Basics of Biblical Greek Grammar: Fourth Edition

By William D. Mounce

Clear. Understandable. Carefully organized. Basics of Biblical Greek Grammar by William D. Mounce is the standard textbook for colleges and seminaries. Since its initial publication in 1993 its integrated approach has helped more than 250,000 students learn New Testament Greek.

The fourth edition of Basics of Biblical Greek Grammar has been updated throughout based on continuing feedback from professors, students, self-learners, and homeschoolers, making it even more effective for today’s students. As well, improvements have been made based on recent developments in scholarship.

The key to the effectiveness of Basics of Biblical Greek Grammar in helping students learn is in how it introduces them to the language. Students learn about the features of the Greek language in a logical order, with each lesson building upon the one before it. Unnecessary obstacles that discourage students and hinder progress are removed, such as rote memorization of endless verbal paradigms. Instead students receive encouragement along the way to assure them they are making the necessary progress. As well, detailed discussions are included at key junctures to help students grasp important concepts.

By the time students have worked their way through Basics of Biblical Greek Grammar they will have learned:

• The Greek Alphabet
• Vocabulary for words occurring 50 times or more in the Greek New Testament
• The Greek noun system
• The Greek verbal system, including indicative and nonindicative verbs, and participles

A robust suite of learning aids is available for purchase to be used alongside the textbook to help students excel in their studies. These include a workbook, video lectures for each chapter featuring the author, flashcards keyed to vocabulary in each chapter, a laminated quick study sheet with key concepts, and audio of the vocabulary for each chapter to aid in acquisition.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Zondervan
• Release date: Feb 5, 2019
• ISBN: 9780310537441

William D. Mounce

William D. Mounce (PhD, Aberdeen University) lives as a writer in Washougal, Washington. He is the President of BiblicalTraining.org, a non-profit organization offering world-class educational resources for discipleship in the local church. See BillMounce.com for more information. Formerly he was a preaching pastor, and prior to that a professor of New Testament and director of the Greek Program at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. He is the author of the bestselling Greek textbook, Basics of Biblical Greek, and many other resources. He was the New Testament chair of the English Standard Version translation of the Bible, and is serving on the NIV translation committee.

Book preview

Preface

Most existing grammars fall into one of two camps, deductive or inductive. Deductive grammars emphasize charts and rote memorization, while inductive grammars get the student into the text as soon as possible and try to imitate the natural learning process. Both methods have advantages and disadvantages. The deductive method helps the student organize the material better but is totally unlike the natural learning process. The inductive method suffers from a lack of structure that for many is confusing. My method attempts to teach Greek using the best of both approaches. It is deductive in how it initially teaches the material, and inductive in how it fine-tunes the learning process. (See the following Rationale Statement for more details.)

Most grammars approach learning Greek primarily as an academic discipline; I make every effort to view learning Greek as a tool for ministry. My assumption is that you are learning biblical Greek so you can better understand the Word of God and share that understanding with those around you. If some aspect of language study does not serve this purpose, it is ignored.

I try to include anything that will encourage students. This may not be the normal way textbooks are written, but my purpose is not to write another normal textbook. Learning languages can be enjoyable as well as meaningful. There is much more encouragement on my website (see page xvi–xxvi).

Probably the greatest obstacle to learning, and continuing to use, biblical Greek is the problem of rote memorization, both vocabulary and charts. When I was first learning Greek, I used to ask my father what a certain form meant. He would tell me, and when I asked how he knew he would respond, I’m not sure, but that’s what it is. What was frustrating for me then is true of me now. How many people who have worked in Greek for years are able to recite obscure paradigms, or perhaps all the tense forms of the sixty main verbs? Very few I suspect. Rather, we have learned what indicators to look for when we parse, or what I call triggers. Wouldn’t it be nice if beginning students of the language could get to this point of understanding the forms of the language without going through the excruciating process of memorizing chart after chart? This is the primary distinctive of this textbook. Reduce the essentials to a minimum so the language can be learned and retained as easily as possible, so that the Word of God can be preached and taught in all its power and conviction.

The writing style of BBG is somewhat different from what you might expect. It is not overly concerned with brevity. Rather, I discuss the concepts in some depth and in a friendly tone. The goal is to help students enjoy the text and come to class knowing the information. While brevity has its advantages, I felt that it hinders the self-motivated student who wants to learn outside the classroom. For teachers who prefer a more succinct style, the section numbers make it easy for them to skip information they feel is unnecessary. For example: Don’t read #13.4–5 and #13.7.

It is possible to ignore all the footnotes in this text and still learn biblical Greek. The information in the footnotes is interesting tidbits for both the teacher and the exceptional student; they will most likely confuse the struggling student.

I follow standard pronunciation of biblical Greek (also called Erasmian). There is increasing scholarly interest in a modified pronunciation scheme closer to that of modern Greek, which is why I have included some modern Greek pronunciation on my website. The majority of students still learn the standard pronunciation, and those who learn alternate systems often have difficulty communicating with students from other schools.

There are many people I wish to thank. Without my students’ constant questioning and their unfailing patience with all my experiments in teaching methods, this grammar could never have been written. I would like to thank especially Brad Rigney, Ian and Kathy Lopez, Mike De Vries, Bob Ramsey, Jenny (Davis) Riley, Handjarawatano, Dan Newman, Tim Pack, Jason Zahariades, Tim and Jennifer Brown, Lynnette Whitworth, Chori Seraiah, Miles Van Pelt, and the unnamed student who failed the class twice until I totally separated the nouns (chapters 1–14) from the verbs (chapters 15–36), and then received a B. Thanks also to my students at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary and my TA’s, Matthew Smith, Jim Critchlow, Jason DeRouchie, Rich Herbster, Juan Hernández, Ryan Jackson, Steven Kirk, David Palmer, Andy Williams, and especially my colleagues and friends, Edward M. Keazirian II, George H. Guthrie, and Paul Mr. Jackson.

I want to thank those professors who were willing to try out the grammar in its earlier stages, and for those upon whom I have relied for help: William S. LaSor, Daniel B. Wallace, Thomas Schreiner, Nancy Vyhmeister, Keith Reeves, Ron Rushing, George Gunn, Chip Hard, Verlyn Verbrugge, and Craig Keener. A very special thank you must go to Walter W. Wessel, who used the text beginning with its earliest form and who was constant and loving in his corrections, criticisms, and praise. When I thought the text was basically done, my excellent editor, Verlyn Verbrugge, continued to fine-tune my work, not just by finding typos and grammatical errors but by adding substantially to the content and flow of the chapters. (As always, any errors are my fault, and I would appreciate notification of any errors or suggestions. Correspondence may be sent through BillMounce.com.) If it were not for the diligent efforts of Ed van der Maas and Jack Kragt, this grammar may never have been published and marketed as well as it has been.

Much of the work, especially in the exercises, could not have been done without the aid of the software program Accordance. Thanks Roy and Helen.

As this is the fourth edition of the textbook, I would also like to thank those who have used BBG over several decades, and also Rick Bennett, Randall Buth, Christine Palmer, Ed Taylor, and Kim Bennett for their help. BBG’s acceptance has been gratifying; I trust that you will find the fine-tuning in this edition helpful.

A special thank you to my wife Robin, for her unfailing patience and encouragement through the past thirty-five years, and for believing in the goals we both set for this grammar. And finally I wish to thank the scholars who agreed to write the exegetical insights for each chapter. As you see how a knowledge of biblical Greek has aided them in their studies, I trust you will be encouraged in your own pursuit of learning and using Greek.

Thank you.

Bill Mounce

Washougal, WA

Abbreviations

Rationale Statement

BBG is not just new to be different, but approaches the instruction of the language from a different perspective that I hope makes learning Greek as easy as possible, as rewarding as possible, and, yes, even enjoyable.

The following explains my approach, why it is different, and why I think it is better. The widespread acceptance of the first three editions has been encouraging.

Goals

To approach learning Greek not as an intellectual exercise but as a tool for ministry.

To provide constant encouragement for students, showing them not only what they should learn but why.

To teach only what is necessary at the moment, deferring the more complicated concepts until later.

To reduce rote memorization to a minimum.

To utilize current advances in linguistics, not for the purpose of teaching linguistics but to make learning Greek easier.

To be innovative, not for the sake of newness but always looking for new ways to teach.

1. A Tool for Ministry

Biblical Greek should not be taught simply for the sake of learning Greek. Although there is nothing necessarily wrong with that approach, it is inappropriate for a great number of students in colleges and seminaries. Too often they are taught Greek and told that eventually they will see why it is important to know the material. In my opinion, they should be shown, in the process of learning, why they are learning Greek and why a working knowledge of Greek is essential for their ministry.

2. Encouragement

Most students come to Greek with varying degrees of apprehension. Their enthusiasm often wears down as the semester progresses. BBG, therefore, has built into it different ways of encouraging them.

Most of the exercises are from the Bible, mostly the New Testament, but some from the Septuagint. From day one, the students are translating the biblical text. If an exercise sentence has a word that is taught in a later chapter, it is translated. This gives students the satisfaction of actually translating a portion of the Bible. When the Greek in the exercises clarifies an exegetical or theological point, I have usually tried to point it out.

The disadvantage of using the biblical text is that the student may already know the verse in English. But with a little discipline on the student’s part, this disadvantage is far outweighed by the advantages. There are also made-up sentences in the exercises.

The frequency is given for every vocabulary word. It is one thing to learn that καί can mean and, but to see that it occurs 9,162 times in the New Testament will motivate students to memorize it.

There are some 5,423 different words in the New Testament that occur a total of 138,148 times.¹ After every vocabulary section, students are told what percentage of the total word count they now know. By the eighth chapter the student will recognize more than one out of every two word occurrences.

Many chapters end with an Exegesis section. This section expands on the basic grammar of the chapter and enables students to see that grammar makes a difference in exegesis. For example, after they learn the present active indicative, I show them examples of the punctiliar, progressive, iterative, customary, gnomic, historical, and futuristic use of the present tense. If this is more information than a student needs, it can be skipped.

My website (BillMounce.com) is full of additional helps that will encourage students, such as relevant blogs and videos, and you can have fun learning to speak a little Greek.

3. Teaching Only What Is Necessary

Students only learn what is necessary in order to begin reading the biblical text. After they have mastered the basics and have gained some experience in reading, they are taught more of the details. In order to encourage the better student and make the text more usable for more teachers, additional detailed material is put in footnotes or in two sections at the end of the chapter called Advanced Information and Exegesis.

For example, some of the rules for accents are included in the Advanced Information, so it is up to the student or teacher as to whether they should be learned. The adverbial participle provides another example. Students are taught to use the -ing form of the verb, prefaced by either a temporal adverb (while, after) or because. In the Advanced Information, students can also read that they may include a personal pronoun identifying the doer of the participle, and that the time of the finite verb used to translate the participle is relative to the main verb.

4. Memorization

Rote memorization for most people is difficult. It makes language learning a chore, and often results in students forgetting the language. I will do everything I can to keep the amount of memorization to a minimum. For example, in the noun system you will learn only one paradigm and eight rules instead of memorizing dozens of charts. As I often say in my own lectures: You’re welcome.

5. Linguistics

Modern studies in linguistics have much to offer language learning. BBG does not teach linguistics for linguistics’s sake, but the basic principles can be taught and applied generally.

For example, you will learn the Square of Stops since it explains many of the morphological changes of the verb. Also, a basic set of case endings are learned, and then students are shown how they are modified, only so slightly, in the different declensions. Once it is seen that the same basic endings are used in all three declensions, memorization is simplified. In the lexicon, all words are keyed to my The Morphology of Biblical Greek. As the students’ knowledge and interest progresses, they will be able to pursue in-depth morphological work in MBG.

6. Innovative

BBG approaches the joyful task of learning Greek from new and innovative angles, not merely for the sake of newness but from the desire to make learning Greek as rewarding as possible. The easier it is to learn the language, the more the language will be used by pastors and others involved in ministry.

a. Definitions are derived from Prof. Bruce Metzger’s Lexical Aids for Students of New Testament Greek (with his permission). This way, when students move into second-year Greek and use Metzger’s text for increasing their vocabulary, they will not have to relearn the definitions.

b. In the appendix there is a lexicon that lists all words occurring ten times or more in the Greek Testament along with the tense forms for all simple verbs. (Any word in the exercises that occurs less than ten times will be identified in the footnote.) This will be needed for the additional and review exercises. There is also a full set of noun and verbal charts.

c. Instead of switching students back and forth between nouns and verbs, BBG teaches nouns first and then verbs. Because verbs are so important, some have questioned the wisdom of not starting them until chapter 15. Here are my reasons.¹

• Over the years I found that excessive switching between nouns and verbs was one of the most confusing aspects to teaching Greek.

• Nouns are learned so quickly that you get to chapter 15 sooner than you might expect.

• If you listen to a child learn to speak, you can see that it is more natural to learn nouns first and later move on to the verbal system.

While this approach has proven itself over the years, I wanted to be sensitive to other teachers’ preferences. Therefore, in the second edition I added a Track Two of exercises. It is an alternate set of exercises that allows you to move from chapter 9 up to chapter 15 and learn about verbs, and after several chapters on verbs come back and finish nouns. This involves switching back and forth between nouns and verbs only once, and in my experience it has shown itself to be effective. My online class at BillMounce.com makes it is easy to follow Track 2.

d. At the beginning of most chapters there is an Exegetical Insight based on a biblical passage. These are written by New Testament scholars and demonstrate the significance of the grammar in the chapter.

e. Next comes a discussion of English grammar and then a summary of Greek grammar where I make as many comparisons as possible between English and Greek, with an emphasis on the similarities between the two languages.

The brain learns by taking new data and looks for existing patterns of knowledge by which to process the new data. I did not know this when I first wrote BBG, but my instincts were that it is always best to move from what you know to what you don’t know, the former making it easier to learn the latter. I do this consistently throughout BBG.

f. Greek grammar is initially taught with English illustrations. When illustrations for new grammatical constructions are given in Greek, students spend much of their concentration on identifying the Greek forms and often do not fully understand the grammar itself. In BBG the grammar is made explicit in English, and only when it is grasped is it illustrated in Greek. For example,

A participle has verbal characteristics. "After eating, my Greek teacher gave us the final." In this example, eating is a participle that tells us something about the verb gave. The teacher gave us the final after he was done eating. (After is an adverb that specifies when the action of the participle occurred.)

g. There are many free resources available at my website, BillMounce.com. Go to the Classes menu and select First Year Greek. Look also at the Resources menu. Most importantly, you have access to the online Greek classes that will walk you through the textbook and workbook (see below). Most of the free resources are available within the online class; just go to the appropriate chapter.

Notes

¹ All word counts are taken from the 28th edition of Nestle-Aland, Novum Testamentum Graece, Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, using Accordance (not including titles).

¹ I have since learned that the US Foreign Service uses the same approach in teaching modern languages.

BillMounce.com

Basics of Biblical Greek Grammar: Fourth Edition

As we move into the digital age, there are so many ways that I can help you learn Greek beyond just writing the grammar and workbook. One way is to be able to share my teaching with you.

This is especially for those who need a little extra help. I have recorded my two-semester course in which I go through each chapter in detail. These lectures can be purchased at my website, BillMounce.com. Once purchased, they are available inside the free online class, or you can buy them on a flash drive.

I am more excited about the possibilities of this website than I have been since the creation of the CD-ROM. The possibilities are endless as to how we can create a community to teach and learn biblical Greek. This site is constantly changing, so what follows is what I have right now.

To find these resources, go to the online class by clicking Classes on the home page, select First Year Greek, and go to the appropriate chapter. A general listing of the resources can be found at BillMounce.com/resources.

For the Textbook

The online class walks you chapter by chapter through the textbook.

Section Overview. Before each new major section, there is a video lecture giving the grand overview.

Monday with Mounce blogs, which center on translation issues.

Chapter Overviews cover the highlights of the chapter (including study guides).

Mnemonic devices for learning vocabulary; students can even add their own (page xx).

Color-coded hints for every parsing and translation exercise.

Quizzes (and keys) for testing yourself on each chapter.

Resources can be downloaded from the appropriate lesson in the online class.

For the Workbook

Answers for the entire workbook.

Audio helps for the workbook. These are my discussions of the difficult parsing and sentence exercises; it’s like being in class with me. These are in the online class.

Screencasts over every exercise in the workbook (for purchase). It’s like sitting down with me in class.

For the Class

Sample syllabi.

Overheads for each chapter in Keynote and PowerPoint.

Greek Bingo game.

Fun songs rewritten in Greek.

FlashWorks (vocabulary-learning software).

Free Greek and Hebrew fonts.

Biblical passages to read when you are done with the textbook.

Free Online Class

I strongly urge every student to have the online class open as they are working through a chapter in the workbook. Go to BillMounce.com, click on Classes, and choose the appropriate class. Go to your current chapter. Here are the elements of each lesson.

Encouragement

Contains the Exegetical Insight from the chapter and relevant blogs.

Downloads

If there are any downloads relevant to the lesson, they will be here. Downloads for the entire class are in the Orientation lesson.

Chapter Overview

The Chapter Overview lectures are free, 8–10 minute lectures over the highlights of the chapter. The Study Guide is for note-taking. You can download the audio to your phone or listen online.

Chapter Material

The Chapter Material section contains overheads you can download (Keynote and PowerPoint), and you can watch or listen to me lecture through the chapter if you have purchased access. (You can also purchase videos on flash drives from the BillMounce.com store if you don’t want to watch them online.) Remember, the online class is free, but the full lectures require payment.

Vocabulary walks you through the words you need to learn for the chapter in question. As you scroll down, you can see all the hints I have come up with to help you learn these words (see next page).

If you scroll down and click on Add Mnemonic, you can post your own mnemonics. Please do so; let’s collect as many of these as we can. (To be able to do this, you will need to create a free account at BillMounce.com and log in.)

Biblical Concordance. This shows you all the places this word is used in the Greek Testament, including its inflected form (transliterated and in Greek) and its parsing. This should give you a good feel for the word’s semantic range.

FlashWorks. Under the Chapter Material grouping you will also find FlashWorks. This is a web version that is different from the desktop version and has some unique testing capabilities. Be sure to read the instructions, as I am constantly adding new features.

Exercises

In the Exercises section you can click on ParseWorks to work through the parsing section of the workbook and check your answers (see next page).

You can also work through the Warmups and Translation exercises.

Clicking Text hint lays out the exercise in a graphical form and color codes some of the main words (see next page).

Sentences are broken into phrases.

Subjects are given a gray background and a blue-dotted border.

Objects are given a gray background and a red-dotted border.

The words that you are learning in the current chapter are also color coded into their morphemes (e.g., ἔχεις is color coded in three colors: ἔχ - ε - ις).

This is the best way I know to help students without actually giving them the answer.

Click Audio hint to hear the kind of hints I give in class (again, without telling you the actual answer).

You can also see the answer to confirm you are right. Please do not abuse these answers. If you do not force yourself to do the homework without peeking, you will never learn the language.

Additional Translations are workbook exercises 11–20.

Screencasts over each exercise in the workbook.

Wiki gives you the ability to enter your own made-up sentences. I hope you will help other students by submitting your own sentences.

Assessment

Finally, you can take some sample quizzes to prepare for your teacher’s quiz. When you are done with the lesson, you can click the button Click to mark this lesson as completed, just to help you keep track of where you are in the class.

FlashWorks

FlashWorks is a vocabulary drilling program for Macintosh and Windows computers. It is available as a free download at BillMounce.com/flashworks.

FlashWorks tags each vocabulary word as to its chapter, category (noun, verb, adjective, preposition, other), and its degree of difficulty (1–5). Then, for example, you can call up all the verbs in chapters 15–20 with a degree of difficulty 3 through 4. The words are then randomly mixed and the fun begins. As you learn the words, you can change the difficulty rating to a lower number, or FlashWorks can watch how you are doing and change the rating automatically.

There is extensive help information at BillMounce.com/FlashWorks.

An overview of the program

How to download FlashWorks

How to install FlashWorks

The basics of starting and configuring FlashWorks

How to download and install the sound files so FlashWorks can talk

Detailed information on how to use FlashWorks, including how to create your own databases.

Because FlashWorks is free, we are not able to provide support. Please use Facebook.com/flashworks to help one another.

Section Overview 1

Chapters 1–4

Before every major section of the grammar I will give you an overview of what is to come. A more detailed multimedia overview is given on the website. If you do not understand everything I say here, don’t worry; it will all come clear in time.

Chapter 1

We start by looking at a brief history of the Greek language and especially its relationship to English.

Chapter 2

Before we start to learn Greek, it is best to review a few helpful study habits.

Chapter 3

We will learn the twenty-four letters of the Greek alphabet and how to pronounce and write them, along with their transliterations.You will also learn about diphthongs and breathing marks.

Chapter 4

Now that you know the individual letters of the alphabet, it is time to string them together into syllables and words, and to separate them with punctuation marks. We will also jump into the wonderful world of vocabulary acquisition, and skim over the topic of Greek accents.

Chapter 1

The Greek Language

The Greek language has a long and rich history stretching all the way from the fourteenth century bc to the present. The earliest form of the language is Mycenaean Greek that used a script called Linear B. The form of Greek used by writers from Homer (8th century bc) through Plato (4th century bc) is called Classical Greek. It was a marvelous form of the language, capable of exact expression and subtle nuances. Its alphabet was derived from the Phoenicians as was that of Hebrew. Classical Greek existed in many dialects, of which three were primary: Doric, Aeolic, and Ionic. Attic was a branch of Ionic.

Athens was conquered in the fourth century bc by King Philip of Macedonia. Alexander the Great, Philip’s son, was tutored by the Greek philosopher Aristotle. Alexander set out to conquer the world and spread Greek culture and language. Because he spoke Attic Greek, it was this dialect that was spread. It was also the dialect spoken by the famous Athenian writers. This was the beginning of the Hellenistic Age.

As the Greek language spread across the world and met other languages, it was altered (which is true of any language). The dialects also interacted with each other. Eventually this adaptation resulted in what today we call Koine Greek (or more inexactly, biblical Greek). Koine means common (from the phrase κοινὴ διάλεκτος, the commmon language) and describes the common, everyday form of the language used by everyday people. It was not a polished literary form of the language, and in fact some writers of this era purposefully imitated the older style of Greek (which is like someone today writing in Elizabethan English).

Because Koine was a simplified form of Classical Greek, many of the subtleties of Classical Greek were lost. For example, in Classical Greek ἄλλος meant other of the same kind, while ἕτερος meant other of a different kind. If you had an apple and you asked for ἄλλος, you would receive another apple. But if you asked for ἕτερος, you would be given perhaps an orange. But in the Koine, ἄλλος and ἕτερος were interchangeable. It is this common Koine Greek that is used in the Septuagint, the New Testament, the Apostolic Fathers, the New Testament Apocrypha, Josephus, Plutarch, and to some degree Philo.

The Koine period lasted until the fourth century, which saw the rise of Byzantium, whose name was changed to Constantinople and eventually Istanbul. Byzantium Greek describes the language until 1453 when Constantinople was conquered by the Ottoman Turks, and from that date until now we call the language Modern Greek.

For a long time Koine Greek confused scholars because it was significantly different from Classical Greek. Some hypothesized that it was a combination of Greek, Hebrew, and Aramaic. Others attempted to explain it as a Holy Ghost language, meaning that God created a special language just for the Bible. But discoveries of Greek papyri found in Egypt over the past one hundred years have shown that this language was the language of the everyday people, used in the writings of wills, private letters, receipts, shopping lists, etc.

There are two lessons we can learn from this. As Paul says, In the fullness of time God sent his Son (Gal 4:4), and part of that fullness was a universal language. No matter where Paul traveled, he could be understood.

But there is another lesson here that is a little closer to the pastor’s heart. God used the common language to communicate the gospel. The gospel does not belong to the erudite alone, to the scholars and the clergy; it belongs to all people. It now becomes your task to learn this marvelous language so that you can more effectively make known the grace of God to all people.

By the way. I often hear that we should learn Latin because it is the basis of English. Not true. English is a Germanic language, and Latin is a Romance language.

Languages can be grouped into families. There is a hypothetical base language we call Proto-Indo-European. It developed into four language groups.

■ Romance languages (Latin, French, Italian, Portuguese, Romanian, Spanish, and others)

■ Germanic languages (English, German, Danish, Dutch, Norwegian, Swedish, and others). Technically the base language for this group is called Proto-Germanic.

■ Greek languages (Linear B, Classical, Koine, Byzantine, Modern Greek)

■ Indo-Iranian (Iranian, Sanskrit)

There was a lot of borrowing between Romance and Germanic languages (think where the countries are located), and both of these language groups borrowed from Greek. English especially was heavily influenced by other languages. This can be illustrated by words they have in common.

■ From Greek (didactic, apostle, theology)

■ From Latin (aquarium, name, volcano)

■ From French (closet, resume, prestige)

On the other hand, Hebrew and Aramaic come from another family called the Semitic languages, and there was little borrowing between them and the Proto-Indo-European languages. Almost every Aramaic word would sound strange to you (and English to them).

So why learn Greek rather than Latin? I learned Latin and read Caesar’s Gallic Wars; it was interesting. I learned Greek and read the Bible; it was life changing.

Chapter 2

Learning Greek

Goal

The main purpose of writing this book is to help you to understand better and to communicate more clearly the Word of God. This must be kept in mind at all times. It should motivate you, encourage you when you are frustrated, and give you perspective when you think you are going to crack. Remember the goal: a clearer, more exact, and more persuasive presentation of God’s saving message.

But is knowing Greek essential in reaching this goal? If you are not fully convinced that this is so, you may have difficulty reaching the goal. In other words, is knowing Greek worth the effort? We have been blessed with a wealth of good translations, and a careful use of these goes a long way in helping the preacher understand the Word of God. It would be unfair to claim that the only way to be a good preacher is to know Greek.

However, allow me a little parable and the point will become clear. You need to overhaul your car engine. What tools will you select? I would surmise that with a screw driver, hammer, a pair of pliers, and perhaps a crow bar, you could make some progress. But look at the chances you are taking. Without a socket wrench you could ruin many of the bolts. Without a torque wrench you cannot get the head seated properly. The point is, without the proper tools you run the risk of doing a minimal job, and perhaps actually hurting the engine.

The same is true with preaching, teaching, and preparing Bible studies. Without the proper tools you are limited in your ability to deal with the text. When Jesus says of communion, Drink ye all of it (Matt 26:27; KJV), what does the all refer to? All the drink, or all the people?¹ When Paul writes to the Ephesians, For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God (Eph 2:8), what does this refer to?² When Paul asks, Do all speak in other tongues? (1 Cor 12:30), is he implying that the answer is Yes?³

But there is more. Almost all the best commentaries and biblical studies require a knowledge of Greek. Without it, you will not have access to the lifelong

labors of scholars who should be read. I have seen a rather interesting pattern develop. The only people I have heard say that Greek is not important are those who do not themselves know Greek. Strange. Can you imagine someone who knows nothing about tennis say that it is unnecessary to take tennis lessons?

The point of all this is to emphasize that you must think through why you want to learn Greek, and then you must keep your goal in sight at all times. John Wesley, perhaps one of the most effective ministers ever to mount a horse, was able to quote Scripture in Greek better than in English. How far do you want your ministry to go? The tools you collect, Greek being one of them, will to a significant degree determine your success from a human point of view. Set your goals high and keep them in sight.

Memorization

In order to learn any language, memorization is vital. For Greek you will have to memorize vocabulary words, endings, and various other things. In Greek the only way to determine, for example, whether a noun is singular or plural, or if a word is the subject or object of the verb, is by the ending of the word. So if you have not memorized the endings, you will be in big trouble.

Along with grammar is the importance of memorizing vocabulary. There is little joy in translating if you have to look up every other word in the lexicon. Rote memory is more difficult for some than others, so here are some suggestions.

Make flash cards for vocabulary words and word endings. You can put them in your pocket and take them anywhere. Use them while waiting in lines, during work breaks, before classes, etc. They will become your lifesaver. 3 x 5 index cards cut in thirds are a nice size. You can also purchase my premade cards, Basics of Biblical Greek Vocabulary Cards (Zondervan), or you can purchase a vocabulary app for your phone (see BillMounce.com/apps).

Use FlashWorks, my computer flash-card software that can be downloaded for free (see page xxv). You can tell it which words you have difficulty remembering, and it can quiz you just on those.

When memorizing words, use mnemonic devices. For example, the Greek word for face is transliterated as prosōpon, so it could be remembered by the phrase, pour soap on my face. It seems that the sillier these devices are the better, so don’t be ashamed. At BillMounce.com you can see all my mnemonic devices and contribute yours. I encourage you to become involved in this community.

You must pronounce Greek consistently and write it neatly. If your pronunciation varies, it is difficult to remember the words.

Say the words and endings out loud. The more senses involved in the learning process the better. So pronounce the words, listen to them, and write them out so you can see them.

Exercises

The greatest motivation for learning Greek comes during the homework assignments. Because most of the exercises are drawn from the New Testament, you are constantly reminded why you are learning the language. I have tried to point out in the footnotes whenever a knowledge of Greek helps you exegetically or devotionally to better understand the verse’s meaning.

Be sure to treat the exercises as tests. Learn the chapter, do as many of the exercises as you can, then work back through the chapter and do the exercises again. The more you treat the exercises as a test, the better you will learn the material and the better you will do on actual tests. There are sample quizzes for every chapter in the free online class at BillMounce.com.

Time and Consistency

Very few people can pick up a language. For most of us it takes time, lots of it. Plan for that; remind yourself what you are trying to do, and spend the necessary time. But along with the amount of time is the matter of consistency. You cannot cram for tests; Greek will not stick, and in the long run you will forget it. Spend time every day; getting to know the language of the New Testament deserves at least that. Remember, Those who cram, perish.

Partners

Few people can learn a language on their own. For sake of illustration, let me quote the story of John Brown as told by the great Greek grammarian A. T. Robertson.

At the age of sixteen John Brown, of Haddington, startled a bookseller by asking for a copy of the Greek Testament. He was barefooted and clad in ragged homespun clothes. He was a shepherd boy from the hills of Scotland. "What would you do with that book? a professor scornfully asked. I’ll try to read it," the lad replied, and proceeded to read off a passage in the Gospel of John. He went off in triumph with the coveted prize, but the story spread that he was a wizard and had learned Greek by the black art. He was actually arraigned for witchcraft, but in 1746 the elders and deacons at Abernethy gave him a vote of acquittal, although the minister would not sign it. His letter of defence, Sir W. Robertson Nicoll says (The British Weekly, Oct. 3, 1918), deserves to be reckoned among the memorable letters of the world. John Brown became a divinity student and finally professor of divinity. In the chapel at Mansfield College, Oxford, Brown’s figure ranks with those of Doddridge, Fry, Chalmers, Vinet, Schleiermacher. He had taught himself Greek while herding his sheep, and he did it without a grammar. Surely young John Brown of Haddington should forever put to shame those theological students and busy pastors who neglect the Greek Testament, though teacher, grammar, lexicon are at their disposal.⁴

This story points out how unusual it is for someone to learn Greek without the communal help of the class. Find a partner, someone who will test and quiz you, encourage and support you, and vice versa.

Discipline

Discipline is the bottom line. There are no magical solutions to learning Greek. It is achievable if you want it. It comes at a cost, but the rewards are tremendous. So get ready for the journey of your life as we travel through the pages of the Greek Testament. Enjoy the excitement of discovery and look forward to the day when it will all bloom into fruition.

Here is a great Greek coin. After the next chapter you will be able tell what it says.

Here is a great Greek coin. After the next chapter you will be able tell what it says.

© Georgios Kollidas/www.istockphoto.com

Notes

¹ The people.

² The whole process of salvation, which includes our faith.

³ He is stating that the answer is No.

⁴ A Grammar of the Greek New Testament in the Light of Historical Research, 4th ed. (Broad-man, 1934), xix.

Chapter 3

The Alphabet and Pronunciation

Overview

I will start each chapter with an overview of what you will be learning. This will give you a feel for what is to come, and should also be an encouragement when you see that there is not too much information in each chapter.

In this chapter you will learn:

■ to write and pronounce the alphabet (consonants, vowels, diphthongs);

■ that breathing marks are on every word beginning with a vowel.

Footnotes in the grammar are not necessary to learn, although they are often interesting. The footnotes in the workbook, however, are important.

The Greek Alphabet

However, there are many who prefer the Modern Greek pronunciation, which I have included in the chart in #3.3 and throughout the online class on BillMounce.com.

There are also a myriad of other pronunciation schemes somewhere between standard and modern. As always in these types of situations, ask your teacher.

The following chart shows the name of the letter (in English and Greek), the English transliteration (in italics), the Greek letter written as a capital and as a small letter, and its pronunciation (Erasmian and Modern, which is blank when Modern pronunciation is the same as Erasmian).

Reviews for Basics of Biblical Greek Grammar

[ronjawdi · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I have read this book at least three times, constantly reviewing my Koine Greek. In terms of pedagogy, this book can be used to self-teach oneself. I have no other first year Greek grammars to compare it to (other than a Classical Greek Grammar) so this review maybe slightly biased. But his approach definitely makes learning Greek easier. I have done another three semesters of Classical Greek and I felt sorry for the students who had to memorize every single paradigm. Mounce's approach (note that the forms in Koine do not vary much from Classical) is much easier than the previous, since he gives many rules that make learning the paradigms much easier.As I moved on and reflected back, I do give a word of caution. Unlike a year of Classical Greek, Mounce's approach is slightly lighter and the first year student (at least after Mounce's book) is not adequately prepared to tackle the Greek text. Everything is limited after the first year, so once one is done with this book, please, I urge you, continue. Remember the goal is to learn to read God's word!!!

[hemlockclock · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

My class on Biblical Greek used this book as out main text. The book was fine as far as a text but the class never elaborated so I didn't get much out of it. I'll make a second attempt on trying it on my own when i have more time. I reccomend using the workbook with it and taking your time, going back to the basics when you need to.

[waltzmn · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Please. If you want to teach Greek, teach Greek, not your theology. As a teaching tool, this may be highly regarded... but it just grates to be hit over the head with the author's ideas. If I'm learning to read the Bible, it's because I want to develop my understanding of my theology, not William D. Mounce's. And if I'm learning koine to read something else (e.g. Josephus, Philo, LXX), then I have even less use for something that insists αυτος means "He," not he/she/it.Yes, I'm still grumpy about the introduction. And the whole approach. Be sure you can stomach before you buy.

[matthauck_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Excellent book. It almost takes the difficulty out of learning the language, while simultaneously reminding you of the purpose for learning Greek, and keeping it fun too. I heartily recommend this to anyone desiring to learn Greek.

[wackyvorlon_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

An excellent book, a classic. This book, along with the accompanying CD make the study of koine greek downright easy.

[van_stef_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is probably one of the best books to learn the language. I really like the idea of introducing all nouns first and then work on verbs. It is more of a natural way to learn a language. Also in this new edition you can either follow the book way of go a separate way of learning some nouns and then skipping to verbs before going back and finishing nouns. It's a good approach to learning a language.

[justagirlwithabook · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This book is part of my collection that really focuses in on Biblical Commentary more than anything else (including some well known authors in the theological world). All of these books haven't been read cover to cover, but I've spent a lot of time with them and they've been helpful in guiding me through difficult passages (or if I desire to dig deeper).

[erikssonfamily · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The book was extremely helpful for learning Koine Greek. Yet, as with all languages, it is not enough just to read a grammar. It is extremely important to have someone to teach you and to answer tough questions. Overall, I found Mounce's writing style to be friendly and encouraging. I didn't care much for the exegetical insight; they were irrelevant and/or confusing. The book is a great beginner's grammar.

[alex_szabo-1 · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

i have the pdf version of both the textbook and workbook of the series. it does not correspond to the hardcopy pages numbers and was very difficult to leverage the material in class. When I confronted the author through email, the representative offered no remedy to the problem.