Transcript THE SECOND DECLENSION

THE SECOND DECLENSION
Lesson 4
By J. Gresham Machen
New Testament Greek for Beginners
Declensions, order of words,
articles, nouns, genders
24. Vocabulary





adelpho’s, ho, a
brother
‘anthrwpos, ho, a
man
apo’stolos, ho, an
apostle
doulos, ho, a
slave, a servant
tha’natos, ho, a
death







hiero’n, to’, a
temple
kai, conjunction,
and
lo’gos, ho, a word
no’mos, ho, a law
oi’kos, ho, a house
huio’s, ho, a son
dw’ron, to, a gift
25. A note about declensions


In Greek there are three
declensions.
The second declension is given
before the first for purposes of
convenience, since it is easier,
and has a large number of
common nouns (Machen, 23).
26. Articles





There is no indefinite article in Greek, so in
translations such articles (as a and an) are
added if necessary.
ADELPHO’S either means “brother” or “a
brother” (usually the latter).
Greek however has a definite article.
Where the article does not appear in the
text, the definite article must not be
inserted in the English translation.
‘ANTHRWPOI simply means “men”; it does
not mean “the men.”
Machen, 23.
PROPERTIES OF THE NOUN




27. Greek noun has gender, number
and case.
28. GENDERS are masculine,
feminine and neuter.
29. NUMBER is plural and singular.
Verbs agree with their subject in
number.
30. CASES: Nominative, genitive,
dative, accusative and vocative.
28. Gender of Nouns



28a. Gender of nouns must
often be learned by observation
of the individual nouns.
28b. Nearly all nouns of the
second declension ending in -os
are masculine.
28c. All nouns of the second
declension ending in –on are
neuter.
28.Articles indicate the gender
of nouns.




ho indicates masculine gender. ho
‘anthrwpos means the man.
he indicates the feminine gender. he
alh’theia means the truth.
Note: The Greek letter eta, above, is
substituted here with h, and has a
long e sound.
to is the neuter gender. to hiero’n
means the temple.
29. Two numbers of nouns


There are two number, singular
and plural.
Verbs in the Greek, like in
English, always agree with their
subject in number.
30. The Cases of Nouns






There are five cases:
Nominative – for nouns used as
subject.
Genitive – showing possession or
the motion of separation.
Dative – for the indirect object.
Accusative – for the direct object.
Vocative – used in directly
addressing the person before you.
31. Second Declension of ANTHROPOS,
man. Note: Nominative and vocative have the
same forms or endings.






SINGULAR
Nominative:
‘ANTHRWPOS, a
man
Genitive:
ANTHRW’POU, of a
man
Dative:
‘ANTHRW’PW, to or
for a man
Accusative:
‘ANTHRWPON, a
man
Vocative:
‘ANTHRWPE, man






PLURAL
Nominative –
‘ANTHRWPOI, men
Genitive:
ANTHRW’PWN, of
men
Dative:
ANTHRW’POIS, to or
for men
Accusative:
ANTHRW’POUS,
men
Vocative:
‘ANTHRWPOI, men
Uses of the cases



34. The nominative case is used for
the subject of the sentence. Thus
APO’STOLOS GINW’SKEI means
“An apostle knows.”
34. The accusative case is for the
object of the transitive verb. Thus
BLE’PW LOGON means “I see a
word.”
35. The genitive case shows
possession. Thus LO’GOI
APOSTO’LWN means “words of
apostles” or “apostles’ words.”
Uses of the cases



35. Genitive has also other uses which
must be learned by observation.
36. The dative case is the case of the
indirect object. Thus LE’GW LO’GON
APOSTO’LOIS means “I say a word to
apostles.” The dative, again, has other
uses which you can learn by observing.
37. The vocative case is the case of
direct address. Thus ADELPHE’,
BLE’POMEN means “Brother, we see.”
Uses of the cases

37. In the plural, the vocative
case in words of all declensions
is in form like the nominative.
The vocative plural may
therefore be omitted in repeating
paradigms.
39. The declension of HUIOS, son
(please see Machen’s, p. 25).






SINGULAR
N. huio’s, son
G. huiou, of a
son
D. huiw, to or for
a son
A. huio’n, son
V. huie’, son






PLURAL
N. huioi’, sons
G. huiwn, of
sons
D. huiois, to or
for sons
A. huiou’s, sons
V. huioi’, sons
41. Declension of DWRON,
TO, a gift







SINGULAR
N. dwron, a gift
G. dw’rou, of a gift
D. dw’rw, to or for
a gift
A. dwron, a gift
V. dwron, gift
In neuter nouns,
the nominative,
accusative and
vocative have
same endings in
singular number.







PLURAL
N. dwra, gifts
G. dwrwn, of gifts
D. dwrois, to or for
gifts
A. dwra, gifts
V. dwra, gifts
In neuter nouns,
the nominative,
accusative and
vocative have
same endings in
plural number.
42. Notes about DWRON, TO



to dwron is a neuter noun.
In all neuter nouns, of all
declensions, the vocative, accusative
and nominative in the singular
number are the same. They all end
in –on (See above slide).
The vocative, accusative and
nominative in the plural number are
also the same. They always end in
short –a. (see above slide).
43. Order of words



43a. The normal order of the
sentence in Greek is like that of
English: Subject, verb, object.
43b. Unlike in Latin, there is no
special tendency in Greek to put the
verb at the end.
43c. Greeks however can vary the
order for purposes of emphases or
euphony much more freely than
English (Machen, 27).
45. Exercises (please refer to Machen’s, p.
27). In this instance we now substitute omega
with w, and eta with h.











1. adelphos ble’pei ‘anthrwpon.
2. doulos gra’phei lo’gous.
3. apo’stoloi dida’skousin ‘anthrwpon.
4. apo’stoloi lu’ousi dou’lous.
5. doulos lamba’nei dwra.
6. lamba’nousin huioi’ oi’kous.
7. dou’lous kai oi’kous lamba’nousin
adelphoi’.
8. ble’pomen hiera’ kai aposto’lous.
9. dou’lous ble’pete kai adelphou’s.
10. grapheis lo’gon aposto’lw.
11. dida’skei ‘anthrwpon.
45. Exercises (please refer to Machen’s, p.
27). In this instance we now substitute omega
with w. The sound of w is long o.









12. adelpho’s le’gei lo’gon aposto’lw.
13. adelpho’s aposto’lwn ginw’skei no’mon.
14. douloi ginw’skousi no’mon kai
lamba’nousi dwra.
15. ginw’skousin ‘anthrwpoi tha’naton.
16. lamba’nomen dwra kai ‘echomen
adelphou’s.
17. apo’stolois kai dou’lois le’gomen lo’gous
thana’tou.
18. ‘adelphoi kai dou’loi ginw’skousin kai
ble’pousin hiera’ kai dwra.
19. gra’phei apo’stolos no’mon kai le’gei
lo’gous huiois dou’lou.
20. huioi’ aposto’lwn le’gousi lo’gous kai
lu’ousi dou’lous.
Translate:








1. A servant is writing a law.
2. A son sees words.
3. Brothers are loosing servants.
4. Sons take gifts.
5. An apostle sees a servant and a gift.
6. Servants and sons are saying a word
to a brother.
7. We see gifts and servants.
8. Men see words and gifts of a brother
and houses of apostles and sons.
Translate:








9. Words and laws we write to brethren; a
word of death we say to a servant.
10. A son is seeing temples and houses.
11. Ye know death.
12. Thou takest an apostle’s gift (= a gift of
an apostle).
13. Thou art writing a brother’s word to a
servant.
14. I loose servants and say words to sons
and brothers.
15. A son sees death.
16. They know laws and teach servants of
an apostle.