BackContentsNext

LESSON VIII

Enclitics. Personal Pronouns. Present Indicative of em.

90. Vocabulary

atv, , , pron., he.
d, conj., but, and.
g, pron., I.
em, I am.
s, pron., thou.

91. The conjunction d is postpositive -- that is, it cannot stand first in its clause. Ordinarily it stands second.

Example: dolov ginskei tn pstolon, d pstolov blpei tn krion, the servant knows the apostle and the apostle sees the Lord.

Enclitics

92. An enclitic is a word that goes so closely with the preceding word as to have normally no accent of its own.

Enclitics are thus to be distinguished from proclitics, which go so closely with the following words as to have no accent of their own (see 64). Proclitics give rise to no special rules of accent; they simply have no accent and produce no changes in the accenting of preceding or following words. But the case is very different with enclitics, which give rise to the following rules:

I. Accenting of the word before an enclitic:

(1) The word before an enclitic does not change an acute on the last syllable to a grave.
Example: delfv mou is incorrect; delfv mou is correct.

(2) If the word before an enclitic has an acute on the

45

antepenult, or a circumflex on the penult, it takes an additional accent (an acute) on the ultima.

Examples: nqrwpv mou, drn sou, nqrwpv stin, drn stin.

(3) If the word before an enclitic is itself a proclitic or an enclitic it has an acute on the ultima.

Examples: ev me, nqrwpv mo stin.

II. Cases in which an enclitic has an accent of its own:

(1) An enclitic of two syllables retains its own accent when it follows a word that has an acute on the penult. Example: ra stn is correct because stn is an enclitic of two syllables. ra mou, on the other hand, is correct because mou is an enclitic of only one syllable. (2) An enclitic retains its accent when there is emphasis on the enclitic or when the enclitic begins a clause.

93. It may help to fix these rules in the memory, if the enclitic in every case be regarded as forming one word with the word that precedes it and then the general rules of accent be applied. These enclitic rules may then be regarded as attempts to avoid violations of the general rules. Thus if nqrwposestin or nqrwposmou or nqrwposme be regarded as one word the accenting of that word violates the general rule that the accent cannot get further back than the antepenult; and dronmou violates the general rule that the circumflex cannot get further back than the penult. Something, therefore, needs to be done. And what is actually done is to put in an additional accent to break up the long series of unaccented syllables. Following out a similar principle, the accent of raestin would become restin. But two acutes were not desired in immediate juxtaposition in a single word. Therefore in this case an

46

alternative way out of the difficulty was adopted, and the enclitic was made to retain its own accent.

It should be observed, however, that this way of considering the matter will not quite work out in all cases; for ramou, for example, would violate the general rule that the accent cannot stand on the antepenult if the ultima is long.

Personal Pronouns

94. The declension of the personal pronoun of the first person is as follows:

Sing.

Plur.

N. g, I
G. mo or mou, of me.
D. mo or moi, to or for me.
A. m or me, me.

N. mev, we.
G. mn, of us.
D. mn, to or for us.
A. mv, us.

The forms mo, mo, m are the forms used when emphasis is desired. The unemphatic forms, mou, moi, me are enclitic.

95. The declension of the personal pronoun of the second person is as follows:

Sing.

Plur.

N. s, thou.
G. so, of thee.
D. so, to or for thee.
A. s, thee.

N. mev, ye..
G. mn, of you..
D. mn, to or for you.
A. mv, you.

The forms so, so, and s are enclitic except when they are emphatic. When they are emphatic, they have the accents given in the paradigm.

47

96. The declension of the personal pronoun of the third person is as follows:

Sing.
M. F. N.
N. atv, he.
G. ato, of him.
D. ato to or for him.
A. atn, him.
at, her.
atv, of her.
at, to or for her.
atn, her.
at it.
ato, of it.
at, to or for it.
atn, it.
Plur.
ato, them.
atn, of them.
atov, to or for them.
atov, them.
ata, them.
atn, of them.
atav, to or for them.
atv, them.
at, them.
atn, of them.
atov, to or for them.
at, them.

It will be observed that the declension of atv is like that of gaqv (omitting the vocative), except for the form at in the nominative and accusative singular neuter.

97. The Use of Pronouns

(1) A pronoun is a word that stands instead of a noun.

Example: The sentence, I see the disciple and teach him, means the same thing as I See the disciple and teach the disciple. The pronoun him stands instead of the second occurrence of the noun disciple.

(2) The noun for which a pronoun stands is called its antecedent. Thus in the Sentence, I see the disciple and teach him, the antecedent of him is a disciple.

(3) A pronoun agrees with its antecedent in gender and number.

48

Examples:

(a) blpw tn maqjtn ka didskw atn, I see the disciple and teach him. Here maqjtn is the antecedent of atn, and since maqjtn is of masculine gender and singular number atn also is masculine singular.

(b) mnw n t ok ka ginskw atn, I remain in the house and know it. Here ok is the antecedent of atn, and since ok is of masculine gender and singular number atn also is masculine singular. In English the neuter pronoun it is used, because the noun house, like all nouns denoting inanimate objects, is neuter in English. But in Greek the word for house is masculine, and therefore the masculine pronoun is used in referring to it. Hence the translations, he, she, etc., given in the paradigm above for the masculine and feminine of the Greek pronoun of the third person are correct only when the antecedents are nouns denoting persons. In other cases, the pronouns will be neuter in English even when they are masculine or feminine in Greek. It will be observed, further, that the pronoun does not agree with its antecedent in case, but only in gender and number. In the sentence just given the antecedent ok is dative after the preposition n, whereas atn has its own construction, being the object of the verb ginskw.

(c) kkljsa didskei m, ka g didskw atn, the Church teaches me and I teach it.

(d) blpw tov maqjtv ka didskw atov, I see the disciples and teach them.

(e) blpw t tkna ka didskw at, I see the children and teach. them. It will be observed that in English in the plural the personal pronoun is the same in form for all three genders, whereas in Greek it varies.

(4) The personal pronouns are not used in the nominative case unless there is emphasis upon them.

49

(a) The reason for this rule is that the ending of the verb indicates sufficiently whether the subject is first, second, or third person. Thus lgw means I say. The g, therefore, is not put in unless there is emphasis upon it.

(b) Emphasis is usually caused by contrast. Thus in the sentence g lgw, s d grfeiv, I say, but you write, g and s are emphatic because they are contrasted with each other. And in the sentence g lgw, "I say," the natural inference is that some one else does not say. The insertion of the emphatic g naturally suggests an implied (though here not an expressed) contrast.

(c) atv is almost never used as a personal pronoun in the nominative case. The'place of it, in the nominative, is taken usually by certain other words, and it itself has in the nominative case a use distinct from its use as a personal pronoun. These matters will be reserved for future study.

(5) To express possession the unemphatic forms of the personal pronouns should be used, and the English phrases my word and the like should be turned around into the form, the word of me, before they are translated into Greek.

Examples: My word, lgov mou? thy word, lgov sou? his word lgov ato? her word lgov atv? its word, lgov ato? their word, lgov atn.

If it is desired to emphasize the possessive idea -- e. g., "my word" -- a possessive adjective, which will be learned later, is ordinarily used instead of the genitive of the personal pronoun.

(6) After prepositions, the emphatic forms of the personal pronouns are ordinarily used.

Examples: x mo, not k mou? p' mo11 not p mou? di' mo, not di mou? n mo, not n moi.

50

Present Indicative of em,

98. The present indicative of the verb em I am, is as follows:

Sing. 1. em,
2. e,
3. st(n),
I am.
thou art.
he is.

Plur. 1. smn,
2. st,
3. es(n),
we are.
ye are.
they are.

All these forms except e are enclitic. The accents given in the paradigm occur only when required by the rules given above in 92.

st(n) and es(n) have the movable n (see 44).

99. The verb em takes a predicate nominative, not an accusative, to complete its meaning.

Examples: pstolov nqrwpov stin, the apostle is a man; pstolv stin gaqv, the apostle is good.

In the sentence, the apostle says the word, it is asserted that the apostle does something to the word; the word is therefore the object of the action denoted by the verb, and stands in the accusative case. But in the sentence, the apostle is a man, it is not asserted that the apostle does anything to a man. A man, therefore, stands here not in the accusative case but in the predicate nominative.

100. Exercises

I. 1. o maqjta sou ginskousi tn basilean ka gousi tov delfov atn ev atn. 2. didskw tov delfov mou ka lgw atov paraboln. 3. gei me kriv prv tov maqjt ato. 4. di' m blpeiv s tn qnaton, so d glgw lgouv kakov. 5. di so gei qev tov pistov ev tn basilean ato ka di' atn tov llouv. 6. di' mav^v mnei kriov n t ksm. 7. g emi dolov, s d pstolov. 8. gaqv stin kriov ka gaqo ste

51

mev. 9. maqjta ste to kurou ka delfo tn postlwn ato. 10. pstolov pistv stin, o d doloi ato kako. 11. kkljsa pist stin, mev d blpomen atn. 12. blpomn se ka lgomn soi paraboln. 13. doloi smn, dolouv d didskomen. 14. o doloi mn blpousin mv, mev d didskomen atov. 15. f@ mn1 2 lambnei delfv mou dra kal, ka pmpei at prv me di tn dolwn ato. 16. ginskomen tn dn, ka di@ atv gomn se ev tn okon mn. 17. met tn delfn mn blpomen tov maqjtv to kurou mn. 18. met tv mrav tv kakv blpomen tn basilean to kurou mn. 19. meq@ mn2 3 blpeiv atn. 20. meq@ mn smen n tov okoiv mn.

II. 1. Your Servants are in the house of the Lord. 2. My house is in the desert. 3. The prophet knows his disciples and brings them into his houses. 4. Through my word ye have glory. 5. On account of our children ye see evil days. 6. In our days the world is evil. 7. God knows our souls and brings them out of death. 8. Ye are our sons and we are your disciples. 9. We are in the kingdom of God with Thy faithful disciples. 10. We say a parable to thee, but thou sayest another word to us. 11. The way is bad, but we lead the children in it. 12. My brother takes gifts from you, but ye write an evil word to him. 13. My house is bad, but your disciples bring the children out of it. 14. My disciples are leading their brethren to me. 15. I see and know my sons and lead them to my Lord. 16. God knows his Church and leads it out of death into his kingdom. 17. Thy commandments are good and righteous, and lead us into life. 18. Our Lord is sending His apostles to me. 19. We are sending our servants into your house, but ye are taking our gifts from us. 20. Ye are good, but your disciples are evil.

52


1 1 The final vowel of prepositions is frequently elided before words that begin with a vowel. The elision is marked by an apostrophe.

2 1 Before the rough breathing, the p of p@ becomes f.

3 2 Before the rough breathing, t of met@ becomes q.

BackContentsNext