Class Notes: October 20, 2007

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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:

1. Present
2. Future
3. Aorist
4. Perfect Active
5. Perfect Passive
6. 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:

1. 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)
   
2. Future: present stem + σ + thematic vowel + ending: λυ-σ-ω (the ο thematic vowel contracts with the ω ending in the 1st-person singular)
3. (1st) Aorist: ε augment + present stem + σα + ending: ε-λυ-σα (no ending in the 1st-person singular) (2nd Aorist follows the Imperfect pattern)
   
4. (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)
   
5. Perfect Passive: reduplicated initial consonant + ε + present stem + ending: λ-ε-λυ-μαι
6. (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

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

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

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

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

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

Class Notes: August 4, 2007

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

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

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

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

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

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:

1. 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.*
  


2. 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

• 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.