CHAPTER 8: Personal Pronouns

You will be able to—
      1.   understand English pronouns and their various uses;
      2.   learn and translate the various Greek pronouns;
      3.   recognize proclitics and enclitics and how they effect accent changes;
      4.   describe how the pronoun works with its antecedent;
      5.   describe how a pronoun is used for emphasis, possession, and in attributive and predicate positions; and
      6.   master ten more high-frequency vocabulary words.

Definition
A pronoun is a word that stands in place of a noun or other syntactic units usually for brevity or to avoid repetition. The person or object to which the pronoun refers is called its “antecedent.”

Zach threw the ball to Elliott.
It (the ball: antecedent) hit him (Elliott: antecedent) in the head.

Types of Pronouns

There are various types of Pronouns:

      1.   Personal pronouns stand in for a person: Bill ran a mile. He did it.

      2.   Demonstrative pronouns point to a person or object that is near (this/these) or far (that/those): This book belongs to that student.

      3.   Relative pronouns relate a subordinate clause to a noun: It is a great person who attempts to master Greek.

      4.   Reciprocal pronouns state an interchange between two things/persons: They loved one another.

      5.   Reflexive pronouns direct the action of the verb back to the subject: She hid herself behind the door.

      6.   Interrogative pronouns ask a question: Who broke the chair?

The personal pronouns are used over ten thousand times in the New Testament. The demonstrative pronouns are used about sixteen hundred times, the relative pronouns about fifteen hundred times, and the interrogatives just over six hundred times and the others less than that (Wallace, 142).   So the personal pronouns are used more frequently than all the other types of pronouns put together.

Case
In English, pronouns have three cases:
      1.   Subjective, used when a pronoun is the subject of a sentence: He turned left.
      2.   Possessive, used to indicate ownership: He gave his best.
      3.   Objective, used when a pronoun is the object of a sentence: He left him.

Number
In English there are singular and plural pronouns. Pronouns agree with their antecedents in number and person.

 

Singular

Plural

Singular

Plural

Subjective

I

we

he

they

Possessive

my

our

his

theirs

Objective

me

us

him

them

Subjective

you/thou

you/ye

she

they

Possessive

your

your

hers

theirs

Objective

you

you

her

them

Introduction

In Greek personal pronouns will match their antecedent in person, gender, and number. The case will be determined by the role the pronoun plays in the sentence.

Personal pronouns will be either first person (I, we), second person (you/ye), or third person (he/she/it/they).  Because the verb forms indicate the subject of the sentence the nominative personal pronoun is sometimes redundant and used for emphasis, contrast, or when switching characters in a narrative.

Greek uses the genitive where we would normally use a possessive pronoun (e.g., his, hers). Learn to chant the first and second person paradigms.

First Person Pronoun Paradigm

 

Singular

 

Plural

 

Nom.

ἐγώ

I

ἡμεῖς

we

Gen.

μου

of me/my

ἡμῶν

of us/our

Dat.

μοι

to me/for me

ἡμῖν

to us/for us

Acc.

με

me

ἡμᾶς

us

Watch for ἐγώ combining with καί forming κἀγώ (and I).

Emphatic first person forms are made by prefixing an epsilon and adding an accent to the genitive, dative, and accusative singular forms (ἐμοῦ, ἐμοί, ἐμέ).

Second Person Pronoun Paradigm

 

Singular

 

Plural

 

Nom.

σύ

you

ὑμεῖς

you

Gen.

σου

of you/your

ὑμῶν

your

Dat.

σοι

to/for you

ὑμῖν

to/for you

Acc.

σε

you

ὑμᾶς

you

The form is made emphatic by adding an accent to the singulars (σοῦ, σοί, σέ).

Examples:

Ἐγώ εἰμι τὸ φῶς τοῦ κόσμου.
I am the light of the world (Jn. 8:12).

Σὺ εἶ Σίμων ὁ υἱὸς  Ἰωάννου.
You are Simon, son of John (Jn. 1:42).

ἀλλ᾽ ἐγὼ τὴν ἀλήθειαν λέγω ὑμῖν.
But I speak the truth to you (Jn. 16:7).

Pronoun Enclitics

An enclitic is a word that is phonetically attached so closely with the preceding word that it has no accent of its own.

Many personal pronouns are enclitics (e.g., μου, μοι, με, σου, σοι, σε).

An enclitic is sometimes accented—
      1.   for emphasis or
      2.   when it is the first word in a sentence.

Declension Format

 

Person +

Case +

Number

ἐγώ

First

nominative

singular (I)

σοί

Second

dative

singular (to you)

ὑμῶν

Second

genitive

plural (your)

Third Person Pronoun: Introduction

The third person pronoun αὐτός differs from the first and second person pronouns in that it is marked for gender. Originally it was an intensive pronoun but eventually took over the role of the third person personal pronoun.  With first and second person pronouns, there is no need to specify gender because it is understood as the one speaking or one being spoken to. The endings largely follow a 2-1-2 pattern (second declension, first declension, second declension). If you know those patterns well, you will be able to recognize how the various forms of αὐτός are built.

αὐτός also has some other special features that we will examine shortly.

Third Person Pronoun Paradigm: Three Genders

Masculine

 

Singular

 

Plural

 

Nom.

αὐτός

he

αὐτοί

they

Gen.

αὐτοῦ

his

αὐτῶν

their

Dat.

αὐτῷ

to/for him

αὐτοῖς

to/for them

Acc.

αὐτόν

him

αὐτούς

them

Feminine

 

Singular

 

Plural

 

Nom.

αὐτή

she

αὐταί

they

Gen.

αὐτῆς

hers

αὐτῶν

their

Dat.

αὐτῇ

to/for her

αὐταῖς

to/for them

Acc.

αὐτήν

her

αὐτάς

them

Neuter

 

Singular

 

Plural

 

Nom.

αὐτό

it

αὐτά

they

Gen.

αὐτοῦ

its

αὐτῶν

their

Dat.

αὐτῷ

to/for it

αὐτοῖς

to/for them

Acc.

αὐτό

it

αὐτά

them

Three Uses

αὐτός can be used in three ways:

      1.   As a pronoun, αὐτός matches its antecedent in number and gender and is translated as “he,” “she,” “it,” or “they.”  It can function any way a noun can.

        λέγει αὐτῷ ὁ  Ἰησοῦς
        Jesus said to him (Jn. 14:6).

        πρὸς τοὺς πόδας αὐτοῦ
        at his feet (Acts 5:10)

        ἐν τρισὶν ἡμέραις ἐγερῶ αὐτόν.
        in three days I will raise it (Jn. 2:19).

(“it,” αὐτός, although αὐτός is masculine in Greek, “temple” is neuter in English—“it”)

      2.   As a reflexive intensifier, when αὐτός is used as an adjective in the predicate position (usually in the nominative case) and translated reflexively (e.g., He himself will get the car).

        αὐτὸ τὸ πνεῦμα συμμαρτυρεῖ
        The Spirit itself [himself] beareth witness (Rom. 8:16).

        Ἰησοῦς αὐτὸς οὐκ ἐβάπτιζεν
        Jesus himself did not baptize (Jn. 4:2).

      3.   As an adjective meaning “same,” when αὐτός is used in the attributive position.

        ἡ αὐτὴ σὰρξ
        the same flesh (1 Cor. 15:39)

         ἐν αὐτῇ τῇ ἡμέρᾳ
       in that same day (Lk. 23:12).

Personal Pronoun Chant (cow call)—

recite down each column then αὐτός

1st Person Sg.

2nd Person Sg.

1st Person Pl.

ἐγώ

σύ

ἡμεῖς

μου

σου

ἡμῶν

μοι

σοι

ἡμῖν

με

σε

ἡμᾶς 

      αὐτός,  αὐτή, αὐτό

The second person plural is formed easily by just switching the ἡ to an ὑ [ ὑμεῖς].

Vocabulary

αὐτός, -ή, -ό

he/she/it (5,595)

γῆ, -ῆς, ἡ

earth, land, region (250)

ἐγώ, ἡμεῖς

I, we (2,666)

ἡμέρα, -ας, ἡ

day (389)

ὅτι

that, because (1,296)

οὖν

so, then, therefore (499)

ὄχλος, -ου, ὁ

crowd (175)

παρά

from (with gen.) (194)

 

beside, with (with dat.)

 

alongside, beside (with acc.)

σύ, ὑμεῖς

you, you (pl.) (2,905)

ὑπό

by, at the hands of (with gen.)

 

under, below (with acc.) (220)

Last modified: Wednesday, August 8, 2018, 12:48 PM