Lesson 4 | The Greek Article and Pronouns

Grammar Point 1: The Greek Article

In How to Understand and Apply the New Testament, Dr. Andy Naselli clearly communicates how the Greek article functions:
In English, we have an indefinite article (a) and a definite article (the). Greek doesn’t have a word that corresponds to an indefinite article—just one that corresponds to the definite article. But it doesn’t work exactly like an English definite article. Its primary purpose is not to make something definite (though that’s what it does most often—it identifies an object). Its primary purpose is to turn something into a concept—and it can do that for just about any part of speech as well as whole phrases. (page 95)
If you are struggling to understand, that is okay. Right now, you do not need to perfectly understand what the Greek article does. First, you need to learn the article’s forms. 

The Forms of the Greek Article
Like Greek nouns, the article changes its form to communicate its function. Unlike Greek nouns, the article changes not only its case and number but also its gender. The good news is that the article follows the first and second noun patterns. The chart below builds upon the noun chart you already learned. The article is blue. You should memorize this chart. Before you do, consider the following bullet points. If you already memorized the noun patterns, then memorizing this chart should not be too difficult.
The article follows the same pattern as first and second pattern nouns, with two exceptions: the nominative masculine singular form, and the nominative and accusative neuter singular form.
The article begins with τ in every form but the nominative feminine and masculine forms.
Pay attention to the accents and breathing marks.
The genitive plural forms are identical.
Just like neuter nouns, the nominative and accusative neuter forms are identical.
There is no vocative form.


Memorize this chart well. The article will be one of your best friends as you parse Greek nouns. Why? Because it consistently follows this pattern even when the noun it modifies does not. For example, μαθήτης looks like a genitive, feminine, singular, but it is not. The article helps us parse this noun: ὁ μαθήτης. Since the article always matches the noun it describes in case, gender, and number, we know that μαθήτης is actually nominative, masculine, singular even though it does not follow the normal pattern. So, learn the forms of the article well! 
When you are ready, use this quizlet to practice parsing the different forms of the article.


Diagramming and Translating the Article
You should diagram the article with the word or phrase it describes. For example, when you diagram the first clause of John 3:16, the two articles should remain with the nouns they describe. Remember, articles match the words they describe in case, gender, and number.
ἠγάπησεν ὁ θεὸς τὸν κόσμον

When you translate the article into English, you can often use “the” to communicate the article’s meaning. However, this is not always the case because the basic function of the article in Greek is different from the definite article in English. Sometimes, you should leave the article untranslated. Other times, you should use “the” in a translation even when there is no article in Greek. Dr. William D. Mounce gives some helpful guidance for beginning Greek students as you learn how to translate the article.
You will soon discover that the Greeks do not use the article the same way we do. They use it when we never would, and they omit it when English demands it. Languages are not codes, and there is not an exact word for word correspondence. Therefore, we must be a little flexible at this point.

—Mounce, Basics of Biblical Greek (Second Edition), 39.
Let’s return again to the first clause of John 3:16. There are two articles in this clause: οὕτως γὰρ ἠγάπησεν ὁ θεὸς τὸν κόσμον. 
When we translate it into English, we leave one article untranslated, but we translate the other: “For God so loved the world.” In English, we do not need to translate the first article (ὁ). With a capitalized “G”, we are able to communicate that this “God” is a specific person. Greek does the same by using the article. 
However, we need to use “the” when translating the second article (τὸν). English demands that we attach either an indefinite (a/an) or a definite article (the) to a direct object. We could either translate τὸν κόσμον as “a world” or “the world,” but we could not translate this clause as “For God so loved world.” Since the Greek article here identifies this κόσμον with its previous uses in John, “the world” captures the author’s meaning better than “a world” would. 
Right now, you do not need to understand perfectly how the article functions. We will keep practicing in this lesson and in future lessons. For now, make sure that you can identify and parse the article.