Prepositions and εἰμί

Greek 1 Chapter 8 Prepositions and εἰμί

English Review

Prepositions: A preposition is a word that indicates the relationship between two words. These are words like: about, above, across, after, against, among, around, at, before, behind, below, beside, between, by, down, during, for, from, in, etc. In the sentence “You are in the classroom” what is the preposition? In. The term “in” describes the relationship between “you” and “classroom.”

An easy way to think about prepositions is just anything a rabbit can do with its home: “He can go in it, around it, dig under it, etc.”

The word that follows the preposition is called the object of the preposition. In our example the object of the preposition is “classroom.” It is worth noting that the object of the preposition is always in the objective case, not the subjective. You would not say: “He was standing by he.” You would say: “He was standing by him.”

Prepositional Phrase: The preposition together with its object and modifiers. Ex. “in the classroom.”

Predicate Nominative: The verb “to be” (with its many different forms) is utilized in many instances to tell us something about the subject. In the sentence: “The professor is I” the “I” is not receiving the action of the verb, rather it is telling you something about the subject “professor.” The pronoun “I” is predicating something about the subject.

Greek

Prepositions: Greek prepositions function the same as English prepositions; however, there is an important aspect of Greek prepositions to remember. The meaning of a preposition depends upon the case of its object.

Ex. The preposition διά means “through” if its object is in the genitive, but “on account of” if its object is in the accusative. The object almost always immediately follows the preposition. καὶ μὴ δυνάμενοι (being able) προσενέγκαι (to bring) αὐτῷ διὰ τὸν ὄχλον ἀπεστέγασαν (they removed) τὴν στέγην ὅπου ἦν (he was) Mk 2:4.

Some prepositions are always followed by the same case, so they only have one set of meanings. For example, our favorite preposition ἐν is always followed by an object in the dative case and has the basic meaning “in.”

Ex. φωνὴ βοῶντος (crying out) ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ· Mk 1:3.

Key Words: You learned to translate using the key words for the genitive and dative cases. When a word is the object of a preposition do not translate using the key word.

Ex. καὶ ⸀εὐθὺς λέγουσιν (they spoke) αὐτῷ περὶ (concering) αὐτῆς. Mk 1:30.

“And immediately they spoke to him concerning her”

NOT “And immediately they spoke to him concerning of her”

Not Inflected: The form of a preposition does not vary depending on its usage; it is not inflected. The preposition περί will remain the same regardless of whether it is followed by a genitive or an accusative.

The only time a preposition changes is when it ends in a vowel and the following words begins with a vowel. When the following word begins with a rough breathing mark and a vowel, the consonant in the preposition also frequently changes. This is the “elision” that we discussed in chapter 4.

Ex. καὶ περιβλεψάμενος (looking around at) αὐτοὺς μετʼ ὀργῆς, Mk 3:5.

If that ο had a rough breathing mark μετἀ would take the form μεθ’

How are we doing with prepositions? Do you need any clarification on any of these ideas?

Dependent Clauses: A collection of words that cannot stand alone. It has meaning only when it is part of a complete sentence; it is dependent upon that sentence. The English clause “so that you understand” is not a complete sentence and is dependent upon the main sentence “I am reiterating this idea from the textbook, so that you understand.”

“Here is the important point: as you are looking for the main subject and verb in a sentence, you will never find them in a dependent clause. There will be a subject and verb in the dependent clause, but they will not be the main subject and verb of the sentence.”

The word ἵνα is always the first word in a dependent clause and it typically denotes purpose. Many times in your English translation you’ll find this translated “so that.” You have also learned the word ὅτι (that, because) that also introduces a dependent clause, and this typically denotes cause. “This was done because it was necessary.”

εἰμί

Basic Verbal Grammar: The basic part of a verb is called the stem. The stem carries the basic meaning of the verb (much the same as with nouns). Personal endings are added to the end of the stem to indicate person and number.

Person: There are three persons, grammatically speaking. ἐγώ is first person “I.” σύ is second person, “you.” αὐτός is third person, “he,” “she,” or “it.” The plural forms are “we/us,” “you,” and “they/them.”

Personal Endings: Indicate person. The εις ending on λύεις tells you that the subject is “you” singular. The ω ending on λύω tells you that the subject is first person singular “I.”

Verb Agreement: A verb agrees with its subject. This means that its personal ending is the same person and number as its subject. If the subject is ἐγω, the personal ending will be first person singular. Ex. ἐγω γράφω

εἰμί: The most common verb in Greek. You need to memorize all of the forms of this verb. Here is the present tense forms of εἰμί.

1st Sg. εἰμί I am

2nd Sg. εἶ You are

3rd Sg. ἐστίν He/she/it is

1st Pl. ἐσμέν We are

2nd Pl. ἐστέ You are

3rd Pl. εἰσίν They are

Except for εἶ, the forms of εἰμί are enclitics, meaning they push their accent back on the previous word, so they will not normally have an accent of their own.

Movable ν: A movable ν is a ν occurring at the end of a word that ends with a vowel when the following word begins with a vowel. Ex. Τί (what) ἐστιν εὐκοπώτερον (easier), εἰπεῖν (to say) τῷ παραλυτικῷ· Mk 2:9. The ν is added to avoid the unnecessary pause of pronouncing the two vowels.

The movable ν is often used when the following word begins with a consonant as well; it also occurs when it is the last word in a clause. So the important thing to remember is that there are occasions when the form εἰσίν occurs without the ν.