Elementary New Testament Greek, 2014a

5: Adjectives, The Verb “to Be” and Nouns of the 1st Declension
Nouns of the First Declension (,
, )
It’s time to add the First Declension to our repertoire. Read aloud through the forms
of these three nouns:
Feminine Feminine Feminine
Number Case Article + Noun Article + Noun Article + Noun
Singular nominative
genitive
dative
accusative
Plural nominative
genitive
dative
accusative
You will notice these features at work:
1) All nouns using these patterns are feminine in gender.
2) All endings bear great resemblance to the article, which you have already
learned.
3) In the plural, these different words all use the same endings, and match the
appearance of the article.
4) In the singular, these different words all use the same consonants in their
endings ( ), matching the article.
5) In the singular, these words differ in their endings only in vowel pattern:
uses “pure alpha” uses “pure eta” mixes alpha and eta
(like the article)
New Testament Exploration
John 10:14–15 μ μ μ
μ μ just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and
I lay lay down my life on behalf of the sheep. ( = I; μ = shepherd; μ
= my own [Nom. or Acc. Neuter]; μ = me [Acc.])
Digging Deeper into the New Testament
Text
1) Find Matthew 5:3-8 in your GNT. Read these verses aloud in Greek until
smooth. Be ready to read these verses aloud in class.
a) Find all adjectives, and parse them the best you can.
b) Can you spot four (4) nouns of the 1st declension you have
learned in this lesson? Where are they?
2) Now open your Greek Interlinear to Matthew 5:3-8. From our discussion
above, you know that the Interlinear code for the adjective is the English
letter a (for Adjective). Scan across the parsing line (the third line of the
Interlinear) to nd all adjectives. How many have you found?
65
Notice that 5:3, 5, and 7 each begin with the same structure. Do you see the adjective-
--article—adjective construction? Essentially this involves two different positions
of the adjective operating together: the second and third words in each of these
verses (article-adjective) stand in the substantive position: [the poor (ones); the