Lesson 10 | Adjectives and Adverbs
[2] Adjectival Pronouns
We learned about pronouns in Lesson 6. However, there is one more thing to learn. Some pronouns can also function as adjectives: the demonstrative pronouns (οὗτος and έκεῖνος), the indefinite pronoun (τις), and the third person pronoun (αὐτός). Here are five examples from the Greek New Testament. Focus on the pronouns.
ὁ θεὸς ἐκ τῶν λίθων τούτων ἐγεῖραι τέκνα τῷ Ἀβραάμ. (NA28) From these stones, God is able to raise up children for Abraham. —Matthew 3:9
Εγένετο ἐν ταῖς ἡμέραις Ἡρῴδου βασιλέως τῆς Ἰουδαίας ἱερεύς τις ὀνόματι Ζαχαρίας (NA28) It came about in the days of Herod, King of the Jews, [there was] a certain priest with the name “Zechariah.” —Luke 1:5
καὶ γίνεται τὰ ἔσχατα τοῦ ἀνθρώπου ἐκείνου χείρονα τῶν πρώτων. (NA28) And the last things of that man are worse than the first things. —Matthew 12:45
Καὶ ἐν ἐκείνῃ τῇ ὥρᾳ ἐγένετο σεισμὸς μέγας (NA28) And in that hour, a great earthquake happened. —Revelation 11:13
ποῦ συζητητὴς τοῦ αἰῶνος τούτου; Where is the debater of this age? —1 Corinthians 1:20
In these examples, we can see two things about Greek adjectival pronouns. First, just like normal adjectives, they match the word they describe in case, gender, and number. Second, these adjectival pronouns function like attributive adjectives but are in the position of predicate adjectives. Look carefully at the above examples and you should see this. In each case, the article is with the noun and not the adjectival pronoun. These adjectival pronouns are in the predicate position, but they function attributively. This is important to remember. This also happens with the adjective πᾶς.
αὐτός Is Special
Of the adjectival pronouns, αὐτός is unique because it can function in more than one way. This depends on its adjectival position.
1. Predicate Position
When αὐτός is in the predicate position, it functions as an emphasizing pronoun.
Daniel Wallace points to an example of this in 1 Thessalonians 4:16.
αὐτὸς ὁ κύριος... καταβήσεται ἀπ᾿ οὐρανοῦ καὶ οἱ νεκροὶ ἐν Χριστῷ ἀναστήσονται πρῶτον The Lord himself...will come down from heaven, and the dead ones in Christ will rise first
In this example from 1 Thessalonians 4:16, αὐτός is in the predicate position, and it matches the noun it describes (κύριος) in case, gender, and number. When we translate it into English, we use one of the -self pronouns to communicate this emphasis.
Campbell and Gibson point to another example of this in Mark 6:17.
Αὐτὸς γὰρ ὁ Ἡρῴδης...ἐκράτησεν τὸν Ἰωάννην καὶ ἔδησεν αὐτὸν ἐν φυλακῇ διὰ Ἡρῳδιάδα τὴν γυναῖκα Φιλίππου τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ αὐτοῦ, For Herod himself...seized John and bound him in prison on account of Herodias, the wife of Phillip, his brother.
Again in this example, αὐτός is in the predicate position. So, it functions as an intensifier, and we use a -self pronoun to translate its emphasizing function.
A third example comes from 1 Thessalonians 2:1.
Αὐτοὶ γὰρ οἴδατε... For you yourselves know…
This example is a bit trickier. Can you parse Αὐτοὶ? It is nominative, masculine, plural from αὐτός. At first glance, it looks like this Αὐτοὶ is just a third person plural pronoun: “they.” However, the verb οἴδατε is second person plural, which means that it requires a nominative, 2nd person, plural pronoun for its subject. Do you know what this would be? It would be ὑμεῖς. Therefore, Αὐτοὶ cannot be functioning as the third person pronoun. It does not fit here. When we realize this, then we can see that Αὐτοὶ is acting like a predicate adjective describing the implied ὑμεῖς.
2. Attributive Position
When αὐτός is in the attributive position, it functions as an identical adjective.
We can use the word “same” to translate this meaning into English. Consider this example from Phil 1:30.
τὸν αὐτὸν ἀγῶνα ἔχοντες, οἷον εἴδετε ἐν ἐμοὶ καὶ νῦν ἀκούετε ἐν ἐμοί. having the same struggle, such as you saw in me and now hear in me.
In this example, αὐτός is in the attributive position (notice that the adjective has the article). So, it identifies the noun as the same thing as something else. In Phil 1:30, Paul tells the Philippians that he and they share in the same struggle for the gospel.
Another example comes from Mark 14:39.
Καὶ πάλιν...προσηύξατο τὸν αὐτὸν λόγον And again...he prayed the same statement
Once again, αὐτός is in the attributive position. Mark uses it to tell us that Jesus prayed the same prayer he had prayed earlier in Mark 14:36.
Quiz
Let's review what you learned in this section with a small quiz. My hope is that this quiz will help you solidify your understanding of how αὐτὸς functions. For each question, choose the best English translation: