Question – πόσος ‘how much’

ObjectivesLearning objectives

The forms of the question word πόσος
The syntax and semantics of πόσος

VocabularyVocabulary

Greek	Gloss	Part of speech	Paradigm
ἡ δωρεά, -ᾶς	the gift	noun	B.a.α.ii
τὸ καύχημα, -ατος	the boast	noun	B.a.γ.i(a)
ἀρχαῖος, -α, -ον	ancient	adjective	A.a.β
περισσοτέρως	even more	adverb
ψεύδομαι	(I) lie	verb	C.a.θ
ἐξάγω σε ἐκ τόπου	(I) lead you (acc) out of a place (gen)	verb	C.a.ζ

MorphologyMorphology: πόσος

πόσος follows the expected forms with πόσ- + 1st/2nd declension endings (the former for fem, the latter for masc/neut)
Forms found in the NT: πόσος, πόσον, πόσῳ, πόσοι, πόσους, πόσων, πόσα, πόσην, πόσαι, πόσας.

SyntaxSyntax-semantics: πόσος

The prototypical function of πόσος is to question the quantity of something. When used this way, πόσος agrees in number, gender, and case with the noun it modifies, and it moves with the noun to the front of the sentence:

Example 551Questioning the quantity of something

καὶ πόσους κοφίνους ἐλάβετε; (Matt 16:9)

And how many baskets did you get?

We would expect the object κοφίνους to follow the verb ἐλάβετε, but because the question word πόσους is used to question the quantity of the baskets, both the question word and the object move past the verb to the front of the sentence. When the speaker does not know the identity of the thing whose quantity is being questioned, the neuter is used:

Example 552Questioning the quantity of an unknown thing

ἔπειτα ἑτέρῳ εἶπεν· σὺ δὲ πόσον ὀφείλεις; ὁ δὲ εἶπεν· ἑκατὸν κόρους σίτου. (Luke 16:7)

Then he said to another, ‘Now you, how much do you owe?’ He said, ‘100 cores of wheat.’

In this context, the shrewd manager is uncertain of both how much is owed and what is owed, so the neuter singular form is used. Again, the question word moves before the verb. The subject is explicitly given but is in topic position, as indicated by δέ (see 48.1.3.1; Syntax C), so it precedes πόσον.

Both of the above examples are questioning a countable thing, but πόσος can also be used for noun-countable entities, i.e. for mass nouns. In English, we distinguish between questioning count and mass nouns with ‘how many’ (count) and ‘how much’ (mass). Greek uses πόσος for both:

Example 553Questioning the quantity of a mass noun

πόσος χρόνος ἐστὶν ὡς τοῦτο γέγονεν αὐτῷ; (Mark 9:21)

How much time has this kind of thing been happening to him?

Although units of time (e.g. seconds, minutes, hours, etc.) can be counted, the word χρόνος ‘time’ itself does not refer to a countable thing.

In all of the above uses, πόσος questions the quantity of something. However, like many other question words, πόσος is used for more than just questions. Exclamations, for example, are found with πόσος where the speaker expresses that there is a great quantity or degree of something:

(554) Exclaiming a great quantity εἰ οὖν τὸ φῶς τὸ ἐν σοὶ σκότος ἐστίν, τὸ σκότος πόσον. (Matt 6:23)
If, then, the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!

Two kinds of darkness are contrasted in this verse. In the initial conditional, the ‘light in you’ is said to be darkness. Since this is said to be the light part of you, the dark part of you must be even darker, which is what the noun phrase τὸ σκότος refers to. πόσον occurs after the subject τὸ σκότος which seemed to be in a contrastive topic position like (552) above.

Finally, πόσος in the dative can be used outside the clause to exclaim that the clause is certainly true. I call this an epistemic exclamative. In this use, it is often found with μᾶλλον in the phrase πόσῳ μᾶλλον ‘how much more’.4

Example 555Epistemic exclamative

πόσῳ μᾶλλον ὁ πατὴρ ὁ ἐξ οὐρανοῦ δώσει πνεῦμα ἅγιον τοῖς αἰτοῦσιν αὐτόν (Luke 11:13)

How much more will the Father who is from heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!

In (555), πόσος is not replacing or modifying any words that refer to participants in the event. Rather, πόσῳ μᾶλλον is used to refer to how certain it is that the event will take place, namely the father giving the Holy Spirit to those who ask. As an exclamative (and not a real question) about the degree of certainty of the event taking place, it is used to say that the event will certainly happen.

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