Class Notes

Present Indicative Middle

The Present Indicative Middle in Greek is a grammatical mood, voice, and tense used to describe action that the subject performs with the emphasis on the subject’s involvement, either on himself or for his own benefit.

The middle voice represents the subject as acting with reference to himself. I wash myself (λούομαι); I buy for myself (ἀγοράζομαι).

The Present Indicative Middle in Greek follows the typical present indicative conjugation patterns, but with specific middle voice endings. In the present tense, the middle has the following personal endings:

Present Indicative Middle of λούω (“I wash myself”)

λούεσθαι (loúesthai) – “to wash oneself”

Thematic Vowel in the Present Indicative Middle

The thematic vowel is inserted between the verb stem and the middle endings. The thematic vowels are ο and ε, depending on the form, and they follow this pattern:

1. ο before -μαι, -μεθα, -νται.
2. ε before –ται, -σαι (contracted to ῃ or ει), and -σθε.

Present Indicative Middle Personal Endings:

-σαι (contracted to ῃ or ει)

Present Indicative Middle thematic vowel:

Examples:

Matthew 15:2 “Why do Your disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash (νίπτονται) their hands when they eat bread.”

2 Corinthians 10:3 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war (στρατευόμεθα) according to the flesh.

Galatians 1:9 As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches (εὐαγγελίζεται) any other gospel to you than what you have received, let […]

Declensions

Class Notes Download Second Declension

In linguistic terms, declension refers to the way nouns, pronouns, and adjectives in languages, particularly inflected ones like Greek, Latin, or Hebrew, change their form to express different grammatical categories such as case (nominative, genitive, etc.), number (singular, plural), and gender (masculine, feminine, neuter). In Greek and Hebrew, declensions are crucial because they help to indicate the function of a word in a sentence, such as whether it is the subject, object, or shows possession, among other roles.

First Declension: The first declension is characterized by long vowel endings like -η and -α in the nominative singular. Typically includes nouns that are mostly feminine but also some masculine nouns.

Second Declension: The second declension is categorized by o class vowels. Masculine nouns generally have endings in -ος (e.g., λόγος) in the nominative singular, while neuter nouns end in -ον.

Third Declension: This declension is more irregular and diverse, containing nouns of all three genders (masculine, feminine, and neuter). The nouns in the third declension can have various stem endings and exhibit more complex case endings, such as -ς (e.g., βασιλεύς).

Gender refers to a system of noun classification that affects how nouns and related words (such as adjectives, pronouns, and verbs) are inflected in a language. In languages with grammatical gender, nouns are categorized into specific gender classes, which often determine the form of associated words (e.g., adjectives and pronouns) and can sometimes affect the verb conjugation.

In Koine Greek, there are three grammatical genders:

1. Masculine: This gender is often used for nouns referring to males but also includes many inanimate objects and abstract concepts. For example, ἀδελφός (adelphos) means “brother” and is […]