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6 The Nominal System (Part 1)

§6.0 Introduction

Every language has its own distinctive means by which to communicate

ideas. If English is the native language, then communicating in English is

natural because its distinctiveness is understood. What constitutes the

English language unique among the other languages of the world is its

method of expressing its ideas as it relates to unique syntax, grammar and

vocabulary. All other languages or systems of expressing concepts are

foreign unless having gained some familiarity with them.

The method of expressing ideas within a language is integrated into its

complete linguistic organization. English has its linguistic orderliness, as

does Greek. What differentiates Greek from English, however, is Greek’s

distinctive precision of expressing word relationships with other words.

This is accomplished in Greek by a highly organized system of inflection .

The Greek inflected language has words composed of stems modified in

various ways according to their grammatical function in a particular

context. The system of different but related forms is the language’s

morphology , which in Greek is principally a matter of different prefixes

and suffixes attached to the stem of a word. A well-developed inflected

language dramatically reduces grammatical ambiguities that a partially

inflected language such as English inherently possesses. This difference

alone merits learning NTGreek. Grammatical precision was vital for the

communication of theological truth as articulated by the NTGreek authors.

Lesson Six begins a multi-part series exploring the Greek inflected nominal

system. Greek nouns , adjectives, pronouns and pronominal adjectives

share inflectional characteristics and patterns, and so constitute the

nominal system, as do participles in several respects. The verbal system

will also be introduced in this series of lessons, but not fully developed until

later. For now, it is essential to gain a thorough familiarity with the full

range of nominal morphological forms in order to be proficient in NTGreek.

Second Declension Nouns (Module A)

Masculine Nouns and the Definite Article

Lesson 6: The Second Declension (Masculine nouns) Page 102

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§6.1 Introduction to the Greek Nominal Inflectional System

Greek indicates word relationships with other words by inflection. In

English, this is accomplished by word order and prepositions. Inflection refers

to the changes words undergo in accordance with their grammatical function in

the sentence. Inflection in nouns is called declension , and the correct

arrangement of the inflection of verbs is called conjugation .

English sentence order, and not inflection, is essential in determining how

words function in a sentence. Consider the two following sentences.

“An apostle sees the man.”

“The man sees an apostle.”

These two declarative sentences contain identical words; however, they

convey very different meanings. The divergent meanings are determined

by the relationship in each sentence that the nouns “apostle” and “man”

sustain with the verb “sees”. Although the spelling of these nouns did not

change to reflect their different function ( i.e. , either subject [performer of

the action of the verb] or object [receiver of the action of the verb]), their

function changed according to their placement in the sentence order.

Consistent with English language structure, the subject precedes the verb,

and the object follows the verb. Word order is so vital in English that very

little flexibility is permitted. For example, “Sees an apostle the man” is

non-sensible because English’s linguistic orderliness does not permit it.

This is not true in Greek because of the genius of inflection.

Let us now examine the same declarative sentence in Greek.

listen a)po/stolo j ble/pei to\n a!nqrwpo n

apostle sees the man

Notice that the last consonant between

these two Greek words are different!

The noun, “apostle” (a)po/stoloj) is the subject of the sentence. However,

it is not the subject because it occurs before the verb (as in English), but

because of its inflected form (the final si/gma denotes this). Likewise, the

object of the verb (“sees”) is “man” (a!nqrwpon), not because it follows the

verb, but because of its inflected form (the final nu= denotes this). This

Lesson 6: The Second Declension (Masculine nouns) Page 103

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same sentence would make perfectly good sense in Greek if its word order

be changed in any of the following ways:

listen (1) ble/pei a)po/stolo j to\n a!nqrwpo n

(2) a)po/stolo j to\n a!nqrwpo n ble/pei

(3) to\n a!nqrwpo n a)po/stolo j ble/pei

(4) ble/pei to\n a!nqrwpo n a)po/stolo j

(5) to\n a!nqrwpo n ble/pei a)po/stolo j

The examples above are possible in Greek. The first, however, follows

normal Greek sentence word order (subject typically follows the verb).

In most instances, changing English sentence order to reflect the Greek

author’s original authorial intent would be catastrophic. However, because

Greek indicates the function of a noun according to inflection, sentence

order is not as crucial. It should be noted, however, that Greek sentence

order is not completely free. For example, in all the above Greek

examples, the definite article, to\n, always occurred before a!nqrwpon.

When elements are moved from their “normal” sentence order, prominence

is placed upon that element. This is the genius of inflection. Thus,

to\n a!nqrwpon (the direct object of ble/pei) in examples 3 and 5 is

especially emphasized because it is moved out of its normal sentence

order (normally after the verb) and placed first in the sentence, although

undetectable when translated into English! The same is true concerning

a)po/stoloj (the subject of the verb, ble/pei) in example 2, because it is

“fronted” (moved forward) in the sentence.

Conversely, “man” can be made the subject and “apostle” the object in the

sentence by inflecting the nouns respectively to indicate their grammatical

function in the sentence.

a!nqrwpo j ble/pei to\n a)po/stolo n

man sees the apostle

Notice that the function of these two Greek words

was changed according to the word’s inflection.

The subject of the sentence again ends with a

si/gma and the direct object a nu=.

listen

Lesson 6: The Second Declension (Masculine nouns) Page 104

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Once again, because of inflection, the sentence order may be rearranged

to emphasize different elements within this declarative sentence.

listen (1) ble/pei to\n a)po/stolo n a!nqrwpo j

(2) a!nqrwpo j to\n a)po/stolo n ble/pei

(3) to\n a)po/stolo n a!nqrwpo j ble/pei

(4) ble/pei to\n a)po/stolo n a!nqrwpo j

(5) to\n a)po/stolo n ble/pei a!nqrwpo j

Numerous instances may be cited from the Greek New Testament wherein

a literarily emphasis is intended (via sentence order). Future lessons will

underscore this deliberate and significant literary device. Although English

sentence order is inflexible due to its inherit linguistic parameters, those

who continue to learn NTGreek will gain appreciation of being able to read

God’s Word without this interference of a translation.

Greek plural subjects and plural direct objects are also inflected. Whereas

their function in the sentence remains the same, a spelling change occurs

to indicate the plural. Let us look at an example where both the subject

and the direct object are in the plural form.

listen a)po/stolo i ble/pousi tou\j a)nqrw&po uj

apostles see the men

Notice that the last consonant of the plural subject changed to i0w~ta, whereas

the plural direct object changed to u0 yi/lon + si/gma. In addition, the spelling of

the verb changed from ble/pei to ble/pousi to indicate the grammatical change

from a singular subject to a plural subject, as well as the spelling of the

definite article from to/n to tou/j to indicate the plural direct object. Did you

notice how the definite article ending corresponds to the noun it modifies?

Like their singular counterparts, the sentence order may be rearranged to

convey an author’s particular emphasis within this declarative sentence.

listen (1) ble/pousi tou\j a)nqrw&po uj a)po/stolo i

(2) a)po/stolo i tou\j a)nqrw&po uj ble/pousi

(3) tou\j a)nqrw&po uj a)po/stolo i ble/pousi

(4) ble/pousi tou\j a)nqrw&po uj a)po/stolo i

(5) tou\j a)nqrw&po uj ble/pousi a)po/stolo i

Lesson 6: The Second Declension (Masculine nouns) Page 105

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Thus far, you have learned that Greek nouns are inflected to indicate their

grammatical function, irrespective of sentence order. Another way of

saying this is that, when a particular suffix ( i.e. , inflection) is applied to the

ending of a Greek noun, it determines its case (or its grammatical function

in the sentence).

Every declinable word in the nominal system, such as a noun, pronoun,

adjective, article, or numeral, inflects for case . Case establishes the

function of a word in relation to the verb or to other parts of the sentence,

and inflection determines the case . Almost sixty percent of all words in

NTGreek use case endings. Thus, the basis for learning Greek, and

especially the Greek nominal system, is to master their case system!

The words nominal and substantive are used interchangeable

in this grammar and refer to a word or word group that functions

as a noun. The Greek word for “case” is ptw&seij . The English

term derives its origin not from Greek, but from the Latin verb

cado , “I fall”, by way of the noun casus , “a falling”.

Before examining the Greek case system, four matters need to be briefly

addressed about nouns: their number, gender, stem and declension.

§6.11 Number

As in English, there are two numbers in NTGreek: singular and plural.

Number specifies whether a word is singular or plural. English nouns often

indicate plurality by adding a sound at the end of a word: dog, dog s ; book,

book s ; wall, wall s . Likewise, Greek nouns indicate a change in a word’s

number by different endings: a!nqrwpo j (man), a!nqrwpo i (men);

a)po/stolo j (apostle), a)po/stolo i (apostles).

§6.12 Gender

There are three genders in NTGreek: masculine, feminine and neuter (the

term “neuter” means “neither” in Latin). In English, only third person

singular pronouns (“he”, “she”, “it”) and certain other nouns referring to

persons (man, woman, steward, stewardess) have gender. For the most

part, English nouns are regarded as neuter or simply lacking in gender. In

contrast, all Greek nouns have gender. It is very important for a variety of

reasons to know the gender of each noun as it is learned. The gender for

every noun will be identified in the vocabulary list that follows each lesson.

Learn greek (6 of 7) - The nominal system, part I.pdf

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