New Testament Greek Class

"EASY GREEK" SYLLABUS

2009-02-13T08:50:00.004-06:00

Class 1: Overview, Alphabet, Pronunciation, Article:

Ask students why they want to learn Greek. Give/Show examples from Greek NT of how learning Greek will address their wants
- Student wants to know why translations differ, and how to choose. Show a passage where the Greek can be translated either way, or where the textual variant allows different translations.
- Student wants to know "formal equivalence" vs. "dynamic equivalence" reason. Show idiomatic passage.
- Etc.
Go over alphabet and pronunciation. Work on letters dissimilar from English equivalents.
- Spend time on this until everyone can read letters and diphthongs and blends.
- Do exercise with English words spelled with Greek letters.
Go over Article paradigm so everyone can pronounce it and recognize forms.
Homework: Learn alphabet and sounds, and Article paradigm.

Class Notes: January 19

2008-01-26T22:58:00.000-06:00

We had our last class today, previewing the final Lessons in the book (Lessons 29-32).

My thanks to all who were able to participate in the class during its 8-month span!

Class Notes: January 12, 2008

2008-01-14T21:26:00.000-06:00

Class Notes and Comments

Class Schedule Reminder:
January 19: Review 28, Preview 29
Depending on class attendance, we may or may not meet again after January 19. If we meet, the schedule will tentatively be as follows:
January 26: Review 29, Preview 30
February 2: Review 30, Preview 31 & 32
February 9: No Class - Pre-Lenten Retreat at Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church
February 16: Review 31 & 32; Last class

Lessons 28: Important Sections and points (but read all the Sections):

198. See the Sidebar for the vocabulary list of all words.

200. - 202. Memorize/Learn the forms of διδωμι. Two things to note:

The Non-Indicative (i.e., Subjunctive, Imperative, Infinitive) forms of the Present and Aorist are almost identical; the Present is usually simply δι + the Aorist form.
κα, not σα, is the sign of the Aorist (κα is also used in the Perfect Active form, just like ω verbs).

The Perfect is formed like ω verbs by reduplication of the initial Aorist stem consonant, separated by ε - see the fourth and fifth principal parts in Section 200.

204. Learn the forms of πολυς and μεγας. Note that these adjectives are only irregular in the Masculine and Neuter Nominative and Accusative Singular.

206. Do all the Exercises.

If we continue with Κατα Ιωαννην The Gospel According to John, we'll take up where we left off at 2:1.

Class Notes: January 5, 2008

2008-01-14T21:25:00.000-06:00

Class Notes and Comments

Class Schedule Reminder:
January 12: Review 27, Preview 28
January 19: Review 28, Preview 29
January 26: Review 29, Preview 30
February 2: Review 30, Preview 31
February 9: Review 31, Preview 32
February 16: Review 32

Lessons 27: Important Sections and points (but read all the Sections):

190. See the Sidebar for the vocabulary list of all words.

191. & 192. Know the differences between the Interrogative Pronoun/Adjective and the Indefinite Pronoun/Adjective - not just the accent differences, but the meaning/usage differences.

193. Memorize this. Note that the Relative Pronoun is in most instances identical to the Article (Section 28, p. 22) except the initial τ is a rough breathing mark instead, and in the feminine nominative singular and the masculine and feminine nominative plural, there is an acute accent. All Relative Pronouns have a rough breathing.

194. Read this.

195. Read this.

196. Learn the forms of οιδα.

197. Do all the Exercises.

If we continue with Κατα Ιωαννην The Gospel According to John, we'll take up where we left off at 2:1.

Class Notes: December 15, 2007

2007-12-15T07:33:00.000-06:00

Class Notes and Comments

Our class for Saturday, January 5, 2008 will meet at 10:45 a.m., following the Divine Liturgy (9:00 a.m.). The Great Blessing of the Waters will follow the Liturgy, but we can begin our class and we will be "blessed" by the sprinkled waters when Fr. Justin blesses the dining room - so be prepared to cover/protect your books and New Testaments at that time! :)

Class Schedule Reminder:
December 22: (not meet) Christmas
December 29: (not meet) New Year's
January 5, 2008: Review 25 & 26, Preview 27 - class starts ~10:45 a.m.
January 12: Review 27, Preview 28
January 19: Review 28, Preview 29
January 26: Review 29, Preview 30
February 2: Review 30, Preview 31
February 9: Review 31, Preview 32
February 16: Review 32

Lessons 25 & 26: Important Sections and points (but read all the Sections):

174. See the Sidebar for the vocabulary list of all words.

176.-179. Familiarize yourself with these forms of nouns and adjectives. Mastronarde has a more extensive chart of adjective forms than Croy, including additional 3rd-Declension Adjective forms; his chart can be viewed here: Adjective Paradigm Index. Some of these words and forms may not occur in NT Greek. Also, Mastronarde shows the "dual" form (i.e., when a noun or adjective refers to things that come in pairs - e.g., eyes, hands, feet, etc.). The Greek dual had fallen out of use by NT times.

180. Do all the Exercises.

181. See the Sidebar for the vocabulary list of all words.

183.-185. Memorize all these Imperative forms.

187. Read this.

188. Memorize the Imperative form of ειμι.

189. Do all the Exercises.

If we continue with Κατα Ιωαννην The Gospel According to John, we'll take up where we left off at 2:1.

Class Notes: December 8, 2007

2007-12-13T21:12:00.000-06:00

Class Notes and Comments

Lesson 24: Important Sections and points (but read all the Sections):

168. See the Sidebar for the vocabulary list of all words.

169. Read this.

170. You already know these forms.

171. Important. Also read the pages on the Infinitive in the Greek New Testament Insert (pp. 37-39).

172. Read this, as well as the pages on Indirect Discourse in the Greek New Testament Insert (pp. 41-43).

173. Do all the Exercises.

If we continue with Κατα Ιωαννην The Gospel According to John, we'll take up where we left off at 2:1.

Class Notes: November 17, 2007

2007-11-21T21:16:00.001-06:00

Class Notes and Comments

NOTE: The next class will be Saturday, December 8. We will review Lessons 22 & 23, and preview Lesson 24.

Lesson 22: Important Sections and points (but read all the Sections):

154. See the Sidebar for the vocabulary list of all words.

155. Note that some forms of liquid Future Indicatives look identical to their Present Indicative except for the accent.

156. Liquid First Aorist Indicative verbs do not have the σ in the tense formative.

157. Review the chart of Common Liquid Verbs.

158. and 159. Read these. Note that Possessive Adjectives are different than the genitive of Personal Pronouns even though they have the same semantic function (i.e., to indicate possession).

160. Do all the Exercises.

Lesson 23: Important Sections and points (but read all the Sections):

161. See the Sidebar for the vocabulary list of all words.

162. Read this.

163. Learn/Memorize the Subjunctive forms. Note how they resemble and differ from forms you already know. Since it's not the Indicative Mood, the Aorist Subjunctive does not have the prefixed ε, but it does have the σ (First Aorist Active or Middle) or θ (First Aorist Passive) Aorist tense formative.

164. Study this.

165. As with all non-Indicative moods (i.e., Infinitive, Participle, Imperative, Optative, Subjunctive), the Present Subjunctive indicates continuous action (as opposed to "present time" action) and the Aorist Subjunctive indicates action viewed as a whole (as opposed to "past time" action).

166. Memorize the Present Subjunctive of ειμι. Note that it's simply the connecting vowel + ending of the Present Active Subjunctive, with a smooth breathing + circumflex accent on the first syllable.

167. Do all the Exercises.

We'll again continue our reading with Κατα Ιωαννην The Gospel According to John, 1:43.

Class Notes: November 10, 2007

2007-11-11T18:27:00.000-06:00

Class Notes and Comments

Lesson 21: Important Sections and points (but read all the Sections):

144. See the Sidebar for the vocabulary list of all words.

145. Note, as Croy says, that "Contraction occurs only in the first principal part, that is, the present tense in all moods and modes and in the imperfect indicative." Also, the uncontracted forms are what you look up in the dictionary (lexicon), even though you will never see the uncontracted forms in the Greek text. E.g., the lexical entry is for ποιεω ("I do, make"), but the present active indicative 1st-person singular appears in the New Testament as ποιω, never ποιεω (ε+ω => ω).

146. Study the chart and points (1) - (8).

148. Read this and note the exception for καλεω.

149. Learn/memorize these reflexive pronouns. Note that there are no nominative forms, and that they are basically the corresponding forms of αυτος with a prefixed:
εμ- = "of myself" (singular)
σε- = "of yourself" (singular)
ε- = "of himself/herself/itself" (as well as the plurals "of ourselves/yourselves /themselves")

In the New Testament the personal pronoun αυτος can sometimes function as a reflexive.

150., 151. Memorize the forms of πας and read the section on its uses. This is a very common word, occurring 1243 times in the UBS4 Greek New Testament.

152. Do all the Exercises.

We'll again continue our reading with Κατα Ιωαννην The Gospel According to John, 1:43.

Class Notes: November 3, 2007

2007-11-04T20:47:00.001-06:00

Class Notes and Comments

Lesson 20: Important Sections and points (but read all the Sections):

137. See the Sidebar for the vocabulary list of all words.

138., 139., and 140. Memorize the paradigms for the Aorist Passive and the Perfect Active and Middle/Passive Participles. Note the accents. Also note how similar they are to the Participles you have already learned. Focus on the differences/clues, i.e.:

The Aorist Passive has θε (masculine and neuter) or θει (feminine) where the Aorist Active has σα between the stem and the ending.
The Perfect Active masculine and neuter have reduplication and κ (κο) between the stem and the ending, with no ν as part of the ending.
The Perfect Active feminine has reduplication and κ (κυι) between the stem and the ending.
The Perfect Middle/Passive has reduplication and no connecting ο (Present Middle/Passive) or connecting σα (Aorist Middle) between the stem and the ending (cf. the Perfect Middle/Passive Indicative, which also has reduplication and no connecting vowel between the stem and the ending).

141. This is important. Periphrastic Participles are common in the New Testament, and can affect the translation and meaning of some verses.

142. We have discussed these nuances of the Adverbial Participle. You need to know them. I gave you a total of eight, i.e., the six here:

Time/Temporal: "when/while/after"
Manner/Modal: "in the manner of"
Means/Instrumental: "by means of"
Cause/Causal: "because of"
Condition/Conditional: "if"
Concession/Concessive: "although"

plus:

Telic/Purpose: "for the purpose of" (intended result)
Resultative: "as a result of" (results, whether intended or not)

143. Do all the Exercises.

We'll again continue our reading with Κατα Ιωαννην The Gospel According to John, 1:35, since we did not do any reading from John on November 3.

Class Notes: October 27, 2007

2007-10-30T22:04:00.000-05:00

Class Notes and Comments

Lesson 19: Important Sections and points (but read all the Sections):

129. See the Sidebar for the vocabulary list of all words.

130., 131., 132., and 133. Memorize the paradigms for the First and Second Aorist Active and Middle Participles. Note that the 2nd-Aorist Participles use the same endings you learned in Lesson 18 for the Present Active and Middle Participles, except for the accent. Since Participles don't have a time sense (i.e., past, present or future), but only an aspect sense (Present Participles: continuous action; Aorist Participles: action viewed as a whole), there is no prefixed ε before the Aorist stem.

The 1st-Aorist Active and Middle Participles are also like the Present Active and Middle Participles in most instances, except they have σα between the stem and the ending instead of ο. The 1st-Aorist Active Feminine Participle has σα instead of ου between the Aorist stem and the ending.

Study the listing of the more common 2nd-Aorist Participles in Section 132.

134. Read this, and also read the section on Participles in the Greek New Testament Insert, pp. 30-37.

135. This is very important. The Genitive Absolute is a frequent New Testament construction. Do the Exercises to become familiar with its syntax.

136. Do all the Exercises.

We'll again continue our reading with Κατα Ιωαννην The Gospel According to John, 1:35, since we did not do any reading from John on October 27.

Class Schedule

2007-10-30T09:04:00.000-05:00

Our class schedule without interruptions (noted in parentheses) is below:

October 27, 2007: Review 18, Preview 19
November 3: Review 19, Preview 20
November 10: Review 20, Preview 21
November 17: Review 21, Preview 22
November 24: Review 22, Preview 23 (not meet)
December 1: Review 23, Preview 24 (I'll be gone this day or 12/15)
December 8: Review 24, Preview 25
December 15: Review 25, Preview 26 (I'll be gone this day or 12/1)
December 22: Review 26, Preview 27 (not meet)
December 29: Review 27, Preview 28 (not meet)
January 5, 2008: Review 28, Preview 29
January 12: Review 29, Preview 30
January 19: Review 30, Preview 31
January 26: Review 31, Preview 32
February 2: Review 32

For my benefit and your own, if we skip one week, I don't want us to miss a Lesson, so I'd have you do 2 Lessons for the 2 weeks between classes. If you get stuck during those 2 weeks, you can call or email me with any questions you have or problems you encounter.

However, if we have to skip more than 1 week (see below), then I will only expect you to do 2 Lessons during those weeks. Thus, the probable schedules will be as follows, and we will only fall behind by 2 weeks overall:

If I am absent December 1:
October 27, 2007: Review 18, Preview 19
November 3: Review 19, Preview 20
November 10: Review 20, Preview 21
November 17: Review 21, Preview 22 & 23
November 24: (not meet) Thanksgiving
December 1: (not meet, as I'll be gone)
December 8: Review 22 & 23, Preview 24
December 15: Review 24, Preview 25 & 26
December 22: (not meet) Christmas
December 29: (not meet) New Year's
January 5, 2008: Review 25 & 26, Preview 27
January 12: Review 27, Preview 28
January 19: Review 28, Preview 29
January 26: Review 29, Preview 30
February 2: Review 30, Preview 31
February 9: Review 31, Preview 32
February 16: Review 32

If I am absent December 15:
October 27, 2007: Review 18, Preview 19
November 3: Review 19, Preview 20
November 10: Review 20, Preview 21
November 17: Review 21, Preview 22 & 23
November 24: (not meet) Thanksgiving
December 1: Review 22 & 23, Preview 24
December 8: Review 24, Preview 25 & 26
December 15: (not meet, as I'll be gone)
December 22: (not meet) Christmas
December 29: (not meet) New Year's
January 5, 2008: Review 25 & 26, Preview 27
January 12: Review 27, Preview 28
January 19: Review 28, Preview 29
January 26: Review 29, Preview 30
February 2: Review 30, Preview 31
February 9: Review 31, Preview 32
February 16: Review 32

If you personally have to miss a scheduled class, I still expect you to stay on schedule. Again, you can always call or email me with any questions you have or difficulties you encounter.

If you do your daily work, esp. during the vacation weeks, you will not fall behind.

Class Notes: October 20, 2007

2007-10-21T21:19:00.000-05:00

Class Notes and Comments

Lesson 18: Important Sections and points (but read all the Sections):

121. See the Sidebar for the vocabulary list of all words.

123. and 124. Memorize the Present Active and Present Middle/Passive Participle. If you've been studying the chart I gave you and/or if you've learned the 3rd Declension endings for the last lesson, you already know the masculine and neuter Active forms. The feminine Active forms all use -ουσα and follow the "mixed" α/η 1st-declension pattern like δοξα (Lesson 3 Section 18.). The Middle/Passive forms all end with -μεν and use 1st (feminine) and 2nd Declension (masculine and neuter) endings.

125. Read this important section. Participles are everywhere in the New Testament, and learning their forms, meanings and uses is extremely important. Also read the section on Participles in the Greek New Testament Insert, pp. 30-37, both this week and for the next two weeks when we discuss Aorist and Perfect Participles and the grammatical significance and uses of Participles.

127. Memorize the Present Participle of ειμι. Note that it's simply the endings from section 123. (Present Active Participle), with a smooth breathing mark and the accent on the first syllable (except for the feminine plural genitive).

128. Do all the Exercises. Spend time each day learning the Lesson grammar and your new vocabulary, and then do all or most of the Exercises, for that is where all the learning and application takes place.

We'll again continue our reading with Κατα Ιωαννην The Gospel According to John, 1:35, since we did not do any reading from John on October 20.

Class Notes: October 13, 2007

2007-10-16T17:34:00.000-05:00

Class Notes and Comments

Lesson 17: Important Sections and points (but read all the Sections):

115. See the Sidebar for the vocabulary list of all words.

117., 118., and 119. Read and learn these Sections and these 3rd Declension endings. You will learn a few more 3rd Declension endings in Lesson 25. The page I handed out in class on "Third Declension Helps" can be downloaded and printed from the link in the sidebar.

120. Do all the Exercises and check your answers. If time gets away from you, do at least every other Exercise, and if time really gets away from you, don't worry about the English to Greek translations.

We'll continue our reading with Κατα Ιωαννην The Gospel According to John, 1:35.

Class Notes: October 6, 2007

2007-10-08T10:20:00.000-05:00

Class Notes and Comments

Lesson 16: Important Sections and points (but read all the Sections):

107. See the Sidebar for the vocabulary list of all words, including the extra words. Note that many of this Lesson's words are not new words, just new forms (Principal Part) for words you already know.

Two "extra" words I forgot to write on the board in class:

αρα - "therefore, consequently"
NOTE THE ACCENT - i.e., an acute accent on the penult. The same word with a circumflex accent on the penult is an interrogative and is used in direct questions. There is also a form with an acute accent on the ultima, and it's a noun meaning "a wish or prayer" (or "a curse").
αποκαλυπτω - "I reveal, unveil"

LXX/NT vocabulary:

ηξει is in the word list, but the lexical form is ηχω = "I have come" (translated as a Perfect)
ισχυω = "I am strong" is the lexical form for ισχυσατε and ισχυσεν

109., 111., and 112. Memorize the paradigms for the Aorist and Future Passive Indicatives, and the Aorist Passive Infinitive.

110. 2nd Aorist Passives differ from 1st Aorist Passives by not having a θ in the tense suffix (tense formative).

113. Study these Aorist Passive forms.

114. Do all the Exercises and check your answers. If time gets away from you, do at least every other Exercise, and if time really gets away from you, don't worry about the English to Greek translations.

Again, memorize the Present Active Participle forms, as shown on the Present Active Participle Chart in the Sidebar, noting the 3rd Declension endings as shown in the Chart. I also gave you a copy of the chart at class September 22.

We'll continue our reading with Κατα Ιωαννην The Gospel According to John, 1:19.

Class Notes: September 29, 2007

2007-10-01T05:25:00.000-05:00

Class Notes and Comments

Lesson 15: Important Sections and points (but read all the Sections):

97. See the Sidebar for the vocabulary list of all words, including the extra words, as well as for audio files of the vocabulary. Several of these vocabulary words are "irregular" Perfects - i.e., the Perfect forms of these verbs involve stem changes and not just consonant reduplication and κα endings.

γεγονα is an example of a 2nd Perfect. The main difference between 1st and 2nd Perfects is that 2nd Perfects lack the κ in the Active endings.

Compare

λελυκα, λελυκας, λελυκε(ν), λελυκαμεν, λελυκατε, λελυκασι(ν)/-καν

with

γεγονα, γεγονας, γεγονε(ν), γεγοναμεν, γεγονατε, γεγονασι(ν)/-αν

99. Read this, as well as the section on the Perfect Tense in the Greek New Testament Insert (pp. 29-30).

100., 101., and 102. Memorize the paradigms for the Perfect Active, Perfect Middle/Passive, and Perfect Infinitive (Active and Passive).

103. Read this carefully so you'll understand the variations from the regular formation of the Perfect Tense. Note that the letter ζ is considered a "double consonant" (some Greek grammars give its pronunciation as "dz" or "zd"). As the book points out, an ε at the beginning of such words serves as a form of "reduplication." Do not confuse such Perfects with Aorists or Imperfects that have an ε augment.

104. Learn the Pluperfect Active paradigm. Note the ει in the endings. Sometimes the ε augment is missing.

105. Study these Perfect forms.

106. Do all the Exercises and check your answers. These will give you practice with the Perfect Tense. See the Sidebar for Exercises Answers.

Again, memorize the Present Active Participle forms, as shown on the Present Active Participle Chart in the Sidebar, noting the 3rd Declension endings as shown in the Chart. I also gave you a copy of the chart at class September 22.

We may start the Gospel of John, as you've now learned a lot of the forms (imperfects, aorists) that would have made it too difficult before. For those of you who missed the class, we read through The Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed. A link for this is in the sidebar.

Class Notes: September 22, 2007

2007-09-23T19:42:00.001-05:00

Class Notes and Comments

Lesson 14: Important Sections and points (but read all the Sections):

90. See the Sidebar for the vocabulary list of all words, including the extra words, as well as for audio files of the vocabulary. ειδον is the 2nd Aorist of οραω, a word you'll meet in Lesson 21 when you're introduced to "Contract Verbs" - i.e., verbs whose stems ends in α (αγαπαω), ε (ποιεω), or ο (πληροω), which contract with the connecting ε or ο per the chart in Lesson 21 Section 146.

91. Read this.

92., 93. and 94. Memorize the 2nd Aorist Active and Middle Indicative and Active and Middle Infinitive. The endings are the same as for the Imperfect Active and Middle/Passive (Lesson 10 Section 65 and Lesson 11 Section 70.). The Aorist Passive is a separate form that you'll learn in Lesson 16 (but I've already given it to you on the Indicative Verbs Chart). Also, even though the 2nd Aorist Active and Middle Infinitive have the same endings as the Present Active and Middle/Passive Infinitives (i.e., -ειν and -εσθαι), the accent is not on the verb stem but on the -ειν ending of the Active Infinitive and on the -εσ of the -εσθαι ending of the Middle Infinitive.

95. Memorize all these forms of 2nd Aorists. Read the "final note" about the verbs that are a mix of 1st and 2nd Aorists.

96. Do all the Exercises and check your answers. See the Sidebar for Exercises Answers. For the English to Greek Exercises, you can refer to the "Greek to English Vocabulary" section in the back of the book for aorist forms of verbs to see if you figured them out correctly. Alternatively, you can look at the Principal Parts lists in the Greek New Testament Insert or look up the verbs in the Dictionary in the back of your Greek New Testament. (Note: if a verb is regular in its principal parts formation, the textbook and the GNT Dictionary may not list the principal parts.)

Memorize the Present Active Participle forms, as shown on the Present Active Participle Chart in the Sidebar, noting the 3rd Declension endings as shown in the Chart. I also gave you a copy of the chart at class September 22.

Our reading next week will continue at Mark 2, if we continue in Mark. I'm thinking, though, that we may start the Gospel of John, as you've now learned a lot of the forms (imperfects, aorists) that would have made it too difficult before.

Class Notes: September 15, 2007

2007-09-15T14:48:00.000-05:00

Class Notes and Comments

See Class Notes: September 8, 2007. Due to limited attendance and a couple new students today, our class was a review and no new material was introduced. So next week will be like this week would have been. ;^)

Also: Memorize the Present Active Participle forms, as shown on the Present Active Participle Chart in the Sidebar.

Class Notes: September 8, 2007

2007-09-10T20:16:00.000-05:00

Class Notes and Comments

Lesson 13: Important Sections and points (but read all the Sections):

82. See the Sidebar for the vocabulary list of all words, including the extra words, as well as for audio files of the vocabulary. Note that ολος is used in the predicate position - i.e., ολος ο λαος = "the whole people"

83. See the Comments from last week's class on "principal parts," as well as the "Indicative Verbs Chart" in the sidebar under the "VERBS" section for a chart that lays out the patterns and formations for verbs.

84. Read this, and if you have the Greek New Testament Insert (I'll have copies for everyone else next Saturday), read the following sections on Verbs beginning on p. 19:

"The Verbs: Tense and Aspect" (pp. 19-21)
"Time, Aspect, and Verbal Mood" (p. 22)
"Voices" (pp. 22-23)
"Moods" (pp. 23-24)
"Indicative Verbs" (pp. 24-30)

Memorize the forms of the Future Active and Middle Indicative (the Future Passive will be learned in Lesson 16 Section 111). Note that (for regular verbs) they are identical to the Present Active and Middle Indicative except for the inclusion of a σ between the stem and the ending.

85.-87. Memorize these forms of the First Aorist.

88. Read/study this Section (see Section 78 re: the final stem consonant changes). You should have the chart in Section 78 memorized - better yet, see the more complete chart I refer you to in my Comments on Section 78 from last week, which shows what the consonants change to when they combine with a σ.

89. Do all the Exercises and check your answers. See the Sidebar for Exercises Answers. For the English to Greek Exercises, you can refer to the "Greek to English Vocabulary" section in the back of the book for aorist forms of verbs to see if you figured them out correctly. Alternatively, you can look at the Principal Parts lists in the Greek New Testament Insert or look up the verbs in the Dictionary in the back of your Greek New Testament. (Note: if a verb is regular in its principal parts formation, the textbook and the GNT Dictionary may not list the principal parts.)

Our reading next week will continue at Mark 2, if we continue in Mark.

Class Notes: September 1, 2007

2007-09-05T08:55:00.000-05:00

Class Notes and Comments

Lesson 12: Important Sections and points (but read all the Sections):

74. See the Sidebar for the vocabulary list of all words, including the extra words, as well as for audio files of the vocabulary.

75. Greek verbs have six "principal parts," and when you see a verb in a lexicon or in the Greek to English Vocabulary in the back of the textbook, the verb's principal parts will be listed. (If there is a --, that means that there is no New Testament occurrence of that principal part of that verb.) The six principal parts in order are:

Present
Future
Aorist
Perfect Active
Perfect Passive
Aorist Passive (from which the Future Passive is formed)

A regular verb may be "deponent" in one or more of its principal parts. Some verbs are very irregular, and some of their principal parts may use stems that are quite different from the Present stem. With "regular" verbs like λυω, one can easily figure out the other five principal parts from the Present stem once one knows the regular principal parts patterns. With irregular verbs (i.e., verbs that have different stems for one or more principal parts), one has to memorize or learn to recognize the various principal parts for those verbs. Fortunately, few verbs have more than three different stems that are used for the principal parts, and some of those that do are common verbs that you'll encounter a lot and thus become familiar with (e.g., λεγω, ερχομαι).

The basic principal part formations for regular verbs (i.e., where the same stem occurs in all six principal parts) are as follows:

Present: present stem + thematic vowel (ε or ο) + ending: λυ-ω (the ο thematic vowel contracts with the ω ending in the 1st-person singular) (Imperfect: ε augment + present stem + thematic vowel + ending: ε-λυ-ο-ν)
Future: present stem + σ + thematic vowel + ending: λυ-σ-ω (the ο thematic vowel contracts with the ω ending in the 1st-person singular)
(1st) Aorist: ε augment + present stem + σα + ending: ε-λυ-σα (no ending in the 1st-person singular) (2nd Aorist follows the Imperfect pattern)
(1st) Perfect Active: reduplicated initial consonant + ε + present stem + κα + ending: λ-ε-λυ-κα (no ending in the 1st-person singular) (2nd Perfect Active has no κ)
Perfect Passive: reduplicated initial consonant + ε + present stem + ending: λ-ε-λυ-μαι
(1st) Aorist Passive: ε augment + present stem + θη + ending: ε-λυ-θην ((1st) Future Passive: present stem + θησ + thematic vowel + ending: λυ-θησ-ο-μαι) (2nd Aorist/Future Passive has no θ)

See the "Indicative Verbs Chart" in the sidebar under the "VERBS" section for a chart that lays out the patterns and formations for verbs.

76. & 77. Memorize the forms of the Future Active and Middle Indicative (the Future Passive will be learned in Lesson 16 Section 111). Note that (for regular verbs) they are identical to the Present Active and Middle Indicative except for the inclusion of a σ between the stem and the ending.

78. Memorize this "chart" of how the various consonants change when they are combined with the σ of the Future tense. I discussed this in more depth when I was using Story & Story's textbook GREEK TO ME (hence my references to "Story" in what I write), which you can read here if you're interested. Read this whole section, as future forms of some of the verbs you know or need to know are discussed.

79. Memorize all of these irregular Future verb forms.

80. Memorize the Future Indicative of ειμι. In the Indicative mood ειμι occurs only in the Present ("I am"), Imperfect ("I was") and Future ("I will be"), so once you learn this, you will know all the Indicative forms of ειμι. There are no Aorist ("I was" as a simple past) or Perfect ("I have been") or Pluperfect ("I had been") forms of ειμι; instead, forms of γινομαι ("I become") or υπαρχω ("I exist") are used.

81. Do all the Exercises and check your answers. See the Sidebar for Exercises Answers. As I mentioned, I may only post the answers to the English to Greek Exercises, as you can view Croy's Answer Key for the Practice and Review Exercises, and you can use your New Testament and Old Testament (or translation of the Septuagint) to check your LXX and NT Exercises.

Our reading next week will continue at Mark 2, if we continue in Mark.

Some Comments on the Greek Middle-Passive

2007-08-21T08:17:00.000-05:00

From
http://lists.ibiblio.org/pipermail/b-greek/2007-August/044099.html

Why the Middle Voice can represent passive sense

On Aug 16, 2007, at 9:10 PM, Kevin Riley wrote:

... I am still puzzling over how a form that is subject focused - the middle - came also to be used to represent the passive where the subject is not the focus, and need not appear at all. ...

I've been meaning to respond to the above question -- or puzzlement -- for several days, but I've decided that I'll forgo a longer and fuller response at this point and try do deal directly with the question why one set of endings associated fundamentally with middle voice, could also be used to represent the passive.

The simple answer is that the middle (or middle-passive) forms (and that's BOTH the μαι/σαι/ται, μην/σο/το endings of the present, imperfect, aorist, future, perfect, and pluperfect -- and a piddling number of non-periphrastic future perfects like κεκλησομαι (not in the GNT) -- AND the -θη- endings in the aorist and future) are all fundamentally marked for subject-affectedness, and this includes verbs and verb-forms where the subject is patient, undergoer, beneficiary or recipient).

When the verb in question is really transitive, then the middle-passive form can have a passive sense because the patient of the process has become the subject of the verb, but in several other cases -- and especially in the case of intransitive verbs -- the middle-passive form simply indicates that the subject is:

BOTH subject and patient (direct reflexive, e.g., χυραται ο Γοργιας, "Gorgias shaves himself"), or
BOTH subject and beneficiary or recipient (indirect reflexive, e.g., λυεται ο ιππευς την ιππον, "The rider unties his mare"), or
BOTH subject and undergoer (intransitive, e.g., εγειρεται το παις, "The child wakes up").

One of the major difficulties for English-speakers trying to understand the Greek middle-passive is that they tend to think of voice in terms of transitive verbs and an active-passive polarity, whereas the Greek voice-system is not so much concerned with transitivity as it is with verbs UNmarked for subject-affectedness and verbs MARKED for subject-affectedness.

- Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University (Retired)

No Class August 18 & 25 - Next Class September 1

2007-08-16T21:06:00.000-05:00

Per my August 16 email, due to the absence of most people and the church consecration on August 25 (see below), I'm asking you to work on your own these next three weeks. I.e.:

The Week of August 18-24: Read and study Lesson 10, memorize the vocabulary and verb paradigms, and do all the Exercises. Imperfect Active Indicative, and Imperfect forms of ειμι.

The Week of August 25-31: Read and study Lesson 11, memorize the vocabulary and verb paradigms, and do all the Exercises. Imperfect Middle/Passive Indicative.

Though this is new material, it is not difficult, and if you do your daily work, you will easily master the material. That's what I like about Croy - he gives you the essentials, he gives it to you in small sizes, and he gives you lots of Exercises to put your new knowledge to use. The Exercises really are the key: If you study the grammar and memorize the vocabulary, you should be able to do the Exercises and get most of them correct - which means that you have learned the material.

I'll post the Answers to the Lesson 10 and 11 Exercises here on the class blog in plenty of time for you to do the work and review your answers. I already have audio files through Lesson 15, and I'll get the vocabulary posted, too. (Note: You already have the full vocabulary for the course in this file, Class Vocabulary, which lists the words in Lesson order; my vocabulary lists are just cut-and-pasted from this master list.)

WE WILL NEXT MEET ON SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 1, AT 9:15 A.M. We'll briefly review Lessons 10 & 11 (and the Exercises you did), and have a quiz on the material, and we will preview Lesson 12. Thus, we'll stay on track and won't miss a beat.

Call or email me with any questions you have or any problems you encounter. Those of you who have been on vacation have told me that you are keeping pace on your own. BE SURE TO KEEP READING THE BLOG.

Class Notes: August 11, 2007

2007-08-14T20:16:00.000-05:00

Class Notes and Comments

Lesson 9: Important Sections and points (but read all the Sections):

53. See the Sidebar for the vocabulary list of all words, including the extra words, as well as for audio files of the vocabulary.

55. & 56. Memorize the forms of the Present Middle and Passive Indicative. Note that the endings are identical.

57. Memorize the form of the Present Middle/Passive Infinitive.

60. As I mentioned in class, "Deponent Verbs" is the usual term for these verbs that have Middle/Passive forms with Active meanings, and for which there are no Present "Active" forms of the verb (i.e., forms that end with -ω, -εις, -ει, -ομεν, -ετε, -ουσι) in the literature. Dr. Carl Conrad has written several essays on why he thinks the term "deponent" mischaracterizes these verbs. You can read his essays here. I will continue to refer to them as "deponent verbs" because that is how the textbook treats them.

62. Do all the Exercises and check your answers. See the Sidebar for Exercises Answers.

Our reading next week will continue at Mark 1:35.

Aids to Learning Prepositions

2007-08-10T23:40:00.000-05:00

Here is a diagram showing the spatial meanings of many of the prepositions you will be learning. I found this on the Internet, and if I find a better one, I'll use that.

And ... here are some fun pictures from Teach Yourself New Testament Greek by D. F. Hudson that someone posted on the Internet:

John Rylands Papyrus 470

2007-08-05T20:12:00.000-05:00

Read my post about John Rylands Papyrus 470, our oldest copy of a still-used prayer to the Theotokos.

Class Notes: August 4, 2007

2007-08-04T15:21:00.000-05:00

Class Notes and Comments

Lesson 8: Important Sections and points (but read all the Sections):

48. See the Sidebar for the vocabulary list of all words, including the extra words, as well as for audio files of the vocabulary.

49. Memorize the forms of the Demonstrative Pronoun.

50. This section is important. In simple terms, demonstrative pronouns used with a noun are in the predicate position, but are translated as attributive adjectives (e.g., "this man," not "this is the man"). When standing alone, they function as a pronoun and can be translated as "this/that (man/woman/thing)," "these/those (men/women/things)"; or "he/she/it," "they."

51. This section is very important to understand. The position of αυτος in the Greek is like its position in English. E.g.:

INTENSIVE ("self"): Predicate - "The man αυτος" or "αυτος the man" = "The man himself" or "Himself the man"
IDENTICAL ("same"): Attributive - "The αυτος man" or "The man the αυτος" = "The same man" or "The man, the same [one]"

Since as a pronoun (Lesson 7) αυτος is third person, whenever you see it used with a 1st- or 2nd-person personal pronoun (εγω, συ, ημεις, υμεις) and a corresponding 1st- or 2nd-person verb ending (-ω, -εις, -ομεν, -ετε) (even if the subject is not expressed), you know αυτος is modifying the 1st- or 2nd-person pronoun as an intensive adjective, and is not functioning as a personal pronoun. I.e., it's "I myself," "you yourself," "we ourselves," "y'all yourselves" is/are doing (whatever the verb says), and not "he/she/it/they" is/are doing (whatever the verb says).

52. Do all the Exercises and check your answers. See the Sidebar for Exercises Answers.

Our reading next week will continue at Mark 1:25.

Doing the Exercises

2007-07-24T08:39:00.000-05:00

As I mentioned at our last class (July 21), the most important thing in this course is for you to do all the Exercises for each Lesson (after first learning the vocabulary and grammar for the Lesson).

Attending all the classes won't ultimately benefit you if you aren't doing the work. Conversely, if you read all the Lessons and do all the Exercises, you can largely master the material without attending the classes.*

I know it can seem like a bit of drudgery at times, but be faithful in doing all the Exercises and coming to the classes and you will be pleased a few weeks from now with what you have learned and how far you have come since the course began. Once we learn a few more verb tenses, and especially when we begin studying participles, you will begin to see how understanding New Testament Greek can enhance your Scripture studies in ways that no amount of reading English translations can do.

* Someone may ask: "Well, then, why should we come to the classes, since the Answers to the Exercises are on the class Blog?"
For one, you won't know what you might be doing wrong if don't have me to ask.
For another, while you will know what you know by working on your own, you won't know what you don't know. Croy's book gives the basic and most important information, but sometimes the topics need a bit more explanation, and I'll try to give you that when it seems necessary. I'll also tell you what I think is of greater or lesser importance, as well as occasionally give you tips on how best to learn the material.
For a third, you won't get the class interaction and reading and pronunciation practice if you simply do this on your own. Being able to read the Greek text by sight and out loud is an important part of learning the language and becoming comfortable with it. The links in the Blog Sidebar as well as the Greek Pronunciation CD will help you with pronunciation - if you have not already done so, listen to all the lessons on the CD so you'll know how all the letters and letter combinations are to be pronounced. (If you're opting for the Phonemic Koinê Pronunciation, pronounce η as the "ay" in "say," and both υ and οι as a French "u"; on the CD these are all pronounced as "ee.")
And finally, if no one comes to the classes, then I'll stop teaching the course, including posting on the Blog, and you really will be on your own!!

Class Notes: July 21, 2007

2007-07-22T17:05:00.000-05:00

We will not meet on Saturday, July 28. Our next class will be Saturday, August 4, at 9:15 a.m.

The Lesson 6 quiz was simply a test on:
a) all the words (including the extra words) for Lesson 6, and
b) the "extra" words (LXX & NT, plus the other words I've given you to learn) up to this point, and
c) the Definite Article paradigm.

Class Notes and Comments

Lesson 7: Important Sections and points (but read all the Sections):

41. See the Sidebar for the vocabulary list of all words, including the extra words (no LXX/NT words for Lesson 7), as well as for audio files of the vocabulary.

42. The main enclitics you will encounter in New Testament Greek are:

Forms of ειμι except for ει ("you (singular) are") - Section 43
Forms of the indefinite pronoun and adjective τις/τι - Lesson 27 Section 192
Unstressed oblique (i.e., non-nominative) forms of εγω ("I") and συ ("you" (singular)) - Section 45

43. Memorize the Present Indicative of ειμι. FYI - the Present Infinitive of ειμι is ειναι ("to be") - Lesson 24 Section 168.

45. Memorize the forms for the First, Second and Third Personal Pronouns, singular and plural. You already basically know the Third Person Personal Pronoun because it uses the same pattern and endings as the Definite Article and the First and Second Declension Nouns.

46. This section is very important to understand.

47. Do all the Exercises and check your answers.

See the Sidebar for Lesson 7 vocabulary and audio files and Exercises Answers.

If you have time, preview Lesson 8, esp. Section 51 on the other uses of αυτος.

Our reading will continue at Mark 1:16.

Class Notes: July 14, 2007

2007-07-15T14:30:00.000-05:00

Class Notes and Comments

Lesson 6: Important Sections and points (but read all the Sections):

33. See sidebar for vocabulary list of all words, including LXX, NT and extra words, as well as for audio files of the vocabulary.

35. Note the distinctive Vocative Singular form of First Declension Masculine nouns.

36. A preposition and the object of the preposition, together with any intervening modifying words (e.g., the article), constitute a "prepositional phrase." Study this section so you understand how the meaning of a preposition depends on the case of the object of the preposition. As the text says, "the prepositions that are used with more than one case may have very different meanings with different cases."

39. This is an important point. As I said, no one seems to know why neuter plurals often take singular verbs, but you will see this time and time again when reading the Greek New Testament.

40. Do all the Exercises, of course, and check your answers with the answers given in the Sidebar.

Next week, July 21, we will again meet at 9:15 a.m. If we go past 11:30 a.m. (and I suspect we will), we will likely start the class at 9:00 a.m. thereafter (but no earlier).

How NOT To Learn Biblical Greek

2007-07-14T07:13:00.000-05:00

The following blog post (from Withering Fig) has some interesting comments.

Re: (3) Skip to Koinê: Even though you are first learning New Testament Greek (which is also what I did), it's probably a good idea at some point to take a class in Attic Greek or work through an Attic Greek textbook on your own (which is what I am slowly doing as I teach this course), so you'll have a better understanding of the language and also be better able to read and understand the Church Fathers and early Christian liturgical texts and prayers.

How NOT To Learn Biblical Greek

In a recent article I alluded to some issues with language study in modern theological training (though, for more on this, you should hop over to Ancient Hebrew Poetry and the conversations going on in and around there). So, I thought I’d just list out some of the major problems that I saw amongst my fellow students at the University of Texas and Harvard.

(1) "Reading" Through Perseus

By far, the most egregious error that students make is the extensive use of sites like Perseus, or software like Logos or Accordance.

DISCLAIMER: I am not at all saying that these are useless tools or that they shouldn’t be used.

What tends to happen is this. New students of these languages stumble upon these tools and realize that they have a cheat-sheet at their disposal. Rather than taking the time to properly learn the language, they run rough shod through conjugations and declensions and end up in the world of the text without anything firm to latch on to. Essentially, they fake their way through class, which leads them to fake their way through interpretation in "the real world."

I have seen this from just about every level of student: total newbies all the way up to folks working on their dissertations (and, to be honest, even professors at major universities).

(2) Study for the Exam

When studying a language like ancient Greek it is totally possible to study just before a quiz or exam, and then faithfully reproduce all of the appropriate endings of such-and-such declension, resulting in a fat 'A' on the ol' report card. I know this because I did it for my entire first year of Greek! Man, that was a mistake...

The reality is that if I had studied correctly the first time, I would not have had to go back and relearn so much in my second year. When I crammed for the test, I came out of the test with a great result on paper, but I immediately lost whatever it was I had "learned."

We’ve heard it a million times, but it’s true: you retain so much more information when you study it several times over a long period of time. Set aside time each day to study. Drill grammar and vocabulary into your brain everyday—not just for the test.

(3) Skip to Koinê

Now, there are some different schools of thought on this issue, but this is mine: the best place to start your study of ancient Greek is with the Attic dialect.

Here’s the thing, the New Testament was mostly written in a type of Greek known as "Koinê." This is an "easy" Greek (for the most part), a low style. So many students go straight to Biblical Greek, bypassing Attic (the Greek dialect prevalent in and around Athens during the time of Aristotle, Plato, and the like). The result is that when they are faced with a difficult Greek passage, they don’t know what to do ("what the heck is an optative?!?").

When I was learning guitar, I very much wanted to learn on an acoustic guitar before moving to an electric guitar. Why? Well, the strings on an acoustic guitar are heavier and more difficult to push down against the fretboard. Consequently, I was really building the little muscles in my fingers. When it came time to wail on the electric axe—no problems. If I had learned first on an electric, then moving to the acoustic might be difficult because my fingers might not have been strong enough to play the notes.

Likewise, we should build our Greek muscles by learning a more difficult form of the language and then moving to the easier form.

"But, Stephen," you might say, "I am interested only in Christianity. Why do I need that Attic stuff?" Well, that's a great question. In the 2nd century AD (CE for my PC friends), a movement began in various parts of the Roman Empire to revive the style of the hallowed Greeks. This is a period commonly referred to as "The Second Sophistic." What does this have to do with Christianity? Quite a lot! Many important church fathers write in a high "atticized" style. If you want to learn anything about them or what they thought about a particular text, you’ll need to have some Greek skills.

Conclusion

No matter what you do, practice is essential. I strongly suggest using flash cards and daily schedules. Treat it like exercise. Heck, get religious and fanatical about it. Do it with friends if that motivates you. Just find some way that keeps you doing it day in and day out.

Now that I am out of school, this is the hardest part for me. So, what did I do? I started blogging!

Class Notes: July 7, 2007

2007-07-07T18:26:00.000-05:00

Class Notes and Comments

Lesson 5: Important Sections and points (but read all the Sections):):

27. Memorize the vocabulary and the extra vocabulary (see Sidebar for Lesson 5 vocabulary). There are no extra words from the LXX-NT vocabulary (the ones you'll need to know will be included in the regular vocabulary in future Lessons), but there are eight extra words which occur 20x or more in the New Testament. An audio file of the words is in the Sidebar.

28. Memorize the definite article paradigm.

29. Memorize the forms of first and second declension adjectives. The endings are in almost every case the same as those for nouns and the definite article, so if you've memorized the definite article and the first and second declension noun endings, you already know these forms (just remove the τ from the article to get the adjective/noun endings). Note the accent rule.

A note re: the singular endings of first declension feminine nouns and adjectives that end in α:

In nouns (Lesson 3 Section 18):

If the next to the last letter (i.e., the letter before the α) in a word is a ρ or a vowel (usually ε or ι), the noun will be a "Pure Alpha" type and have α in all the singular endings.

If the next to the last letter (i.e., the letter before the α) is any other letter, the noun will be a "Mixed" type and have η in the genitive and dative singular endings.*

In adjectives (Lesson 5 Section 29):
- If the letter before the -ος ending of the masculine form (i.e., the lexical/dictionary/vocabulary list form) is a ρ or ε or ι, the feminine form of the adjective will have α in all the singular endings.
- If the letter before the -ος ending of the masculine form (i.e., the lexical/dictionary/vocabulary list form) is any other letter, the feminine form of the adjective will have η in all the singular endings. I.e., there are no "Mixed" type feminine adjectives; they either have α in all the singular endings or η in all the singular endings.

* Other grammars may state or explain this slightly differently. E.g., David Alan Black in Learn to Read New Testament Greek - Expanded Edition says re: nouns that if the letter before the α is a sibilant phoneme ("sound") - i.e., ζ or σ or a double letter whose sound contains σ (i.e., ξ = κσ or ψ = πσ) - then the noun will be a "Mixed" type, whereas Croy says "Mixed" type nouns are those where the letter before the α is any letter other than a ρ or a vowel (usually ε or ι).

30. This is the most important Section in the Lesson. You must be able to know whether an adjective is attributive, predicate or substantival in order to translate it correctly. By doing all the Exercises, checking your answers, and correcting (and understanding) any mistakes you made, you should be able to grasp this pretty well.

32. Do all the Exercises and then check your answers by clicking the link in the sidebar on the right for the Lesson 5 answers.

NEXT WEEK'S CLASS - JULY 14 - WILL START AT 9:15 A.M. PLEASE BE EARLY!

Class Notes: June 30, 2007

2007-07-01T16:31:00.000-05:00

Class Notes and Comments
The General Principle of Greek Accentuation

Class Notes and Comments

Lesson 4: Important Sections and points:

22. Memorize the vocabulary and the extra vocabulary. Read the blog entry "Learning Vocabulary" (the audio files are recorded by saying the article before the noun).

See Sidebar for Lesson 4 vocabulary and audio files, including the extra word from the LXX-NT vocabulary, plus the other extra words you are to learn (words that occur 25x or more in the New Testament).

23. Memorize the paradigm (pattern) of the endings for the Second Declension. Memorize the [definite] article if you have not yet done so. (We'll actually encounter it in Lesson 5 next week. Learn it by this week and Lesson 5 will be easy.)

26. Do all the Exercises after you have learned the vocabulary (Section 22, as well as the Lesson 2 and 3 vocabulary) and the Lesson grammar so you are really able to do the Exercises with understanding, and not have to keep looking back in the Lesson to know what to write.

Again, you will at times be introduced to things you have not yet learned, but should be able to deduce based on what you have learned, so don't feel badly if on occasion you get something wrong, or can't quite figure out how to translate something. It's purposeful.

The General Principle of Greek Accentuation

Here is what I shared about accenting from my Attic Greek textbook - from Unit Two, Section 4, p. 17 of Introduction to Attic Greek, by Donald J. Mastronarde:

Contonation and Mora. The apparently complex "rules" of Greek accentuation can be understood in terms of a single general principle involving the concepts of contonation and mora. Contonation is the combination of the rise of pitch generally thought of as the accent with the necessary return or fall to standard pitch which follows it. In the case of an acute accent, the contonation includes both the syllable on which the accent is written (and on which the pitch rises) and the entire following syllable (on which the pitch falls), if any, whether it counts as long or short. In the case of the circumflex accent, the contonation occurs on the one syllable on which the accent is written, for there are both a rise in pitch and a return to standard pitch on that syllable. A mora is the (theoretically assigned) "standard" length of a short vowel (α, ε, ι, ο, υ, and final αι and οι in most cases). A long vowel (α, ει, η, ι, ου, ω, υ) or a diphthong* (except for final αι and οι in most cases) occupies (theoretically) a time span equivalent to two morai.

The general principle of Greek accentuation is that the contonation may be followed by no more than one mora before the end of a word (or phrase pronounced as one word unit). This principle is in many respects similar to rules in other languages (e.g., Latin) which constrain the position of the accent according to the nature of the final syllables of a word. In Greek this principle limits the position of the acute and circumflex accents and requires the addition of an extra accent in some phrases consisting of word + enclitic.**

* Remember that so-called "improper" or "long" diphthongs (α, η, and ω with subscripted ι) are also always long. I am not sure why Mastronarde omits mention of αυ, ευ, and ηυ.

** For the definition of "enclitics," see Section 42 of Lesson 7 in Croy's textbook. Also see "proclitics" in Section 28 of Lesson 5.

By convention there are a couple exceptions to this principle when it comes to the enclitics εστι(ν) and τις/τι:
1) εστι(ν) following a word with a circumflex on the ultima is not accented; one would normally expect an acute on the ultima of εστι(ν); and
2) τινων (the genitive plural) following a word with an acute on the penult has a circumflex accent on its ultima; normally a disyllabic enclitic following such a word receives an acute accent on its second syllable.

Announcement for June 30 Class

2007-06-24T13:59:00.000-05:00

I. "GRACE WEEK"

With the amount of new material being introduced each week, the next couple weeks are going to be critical for people getting up to speed with the material so as to be able to keep pace for the rest of the course. We've also had a couple people recently join us who have to catch up with us, several people were gone 6/23, and some had not yet done the Lesson 3 Exercises for the last class. ;^( As I don't want to lose anyone at this date who may be temporarily overwhelmed or falling behind, this week will be a "grace week" to allow people to catch up. On June 30 we will again review Lesson 3 and preview Lesson 4, and spend time drilling on vocabulary and paradigms.

If you're behind, use this next week to:

a. (RE)LEARN the vocabulary (including the extra words) for Lessons 2 and 3. Also see this.

b. (RE)LEARN the verb conjugation and noun declension patterns for Lessons 2 and 3.

c. MEMORIZE the [definite] article pattern. See Lesson 5 Section 28 or the charts I've given you or that are on the blog here.

d. DO all the Exercises for Lessons 2 and 3 that you did not do.

e. PRACTICE your reading/pronunciation and writing.

f. LISTEN to the CD to help with your pronunciation.

II. "TWEAKING" THE CLASS FORMAT

While I have mentioned lengthening the class, there is only so much a person's mind can absorb at a time, so I'd prefer not to do that. In order to streamline things and focus on what's most important - and hence spend the most time on those things - I am proposing the following class format, or something very similar:

1. Quiz over vocabulary words and new paradigms (i.e., verb conjugation patterns/endings and noun/adjective declension patterns/endings) that were to have been learned the previous week. NO (or very few) TRANSLATION SENTENCES for now in the quizzes, as students will have done translations the week before as part of the Exercises homework, and this adds too much extra time to the quiz. (But see step 6 below.)

2. Go over the quiz just taken.

3. Review/answer a select number of the Exercises that were to have been done that week, e.g.:
a. Three sentences each from the made-up sentences, the LXX translations, and the NT translations; and

b. Two sentences from the English-to-Greek sentences.
STUDENTS ARE TO HAVE DONE ALL THE EXERCISES SENTENCES BEFORE CLASS, THOUGH, AND NOT JUST A FEW OF EACH. Answers to the Exercises will be posted ahead of time on the blog so students can check their translations after they do them and before coming to class. This, too, will help streamline the class time. (The answers to Lessons 2, 3, 4 and 5 have now been posted - see the links on the sidebar.) Feel free to email me or even post as blog comments questions you may have about any of your translations or about grammar subjects in the Lesson(s).

4. Discuss any problems or questions students say they had with any of the translation Exercises/sentences that we don't go over in step 3. above, or about the grammar part of the Lesson.

5. Read/preview the new Lesson and additional vocabulary words. Students practice saying (and writing?) the words and the paradigms.

6. Do some of the Exercises for the new Lesson based on what we have just discussed in Step 5. This gives students the translation practice that is being reduced in the quizzes, and also gives everyone a chance to put into practice the new information.

7. Do picture-word listening/looking exercise, and do NT readings.

I will try to avoid discussing extraneous or "nice to know but not need to know" subjects/examples, as the most important thing for you to be absorbing and learning and doing is the VOCABULARY and the verb/noun/adjective/etc. PARADIGMS. I'll try to focus on things that help you learn the subject at hand, while avoiding esoteric and interesting but non-essential things, unless time allows it or it seems germane to someone's question or understanding.

Learning Greek necessarily involves a lot of rote repetition, because the words and patterns are the building blocks of the language, and you must be able to recognize and understand them. Soon, though, we will be putting your newly-learned reading skills and knowledge to work and begin reading passages from the Greek New Testament in addition to the translations you are doing each week.

Pep Talk

2007-06-16T21:45:00.000-05:00

For most of you, and for me as the teacher of this course, the goal is that you in a reasonably short period of time learn enough to be able to read and navigate with understanding a decent portion of the Greek New Testament. This requires mastering the basic grammar and a fairly large vocabulary, and spending some time in the Greek New Testament - all of which we will do in the course.

My "1 hour a day, 5 days a week" guideline for what it takes to learn the material (esp. vocabulary memorization and review) is probably going to be kicking in for you soon, if it hasn't already. Make this course a priority for the next 8 months and you will achieve the above goal.

Get on top of the material now, be sure to do all the Exercises, and (most important of all) do the work daily and regularly - i.e., don't "cram" on Friday night! (As William Mounce writes in the Introduction to his Greek grammar: "Those who cram, perish.")

And remember: Don't let the fog and the slog overwhelm you!

If you're starting to think that learning Greek is hard work ... well, you're right! (But it needn't take 25 years; you can learn a lot in one year!)

Class Notes: June 16, 2007

2007-06-16T13:08:00.000-05:00

ΣΟΦΙΑ. ΠΡΟΣΧΩΜΕΝ.

Review Information

Again, memorize the [definite] article (see Class Notes: June 9, 2007). The sooner you do this, the better off you will be for learning nouns, pronouns, adjectives, etc.

Make sure you know Lesson 2 grammar and vocabulary (as well as the alphabet!) pretty well before doing Lesson 3. Each Lesson builds on the previous weeks' knowledge, but there is repetition of grammar and words such that if you didn't quite master everything, succeeding Lessons will help reinforce what you've earlier been exposed to. However, there is sufficient new information in each Lesson that you will sooner or later (and it's usually sooner, not later!) begin falling behind if you don't do your best to master as much as you can each week.

Be sure to read out loud as much as possible. Use the CD to work on and improve your pronunciation.

Class Notes and Comments

Important Sections and points (read every Section in Lesson 3, though):

15. Memorize the vocabulary and the extra vocabulary. Read the blog entry "Learning Vocabulary" (the audio files are recorded by saying the article before the noun).

See Sidebar for Lesson 3 vocabulary (MS Excel - as noted, you will need to install the TekniaGreek font to read the Greek characters), including the extra word from the LXX-NT vocabulary (δουλευω - shown as δουλευσατε (Aorist Active Imperative 2nd-Person Plural) in the LXX-NT vocabulary list), plus the other extra words you are to learn (words that occur 25x or more in the New Testament). An audio file of the words is in the Sidebar.

17. Read this to understand the various functions of the cases. As stated in class, verbs are parsed by Tense, Voice, Mood, Person and Number, and nouns, pronouns and adjectives are parsed by Gender (feminine, masculine, neuter), Number (singular, plural) and Case (nominative, genitive, dative, accusative, vocative). Since most 1st-declension nouns are feminine, that is the Gender you will indicate for the nouns in this Lesson (the article that is listed with the noun indicates the Gender - η for feminine; ο for masculine; το for neuter).

18. Learn these forms, and how to tell if a 1st-declension noun follows the α pattern, the η pattern, or the mixed pattern. (As you can see, this only applies to the singular; the plural forms all use α's in the endings.) Note that ι is a clue that you're dealing with a dative case (whether it's a regular ι or a subscripted ι - the subscript ι is just as much a letter and part of a word's spelling as any other letter).

19. For the third time - MEMORIZE THE [DEFINITE] ARTICLE PARADIGM! ;^)

20. Read and try to remember the accent(uation) rules in the textbook.

21. Do all the Exercises. Again, make sure you know the vocabulary (Section 15, as well as the Lesson 2 vocabulary) and the Lesson grammar before doing the Exercises so you are really able to do the Exercises with understanding, and not have to keep looking back in the Lesson to know what to write.

You'll notice, e.g., in a few of the LXX sentences for Lesson 3 that Croy introduces some forms that he has not yet discussed in the book. E.g., he uses the genitive singular form of the article in sentence 1., even though he doesn't discuss the article until Lesson 5 (but we have already discussed all the article forms in class). Also, e.g., in the NT section he uses a singular masculine accusative ending in one sentence, even though you won't learn the masculine 2nd-declension noun endings until Lesson 4 (i.e., at our forthcoming class).

In other words, you will at times be introduced to things you have not yet learned, but should be able to deduce based on what you have learned. As I've looked ahead, I see he does this in future Lessons, too. So, don't feel badly if on occasion you get something wrong, or can't quite figure out how to translate something. It's purposeful.

(There are Greek to English and English to Greek vocabulary lists in the back of the book if you get really stumped, but you should rely mostly on the words and things you've learned before turning there.)

Learning Vocabulary

2007-06-15T08:38:00.000-05:00

We've discussed various tools for learning vocabulary - e.g., flashcards and Greek vocabulary books, software programs (we haven't really discussed this one yet), etc. Choose and use whatever helps you best or most efficiently learn the words.

Most vocabulary flashcards and books, as well as lexicons, list nouns as:

nominative singular, genitive singular ending, article (to indicate the noun's gender)

E.g.:

λογος, -ου, ο and αδελφη, -ης, η

While this is the way words are listed, it might be better to memorize the words with the article first, e.g.:

ο λογος, -ου and η αδελφη, -ης

This way you will always associate the gender (ο masculine, η feminine, το neuter) with the noun, which comes in handy when dealing with 1st-declension masculine nouns like ο μαθητης or 2nd-declension feminine nouns like η οδος, since most 1st-declension nouns are feminine, and most 2nd-declension nouns are masculine or neuter.

At a minimum one should learn (memorize) the word with the article, e.g.:

ο λογος = "(the) word" and η αδελφη = "(the) sister"

and not simply as:

λογος = "word" and αδελφη = "sister"

When it comes to 3rd-declension nouns, though (Lesson 17, Section 116ff.; Lesson 25, Section 175ff.), you need to know the genitive form, too, because that contains the noun's lexical stem. (This is actually true for all declensions, but in 1st- and 2nd-declension nouns the nominative and genitive use the same stem.)

Ideally one should learn a noun (with the article, of course) in both its nominative form and its genitive form, not just the genitive ending, because even though the genitive form is regular for 1st- and 2nd-declension nouns, sometimes the accent changes.

Vocabulary Lists for the Course

2007-06-14T15:50:00.001-05:00

I've finally completed the vocabulary lists by Lesson for the course - click on the link on the sidebar under "Class Links" that says:

Vocabulary list (MS Excel) for A Primer of Biblical Greek, expanded from the textbook to include all words that occur in the New Testament 25x or more (plus 20x-24x); Extra Words only

The list is sorted in Lesson order. Words added from the Exercises LXX/NT vocabulary lists are indicated by LN; extra words that occur 25x or more in the New Testament are indicated by +; extra words that occur 20x-24x are indicated by ++.

Because Excel sorts alphabetically according to English, the Greek ordering may not be alphabetical (e.g., it treats ζ, the sixth letter in the Greek alphabet, as a "z," the last letter in the English alphabet, and the accents and breathing marks are treated as the characters on the the keys that are used to type them). At some point I'll get around to sorting each Lesson's words in proper Greek alphabetical order.

I've input brief definitions for the + and ++ words; you have definitions for the other words, since they're in the textbook. The LXX/NT words are not in the vocabulary lists in the back of the book; they're only in the lists for the Exercises. Some of these words appear in more than one Lesson, and I've indicated the Lesson(s) in my list. Also, the forms given for the LXX/NT vocabulary are the way they appear in the Exercises, and not necessarily the lexical/dictionary form, which is what I list in the Vocabulary lists and how you should learn/memorize them. I'll double-check the definitions by the time we get to the Lesson.

If you learn all the words in the lists, you will have a very sizable vocabulary by the end of the course, quite a bit larger than what many 1st-year courses teach.

Class Notes: June 9, 2007

2007-06-09T16:39:00.000-05:00

Class Notes and Comments

Important Sections and points in each Lesson (read every Section, though):

Lesson 1

1. Learn the alphabet and pronunciation of all letters and diphthongs by heart by next week.

2. Use either the Historical (Modern) Pronunciation of Greek (HPG) or Buth's Phonemic Koine Greek (PKG). I will probably at times shift between the two, as they are nearly identical.

HPG - 5 vowel system - how Greek is spoken today; pronunciation used on Caragounis CD:
1. ι = ει = η = οι = υ = "ee"
2. ε = αι = "eh"
3. α = "ah, uh"
4. ο = ω = "oh"
5. ου = "oo"

PKG - 7 vowel system - possibly historically more accurate; makes learning the spelling of words a little easier; can easily adapt to HPG/Modern Greek with only very minor changes; pronunciation used on word-picture CDs:
1. ι = ει = "ee"
2. η = "ey"
3. υ = οι = "u" (French u)
4. ε = αι = "eh"
5. α = "ah, uh"
6. ο = ω = "oh"
7. ου = "oo"

3. The "rough breathing" ("h" sound before some initial vowels or diphthongs, and initial ρ) was no longer sounded by New Testament times, though it appears in printed New Testament texts and continued to affect spelling (e.g., ουχ, rather than ουκ, was still used before vowels with a rough breathing mark).

4. Consonant clusters that can begin a word - e.g., στ (σταυρος) - are not split when dividing a word into syllables: e.g., it's α-πο-στο-λος, not α-ποσ-το-λος. The more modern initial consonant clusters like μπ ("b" sound) and ντ ("d" sound) do not appear to have been used as initial consonants in NT times, and would be split when they occur in the middle of a word when dividing words into syllables: e.g., it's παν-τες, not πα-ντες.

5. Accent rules are useful when translating from English to Greek, but are of secondary importance in this course, as you will primarily be reading and translating already-accented Greek. One should learn the rules that Croy teaches, though, as they help in spelling, and knowledge of accenting can differentiate between some words or some types of words - e.g., "liquid" verbs (Lesson 22 Section 155) differentiate between the present active indicative and the future active indicative only by the placement and type of the accent. See the earlier post, More on Accents.

Lesson 2

9. Learn the vocabulary by heart before doing the Exercises. Write out the words, make or buy and use flashcards, and/or buy vocabulary books. There is vocabulary software (some for purchase, and some for free) that some people find useful. Do whatever works best to help you learn the words. It is only by mastering a reasonable size vocabulary (which I would consider to be knowing at least all the words that occur 25x or more in the New Testament - or better yet, 20x or more) that one can begin to enjoy reading the New Testament, because one is then not constantly having to look up words. Of course, one also needs to be able to recognize the forms of the words to know what one is reading, so grammar can't be separated from vocabulary in terms of being important for being able to read the Greek New Testament.

See Sidebar for Lesson 2 vocabulary (MS Excel - as noted, you will need to install the TekniaGreek font to read the Greek characters), including the extra word from the LXX-NT vocabulary (φιλεω = "I love" - shown as φιλω (Present Active Indicative 1st-Person Singular) in the LXX-NT vocabulary list), plus the two additional extra words, αναβλεπω = "I regain my sight" or "I look up" and ναι = "yes." These come from words that occur 25x or more and are not in the book, or not in the LXX and NT Exercise vocabulary list for the Lesson. Audio files of the words are in the Sidebar.

10. Verbs have Tense, Voice, Mood, Person, Number. E.g.: Present (Tense), Active (Voice), Indicative (Mood), Person (1st, 2nd, 3rd), Number (singular, plural). When you parse a verb, you give these 5 things, plus the lexical (dictionary) form and the translation. E.g.:

λυομεν - Present Active Indicative 1st-Person Plural (PAI1P) of λυω = "We are loosening"

Nice to know (but not need to know now) information:
Tenses: Present, Imperfect, Future, Aorist, Perfect, Pluperfect
Voices: Active, Middle, Passive
Moods: Indicative, Subjunctive, Imperative, Optative, Infinitive, Participle (some say that Infinitive and Participle are Modes, not Moods)
Persons: 1st, 2nd, 3rd
Numbers: Singular, Plural

11. & 12. Learn the Present Active Indicative and Present Active Infinitive endings by heart before doing the Exercises:

Present Active Indicative

Singular
1 -ω
2 -εις
3 -ει

Plural
1 -ομεν
2 -ετε
3 -ουσι(ν)

Present Active Infinitive -ειν (no person or number)

14. Do all the Exercises. Add the word φιλεω (shown as φιλω in the list) = "I love" to your vocabulary to memorize. φιλεω is a "contract verb" (Lesson 21 Section 145), and the ε contracts with the ω so that only the ω (with a circumflex accent) is left. Though it conjugates just like λυω (Section 11), because of the way the ε contracts with the "connecting vowels" (ε or ο) between the verb stem and the ending, its verb endings look slightly different. You should still be able to recognize and translate it, though. If you are interested in seeing how the ε contract verbs like φιλεω contract in the Present Active Indicative, view the chart at Section 351, p. 242, for ποιεω.

Memorize the [Definite] Article

Learn the [definite] article by heart (see below). Learn this now, even though it's in Lesson 5 Section 28 of the textbook. The usual way of learning it is doing the Singular, first across and then down, and then doing the Plural, first across and then down. I.e.:

Singular

nominative: masculine - feminine - neuter
genitive: masculine -feminine - neuter
dative: masculine - feminine - neuter
accusative: masculine -feminine - neuter

Plural

nominative: masculine - feminine - neuter
genitive: masculine -feminine - neuter
dative: masculine - feminine - neuter
accusative: masculine -feminine - neuter

To aid in recognizing and memorizing the article, note (per the colors in the paradigm chart):

the masculine and neuter forms are identical in the genitive and dative
for the singular and the plural, the neuter nominative and accusative forms are identical
the genitive plural is the same for all three genders
ι, whether as a full letter or as a subscript ι, is an indicator for the dative case
feminine forms are characterized by η or α, and masculine and neuter forms by ο or ω

**Greek Article Pronunciation (HPG / Phonemic Koine Greek; u = French u)**
Singular	masculine	feminine	neuter
nominative	oh	ee / ey	toh
genitive	too	teece / tace	too
dative	toh	tee / tay	toh
accusative	tohn	teen / tane	toh
Plural	masculine	feminine	neuter
nominative	ee / u	eh	tah
genitive	tohn	tohn	tohn
dative	teece / tuce	tess	teece / tuce
accusative	tooce	tahs	tah

Installing the Greek Pronunciation CD

Installing the Greek Pronunciation CD:

Windows Systems

Microsoft Windows 95, 98, ME, 2000, XP or NT 4.0
Pentium II (or higher) PC
At least 32 MB RAM
50 MB free disk space for Java JRE and program files
CD-ROM drive

Program Installation

Copy all files to a new directory on your hard disk
Run the "Install Greek Font" batch file (If this doesn't install the fonts so you see the Greek characters in the Lessons, use the usual method of installing fonts - i.e., go to Start - Control Panel - Fonts - File - Install New Font - browse to the directory/folder with the fonts - Select all)
Restart your computer (this may or may not be necessary)

To Run the Program

Go to the directory where you copied the files and run the "RUN_NTG" batch file (RUN_NTG.BAT) by double-clicking the left mouse button on the filename.

NOTE: Though my work PC (XP Service Pack 2) runs the program fine by running the "RUN_NTG.BAT" file as instructed, it freezes up on my home PC (also XP Service Pack 2). However, running (i.e., double-clicking) the "NTG.jar" file in the "NTG" subfolder runs the program with no problems.

Heads Up! For Lesson 3

Be sure to learn all the vocabulary for Lesson 2, because there will be 25 new words to learn for Lesson 3!

Voiced and Unvoiced Consonants

2007-06-06T08:03:00.000-05:00

In my pronunciation chart, I say that for the diphthongs αυ, ευ, and ηυ, the υ takes a "v" sound before vowels and voiced consonants, and an "f" sound elsewhere.

To clarify, "voiced" consonants are those which make a sound when you pronounce them, versus "unvoiced" consonants that are like a whispered sound. E.g., our English "b" is a voiced consonant, as in the word "bee"; its "unvoiced" form is our letter "p," as in the word "pea." Say "buh"and "puh" and you'll see that your mouth and lips form the same shape, but you "hear" the "b" in "buh," but don't "hear" the "p" in "puh" – hence, "p" is "unvoiced."

Thus, the voiced consonants are: β γ δ ζ λ μ ν ρ (and the rare times σ/ς is pronounced like a "z").

The unvoiced consonants are: θ κ ξ π σ/ς τ φ χ ψ

I also say that γ is a "y" (as in "yes") sound before vowels or diphthongs that are pronounced as either "ee" or "eh," and a "gh" sound elsewhere.

The "ee" vowels and diphthongs are: η ι υ ει οι

The "eh" vowels and diphthongs are: ε αι

The above is for the Historical Pronunciation of Greek (i.e., the Modern Greek Pronunciation), which has an overabundance of "ee" sounds due to what's called "itacism," the mixing up of Greek historical spellings because the underlying vowel phonemes (sounds) had merged with the sound of ι.

Though Buth's Phonemic Koine Greek (again, see my pronunciation chart) pronounces η as "ey" in "obey," and υ and οι as a French u, instead of all three as "ee" as above, a γ that precedes them - or, more specifically, that precedes the "front" vowels ι ει η ε αι (formed with the tongue in a front position) - is also to be pronounced closer to a "y" sound. On the CDs, though, Buth seems to use "gh" for all instances of γ, as I've also heard some Greeks do, and Lydia said that her Greek-speaking priest wants her to pronounce γ as a "gh" and not as a "y," so pronouncing γ as "gh" in almost all instances may be fine.

More on Accents

2007-06-05T07:38:00.000-05:00

Greek accenting is complex - D. A. Carson wrote a 167-page book called Greek Accents: A Student's Manual (which I own but haven't fully read or studied), and his summary of the various accent rules takes nearly 5 full pages. We never spent much time on accent rules in my Greek classes; whether that was good or bad, I don't know.

There are English-to-Greek exercises in this course, but for the most part, students want to learn to read Greek and translate it into English, not vice-versa, and the Greek they're reading will already have the accents. Thus, learning all the minutiae of accent rules (which involves knowing whether a vowel - and hence a syllable - is long or short) is probably something that most will not need to do.

The General Rules of Accent
(from Greek Accents: A Student's Manual, by D. A. Carson)

GR.1 Apart from specific exceptions later to be enumerated (largely concerning enclitics and proclitics, but also related to crasis and elision), every Greek word must have an accent, and only one accent.

GR.2 An acute accent may stand only on an ultima, a penult, or an antepenult; a circumflex accent may stand only on an ultima or a penult; and a grave accent may stand only on an ultima.

GR.3 The circumflex accent cannot stand on a short syllable.

GR.4 If the ultima is long, then:

GR.4.1 the antepenult cannot have any accent, and

GR.4.2 the penult, if it is accented at all, must have the acute.

GR.5 If the ultima is short, then a long penult, if it is accented at all, must have the circumflex accent.

GR.6 An acute accent on the ultima of a word is changed to a grave when followed, without intervening mark of punctuation, by another word or words.

You should recognize the above as having been listed by Croy in Lesson 1, and Croy gives additional accent rules in succeeding chapters. Carson's General Rules 4. and 5. are probably the most important, per a personal response from David H. Warren (Prof. of NT and Greek, Freed-Hardeman University, Henderson, Tenn.) to my B-Greek query regarding the importance of accents. (Though his online response to me that you can read below might seem a bit sarcastic - probably because he misunderstood what I was asking - his personal response was nice and helpful.) If you want to read that discussion, my initial post was here in the May 2002 archives:

value of accents? Eric Weiss

and the responses can be read in the June 2002 archives as follows:

value of accents? dhwarren at attglobal.net
value of accents? James Forsyth
value of accents? Eric S. Weiss
value of accents dhwarren at attglobal.net
value of accents? Vincent M. Setterholm
value of accents? Eric S. Weiss
value of accents Eric S. Weiss
value of accents? David Thiele

Some terms that you may encounter in other books:

Acute accents:
oxytone: an acute accent on the ultima (from οξεια "sharp")
paroxytone: an acute accent on the penult
proparoxytone: an acute accent on the antepenult

Circumflex accents:
perispomenon: a circumflex accent on the ultima (from περισπωμενη "drawn off from around, stripped off")
properispomenon: a circumflex accent on the penult

Also:
barytone: a word with no accent (from βαρεια "heavy")

Per Carson, in modern usage, the word, not the accented syllable, is called oxytone, perispomenon, barytone, etc., whereas with Greek literature, the accent itself is called οξεια, περισπωμενη, or βαρεια, and the noun προσωδια ("accent") is supplied: e.g., οξεια προσωδια.

A century ago Herbert Weir Smyth wrote what is still a standard and exhaustive grammar for Classical Greek. Per Carson, the accent rules for Hellenistic (i.e., New Testament) Greek differ somewhat from those for Classical Greek, but you might find Weir's ACCENT: GENERAL PRINCIPLES (sections 149-187) from the first edition helpful. (The second edition is still in print, and even though it's for Classical Greek, it is probably a book you'll want to acquire at some point if you're serious about learning Greek.)

The Website for Smyth's book uses a polytonic unicode font so you can see the correct accenting of the words I use in this post. I don't think Blogger displays polytonic Greek fonts, so I've been using unaccented unicode Greek characters. If you know how I can type and display unicode fonts with the full Greek character set, including all accents, breathing marks, iota subscript, etc., in this blog so students will see them instead of square boxes in their place, please let me know!

Note on "7. Exercises" (Lesson 1 in textbook)

2007-06-04T22:33:00.000-05:00

The exercise asks you to "Identify each syllable as either short or long."

New Testament Greek books that I have don't really go into whether these vowels are long or short. Some of my Ancient (Classical) Greek grammars use a line over the vowel (a macron) to indicate if it's long.

One will not be able to tell for some of the syllables which are short or long, as Croy does not give enough information in the Lesson for a person to know the answer for every vowel in that exercise. I didn't catch that on Saturday. (Thanks to Lydia for bringing this to my attention.) You know that:

all diphthongs (including improper diphthongs) are long, except for final αι and οι, which are short;
a circumflex must be over a long syllable;
η and ω are long;
ε and ο are short;
α, ι, and υ can be either short or long;
if the ultima is long:

the antepenult cannot be accented, and
an accented penult must be acute;

if the ultima is short:
- the antepenult may receive an [acute] accent, and
- an accented penult must be circumflex

Do the best you can with the above in figuring out which syllables are short and which are long, but don't worry if you cannot answer for some of them.

Knowledge of which vowels are short or long helps with knowing which kind of accent might go where on a word, but I am not really going to emphasize the accent rules too much in terms of you having to be correct with all your accents when writing Greek words. The accent rules that Croy presents in the book are probably the more important ones, so students should learn these. He seems to discuss accenting more than most first-year books I've read or used.

Class Notes: June 2, 2007

2007-06-04T08:38:00.001-05:00

Well, we didn't achieve my ambitious goal of doing both Lessons 1 and 2 in Croy's textbook, partly because we started late and partly because I digressed to a couple other topics.

So next week we will do a review of Lesson 1 (I am expecting a couple new people in the class) and then cover Lesson 2 and maybe Lesson 3. Students can read and print out Lessons 1-4 from the class Webpage, but should order or buy the textbook as soon as possible, as I hope not to have to post any more Lessons online or have to make copies of, e.g., Lesson 5, while people are awaiting their books.

To repeat and/or sum up some things from the first class:

Thanks for being enthusiastic about learning, and patient about the process! Not only are you new students whose learning style I don't yet know (nor do you yet know your own style for best learning Greek), but I am working from this textbook for the first time. I selected it primarily because:

A noted and highly-respected Greek teacher (now retired) said that he would likely pick it for teaching first-year New Testament Greek, were he to again teach such a class.

It seemed from my reading of it that Croy covers the basics simply and straightforwardly and in reasonably-sized chapters, without overly complicating things.

There are readings/translations from the Septuagint (LXX) in every Lesson, so students are equally exposed to the Greek Old Testament and the Greek New Testament. (Since our other class readings will be from the Greek New Testament and not from the LXX, you will get a lot more "New Testament" in this course than Old Testament.)

As I said, there are four deficiencies, IMO, in Croy's grammar, which I/we will rectify during the course:

Students are not taught enough vocabulary to be able to read much of the New Testament comfortably by the end of the course. There are about 311 words that occur 50x or more in the Greek New Testament, and 544 words (per my count of Trenchard's word lists) that occur 25x or more. Croy's vocabulary is about 380 words, but we will be learning every word that occurs 25x or more, either by adding to your vocabulary the appropriate words from the LXX and NT translation exercise lists at the end of each Lesson, or by adding some extra words every class or so to the list that is at the beginning of each Lesson. I've already compiled the list, with frequency numbers and the Lesson number in which the word will be introduced, and there is a link for this list on the class Webpage. Note: If you learn an additional 94 words (actually only 91, since you'll learn 3 of these words as part of the course), you'll learn every word that occurs 20x or more, and we will likely learn some of these, too.

There are no parsing exercises. Parsing means to list the grammatical description of a word - e.g., if it's a verb, you list its tense, voice, mood, person and number, and if it's a noun or adjective, its gender, number and case, as well as the lexical (dictionary) form. I will be making parsing part of the translation exercises and/or quizzes.

The translation exercises are of single sentences, and not lengthy blocks of text. We will correct for this by doing extensive readings of continuous texts (e.g., the paragraphs in the UBS4 Greek New Testament, or even whole chapters), and not just single sentences.

Croy doesn't give much explanation of English grammar to compare it with Greek grammar. Since many people today are deficient in their knowledge of English grammar, it's usually helpful to have a review of this as part of the study of Greek grammar.

I will likely try to go "by the book" for the first part of each class (other than quiz times) so that we are sure to cover the necessary material each week before doing other things like New Testament readings and other exercises.

As I mentioned today, there are two things to be aware of: "the fog" (Bill Mounce's term) and "the slog."

After a few Lessons your mind will likely "fog up" and you'll wonder if you are absorbing all this information. You'll feel like you're lost in a morass of Greek words and strange grammatical concepts. Just keep on keeping on, and you'll find that the fog of earlier Lessons clears after you've done a couple more Lessons. E.g., though you may feel lost by Lesson 6, by the time you do Lesson 8 or 9, Lesson 6 will seem easy, and you will have integrated the contents into your learning; by the time you do Lesson 10, you will have integrated Lesson 7; etc.

The other thing is what I call "the slog." A lot of this is just plain old hard work, plodding through word memorization and translation exercises. If you work every day on memorizing your vocabulary and grammar - expect to spend 45 minutes to 1 hour each day, 5 days a week, once we get into the course - you will master the course. When the going seems dreary, look to your goal - i.e., in 8 or 9 months, you will have completed a first-year course in NT Greek and be able to interact with many parts of the Greek New Testament with a basic understanding of what's going on, and you'll even be able to say/read your prayers in Greek and follow along in some of the Greek text of the Liturgy.

Which brings me to a point I forgot to mention in class: Make sure you have memorized all your vocabulary and all the grammar information before you attempt the translation exercises. If while doing the translations (with the possible exception of the English-to-Greek exercises) you have to keep referring to the vocabulary lists at the beginning of each Lesson or in the back of the book, or to the Lesson's grammar content, you are not yet ready to do the translation exercises. Note: You don't have to memorize the words in the LXX and NT Sentences lists at the end of each chapter (except for the specific words from that list that I tell you to memorize, since they're among the words that occur 25x or more in the New Testament).

I am teaching a New Testament Greek class

2007-06-01T14:04:00.000-05:00

For the fourth or fifth or sixth or ... whatever ... time, I'll be teaching a first-year New Testament Greek class, starting Saturday, June 2, 2007. :^)

Pray for me!