Lesson 3 | The Second Noun Pattern, Prepositions, and Connectors
Grammar Point 2: Prepositions
Our second grammar point focuses on Greek prepositions. You already know the following prepositions.
In this step, you just need to learn how Greek prepositions affect a noun’s case.
Let’s look at John 1:1 for some more examples.
Ἐν ἀρχῇ ἦν ὁ λόγος, καὶ ὁ λόγος ἦν πρὸς τὸν θεόν, καὶ θεὸς ἦν ὁ λόγος.
ἀρχῇ is a first pattern noun. Can you parse it? It is dative, feminine, singular. But here, ἀρχῇ is not functioning as the verb’s indirect object. Instead, it is the object of the preposition, ἐν: “in the beginning.” ἐν always takes its object in the dative case.
Here is another example from John 1:1.
Ἐν ἀρχῇ ἦν ὁ λόγος, καὶ ὁ λόγος ἦν πρὸς τὸν θεόν, καὶ θεὸς ἦν ὁ λόγος.
τὸν θεόν is in the accusative case, but it is not functioning as the verb’s direct object. Instead, it is the object of the preposition, προς: “with God.”
There are two more things to point out. First, the object of a preposition will always come immediately after the preposition. This is one of few instances in Koine Greek where word order does matter.
Second, the meaning of some prepositions depends upon the case of its object. For example, when κάτα takes a genitive object, it can mean “against” or “down from.” However, when κάτα takes an accusative object, it can mean “during” or “according to.” Compare κάτα in John 19:7 and John 19:11.
ἡμεῖς νόμον ἔχομεν καὶ κατὰ τὸν νόμον ὀφείλει ἀποθανεῖν We have a law, and according to the law he ought to die.
Here in John 19:7 κατά takes an accusative object (νόμον = accusative, singular, masculine, νόμος), and so it means “according to the law.”
οὐκ εἶχες ἐξουσίαν κατ᾿ ἐμοῦ οὐδεμίαν εἰ μὴ ἦν δεδομένον σοι ἄνωθεν· You do not have any authority against me except that which has been given to you from above.
Here in John 19:11 κατά takes a genitive object, and so it means “against me.”
Ultimately, there are three things that you need to remember from this step:
- Greek prepositions take objects in specific cases.
- When a noun is an object of the preposition, its case and its position next to the preposition tell us that it belongs to that preposition.
- The meaning of some Greek prepositions depends on the case of their object.