Greek Parts of Speech

Adjective

An adjective is a word used to modify a noun. In Greek, an adjective must agree with the word it modifies in gender, number, and case. Adjectives exist in one of three degrees. In addition, adjectives can be divided into classes according to their function in the sentence.

Adjective Class	Sentence Function
Cardinal	Describes the numbers "one," "two," "three," etc.
Demonstrative	Specifies or points out the person or thing referred to, such as "this" or "that." This tag is used in the LXX where it means "each," "both," etc.; these words are often tagged demonstrative pronouns in GNT-T/GNT28-T.
Indefinite	Similar to an indefinite pronoun, such as "many" or "some”, this tag is used in the LXX.
Intensive	Indicates emphasis such as "all" or "each." This tag is used in the LXX. Some of these words are tagged demonstrative pronouns in the GNT-T/GNT28-T.
Interrogative	Implies a question, such as "what?". It is used in the LXX; these words are tagged interrogative pronouns in GNT-T/GNT28-T.
Numeral	Relates to numerical symbols (like "1, 2, 3," etc, as opposed to "one, two, three").
Ordinal	Expresses the numbers "first," "second," "third," etc.
Possessive	Indicates possession ("my" or "your").
Proper name	Derived from the name of a person or place (for example, "Egyptian").
Relative	Has qualitative indefiniteness; it is used in the LXX for "such as," "as many as," and "whatever". These words are tagged correlative pronouns in the GNT-T/GNT28-T.
Verbal	Derived from a verb.

Adverb

An adverb is a word used to modify a verb, an adjective, or another adverb. In Greek, adverbs exist in one of three degrees (which are included under the class category in Accordance) or as a negative.

Article

In Greek, the article is used to make definite or draw attention to nouns and other substantives. The article must agree with the word it modifies in gender, number, and case.

Conjunction

A conjunction is a connecting word that joins words, phrases, clauses, and sentences. Greek conjunctions fall into one of two classes: coordinating or subordinating. Each of these classes can be further subdivided into subclasses.

Coordinating Conjunction

A coordinating conjunction joins two identically constructed grammatical elements, and belongs to one of the following subclasses:

Coordinating Conjunction Subclass	Sentence Function
Adversative	Expresses antithesis or opposition, such as "but" or "on the contrary."
Continuative	Expresses continuation, such as "then" or "next."
Copulative	Connects coordinate words or clauses, such as "and."
Correlative	Expresses a reciprocal or complementary relationship, such as "both … and."
Disjunctive	Expresses contrast or opposition, such as "either … or."
Explanatory	Introduces an explanation, such as "since" or "now then."
Inferential	Expresses a logical inference, such as "for" or "therefore."
Interrogative	Introduces a question, such as "how?" or "why?".

Subordinating

A subordinating conjunction introduces a dependent clause, and belongs to one of the following subclasses:

Subordinating Conjunction Subclass	Sentence Function

Causal	Expresses a cause or reason, such as "because" or "for."
Comparative	Expresses a comparison, such as "like" or "as."
Concessive	Expresses a concession or admission, such as "though" or "although."
Conditional	Expresses a condition, such as "if" or "unless."
Equative	Introduces a substantival clause. For example, in the sentence, "You know that he is innocent," the nominal conjunction "that" indicates that the entire clause which follows acts like a single noun. In this case, the clause "he is innocent" functions as the direct object of the sentence.
Locational	Asks for or expresses a location, such as "where" or "from where."
Resultive	Expresses a result or consequence, such as "so that" or "consequently."
Temporal	Expresses time, such as "when," "while," "before," or "after."

Improper Preposition

Improper prepositions are adverbs which are used with substantives in exactly the same way as true prepositions, except that they cannot be prefixed to verbs to form compound verbs.

The meaning of a preposition can vary depending on the case of its object.

Interjection

Interjections are words that express strong feeling, emotion, or surprise. They are often capable of standing on their own.

Noun

A noun is a word which designates a person, place, or thing. Greek nouns possess gender, number, and case. Nouns are divided into two classes:

Common nouns refer to a person, place, or thing in a general sense.
Proper names are nouns used to identify specific individuals, things, events, or places.

In certain manuscripts, nouns may be tagged with a sacrum style to indicate the Nominum Sacrum (a contraction of a sacred term marked with a line above the contraction).

Particle

Particles are words which serve a variety of functions and which do not belong to any of the other parts of speech. Particles can fall into any of the following classes:

Particle	Class
Alternating	Used to set up a contrast of some sort, such as "on the one hand … on the other hand."
Indefinite	Expresses possibility or uncertainty, such as "somehow" or "somewhere."
Interrogative	Introduces a question, such as "how" or "why."
Emphatic	Expresses certainty or makes an emphatic statement, such as "truly" or "indeed."
Negative	Negates some element within a sentence, such as "not."
Comparative	Expresses a comparison, such as "like," "as," or "inasmuch as."
Hypothetical	Applied to "hos" introducing a noun clause, such as "as if."
Contingent	Indicates a wish, possibility, or condition.
Aramaic and Hebrew tags	Indicate a foreign word of Aramaic or Hebrew origin.

Preposition

A preposition is a word that indicates the relationship of a substantive (known as the object of the preposition) to a verb, an adjective, or another substantive. Prepositions can be free-standing or prefixed to verbs to form compound verbs.

The meaning of a preposition can vary depending on the case of its object.

Pronoun

Pronouns are words that stand in the place of nouns in order to avoid unnecessary repetition. Because they stand in for nouns, pronouns also have gender, number, and case. In addition, pronouns can be divided into classes according to their function in the sentence. Most of these classes can in turn be subdivided into subclasses.

Pronoun	Class
Correlative	Expresses a reciprocal or complementary relationship, such as "as much as" or "as many as."
Demonstrative	Specifies or points out the person or thing referred to, such as "this" or "that;" a demonstrative pronoun can be adjectival or substantival.
Indefinite	Does not specify the identity of its object, such as "any" or "some;" An indefinite pronoun can be adjectival or substantival.
Interrogative	Introduces a question, such as "who?" or "what?". An interrogative pronoun can be adjectival or substantival.
Personal	Designates a specific person or thing; personal pronouns can appear in the first, second, or third person; in addition, the third personal pronoun can be adjectival or intensive.
Possessive	Indicates possession; in Greek, possessive pronouns appear only in the first and second persons, because the personal pronoun is used for third person possessive pronouns.
Reciprocal	Expresses mutual action or relationship, such as "one another."
Reflexive	Indicates that the action of a verb is directed toward its own subject. Example: In the sentence "Mary dressed herself," "Mary" is both the subject and the object of the verb. The reflexive pronoun, "herself," indicates that the action which Mary is performing is directed toward herself; reflexive pronouns can appear in the first, second, or third person.
Relative	Introduces a relative clause, which serves as an adjective modifying the antecedent of the relative pronoun; relative pronouns can be either definite or indefinite. Example: In the sentence "Moses was the man who led the Israelites out of Egypt," the relative pronoun "who" introduces the relative clause "who led the Israelites out of Egypt," which acts as an adjective modifying the noun "man."
First Person	Designates the person speaking; examples include "I," "me," "we," "us," "mine," "ours," "myself," and "ourselves."
Second Person	Designates the person spoken to; examples include "you," "yours," "yourself," and "yourselves."
Third Person	Designates the person or thing being spoken about; examples include "he," "she," "it," "them," "his," "hers," "its," "theirs," and "themselves."
Adjectival	Functions as an adjective by modifying another substantive.
Substantival	Functions like a noun
Definite Relative	Has a specific antecedent, such as "who," "that," or "which."
Indefinite Relative	Does not have a specific antecedent, such as "whoever" or "whichever."
Intensive	Places emphasis on the substantive it modifies. Example: In the sentence "The king himself led his men into battle," the intensive pronoun "himself" emphasizes the substantive "the king."

Verb

A verb is a word that expresses action or a state of being. In Greek, the subject of the verb is implicitly expressed by the verb itself. Consequently, Greek verbs have both person and number in addition to having tense, voice, and mood.

Verb	Sentence Function
Person	The person a Greek verb takes expresses whether the subject of the action is the person or persons speaking (first person), the person or persons spoken to (second person), or the person, persons, or things being spoken about (third person).
Number	The number a Greek verb takes expresses whether the subject of the action is singular (one person or thing), dual (two), or plural (two or more).
Tense	That quality of a verb which indicates the kind of action expressed; there are six tenses in Biblical Greek: the present, the imperfect, the future, the aorist, the perfect, and the pluperfect. Present: Typically expresses action which is linear, continuous, or repeated. In the indicative mood, it expresses action which takes place in the present time. English example: "he is running." Imperfect: Appears only in the indicative mood, where it expresses continuous or repeated action which was taking place in the past. English example: "he was running." Future: Typically expresses an undefined action which will take place some time in the future. English example: "he will run." Aorist:* Expresses undefined or momentary action. In the indicative mood, the aorist acts as a simple past tense, stating simply that some action took place in the past, with little reference to how it occurred. English example: "he ran." Aorist forms are divided into first and second aorist depending on whether they follow a standard or a secondary pattern. Perfect: Expresses completed action. It describes a present state which has resulted from a past action. It implies a process which has been completed and which now exists in a finished state. English example: "he has run." Pluperfect: Expresses a past state which had resulted from a previous action. This action was completed in the past and resulted in a continuing state which has presumably ceased by the present time. English example: "he had run." Future Perfect: Expresses an action that will be complete in the future. It describes a future state which will result from an action which will then be in the past. English example: "he will have run."
Voice	That quality of a verb which indicates the relationship of the subject to the action or state of being expressed by the verb. There is also a Latin voice (which is listed in italics at the bottom of the Voice pop-up menu). Active Voice: Indicates the subject is directly performing the action expressed by the verb. Example: In the sentence "He stopped the car," the verb "stopped" is in the activeThe application, window, tab, or other screen element which is currently being used; sometimes called the "front" or "frontmost" screen element voice, indicating the subject was the one who performed the action. Middle Voice: Indicates the subject is acting in relation to itself or is participating in the results of the action expressed by the verb. Example: English has no direct equivalent for the middle voice, but this example illustrates how the middle voice is used. In the sentence "He stopped working," the subject "He" is not only performing the action of stopping, but is also acting on himself, in that he is stopping himself from working. Therefore, the verb "stopped" in this sentence would appear in the middle voice in Greek. Passive Voice: Indicates the subject is the one being acted upon. Example: In the sentence "He was stopped," the verb "was stopped" is in the passive voice, indicating that the subject was the one who received the action.
Mood	That quality of a verb which indicates the relation of the action or state of being expressed to reality. There are four moods in Greek: the indicative mood, the subjunctive mood, the optative mood, and the imperative mood. Additionally, verbal nouns (infinitives) and verbal adjectives (participles), while not moods in the proper sense, are often classified under the heading of mood for the sake of convenience. There are also a number of Latin moods (which are listed in italics at the bottom of the mood pop-up menu). Indicative Mood: Affirms the reality of an action. It states that something has happened, that it is happening, or that it definitely will happen. It is only in the indicative mood that a verb's tense indicates the time at which an action takes place. In all other moods, tense merely indicates the kind of action being spoken about. Subjunctive Mood:Indicates the probability of an action; it does not affirm that something will take place, only that it may take place. Optative Mood: Indicates the possibility of an action; it is used to express wishes, potentialities, and remote conditions. Imperative Mood: Expresses a command; Greek imperatives can appear in the second person "Go!" and the third person "Let him go." Infinitive: A verbal noun; as a verb, it has tense and voice, can take a direct object, and can be modified by an adverb, yet it functions like a substantive. Participle: A verbal adjective with tense and voice like a verb, and gender, number, and case like an adjective.

*Hint

Searching for aorist verbs in Greek finds both first and second aorist forms. To find first aorist verbs, search for [VERB aorist] @-[VERB 2aorist]. The same applies to first perfect and first pluperfect forms.

Note

In terms of verb voice Accordance texts are tagged to form and not to function. Therefore the only true passive forms are those that have -QH- infixes or their equivalent, i.e. Future Passives and Aorist Passives. The others, such as Present and Imperfect, have only Middle forms. Those Middle forms sometimes have Passive functions (indicated by hUPO plus genitive, etc.) but the forms are Middle and this is how they are tagged. It is up to you to determine whether that Middle Form functions as a Passive in a given context.

Special Definitions

Substantive: A noun or a word that acts as a noun. Pronouns, adjectives, participles, and infinitives can all function as substantives.

Antecedent of a Pronoun: The person or thing to which the pronoun refers. For example, in the sentence, "Moses is a prophet because he speaks for God," the pronoun "he" refers back to and stands in for the noun "Moses." Thus, "Moses" is the antecedent of the pronoun "he."