Pronoun: Indefinite τις

GrammarPronoun – Indefinite τις

The indefinite pronoun in Greek is τις. As pronouns, these forms can take the place of a noun and refer to an entity. As an indefinite, it refers to an entity that is unfamiliar to the hearer, such as in a sentence A man came to my house. The use of a man signals to the hearer that the man is not someone that is known or familiar to the hearer in the discourse.

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MorphologyPronoun – Indefinite τις

• τις is identical to the WH-words except for the accenting
• τις is an enclitic
• Its accent falls on the last syllable, and can be acute or grave (based on enclitic accenting rules)

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SyntaxPronoun – Indefinite τις

There are two basic options for the syntax of the indefinite pronouns. It may act as a pronoun and replace a noun entirely, or it may modify a noun (coming after it):

• (178) Τις replaces the noun
• τὶς κράζει
• Someone is shouting

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SemanticsPronoun – Indefinite τις

The indefiniteness of the pronoun signals to the hearer that the entity being referred to is unknown or unfamiliar to the hearer. This definition is very similar to our definition of WH-words (see 11.4.3.3). The entity being referred to with a WH-word is unknown to the speaker. In either case, the τις words refer to an entity that is unknown in some way, either by the speaker (the WH-words) or by the hearer (the indefinite pronouns).

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PhonologyEnclitic rule 7 (enclitic starts clause)

Enclitic rule 7 (see Phonology A) says that an enclitic starting a clause will always retain its accent. Carson’s example is from John 13:13 where Jesus says εἰμὶ γάρ ‘for I am.’ Because the enclitic εἰμί begins the clause, it is accented.

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