Loading...

Biblical Greek - Lesson 29

Adjectival Participles

In this lesson, you gain knowledge about adjectival participles in biblical Greek, their forms, and their functions. You learn how to identify and translate adjectival participles in both attributive and predicate positions. By exploring the syntax of adjectival participles, you understand their agreement in gender, number, and case, as well as their usage with articles. Through practical examples and exercises, you develop skills to analyze and translate adjectival participles in biblical texts.

Bill Mounce
Biblical Greek
Lesson 29
Watching Now
Adjectival Participles

I. Introduction to Adjectival Participles

A. Definition and Function

B. Importance in Greek

II. Forms of Adjectival Participles

A. Present

B. Aorist

C. Perfect

III. Translating Adjectival Participles

A. Attributive Position

B. Predicate Position

IV. Syntax of Adjectival Participles

A. Agreement in Gender, Number, and Case

B. Use with Article

V. Examples and Practice Exercises

A. Analyzing Adjectival Participles in Biblical Texts

B. Translation Practice


Lessons
About
Resources
Transcript
  • Bill Mounce invites you to join this course on Biblical Greek and learn the language that he believes is not as hard as people make it out to be, and assures that his lectures will hit just the high points of Greek and that there are resources available on his website for deeper understanding.
  • You will gain knowledge and insight into the fundamentals of biblical Greek, including the alphabet and pronunciation, nouns and adjectives, pronouns and verbs, and the importance of further study. You will learn about the declension of nouns and the conjugation of verbs in different tenses, such as the present, imperfect, future, and aorist. This lesson provides a comprehensive overview of the basics of biblical Greek, making it accessible to beginners who are just starting to learn.
  • In the Learning Greek lesson, you will tackle memorization, learn about tools to assist you, understand the importance of exercises, and discover the significance of time, consistency, and discipline to enhance your Greek language skills and develop a closer connection with Jesus.
  • In this lesson, you learn the Greek alphabet and its pronunciation, discovering similarities to the English alphabet and mastering special pronunciation rules like gamma nasal, vowels, diphthongs, iota subscript, diuresis, and breathing marks, crucial for Greek language study.
  • You will gain insight into the importance of punctuation and syllabification in Greek, which will help you better understand the meaning and pronunciation of Greek texts.
  • Through this lesson, you will develop a solid foundation in English nouns, their types, functions in sentences, and practical tips for mastery.
  • In this lesson, you grasp the significance of nominative and accusative definite articles in Biblical Greek, exploring their roles in identifying subjects and direct objects, and applying the definite article in context.
  • This lesson equips you with the knowledge to identify and translate the genitive and dative cases in biblical Greek, enhancing your understanding and interpretation of biblical texts.
  • Gain insight into the importance of prepositions in Biblical Greek, explore their different categories and meanings, and learn how they modify verbs, nouns, and adjectives to enhance your understanding of the New Testament's original language.
  • In this lesson, you will learn about adjectives in Biblical Greek, their declension, comparison, and their crucial role in syntax, semantics, interpretation, and translation of Biblical texts.
  • By studying the third declension in Biblical Greek, you gain insight into noun and adjective formations, enhancing your ability to analyze and interpret New Testament texts.
  • You gain knowledge of first and second person personal pronouns in Biblical Greek, learning their forms, usage, and application in translating and interpreting New Testament texts.
  • You will gain a comprehensive understanding of Greek pronouns, focusing on forms and genders, and learn to apply this knowledge to accurately interpret biblical texts.
  • By studying this lesson, you acquire a thorough understanding of demonstrative pronouns and adjectives in Biblical Greek, their forms, syntax, and proper application in New Testament passages.
  • This lesson equips you to comprehend relative pronouns in Biblical Greek and their role in connecting ideas and forming dependent clauses.
  • In this lesson, you gain an in-depth understanding of verbs in Biblical Greek, learning about tenses, voices, and moods, and how to apply this knowledge in biblical exegesis.
  • Master the present active indicative in Biblical Greek to understand the language's structure, form regular and irregular verbs, and accurately translate and interpret the text.
  • In this lesson, you gain insight into contract verbs in Biblical Greek, learning to identify and parse them, enabling accurate translation and interpretation of the New Testament texts.
  • This lesson provides a deep understanding of the present middle-passive indicative verb forms in Biblical Greek, including their formation, usage, and tips for accurate translation.
  • This lesson provides you with a comprehensive understanding of the future active and middle indicative verb forms in Biblical Greek, equipping you with translation techniques and practice exercises to enhance your skillset.
  • Through this lesson, you acquire knowledge of verbal roots and future forms in Biblical Greek, enabling better interpretation of the New Testament by recognizing regular and irregular patterns.
  • This lesson teaches you how to understand and use the imperfect indicative in biblical Greek, offering insights into verb conjugations, context, and translation accuracy.
  • You will gain expertise in Second Aorist Active and Middle Indicative forms in Biblical Greek, their formation, usage, and importance in biblical interpretation.
  • This lesson equips you with knowledge of the First Aorist Active and Middle Indicative in Biblical Greek, covering formation, parsing, and translation techniques while providing examples from the New Testament.
  • By studying this lesson, you learn to identify and translate Aorist and Future Passive Indicative verb forms in Biblical Greek, enabling accurate exegesis and interpretation of the New Testament.
  • In this lesson, you acquire knowledge on forming, conjugating, and translating perfect indicative verbs in biblical Greek, with a focus on understanding context and handling irregular verb forms.
  • Through this lesson, you learn about Greek participles, their types, and translation techniques, enhancing your ability to analyze and understand the New Testament texts.
  • This lesson teaches you to identify, translate, and interpret present continuous adverbial participles in Biblical Greek, enhancing your understanding of New Testament exegesis.
  • Gain insights into aorist undefined adverbial participles, their types, and translation techniques to improve your understanding of the Greek text and biblical exegesis.
  • Through this lesson, you master the intricacies of adjectival participles in biblical Greek, including their forms, translation, and syntax, ultimately enhancing your ability to analyze and translate biblical texts.
  • This lesson teaches you the intricacies of perfect participles and genitive absolutes in biblical Greek, enabling you to accurately translate and understand complex grammatical structures.
  • Gain insight into the subjunctive mood in Biblical Greek, understanding its formation, functions, and importance for interpreting the New Testament's nuanced meanings.
  • Through this lesson, you learn to recognize and understand the various roles and functions of infinitives in Biblical Greek, ultimately enhancing your ability to study the biblical text.
  • In this lesson, you learn about the imperative mood in Biblical Greek, its forms and uses, negation, and the subjunctive as an alternative for expressing commands and requests.
  • In this lesson, you learn to understand and apply the imperative mood in Biblical Greek, including its formation, nuances, and its use in exegesis.
  • In this lesson, you gain a deeper understanding of non-indicative forms and conditional sentences, learning to differentiate between subjunctive, imperative, infinitive, and participle forms, as well as first, second, and third class conditional sentences, while expanding your vocabulary.
  • Gain insights into Biblical Greek constructs, conditional sentences, Greek particles, and techniques for parsing and translating complex passages, enhancing your ability to interpret the New Testament.

These lectures will take you through the main points of each chapter in Bill Mounce's Basics of Biblical Greek (3rd edition). These Summary Lectures are also available at billmounce.com, along with other free resources for learning biblical Greek. [The first lecture was originally given in the course Dr. Mounce was teaching at Gordon-Conwell seminary. The syllabus he mentions was for that group of students and is not available.]

 

BillMounce.com also sells video lectures by Bill Mounce that cover every point in the grammar.

Recommended Books

Basics of Biblical Greek Grammar 3rd (third) Edition

Basics of Biblical Greek Grammar 3rd (third) Edition

William D. Mounce's "Basics of Biblical Greek Grammar" and its companion tool "Basics of Biblical Greek Workbook" are the best-selling and most widely accepted textbooks for learning New Testament Greek.
Basics of Biblical Greek Grammar 3rd (third) Edition

Dr. Bill Mounce
Biblical Greek
nt201-29
Adjectival Participles 
Lesson Transcript

[00:00:00] Welcome to Chapter 29 Adjectival Participles. Up until this point, we have learned present participles and errors participles, but we have looked at present and errors participles that are always adverbial. In chapter 29, we're going to look at present and errors participles that are adjectival, not adverbial. Now remember participles are verbal adjectives, so they can have adverbial uses and they can have adjectival uses. So what we're doing in chapter 29 is looking at the second half of that and looking at their adjectival function. We've actually seen bits and pieces of it already, haven't we? Even if a participle as adverbial is still agreeing with some word in case number and gender and that kind of stuff. But some participles are used with much more emphasis on their adjectival function. And that's what we're going to look at today. Now, I know I tend to play this card quite a bit, maybe too much, but yes, I do. Okay. There's really not that much more to learn here. In other words, there's no differences in form. In other words, if a coupon is adverbial or adjectival, it's still going to be a cool one. There's no difference in the form of the participle. There's no difference in terms of aspect. A continuous participle is continuous, whether it's adverbial or adjectival. And it's equally difficult to bring out the aspect in English, whether it's adverbial or adjectival. But aspect is still the same. And actually, if you're up on your adjectival grammar and you should be, once you're going to see that adjectival participles, it's just like are adjectives, well, almost just like tragedies. So a little bit of grammar, but no new forms. So let's review a couple of things on adjectival grammar. What's the definition of an attribute of adjective? An attribute of adjective is an adjective that is giving an attribute to a noun.

[00:02:08] It's attributing something about it. And what's the clue in context that an adjective is functioning as an attribute of? Right is preceded by an article. And you have the first and the second attribute of positions. And so if you have. HAGAN Hey, August day. EASTON and the rest of the sentence, you can tell that Augusta is an attribute of adjective. It's the second attribute of position, and it must be telling you something about the preceding noun. Now, in an attribute of adjective, what determines the case number and gender of an attribute of adjective? Yeah, the word they modify. Okay. Nothing unusual there. And so how do you translate them? You just find a way in English to take the adjective and make it modify the known. What if you have? Hey, Augusta. So face a tie. Well, you have an adjective. It's preceded by an article. But what's different in this construction? Right. There's nothing for it to modify. Is preceded by the article, but there's nothing for it to modify. And so the adjective must be functioning as a noun. Noun. An adjective functions as a noun. What determines its case? Use in a sentence, right? What determines is gender and number? Yeah. What it stands for. Right. Okay. Nothing new there. How do you translate a substantive oil adjective? Well, that's a little tricky, isn't it? You got to kind of look and see what it says in Greek, what it means in Greek. You look at its gender, you look at its number, Look what it stands for. Now, sometimes you have to add a few words or so to make sense out of it, Right. The good will be saved. Or in this case, perhaps because it's feminine, the good women will be saved or whatever the Oggetti is referring back to.

[00:04:00] Right. But you have some freedom when an adjective is used substantively and how you translate it. Q Let's change the first illustration just a little. Let's say you have Hey, Gunny. Hey, acoustic. Now, Koussa is what? It's a present active part participle. Simple. Nominative, singular feminine from a cool meaning hearing. Right. But when you look at this, how is this participle functioning? You'll notice the Ed Verbals never have an article in front of them. Did you notice that? I think I mentioned it briefly, but here you have article, noun, article, modifier. Right now modifiers can be adjectives. They can be prepositional phrases. They can also be participles. What I'm trying to show you is that this use of the participle fits right into your adjectival grammar. There's nothing surprising about this. So here you have a participle preceded by the article. It's an attribute of possession. It's functioning as an attribute of adjective in this situation. What's going to determine the case number and gender of the participle? What it modifies. Just like an attribute of adjective. Right. So how do you think you're going to translate this? Well, you're going to have to look at it and see what does this say in Greek? And then how do I say this in English? And it's the woman, the hearing. How do you say that in English? The hearing woman or. Yeah, the woman who hears. You'll find that's pretty common. And what happens on these things is if you get stuck, the first time you do is just translate the participles and I and g get it into your head, get the sentence translated, make sure you understand the relationships between words. And then you simply say, How do I say this in English? And what will often happen is that the participle will be translated as some kind of relative clause, perhaps some other kind of clause.

[00:06:09] The hearing woman. The woman who hears. This is one reason why I taught adjectives the way I did, because I wanted you to move smoothly into participles. So here you have an attribute of participle functioning as a normal adjective. Case number and gender determined by the word. It modifies harpists you own. So face the tie. Yeah. There's your participle. Right fist. You own present active participle. Nominative. Masculine. Singular. Why is it nominative? Well, it could be the subject right now. If that were an adjective, how would you translate it? Let's say Poseidon is an adjective that means faith. Right. You would say the faith or the faithful one or the faithful person or something like that, Right? Well, this is the part is simple. It's functioning as a substantive L.A., Right. It's got the article. There's nothing for it to modify. And so you're going to have to do the same thing with participles that you have to do with adjectives. When they're functioning substantively, you'll look and see what it means in Greek. And then you say, How do I say the same thing In English you have harpist you own. There's your subject to the sentence, the participle phrase, therefore its case to determine just like an adjective by its function. It's a subject. It's gender number is determined same way by what it stands for. How are you going to translate? Well, are you going to see what it says in Greek and then say the same thing in English? And if you had to be flexible with the uses of adjectives when they're functioning substantively, you have to be even more flexible with participles. So someone to make a stab at how you would do this. Yeah, the believing one will be saved.

[00:08:01] So the believing one best you own is singular. So you say one, not one's the one who believes he who believes something like that which fits the context. What I want you to see is it is behaving just like an adjective. And so think of your adjectival grammar and then switch over. And because it's a participle and you can translate these things pretty straight out, the one who believes will be saved. Participles are verbal adjectives when their adjectival side is being emphasized. You just fall right back into your adjectival grammar and you can translate them. The situation you find yourself in at this point then, is that when you see a participle, it will either be adverbial or adjectival. And if it's adjectival, just like any adjective, it can be an attribute of adjective. Or it can be a substantive L.A.. Right. So you have to be aware of that most basic distinction with participles. And you have to ask yourself, is this adverbial or is it adjectival? What are the clues to help you know which is which? Well, one of the biggest clues is the article. An adverbial participle must be in Tartarus. So if you see a participle and it does not have an article. It? Probably. Is adverbial. A tribute of. Participles usually. Have an article. Or to state it the other way around. If the participle has an article. It can't be adverbial. It has to be. Adjectival of some sort. What I'm trying to do is simplify it, because the basic distinction is whether the participle is adverbial or adjectival. If it's adjectival, then all your adjective grammar should kick in and you recognize that adjectives can either be attributed or substantive. Can I stated things both directions? Let me say it again.

[00:10:27] You need to latch on to one way that makes sense. Adverbial participles must be a nurseries Thrace. Adjectival participles normally are articular. You want to flip it around? If you see a participle that is a Thrace, it probably is adverbial. If you see a participle that has the article. It can't be adverbial. It must be adjectival. Now I'm using grammatical language because it's the most concise way to do it. And so you need to sit and sift through that and think. Make sure it's all clear in your head. The tricky part is when there's no articles anywhere, we have a noun and you have a participle and some other stuff. You just going to have to use context to decide how the participle is functioning. But what you do, you'll be transcending along and you see a participle. Figure out what the word means. You may want to just stick an eye and on your translation. But then you have to decide more specifically what that participle is doing. If it's a na thrice, and especially if it's at the beginning of the sentence, you're probably adverbial. If it has the article, it has to be adjectival.