? The fish. What is the indirect object? Andrew. Remember in determining what the direct object is you ask the question “who/what” was thrown. In order to determine the indirect object, simply insert the word “to” in front of the word to see if it makes sense. In our example the word “to” already points to Andrew as the indirect object.

Genitive Case: Can be used to show possession. The letter υ is a genitive singular ending and ων is the genitive plural ending. λογου is genitive singular masculine and could be indicating possession (the reason why I keep qualifying this idea is because, as you can read in the end of the chapter, there are multiple functions of the genitive case but possession is an incredibly frequent one). Identify the nominative and the genitive in the phrase ὁ λογος θεοῦ. Translate the phrase.

The word in the genitive usually follows the word it is modifying (ὁ λογος θεοῦ). The word it modifies is called the head noun.

Key Words: These are words that are associated with a particular case and that you should put in front of the translation of the actual word. This will help you understand the function of the case. The key word for the genitive is “of.”

ὁ υἱός ἀνθρώπου The son OF man.

Dative Case: Has multiple functions that are roughly equivalent to the ideas of “to,” “in,” and “with.” Ex. ἐγὼ ἐβάπτισα ὑμᾶς ὕδατι, αὐτὸς δὲ βαπτίσει ὑμᾶς ἐν πνεύματι ἁγίῳ. (Mark 1:8). (When you look at this example, do not get overwhelmed by it, just focus on the one idea I am presenting. You will learn the case endings in just a minute). Looking at this example, reading it, you would use the key words in order to try and determine what function the dative is serving. “I baptize you to water”? “I baptize you with water”? “I baptize you in water”?

When the dative carries the function that is roughly equivalent to the idea of “to” it is functioning as the indirect object. The indirect object functions the same in Greek as it does in English (remember in English we would add the word “to” in order to determine if it is the indirect object. Ex. “I threw the ball to you.” The direct object is the ball that is being acted upon, “you” are involved in the action but not directly).

In the example ἔδωκεν ἄν σοι ὕδωρ ζῶν “he would give to you living water” (John 4:10).

The ι is the dative singular ending and ις is a dative plural case ending. In the singular, the final stem vowel lengthens and the ι subscripts. So λογος (nom s) the stem ending ο lengthens to ω and the ι subscripts and thus we get the form λογῳ “to, in, with a word.” λογοις is the dat. Pl. form.

Full Paradigm:

2 Masc 1 Fem 2 Neut

Nom S ς _ ν

Gen S υ ς υ

Dat S ι ι ι

Acc S ν ν ν

Nom Pl ι ι α

Gen Pl ων ων ων

Dat Pl ις ις ις

Acc Pl υς ς α

When attached to the word:

2 Masc 1 Fem 2 Neut

Nom S λόγος γραφή ὥρα ἔργον

Gen S λόγου γραφῆς ὥρας ἔργου

Dat S λόγῳ γραφῇ ὥρᾳ ἔργῳ

Acc S λόγον γραφήν ὥραν ἔργον

Nom PL λόγοι γραφαί ἔργα

Gen PL λόγων γραφῶν ἔργων

Dat PL λόγοις γραφαῖς ἔργοις

Acc PL λόγους γραφάς ἔργα

Note: Many feminine nouns ending in ας can be either genitive singular or accusative plural. Look either at the article (τῆς/τάς) or the context to decide.

The Article:

2 Masc 1 Fem 2 Masc

Nom S ὁ ἡ τό

Gen S τοῦ τῆς τοῦ

Dat S τῷ τῇ τῷ

Acc S τόν τήν τό

Nom PL οἱ αἱ τά

Gen PL τῶν τῶν τῶν

Dat PL τοῖς ταῖς τοῖς

Acc PL τούς τάς τά

Noun Rules:

4. In the Dative Singular, the ι subscripts if possible (An ι can subscript only under a long vowel).

5. Vowels often change their length (“ablaut”) (They can shorten, lengthen, or disappear).

6. In the genitive and dative, the masculine and neuter will always be identical.

Partially Declined Words: Certain words are not fully declined, or else they follow very rare patterns. This is especially the case with proper names. We’ll go through these different paradigms throughout the semester, but for now here is the one for Jesus.

Nom S. ὁ Ἰησοῦς

Gen S. τοῦ Ἰησοῦ

Dat S. τῷ Ἰησοῦ

Acc S. τόν Ἰησοῦν

Alternate First Declension Pattern: There are 36 first declension words in the NT that shift their final stem vowel in the genitive and dative singular from α to η. Only four of these occur with any frequency.

Nom S. δόξα

Gen S. δόξης

Dat S. δόξῃ

Acc S. δόξαν

Nom PL δόξαι

Gen PL δόξῶν

Dat PL δόξαις

Acc PL δόξας

Here is the rule (although, recognize that it may be easier to just memorize the four words that occur with some frequency and remember that they decline in this manner): If a first declension word has a stem ending in α where the preceding letter is ε, ι, or ρ, it will form the genitive and dative singular with the α. Otherwise the α will shift to η.

αὐτός: In chapter 6 you learned αὐτός in its masculine singular form, that means “he,” the feminine αὐτή means “she,” and the neuter αὐτό means “it.” There are many forms of this word, and you will encounter them with great frequency, so it is necessary to learn this paradigm. However, as you look at it, I’m sure you can see a great deal of overlap between it and the Article paradigm. This is another instance where knowing the article paradigm will help you greatly.

2 Masc 1 Fem 2 Neut

Nom S. αὐτός αὐτή αὐτό

Gen S αὐτοῦ αὐτῆς αὐτόῦ

Dat S αὐτῷ αὐτῇ αὐτῷ

Acc S αὐτόν αὐτήν αὐτό

Nom PL αὐτοί αὐταί αὐτά

Gen PL αὐτῶν αὐτῶν αὐτῶν

Dat PL αὐτοῖς αὐταῖς αὐτοῖς

Acc PL αὐτούς αὐτάς αὐτά

Translation:

a. Use your key words to translate a word in the genitive or dative

b. Whenever you see a noun, do not stop but look further to see if there is a word in the genitive following it. Ex. Ἑτοιμάσατε (Prepare) τὴν ὁδὸν κυρίου, εὐθείας ποιεῖτε (make) τὰς τρίβους αὐτοῦ Mk 1:3. (τὴν ὁδὸν acc. S. fem. ὁδὸς is one of those exceptions. It looks masculine, but it is feminine).

c. Dividing sentences. Keep the article with the noun and keep the genitive with its head noun. Ex. Ἑτοιμάσατε/ τὴν ὁδὸν κυρίου