ἐγώ εἰμι ὁ ποιμὴν ὁ καλός · ὁ ποιμὴν ὁ καλὸς τὴν ψυχὴν αὐτοῦ τίθησιν ὑπὲρ τῶν προβάτων
Greek | Meaning | Notes |
---|---|---|
ἀγαθός, -ή, -όν | good | intrinsic goodness, opposite to πονηρός; Cognate: the name Agatha |
ἀγαπητός, -ή, -όν | beloved | |
ἄδικος, -ον | unjust, unrighteous | |
ἄλλος, -η, -ο | other, another (of the same kind) | Cognate: allopathy is a cure for one disease that also cures another one |
βασιλικός, -ή, -όν | royal, kingly | |
δίκαιος, -α, -ον | just, righteous | |
ἕτερος, -α, -ον | other, another (of a different kind) | Cognate: words that begin with hetero- |
καινός, -ή, -όν | new | |
κακός, -ή, -όν | bad, ugly | opposite to καλός; Cognate: cacophony |
καλός, -ή, -όν | good, noble, beautiful | opposite to κακός; Cognate: calligraphy |
μικρός, -ά, -όν | small, little | Cognate: microscope |
μόνος, -η, -ον | only, alone | Cognate: monologue |
νεκρός, -ά, -όν | dead | Cognate: necrosis, necromancy |
πιστός, -ή, -όν | faithful | |
πονηρός, -ά, -όν | evil, wicked | opposite to ἀγαθός |
πρῶτος, -η, -ον | first | Cognate: prototype |
ἔσχατος, -η, -ον | last | Cognate: eschatology |
Lexical Study
- Adjectives are modifiers of nouns.
- In the following sentence, the word "small" is an adjective: I live in a small house.
- All languages have adjectives because the word "house," for instance, is a general word for all dwellings.
- An adjective qualifies or limits the possible number of types of houses.
- With more specific adjectives, you can limit the number of houses down to just one.
- I live in a small, green, two-story house.
- English adjectives almost always retain the same form no matter what they modify.
- We can say small man, small men, small woman, small women, small house, small houses.
- In other inflected languages the adjective changes form to agree with the number and gender of the noun.
- The same will be true of Greek.
- Vocabulary word
- When you see ἀγαθός, -ή, -όν in the vocabulary, it means that the stem of the adjective is to be repeated in the second and third spots.
- Thus, it means ἀγαθός, ἀγαθή, ἀγαθόν.
- These are the forms of three genders: masculine, feminine, and neuter.
- Exceptions
- Sometimes an adjective has only two forms in the vocabulary.
- For instance ἄδικος, -ον = unjust, unrighteous.
- The first form is both masculine and feminine.
- The second form is the neuter.
- It has no separate feminine form.
- The adjective could have been given as ἄδικος, -ος, -ον to show all three genders, but the feminine is just a repeat of the masculine.
- Greek adjectives agree with the noun they modify in three areas: number, gender, and case.
- When the noun is in the NOM, the adjective is also in the NOM.
- Thus you can say the following:
- μικρὸς ἄνθρωπος βλέπει δοῦλον
- A small man sees a slave
- μικροὶ ἄνθρωποι βλέπουσι δοῦλον
- Small men see a slave.
- When the noun is in the GEN, the adjective is also in the GEN.
- Thus you can say the following:
- λόγοι μικροῦ ἀνθρώπου παύουσι δοῦλον
- Words of a small man stop a slave
- λόγοι μικρῶν ἀνθρώπων παύουσι δοῦλον
- Words of small men stop a slave
- When the noun is in the DAT, the adjective is also in the DAT.
- Thus you can say the following:
- οἶνος μικρῷ ἀνθρώπῳ λύει δοῦλον
- Wine in a small man destroys a slave
- οἶνος μικροῖς ἀνθρώποις λύει δοῦλον
- Wine in small men destroys a slave
- When the noun is in the ACC, the adjective is also in the ACC.
- Thus you can say the following:
- δοῦλος βλεπει μικρὸν ἀνθρώπον
- A slave sees a small man
- δοῦλος βλεπει μικροῦς ἀνθρώπουν
- A slave sees small men
- Greek forms for adjectives whose stem ends in ε,ι,ρ:
SINGULAR PLURAL M F N M F N NOM μικρός μικρά μικρόν μικροί μικραί μικρά GEN μικροῦ μικρᾶς μικροῦ μικρῶν μικρῶν μικρῶν DAT μικρῷ μικρᾷ μικρῷ μικροῖς μικραῖς μικροῖς ACC μικρόν μικράν μικρόν μικρούς μικράς μικρά
SINGULAR PLURAL M F N M F N NOM δίκαιος δικαία δίκαιον δίκαιοι δίκαιαι δίκαια GEN δικαίου δικαίας δικαίου δικαίων δικαίων δικαίων DAT δικαίῳ δικαίᾳ δικαίῳ δικαίοις δικαίαις δικαίοις ACC δίκαιον δικαίαν δίκαιον δικαίους δικαίας δίκαια - Notice that the stem (μικρ- or δικαι-) are consistent throughout the forms
- The endings on the masculine forms are the same as the second declension masculine nouns that we learned in lesson 2:
Singular Plural NOM -ος -οι GEN -ου -ων DAT -ῳ -οις ACC -ον -ους - The endings on the feminine forms are the same as the first declension ε, ι, ρ feminine nouns that we learned in lesson 6
Singular Plural NOM -α -αι GEN -ας -ων DAT -ᾳ -αις ACC -αν -ας - The endings on the neuter forms are the same as the second declension neuter nouns that we learned in lesson 4:
Singular Plural NOM -ον -α GEN -ου -ων DAT -ῳ -οις ACC -ον -α
- Greek forms for adjectives whose stem do not end in ε,ι,ρ (standard):
SINGULAR PLURAL M F N M F N NOM ἀγαθός ἀγαθή ἀγαθόν ἀγαθοί ἀγαθαί ἀγαθά GEN ἀγαθοῦ ἀγαθῆς ἀγαθοῦ ἀγαθῶν ἀγαθῶν ἀγαθῶν DAT ἀγαθῷ ἀγαθῇ ἀγαθῷ ἀγαθοῖς ἀγαθαῖς ἀγαθοῖς ACC ἀγαθόν ἀγαθήν ἀγαθόν ἀγαθούς ἀγαθάς ἀγαθά
SINGULAR PLURAL M F N M F N NOM μόνος μόνη μόνον μόνοι μόναι μόνα GEN μόνου μόνης μόνου μόνων μόνων μόνων DAT μόνῳ μόνῃ μόνῳ μόνοις μόναις μόνοις ACC μόνον μόνην μόνον μόνους μόνας μόνα - Don't worry about adjectives whose stems are sibilant (i.e., they end in σ or λλ); they are practically non-existent.
- The endings of the masculine and neuter in these "standard" forms are the same as the second declension
- The endings on the feminine forms are the same as the first declension of non-ε, ι, ρ feminine nouns (standard) that we learned in lesson 6
Singular Plural NOM -η -αι GEN -ης -ων DAT -ῃ -αις ACC -ην -ας
- Articles (which you studied in lesson 4) are really adjectives.
- When you say the man instead of a man, you are being more definitive.
- You are modifying "man" by clarifying which "man" when you use an article
USES OF THE ADJECTIVES
- Adjectives can be used in three different ways:
- attributively
- predicatively
- substantivally
- Attributive Adjective
- The attributive use of the adjective is the simple modification form:
- The small man.
- The adjective "small" tells which "man" we are identifying.
- We want only "the small man."
- In the attributive position, the adjective always follows immediately after the article.
- In other words "the" comes in front of the adjective.
- One form of the attributive position has a single article followed by the adjective followed by the noun it modifies
- ὁ μικρός ἄνθρωπος = the small man [NOM]
- τοῦ μικροῦ ἀνθρώπου = of/from the small man [GEN]
- τῷ μικρῷ ἀνθρώπῳ = to/with the small man [DAT]
- τὸν μικρὸν ἄνθρωπον = the small man [ACC]
- οἱ μικροὶ ἄνθρωποι = the small men [NOM]
- τῶν μικρῶν ἀνθρώπων = of/from the small men [GEN]
- τοὶς μικροῖς ἀνθρώποις = to/with the small men [DAT]
- τοὺς μικροὺς ἀνθρώπους = the small men [ACC]
- The other form of the attributive position has two articles: an article followed by the noun followed by a second article followed by the modifying adjective.
- ὁ ἄνθρωπος ὁ μικρός = the small man [NOM]
- τοῦ ἀνθρώπου τοῦ μικροῦ = of/from the small man [GEN]
- τῷ ἀνθρώπῳ τῷ μικρῷ = to/with the small man [DAT]
- τὸν ἄνθρωπον τὸν μικρὸν = the small man [ACC]
- οἱ ἄνθρωποι οἱ μικροὶ = the small men [NOM]
- τῶν ἀνθρώπων τῶν μικρῶν = of/from the small men [GEN]
- τοῖς ἀνθρώποις τοῖς μικροῖς = to/with the small men [DAT]
- τοὺς ἀνθρώπους τοὺς μικροὺς = the small men [ACC]
- In both of these forms of the attributive position, the adjective follows an article—so they are both in the attributive position.
- When you are translating the second form, don't repeat the second "the."
- In other words, ὁ ἄνθρωπος ὁ μικρός is the small man not the man the small or the small the man.
- In future lessons, we will refer to a situation as attributive position. We mean that the modifier comes immediately after the article.
- Exception:
- The only exception to the attributive position rule is that some very short words like δὲ ("moreover, but, however") sometimes come between the article and the adjective.
- ὁ δὲ μικρός ἄνθρωπος is still in the attributive position even though the word δὲ separates the article from the adjective.
- The word δὲ is called "postpositive" because it never appears at the beginning of a sentence or clause.
- The attributive use of the adjective is the simple modification form:
- Predicate Adjective
- To predicate means to make a statement, to assert, to say something.
- The predicate position makes a statement
- In the predicate position, the article does not come immediately in front of the adjective.
- In this position, there is a descriptive statement being made and we have to add the words is/are/was/were to the sentence: The house is green.
- One form of the predicate position has the adjective following the noun
- ὁ ἄνθρωπος μικρός = the man is small [NOM]
- οἱ ἄνθρωποι μικροὶ = the men are small [NOM]
- The other form of the predicate position has the adjective just before the article and noun
- μικρός ὁ ἄνθρωπος = the man is small [NOM]
- μικροὶ οἱ ἄνθρωποι = the men are small [NOM]
- You will rarely find the adjective in the predicate position in any case other than the NOM
- Sometimes no article is used.
- You will have to determine whether it is in the attributive position or the predicate position by the context.
- ἄνθρωπος μικρός could be a small man or a man is small.
- If the full sentence is ἄνθρωπος μικρός βλέπει τὸν δοῦλον then it is obviously in the attributive position meaning a small man sees the slave.
- If the full sentence is just ἄνθρωπος μικρός then it is in the predicate position and means a man is small.
- Substantival Adjective
- When we speak about the substantival use of the adjective, we mean that the adjective acts like a noun.
- We use this feature in English:
- Good men love the Lord, but the bad ignore Him.
- Really we mean Good men love the Lord, but the bad men ignore Him.
- The word "bad" is an adjective, but it stands for "bad men".
- In Greek an adjective can stand by itself and imply a noun because of the gender and case of the adjective.
- In this way, ὁ ἀγαθός by itself may mean the good man or the good person.
- Also, ἡ ἀγαθή (feminine form) may mean the good woman.
- And τὸ ἀγαθόν (neuter form) may mean the good thing.
- In the plural οἱ ἀγαθοί may mean the good men, the good people, or simply the good.
- Likewise οἱ νεκροί may mean the dead men, the dead people, or just the dead.
- In the Lord's Prayer, the expression, but deliver us from evil is sometimes translated, but deliver us from the evil one.
- The difference is that the first one asks for deliverance from the principle of evil
- the second ask for a deliverance from a person who is characterized by evil.
- The Greek text says: ἀλλὰ ῥῦσαι ἡμᾶς ἀπὸ τοῦ πονηροῦ.
- but deliver us from the evil
- Here we have an adjective (τοῦ πονηροῦ) which is in the GEN case.
- It may be neuter or masculine.
- If it is neuter, it refers to the evil thing
- but if it is masculine, it is the evil person.
- Since the ending may be either one, the jury is still out as to whether it is masculine or neuter.
- We use this feature in English:
- When we speak about the substantival use of the adjective, we mean that the adjective acts like a noun.
Translate the following:
- ἀγαθὴ ἡ ἐκκλησία καὶ ἡ βασιλεία κακή.
- ἡ κακὴ καρδία τῶν ἀνθρώπων γινώσκει θάνατον.
- οἱ ἀπόστολοι βλέπουσι τοὺς μικροὺς οἴκους καὶ τὰς κακὰς ὁδούς.
- οἱ δοῦλοι οἱ κακοὶ λύουσι τὸν οἴκον τοῦ ἀποστόλου.
- οἱ κακοὶ λύουσι τὸ ἱερόν.
- οἱ λόγοι τῆς ἀληθείας διδάσκουσι τοὺς ἄλλους ἀποστόλους.