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Croy Index: Vocabulary - Prosody - Verbs - Nouns - Adjectives - Nominals - Other Topics - Syntax List


Sentence Features

The following is a list of "Sentence Features" which you will be expected to identify in the Syntax quizzes.

2 Complementary infinitive διδάσκειν θέλετε Many verbs can take a complementary infinitive.
2 Nominative subject πιστεύει ἀδελφός A nominative subject is optional because the subject is "in" the verb (person and number).
3 Accusative direct object λέγειν ἀλήθειαν θέλομεν Both finite verbs and infinitives can take an accusative object.
3 Dative indirect object θέλομεν λέγειν ἀδελφαῖς English often uses a prepositional phrase where Greek simply uses the dative.
3 Possessive genitive φωνὴν ἀδελφῆς ἀκούομεν The voice of the girl = the voice belongs to the girl.
3 Adjectival genitive βασιλείαν δόξης ἐχουσιν The kingdom of glory = the glorious kingdom.
3 Vocative οὐ γινώσκω, ἀδελφή The vocative has no grammatical relation to any other word in the sentence.
5 Attributive adjective: "wrapped" τὸν ἔσχατον οἶκον βλέπω The adjective is wrapped up inside the article-noun package.
5 Attributive adjective: "woven" τὸν οἶκον τὸν ἔσχατον βλέπω The article is used to weave together the noun and the adjective.
5 Predicative adjective αἱ ἡμέραι πονηραί The predicate adjective is not woven or wrapped! It is freestanding.
5 Substantive adjective λέγουσιν αἱ πισταί The use of substantives is much more common in Greek than in English.
6 Preposition with accusative πρὸς τὴν θάλασσαν βλέπομεν The accusative often, but not always, indicates motion toward.
6 Preposition with dative διδάσκουσιν ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ The dative often, but not always, indicates location.
6 Preposition with genitive περὶ τῶν τέκνων λὲγετε The genitive often, but not always, indicates motion away from.
6 Attributive preposition τὸν λίθον τὸν ἐν τῇ ὁδῷ λαμβάνω Just like attribute adjectives, attributive prepositions can be wrapped or woven.
6 Neuter plural with singular verb τὰ τέκνα οὐκ ἀκούει This is admittedly one of the oddest features of the Greek language!
7 Third person pronoun τὸ πλοῖον αὐτῶν βλέπομεν The word αὐτός has other uses which you will learn in the next chapter.
7 Predicate nominative οὐκ ἔστιν δοῦλος ὁ μαθητής Forms of the verb "to be" are often omitted.
8 Demonstrative adjective τοῦτον τὸν δοῦλον βαπτιζει Note that the demonstrative adjective is not "wrapped" or "woven."
8 Demonstrative pronoun ταύτας βλεπετε; The demonstrative adjective can stand alone, as a pronoun.
8 "Intensive" αὐτός (predicative) λέγει αὐτος ὁ ἄνθπωπος Translation: "The man himself is speaking!" (note: αὐτός is not wrapped or woven)
8 "Identical" αὐτός
(attributive)
μενουσιν ἐν τῷ οἴκῳ τῷ αὐτῷ Translation: "They stay in the same house" (note: this use αὐτός of is wrapped or woven)
9 Personal agent with passive διδασκόμεθα ὑπὸ ἀδελφῶν This is for personal agents only. The dative is used for impersonal instruments or means.
18 Attributive participle τὸν προσευχόμενον ἄνθρωπον βλέπετε; Just like the attributive adjective, the attributive participle can be "wrapped" or "woven."
18 Substantive participle τὰ μέλλοντα οὐ γινώσκομεν The use of substantives is much more common in Greek than in English.
18 Adverbial participle τὸν λόγον ἀκούοντες σῳζονται It is almost always best to translate this Greek particple as a finite English verb ("they listen to the word and are saved")
19 Genitive absolute τῶν τέκνων ἐσθίωντων, προσεύχεται ἡ μήτηρ This construction is called "absolute" because it is detached, grammatically, from the main sentence.
23 Hortatory subjunctive τοὺς ἀδελφοὺς παρακαλῶμεν This expresses a wish that some action should take place.
23 Deliberative subjunctive πῶς τὴν ἀλήθειαν γινώσκωσι; You can think of this as the subjunctive for "questions" (including rhetorical questions).
23 Purpose clause γράφομεν ἵνα ταῦτα γινώσκωσι Both ἵνα and ὅπως are used to introduce purpose clauses.
23 Conditional subjunctive ἐὰν αὐτὸν ἴδωμεν, ὑμῖν γράψω The word ἐάν is a contraction of εἰ and ἄν.
23 Emphatic negative οὐ μὴ προσκυνήσητε θεῷ ἐτέρῳ Normally, the subjunctive is negated simply with μὴ. The use of οὐ μὴ is emphatic.
24 Infinitive as subject καλόν ἐστιν ἀλήθειαν λέγειν The predicate is neuter, agreeing with the infinitive (which is an indeclinable neuter noun).
24 Accusative subject of the infinitive καλόν ἐστιν ἀπάντας ἐργαζεσθαι Sometimes only context can tell whether the accusative is the subject or object of the infinitive.
24 Infinitive of purpose ζητεῖ τὸ παιδίον τοῦ ἀπολέσαι αὐτό The prepositions εἰς or πρός may be used. Sometimes the article is omitted.
24 Infinitive of result ταῦτα λέγει, ὥστε πάντας θαυμάζειν. Note the accusative subject of the infinitive in this example. Sometimes the article is used instead of ὥστε.
24 Preposition with infinitive τοὺς ἀνθρώπους ζητεῖ διὰ τὸ ἀκοῦσαι περὶ αὐτοῖς Prepositions πρό, ἐν and μετά express time, and the preposition διά expresses cause.
26 Categorical prohibition μὴ εἰσέλθητε εἰς τὴν πόλιν This construction uses the aorist subjunctive.
27 Interrogative pronoun τίς τὴν ἀλήθειαν λέγει; Note the unusual accent of τίς
27 Interrogative adjective τί βιβλίον ζητεῖς; The interrogative adjective is much less common than the pronoun.
27 Indefinite pronoun τις τὸν ἄρτον ἔλαβεν It is the accentuation which distinguishes the interrogative from the indefinitve.
27 Indefinite adjective γυνή τις τῷ ὄχλῳ λέγει The use of the indefinitive adjective is very common!
27 Relative pronoun τὸν ἀδελφὸν ὅς ἄπελθεν ζητοῦσιν The pronoun gets its gender and number from the main sentence, and case from the relative clause.
27 Indefinite relative pronoun ὅστις ἂν ταῦτα ποιήσῃ σῳζεται The indefinitive relative pronoun is used almost exclusively in the nominative case.
32 Subjective genitive τῆς μητρὸς ἡ ἀγάπη "mother's love" is about the mother loving her child (mother is the subject of the verb love)
32 Objective genitive τοὺ θανάτου ὁ φόβος "fear of death" is about fearing death (death is the object of the verb fear)

 


Biblical Greek Online. Laura Gibbs, Ph.D. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License. You must give the original author credit. You may not use this work for commercial purposes. If you alter, transform, or build upon this work, you may distribute the resulting work only under a license identical to this one. Page last updated: April 9, 2005 8:06 PM


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