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Chapter 28 · Lesson 28.3 · Verb
Verb – εἰμί
ObjectivesLearning objectives
- The morphology of the subjunctive, participle, and infinitive of the verb εἰμί
- Explicit vs. implicit copulas in Greek
- *1** The α replaces the expected η in this masculine 1st declension noun. This includes the genitive form as well where we see Ἰούδα rather than *Ἰούδου.
VocabularyVocabulary
| Greek | Gloss | Part of speech | Paradigm |
|---|---|---|---|
| τέσσαρες, -ρων | four | number | B.a.γ.i(a) |
| ἡ μνᾶ, -ᾶς | the mina (monetary unit of weight) | noun | B.a.α.ii |
| ὁ ὑπηρέτης, -ου | the servant | noun | B.a.α.iv |
| βοηθεῖ σοι | (he) helps you (dat) | verb | C.a.β |
| παραλαμβάνω σε | (I) take you (acc) along | verb | C.a.α |
| ἐλπίζω εἴς τινα | (I) hope for something/one (acc) | verb | C.a.θ |
MorphologyMorphology: Verb – εἰμί
- εἰμί in the Luo act ptcp and subj forms consists of the typical endings of the form without a stem, e.g. σαλεύ-ω → ὦ, λύ-ων → ὤν
- The Luo subj forms have a circumflex accent because the theme vowel has lengthened
- The inf uses the ‘εἰ-’ stem of εἰμί with the ending -ναι, resulting in εἶναι
| Singular | Plural | |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | ὦ | ὦμεν |
| 2nd | ᾖς | ἦτε |
| 3rd | ᾖ | ὦσιν |
| Masculine | Feminine | Neuter | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nominative singular | ὤν | οὖσα | ὄν |
| Genitive singular | ὄντος | οὔσης | ὄντος |
| Dative singular | ὄντι | οὔσῃ | ὄντι |
| Accusative singular | ὄντα | οὖσαν | ὄν |
| Nominative plural | ὄντες | οὖσαι | ὄντα |
| Genitive plural | ὄντων | οὐσῶν | ὄντων |
| Dative plural | οὖσιν | οὔσαις | οὖσιν |
| Accusative plural | ὄντας | οὔσας | ὄντα |
2 Technically, the root of εἰμί is εσ, but the σ has dropped out of many of the forms.
SyntaxSyntax: Verb – εἰμί (Explicit vs. implicit copulas)
A language like English requires a copula for all nonverbal predicates, e.g. Tom is a/the cat/happy/in the backyard all require a copula. However, not all languages are like English. Some languages, like Greek, may drop the copula altogether:
ὁ…νόμος ἅγιος (Rom 7:12) The law …(is) holy
Predicate adjectives are found with the copula as well:
- (260) Predicate adjective with copula ὁ γὰρ ναὸς τοῦ θεοῦ ἅγιός ἐστιν (1 Cor 3:17)
For the temple of God is holy
I leave the precise syntactic and semantic differences between such sentences to further research.
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New Testament text shown on hover: Greek from the SBLGNT, © 2010 Society of Biblical Literature and Logos Bible Software, CC BY 4.0; English from the Berean Standard Bible (public domain).