Conjunction – ὅτι ‘because, that’

ObjectivesLearning objectives

The syntax and semantics of the conjunction ὅτι ‘because, that’

VocabularyVocabulary

Greek	Gloss	Part of speech	Paradigm
ἀποθνῄσκω	(I) die	verb	C.a.α
ὁ νυμφίος, -ου	the bridegroom	noun	B.a.β.i
ὁ σεισμός, -οῦ	the earthquake	noun	B.a.β.i
κλείω τήν	(I) shut the (acc)	verb	C.a.α
ὀργίζομαι	(I) am angry	verb	C.a.θ
ἡ ἄκανθα, -ης	the thorn	noun	B.a.α.iii

SyntaxSyntax: Conjunction – ὅτι

The conjunction ὅτι introduces a subordinate clause. This is a clause that is dependent upon the independent clause in some way. In other words, it cannot stand alone as the only clause in a sentence. For example, if I said something like because she was hungry, you would probably ask what did she do or something to that effect. You know the reason something happened, but you don’t know what she did because she was hungry. Both a clause that begins with because in English and one that begins with ὅτι in Greek are subordinate – they can’t stand on their own.

SemanticsSemantics: Conjunction – ὅτι

There are two main functions of ὅτι. The first is to introduce clauses that are selected by a certain kind of verb. In other words, some verbs can take an entire clause as an argument (this is called a complement clause), and some of these verbs require ὅτι to introduce the clause. This is most closely approximated by that in English. For example, a verb like εἶπεν ‘said’ in Matt 27:43 can have a full clause after it that specifies what was said:

Example 97Complement clause with ὅτι

εἶπεν… ὅτι θεοῦ εἰμι υἱός

He said … that I am God’s son

The clause ‘I am God’s son’ is introduced by ὅτι, which is selected by the verb εἶπεν. Other verbs that can select whole clauses like this are verbs of perception, like ἀκούω, or other verbs of communication.

The second function of ὅτι is to introduce what is called a causal clause, which gives the reason for whatever is in the main clause, similar to because. Matthew 25:13 illustrates this:

Example 98Causal clause with ὅτι

Therefore, be alert ὅτι [because] you do not know the day nor the hour

The verb for ‘be alert’ does not select a complement clause, so the ὅτι clause is interpreted as the reason for being alert.

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