Grammar Made Simple for Bible Students

by | Nov 19, 2020 | 04 Bible Study 101, Greek

Before you learn Greek grammar, make friends with a few English ideas. Knowing where to find the subject, verb, object, and possession in a sentence will make Greek feel doable.

One way to understand Biblical Greek is comparing and contrasting it with English grammar. Lack of knowledge of English grammar can be an unexpected obstacle not only to learning biblical Greek, but also to good Bible study.

Here are some basics you may want to review before embarking on learning biblical Greek.

English → Greek: your on-ramp

Inflection: When a word changes its form based on the function it performs in a sentence or its gender, it’s called inflection.

For example: he → him → his (form changes with function).

English is lightly inflected (“dog/dog’s”).

Greek is highly inflected. The word endings change to show role in the sentence. That’s why Greek word order can flex more than English and still make sense.

If you know how to spot subject, direct object, and possession in English, you already have the categories Greek uses.


Case

Case: The different functions words can perform in a sentence are called cases.

Example sentence: The quick brown fox jumped over the old lazy dog’s tail.

The subject does the action of the verb (e.g. the fox). To find the subject, ask yourself: who or what did the action of the verb?If word is the subject of a sentence, it is in the Nominative case.

The direct object is the person or thing that receives the action of the verb (e.g. the dog). If a word is the direct object, it is in the Accusative case. To find the direct object, ask yourself: what or whom is directly affected by the action of the verb?

If a word shows possession, it is in the Genitive case (e.g. dog’s tail).

Understanding Biblical Greek Cases

Person & Number

Number refers to whether a word is singular (cat) or plural (cats).

Gender refers to whether the word refers to something masculine, feminine or neuter (e.g. he/she/it; prince/princess).

“I” and “we” are 1st person.

“You” is 2nd person.

“He,” “she,” and “it” are 3rd person.

Parts of Speech

“The boy (subject) kicked (verb) the ball (direct object).

The (definite article) quick (adjective) brown (adjective) fox (noun) jumped (verb) over (preposition) an (indefinite article) old (adjective) lazy (adjective) dog (noun).

The definite article is the word “the.”

The indefinite article is the word “a” or “an”.

A noun stands for someone or something. (In the sentence above, “fox” and “dog” are nouns.)

An adjective modifies a noun or another adjective. (“Quick”, “brown,”old” and “lazy” are adjectives.)

A preposition shows the relationship between two items. (“Over” is a preposition.)

The object of the preposition is the word(s) that follow the preposition. (“An old lazy dog” is the object of the preposition.)

Parts of a Sentence

Sentences can be broken into two parts: subject and predicate. The subject describes the subject of the sentence (e.g. “the quick brown fox”). The predicate describes everything else, including the verb (e.g. “jumped over an old lazy dog”).

Hint: Greek sentences are much longer than English sentences. It is often helpful to break them into subject and predicate.

English: The word of the Lord remains.
Greek: λόγος τοῦ Κυρίου μένει.
ὁ/τοῦ = forms of “the” that change (inflect) for case
λόγος (word) is subject (nominative); Κυρίου (Lord) is possessive (genitive)
Notice how endings carry meaning.

Why this matters for Bible study

When you meet a hard verse, grammar is your friend. Subjects and verbs answer, “Who’s doing what?” Cases answer, “Who’s affected?” Getting those right protects you from forcing a meaning that isn’t there. (Think: fewer ‘pet interpretations,’ more author’s intent.)

Quick Check

Find the subject and direct object

Grace transforms hearts.

Grace transforms hearts.

(Answers subject in italics, direct object in bold.)

The Spirit comforts believers.

The Spirit comforts believers.

(Answers subject in italics, direct object in bold.)

The teacher explained the passage.

The teacher explained the passage

(Answers subject in italics, direct object in bold.)

Spot the possessive (genitive idea)

Paul’s letters encourage me.

Paul’s letters encourage me.”

The disciples’ nets were full.

The disciples’ nets were full


Photo by Ryan Wallace on Unsplash

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