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Elementary New Testament Greek, 2014a

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5: Adjectives, The Verb “to Be” and Nouns of the 1st Declension<br />

Predicate Nouns and Adjectives<br />

As you can already imagine, verbs of “being” beg to be completed (in idea) either by<br />

a noun or by an adjective:<br />

63<br />

Transitive Verbs<br />

EquationLinkingCopulative Verbs<br />

Subject Direct Object Subject Predicate<br />

(Nominative) (Accusative) (Nominative) (Nominative)<br />

Completed by a Noun<br />

I am an apostle.<br />

You are an apostle.<br />

He/she/it is an apostle.<br />

We are apostles.<br />

Y’all are apostles.<br />

They are apostles.<br />

Completed by an Adjective<br />

I am happy.<br />

You are happy.<br />

He/she/it is happy.<br />

We are happy.<br />

Y’all are happy.<br />

They are happy.<br />

I love ( ) an apostle. I am (=) an apostle.<br />

You love ( ) a teacher. You are (=) a teacher.<br />

They love ( ) plumbers. They are (=) plumbers.<br />

I am (=) happy.<br />

You are (=) sad.<br />

They are (=) wealthy.<br />

But in <strong>Greek</strong>, in what case should such a noun or adjective appear? You are<br />

accustomed to looking for an Accusative Direct Object to complete the idea of the<br />

verbs we have met so far. Those verbs are Transitive verbs, which can be thought<br />

of as “transmitting” some form of energy or action to (or at) their objects. But to<br />

say, “I am an apostle” involves no transfer of energy or action from “I” to “apostle.”<br />

In fact, the best way of picturing the relationship between “I” and “apostle” is by<br />

the mathematical Equation sign: “I = apostle.” In other words, verbs of being<br />

essentially function as verbs of Equation. In grammatical lingo, such verbs are<br />

called Linking verbs, or Copulative verbs. Now we can anticipate the answer to our<br />

opening question: Equation verbs (under most circumstances) will be completed<br />

by the Nominative Case because they have set up equations with their Nominative<br />

Subjects.

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