Conjunction – καί ‘and, also’

ObjectivesLearning objectives

The rules for verb accenting
The syntax and semantics of the conjunction καί ‘and, also’

VocabularyVocabulary

Greek	Gloss	Part of speech	Paradigm
ὁ ναός, -οῦ	the temple	noun	B.a.β.i
ὁ οἶνος, -ου	the wine	noun	B.a.β.i
τὸ ἀργύριον, -ου	the silver coin	noun	B.a.β.ii
ἁρπάζω τήν	(I) seize the (acc)	verb	C.a.θ
ὁ ἥλιος, -ου	the sun	noun	B.a.β.i
ἡ ψυχή, -ῆς	the soul	noun	B.a.α.i

PhonologyPhonology: Verbs and Recessive Accenting

While the placement of a noun’s accent in nominative case must be memorized, verbs’ accents are recessive, which means the accent goes as close to the beginning of the word as possible. The reason we say “as possible” is that Greek only allows accents to go back to the antepenultima, the third to last syllable, as we learned in 2.3.3. According to the rules we learned in 3.1.3, it is only when the vowel on the ultima is short that the accent can go all the way back to the antepenultima. When the vowel is long on the ultima, the accent can only go as far back as the penultima.

In all the verb forms seen so far, the final vowel has been long, so the accent has always been on the penultima. For example, ἐσθίω has three syllables, but because the final vowels ω (in ἐσθίω) and ει (ịn ἐσθίει and ἐσθίεις) are both long, the verb must be accented on the ι. Accent placement for verbs, then, is dependent upon the length of the vowel in the final syllable; we cover this in more detail in Phonology A.

GrammarGrammar Topic: Conjunction – καί ‘and, also’

Like prepositions, conjunctions (abbreviated conj) will often have a lot of overlap between languages, but the nearest equivalent will not be a one-to-one match. Their meaning is often quite broad, especially a very common conjunction like καί.

SyntaxSyntax: Conjunction – καί

The basic function of καί is to connect two words together having the same part of speech:

Example 29Connecting two words with the same part of speech

ἀδελφὸς καὶ ἀδελφή (Matt 12:50)

Brother and sister

Not only can καί join two nouns together, but it can also connect two verbs, adjectives, or even whole clauses.

SemanticsSemantics: Conjunction – καί (1 – Connecting; 2 – Additive)

Some dictionaries and grammars claim that καί has many possible interpretations. Another way to view this is that καί itself does not specify any particular relationship between the two things it connects. This is different from a word like but which contrasts the two things it connects. A conjunction like and or καί, on the other hand, only says that the two words are semantically related, but they could be connected by being opposites, being similar, or having some other relationship.

Example 30Opposites

Height καί [and] depth … (Eph 3:18)

Example 31Similar things

Peter καί [and] the apostles said … (Acts 5:29)

Example 32Sequential events

Nor do you light a lamp καί [and] put it … (Matt 5:15)

The point is that two words or clauses connected with καί will be related according to the meaning of the things being connected and the context. It is not καί itself that is contributing the information on how to interpret that connection.

Apart from its use as a conjunction, καί can also be used with the meaning ‘also’ or ‘even’ to introduce an additional element. We call this the additive use of καί and discuss it in more detail in Syntax C:

Example 33Additive use

But whoever slaps your right cheek, turn to him καί [also] the other (Matt 5:39)

The phrase ‘the other’ is not connected syntactically to anything else in the context by καί. Rather, it is introduced by καί as something that is contrary to expectation, which is often the nuance with the additive use – an additional unexpected element is introduced.

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