Greek Lesson 8 — Pronouns

GREEK · LESSON 8

ἐγώ

Pronouns

Personal, demonstrative, relative, reflexive, reciprocal, interrogative, indefinite. Master these and a huge amount of NT prose snaps into focus.

01 / 22

They're everywhere

Why Pronouns Matter

English distinguishes "I/me/my" barely. Greek pronouns are inflected through all the cases like nouns — and there are seven major categories.

After the article and καί, the most frequent NT word is αὐτός (~5,600 occurrences). Pronouns saturate the text.

💡 Memory hook: 1st/2nd person Greek pronouns are cognates of English. ἐγώ = "ego" / I. σύ = "su" — like "you" without the y. ἡμεῖς = (h)emeis / we.

02 / 22

Personal pronoun #1

ἐγώ — "I, we"

	Singular ("I")	Plural ("we")
Nom	ἐγώ	ἡμεῖς
Gen	ἐμοῦ / μου	ἡμῶν
Dat	ἐμοί / μοι	ἡμῖν
Acc	ἐμέ / με	ἡμᾶς

Singular has two versions: emphatic (accented) and enclitic (unaccented). Cognate with English "I," German ich, Latin ego.

03 / 22

Personal pronoun #2

σύ — "you (sg), you (pl)"

	Singular	Plural
Nom	σύ	ὑμεῖς
Gen	σοῦ / σου	ὑμῶν
Dat	σοί / σοι	ὑμῖν
Acc	σέ / σε	ὑμᾶς

Greek distinguishes singular and plural "you" — a distinction English lost in the 17th century when "thou" disappeared.

When Jesus says λέγω ὑμῖν ("I tell you") to a group, it's plural. To one person: σοί dat or σε acc.

04 / 22

A subtlety

Emphatic vs. Enclitic Forms

Emphatic — accented

ἐμοῦ, ἐμοί, ἐμέ · σοῦ, σοί, σέ
Used when stressed, after prepositions, or at the start of a clause. "It's me!" with weight.

Enclitic — unaccented

μου, μοι, με · σου, σοι, σε
"Lean on" the preceding word. Neutral, unemphatic. Translation barely changes; emphasis is a writerly nuance.

Plurals (ἡμεῖς, ὑμεῖς) don't have this distinction — only one form each.

05 / 22

⚠ Big gotcha

Greek Doesn't Need a Subject Pronoun

The verb ending already tells you the subject. λέγω = "I say" — no ἐγώ needed.

So when a writer does include the nominative pronoun, it's emphatic:

ἐγὼ δὲ λέγω ὑμῖν

"But I say to you" — Sermon on the Mount formula. The bare ἐγώ is doing real work. Without it, just "I say to you" — flat. With it, contrast.

ἐγώ εἰμι

"I am" — Jesus's seven sayings in John echo Exodus 3:14 LXX (ἐγώ εἰμι ὁ ὤν). The verb alone would convey "I am"; the explicit ἐγώ doubles down for divine-name resonance.

06 / 22

⚠ One letter difference

ἡμεῖς vs. ὑμεῖς

The two plural pronouns differ by a single letter (η vs υ at the start). Lots of NT confusion lives in that one-letter swap.

ἡμεῖς — "we"

Smooth breathing + eta. Pronounced "(h)emeis" — but with smooth, no h. So just "ay-mace."

ὑμεῖς — "you (pl)"

Rough breathing + upsilon. Pronounced "(h)umeis" — with the h. So "hoo-mace."

In oblique cases (ἡμῶν / ὑμῶν, ἡμῖν / ὑμῖν, ἡμᾶς / ὑμᾶς) the difference is even smaller. Train your eye on it. Scribes occasionally confused these — textual critics flag certain "we / you" variant readings as significant.

07 / 22

⚠ Three jobs in one word

αὐτός — Position Determines Meaning

The most frequent substantive in the NT after the article. Does three completely different jobs depending on position:

1. Personal pronoun (without article)

"him / her / it / them" — βλέπω αὐτόν = "I see him."

2. Intensive (predicate position with article)

"-self" — ὁ ἀπόστολος αὐτός = "the apostle himself."

3. Identical (attributive position)

"the same" — ὁ αὐτὸς ἀπόστολος = "the same apostle."

αὐτὸς ὁ κύριος ≠ ὁ αὐτὸς κύριος. Position is everything.

08 / 22

Memorize once, use everywhere

αὐτός, αὐτή, αὐτό — Full Paradigm

	Masculine		Feminine		Neuter
	sg	pl	sg	pl	sg	pl
Nom	αὐτός	αὐτοί	αὐτή	αὐταί	αὐτό	αὐτά
Gen	αὐτοῦ	αὐτῶν	αὐτῆς	αὐτῶν	αὐτοῦ	αὐτῶν
Dat	αὐτῷ	αὐτοῖς	αὐτῇ	αὐταῖς	αὐτῷ	αὐτοῖς
Acc	αὐτόν	αὐτούς	αὐτήν	αὐτάς	αὐτό	αὐτά

Same endings as 2-1-2 adjectives (καλός, ή, όν). 2nd-decl masc/neut + 1st-decl fem.

09 / 22

Demonstrative #1

οὗτος, αὕτη, τοῦτο — "this"

	Masc		Fem		Neut
	sg	pl	sg	pl	sg	pl
Nom	οὗτος	οὗτοι	αὕτη	αὗται	τοῦτο	ταῦτα
Gen	τούτου	τούτων	ταύτης	τούτων	τούτου	τούτων
Dat	τούτῳ	τούτοις	ταύτῃ	ταύταις	τούτῳ	τούτοις
Acc	τοῦτον	τούτους	ταύτην	ταύτας	τοῦτο	ταῦτα

Note: stem alternates between ου and αυ — tracks the article (ὁ→ου, ἡ→αυ).

10 / 22

Demonstrative #2

ἐκεῖνος, ἐκείνη, ἐκεῖνο — "that"

	Masc		Fem		Neut
	sg	pl	sg	pl	sg	pl
Nom	ἐκεῖνος	ἐκεῖνοι	ἐκείνη	ἐκεῖναι	ἐκεῖνο	ἐκεῖνα
Gen	ἐκείνου	ἐκείνων	ἐκείνης	ἐκείνων	ἐκείνου	ἐκείνων
Dat	ἐκείνῳ	ἐκείνοις	ἐκείνῃ	ἐκείναις	ἐκείνῳ	ἐκείνοις
Acc	ἐκεῖνον	ἐκείνους	ἐκείνην	ἐκείνας	ἐκεῖνο	ἐκεῖνα

Pure 2-1-2 adjective endings, like καλός — no irregularity.

11 / 22

⚠ Position rule

Demonstratives Always Predicate Position

With a noun: no second article in front of the demonstrative.

οὗτος ὁ ἄνθρωπος OR ὁ ἄνθρωπος οὗτος

Both mean "this man." The demonstrative sits outside the article-noun bracket.

ὁ οὗτος ἄνθρωπος — ✗ wrong!

That pattern (article + demonstrative + article + noun) doesn't exist in Greek.

Without a noun, demonstrative stands alone: οὗτος λέγει = "this [one] says."

12 / 22

Relative pronoun

ὅς, ἥ, ὅ — "who, which, that"

	Masc		Fem		Neut
	sg	pl	sg	pl	sg	pl
Nom	ὅς	οἵ	ἥ	αἵ	ὅ	ἅ
Gen	οὗ	ὧν	ἧς	ὧν	οὗ	ὧν
Dat	ᾧ	οἷς	ᾗ	αἷς	ᾧ	οἷς
Acc	ὅν	οὕς	ἥν	ἅς	ὅ	ἅ

Used to introduce subordinate clauses. Crucial for reading Greek prose at any complexity.

13 / 22

⚠ The agreement rule

Gender from Antecedent · Case from Clause

The relative pronoun gets its gender and number from its antecedent (the noun it refers back to). But it gets its case from its own function inside the relative clause.

ὁ ἄνθρωπος ὃν βλέπω

"the man whom I see" — antecedent ἄνθρωπος is masc sg; ὅν is masc sg accusative (object of βλέπω in the relative clause).

ὁ ἄνθρωπος ὃς βλέπει

"the man who sees" — same antecedent; here ὅς is masc sg nominative (subject of βλέπει).

Two pulls in different directions. Sorting this out is one of the first places readers get tangled.

14 / 22

⚠ Article vs. relative

Distinguish Them by Accent

The relative ὅς, ἥ, ὅ looks almost identical to the article — but with rough breathing AND an accent.

Article vs. Relative — nominative

ὁ (article) vs. ὅς (relative)
ἡ vs. ἥ · οἱ vs. οἵ · αἱ vs. αἵ

The relative always has an accent; the article (in some forms) does not.

The relative's gen/dat/acc forms are completely different from the article's — that's where you can tell most easily. τοῦ (article gen) vs οὗ (relative gen).

15 / 22

"-self"

Reflexive: ἑαυτοῦ — "himself, herself, itself"

No nominative — you can't be the subject of an action you're doing to yourself in Greek thinking. Use intensive αὐτός for that.

	Masc sg	Fem sg	Neut sg	Plural
Gen	ἑαυτοῦ	ἑαυτῆς	ἑαυτοῦ	ἑαυτῶν
Dat	ἑαυτῷ	ἑαυτῇ	ἑαυτῷ	ἑαυτοῖς
Acc	ἑαυτόν	ἑαυτήν	ἑαυτό	ἑαυτούς

Treat as oblique-case-only — for actions reflexively directed at the subject.

16 / 22

"One another"

Reciprocal: ἀλλήλων

Always plural by definition. No nominative (logically impossible — there can be no nominative subject in mutual action). Only three forms.

	Masc	Fem	Neut
Gen	ἀλλήλων	ἀλλήλων	ἀλλήλων
Dat	ἀλλήλοις	ἀλλήλαις	ἀλλήλοις
Acc	ἀλλήλους	ἀλλήλας	ἄλληλα

"Love one another" (ἀγαπᾶτε ἀλλήλους) is the most famous NT use. Foundational to Johannine ethics.

17 / 22

⚠ The accent IS the meaning

τίς ("who?") vs. τις ("someone")

Same letters, same paradigm — distinguished only by the accent.

τίς, τί (with acute)

Interrogative: "who? what?" Direct question. Always accented.
"τί λέγει;" = "What is he saying?"

τις, τι (no accent — enclitic)

Indefinite: "someone, something, a certain." No accent of its own.
"τι λέγει" = "He is saying something."

That tiny accent mark carries the meaning. The most important accent-distinguishes-meaning pair in Greek.

18 / 22

"Whoever"

The Indefinite Relative ὅστις

Compound: relative ὅς + indefinite τις = "whoever, whichever, whatever." Both halves decline simultaneously.

	Masc	Fem	Neut
Nom sg	ὅστις	ἥτις	ὅ τι
Nom pl	οἵτινες	αἵτινες	ἅτινα

In NT, almost always nominative case. Often carries a generalising or qualitative nuance: ὅστις σε ῥαπίζει = "whoever strikes you."

💡 The neuter ὅ τι is written as two words to avoid confusion with ὅτι ("that / because").

19 / 22

"All, every, whole"

πᾶς, πᾶσα, πᾶν — Mixed Declension

	Masc sg	Masc pl	Fem sg	Fem pl	Neut sg	Neut pl
Nom	πᾶς	πάντες	πᾶσα	πᾶσαι	πᾶν	πάντα
Gen	παντός	πάντων	πάσης	πασῶν	παντός	πάντων
Dat	παντί	πᾶσι(ν)	πάσῃ	πάσαις	παντί	πᾶσι(ν)
Acc	πάντα	πάντας	πᾶσαν	πάσας	πᾶν	πάντα

Position determines meaning: Predicate = "all"; Attributive = "the whole"; No article = "every / all."

20 / 22

Reading practice

John 14:6 — Pronouns at Work

λέγει αὐτῷ ὁ Ἰησοῦς· Ἐγώ εἰμι ἡ ὁδὸς καὶ ἡ ἀλήθεια καὶ ἡ ζωή· οὐδεὶς ἔρχεται πρὸς τὸν πατέρα εἰ μὴ δι' ἐμοῦ.

"Jesus says to him: I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."

αὐτῷ — 3rd-pers personal pronoun, dat sg masc (Thomas, who asked in v.5).
Ἐγώ — 1st-pers nom, emphatic. Jesus distinguishing himself.
δι' ἐμοῦ — preposition διά + gen sg of ἐγώ. Apostrophe = elision (α dropped before ἐ).

21 / 22

End of Lesson 8

Pronouns Mastered

ἐγὼ δὲ λέγω ὑμῖν

Personal, demonstrative, relative, reflexive, reciprocal, interrogative, indefinite. The article test still applies; the antecedent rule still applies; the accent on τίς still matters.

When Greek writes a subject pronoun explicitly, pause and ask: contrast? identity claim? topic shift? It's rarely just filler.

Next: Lesson 9 · Prepositions

22 / 22