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Numbers · Grammar concept
Numbers: Larger numbers & special uses
Larger numbers & special uses is a numbers topic in Koine (biblical) Greek. This page gathers its forms, paradigms, and function, drawn from the lessons of Reading Greek Deeply.
MorphologyNumbers – Larger numbers & special uses
Numbers in the hundreds place add the suffix -ακόσιοι after the beginning of numbers 2 through 9, while 100 has its own word, ἑκατόν (compare to -η/ακοντα for forming numbers in the tens place; see 38.3.2)
- Numbers in the thousands place add the suffix -ακισχίλιοι except for 2,000 and 3,000 which have the suffix -σχίλιοι
- Thousand-place numbers may also be written as the ones-digit number followed by the word ‘thousands’, χιλιάδες (from χιλιάς, ‘1000’), e.g. τρεῖς χιλιάδες, πέντε χιλιάδες
| ἑκατόν | 600 | ἑξ-ακόσιοι | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 200 | δι-ακόσιοι | 700 | ἑπτ-ακόσιοι |
| 300 | τρι-ακόσιοι | 800 | ὀκτ-ακόσιοι |
| 400 | τετρ-ακόσιοι | 900 | ἐνν-ακόσιοι |
| 500 | πεντ-ακόσιοι |
| χίλιοι | 6000 | ἑξ-ακισχίλιοι | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | δι-σχίλιοι | 7000 | ἑπτ-ακισχίλιοι |
| 3000 | τρι-σχίλιοι | 8000 | ὀκτ-ακισχίλιοι |
| 4000 | τετρ-ακισχίλιοι | 9000 | ἐνν-ακισχίλιοι |
| 5000 | πεντ-ακισχίλιοι | 10000 | δέκα χιλιάδες |
fromLesson 46.2
SyntaxNumbers – Larger numbers
When combining numbers, we often see καί used before the last number, but it may also be lacking:
- (483) καί before last number in ones place
- τεσσεράκοντα καὶ ἕξ (John 2:20)
- ‘forty-six’
fromLesson 46.2
SemanticsNumbers – Special uses
Besides referencing a certain quantity, numbers also have other uses. For example, the repetition of a number is used to give the amount in each group:
- (488) Repeated number (amount per group)
- καὶ ἤρξατο αὐτοὺς ἀποστέλλειν δύο δύο (Mark 6:7)
- And he started to send them out two at a time
fromLesson 46.2
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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).