Pronoun – Demonstrative near plural

ObjectivesLearning objectives

The morphology of the pl near demonstrative pronouns
The use of the demonstrative pronoun to refer to people and content

VocabularyVocabulary

Greek	Gloss	Part of speech	Paradigm
ἡ παιδίσκη, -ης	the slave girl	noun	B.a.α.i
ὁ ψεύστης, -ου	the liar	noun	B.a.α.iv
ὁ πόλεμος, -ου	the war	noun	B.a.β.i
ὁ κλῆρος, -ου	the lot	noun	B.a.β.i
ἡ παρθένος, -ου	the virgin (woman)	noun	B.a.β.i
κάθημαι ἐπὶ τόπου	(I) sit at a place	verb	39.2.3.1

1 This use is sometimes called an inceptive or ingressive (for which grammars use which terms, see Köstenberger, Merkle, and Plummer 2020:293). The standard term in linguistics for the beginning of a state is “inchoative,” though “inceptive” is another possible, though rarer, term. The term “ingressive” (preferred by most grammars) refers to the beginning of an event, so it is incorrectly applied to the Aorist, which only refers to the beginning of a state (for the ingressive, see 21.3.3.2).

MorphologyMorphology: Pronoun – Demonstrative near plural

The same principle introduced for the sg demonstrative pronouns applies to the pl forms as well (see 13.3.3.1): combine ταυ- with forms of the article ending in an ‘a’ vowel and του- with the forms ending in an ‘o’ vowel.
masc and fem nom exceptions: τ goes in the middle of the form rather than the beginning, e.g. του- becomes ουτand ταυ- becomes αυτ-. These are attached to the article with an initial rough breathing mark. (NOTE: Again, do not confuse the demonstrative pronouns οὗτοι/αὗται ‘these’ with the 3rd person pronouns αὐτοί/αὐταί ‘they.’)

Morphology: Pronoun – Demonstrative near plural

	Masculine plural	Feminine plural	Neuter plural
Nominative	οὗτ-οι	αὗτ-αι	ταῦ-τα
Genitive	τού-των	τού-των	τού-των
Dative	τού-τοις	ταύ-ταις	τού-τοις
Accusative	τού-τους	ταύ-τας	ταῦ-τα

SemanticsSemantics: Demonstrative pronouns (reference to person; introduction of content)

Demonstrative pronouns like οὗτος ‘this’ can be used very similarly to third person pronouns like αὐτός ‘he’ in Greek. One example of this is how people are referred to. Sometimes we see ‘this’ where we might expect ‘he’ (at least in English):

Example 116Reference to person

οὗτος ἦν ἐν ἀρχῇ πρὸς τὸν θεόν

‘ He was in the beginning with God’ (John 1:2)

How you translate the demonstrative οὗτος will depend on the language you are translating into. In English, the demonstrative this is not marked for gender and cannot be used to refer to people, so οὗτος must be translated as ‘he’ here, but this is more a fact about English than Greek. Referring to people with the demonstrative is very common in Greek.

Another important use of the demonstrative is how it can refer to content in the neuter. By “content,” we are referring to a statement, question, or command, i.e. something that can be said. This content may be introduced with a verb of speaking or with ὅτι, but the content itself is referred to by the demonstrative and is spelled out in the following clause:

Example 117Introduction of content with verb of speaking

But τοῦτο λέγω [this I say]: a covenant previously ratified … (Gal 3:17)

Example 118Introduction of content with ὅτι

ἀλλὰ τοῦτο ἔχεις ὅτι [but this you have: that] you hate the works of the Nicolaitans (Rev 2:6)

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