Based on the “sampling” of New Testament instruction visible to you through this blog site and determined by your own personal Greek academic goals and needs, I am willing also to offer my services as a Greek instructor—via online “live, interactive” and/or written “chat” sessions, email communications, or any other suitable means. To that end, and in conjunction with Wermuth’s GREEKBOOK and other readily available printed or online resources, I am preparing to establish an electronic distance-learning platform for a repeating online “class” and determine a reasonable fee for such a service.

I would, however, like to poll the potential recipients of such a course to determine viable interest for such an endeavor. It could be that you’re planning on pursing a seminary tract that requires Greek, or possibly you’re involved in classical Christian education or are a home schooler or where New Testament Greek is not readily available for you.

The POLL

** IMPORTANT NOTE: With interest continuing to grow, if you’re seriously interested in participating in some sort of formal online class, please communicate with me personally via the “Comments” area below, which will automatically generate a private, personal email to me as moderator of this site.  I will also keep your personal information private, not posted. That way, if an sufficient interest in an online class occurs, I will have a viable means of contacting those whose have expressed an interest.  I look forward to matching my services with your needs.

— Robert Wermuth “It’s All Greek to YOU!” —

See also: Wermuth’s GREEKBOOK.com

I’ve been making what I hope are some visual and operational improvements—including a sidebar “Search” function— to my Greek blog. And, since I also renamed it, the newer-looking blog is more than just a design template change (see image, below).  So, even though I’ve also exported all the post archives from here to there, I’m not quite willing to abandon this site quite yet; I hope to transition over to the other one in time.  Maybe I can get some input from those of you who are visiting this site on how (if ) you like the newer site: “It’s All Greek to YOU!” (click on blog title to visit there).

Go to:  Wermuth’s GREEKBOOK.com

There’s a famous older expression from another generation, even another millenium now, regarding “…calling a ‘horse’ a ‘horse’,” which basically means identifying something for what it really is.  In the realm of personal character traits, this might mean simply being honest with yourself and/or others.  In the realm of language and grammatical terminology, it may have some meaning application as well.

For example, within the corpus of Greek grammatical terms, “deponent” is a term appropriately ascribed to a category of Greek verbs appearing with middle or passive endings, yet necessarily translated in the active voice. Examples:

• ἔρχομαι — Present/Deponent/Indicative/1st person, singular = I am coming, going
• ἤρχομην — Imperfect/Deponent/Indicative/1st person, singular = I was coming, going

Notice the “parsing” (identification of tense, voice, mode [mood], person, and number) of the above two examples of the deponent verb, ἔρχομαι. While many (if not most)  Greek “parsing” resources will list the parsing of deponent verbs as middle/passive, I have always felt it to be extremely beneficial to “call a ‘horse’ a ‘horse’” when parsing deponent verbs.  There are at least two obvious reasons:

1. It reminds the Greek student that he’s looking at a specific category of Greek verbs (deponent), and
2. It reminds the Greek student not to translate these verbs as middle or passive, since they are neither.

By “calling a ‘horse’ a ‘horse’” and identifying deponent verbs for what they really are, the Greek student will readily recognize and accurately translate these verb with an active voice translation. Remember, too, that some Greek verbs (like ἔρχομαι) may be deponent in one or more tenses or modes without being deponent in all. [Example:  ἤλθον = Aorist/Active/Indicative/1st person, singular/3rd person, plural.]
Other “deponent” verbs frequently encountered include: βούλομαι (I am wishing), and πορεύομαι (I am proceeding).

“So,” you may ask, “when are these deponent verbs appropriately called defective?“ (Good question.)  By definition, a defective Greek verb is literally the Aorist passive “form” of a deponent verb, which, when translated, is also translated in the active voice within the Aorist tense. An example would be:

• πορεύομαι — Pres., Deponent, Indic., 1^st Sing. = I am proceeding
• ἐπορεύθην — 1^st Aor., Defective, Indic., 1^st Sing. = I proceeded

Note:  Some verbs have both an Aorist deponent (“middle”) form and and Aorist defective (“passive”) form, translated identically:

• ἀπεκρινάμην 1^st Aor., Deponent, Indic., 1^st Sing. = I answered
• ἀπεκρίθην 1^st Aor., Defective, Indic., 1^st Sing. = I answered
  

So, in summary: “Yeeee Hawww!  Let’s call a ‘horse’ a ‘horse.’  Gallop on through Greek, y’all.”

Go to: Wermuth’s GREEKBOOK.com

“It’s All Greek to YOU!”

The verb tenses in Greek are divided into six basic “systems” called Principal Parts. Each system has a distinct verb stem, from which all the various tenses and their respective “voices” are built (click on first image to open and enlarge to full size within a separate window). In order to recognize a Greek verb, it is necessary to be familiar with its principal parts. The “regular” principal parts system is represented by λύω (click on remaining images in order or download the entire PDF here or from the sidebar, opposite). The Principal Parts chart represented within the above image files delineates in alphabetical order the principal parts of many frequently encountered “irregular” verbs occurring in the Greek New Testament.

Go to:  Wermuth’s GREEKBOOK.com
“It’s All Greek to YOU!”

When working on the memorization of Greek verb endings, it’s important to “see” (in your mind’s eye) what you say (outloud or silently) as you practice. Therefore, regarding the Greek diphthong “ει,” it seems preferable and wise to pronounce it phonetically the same as the identical diphthong in the English word “height,” as opposed to the phonetic sound in the English word “freight.” This is because the “ει” diphthong occurs within the 2nd and 3rd persons of “active voice” verb endings of the Indicative mode (-ει,  -εις), later “lengthening” to -ῃ when used in the same persons in the Subjunctive mode (-ῃ,-ῃς). Since the phonetic sound of ῃ is the same as the diphthong in  “freight,” it tends to confuse the usage of these separately occurring endings (“ει” in the Indicative; “ῃ” in the Subjunctive, also “middle/passive voice” Indicative 2nd sing.) if pronounced identically.

Putting this ει diphthong into a memorable memorization context—as my beginning Greek professor humorously used to remind us:

“If you should accidentally fall out of bed at night, don’t say ‘Ouch!’ Say, ‘Oh, ice, eye, ahmen, ete, ousi.’” (Indicative mode “active” verb endings: -ω, -εις, -ει, -ομεν, -ετε, -ουσι).

Go to:  Wermuth’s GREEKBOOK.com
“It’s All Greek to YOU!”

Greek Participles

When you see a Greek word that looks like a verb at its beginning that has declined endings, that word must be a participle.  It is critically important that the beginning Greek student learn the declension of the 3rd Declension noun ἀρχῶν, ὁ (ruler). From this noun active participle endings are derived, and the noun’s stem (ἀρχ-) is replaced with a verbal stem (or, as I like to say in class, “We’re putting Noah back into the ‘ark’ [ἀρχ-] and sending him on a vacation.” The resultant verb stem + declined endings = a verbal-adjective, the grammatical description for a participle (e.g., λύων, λύοντος…).

When studying and memorizing participle endings, it is helpful to remember the nominative singular forms of each of the active, middle and passive endings that occur. Including thematic vowel changes, there are four active forms of participle endings (one of them used “passively” with Aorist passives) and three middle/passive forms. Since participles are verbal adjectives, the student will observe a verbal stem with declined endings in all three genders. The active endings (nominative singular) are represented by: -ων,    -ουσα, -ον (Present, 2nd Aorist); -ας, -ασα, -αν (1st Aorist); -εις, -εισα, -εν (1st & 2nd Aorist passive; remember: Aorist Passives always utilize “active looking” endings); and -ως, -υια, -ος (Perfect). Since each of these groups of endings are declined in a similar way with the masculines and neuters in the 3rd declension and the feminines in the 1st declension (likeγλῶσσα), knowledge of the nominative singulars becomes a “jumping off” point in the student’s mind for recognition of any other case forms he may encounter. The middle/passive endings are much more simple, occuring in the 2nd declension for masculine and neuter forms, and the 1st declension for the feminines (like ἀγάπη) and represented by; -ομενος, -ομενη, -ομενον (Present, 2nd Aorist); -αμενος, -αμενη, -αμενον (1st Aorist); –μενος, -μενη, -μενον (Perfect).

When the Greek “circumstantial” (temporal, adverbial) participle occurs (without an article) in the Present tense. The “temporal” (time-oriented) adverb used to translate a Present tense circumstantial participle is “As” (or “While”). The time frame of the “dependent” (temporal, circumstantial) clause should be consistent with the time frame of the indicative verb of the “independent” (main) clause.

(PRESENT) βλέπει τὸν κύριον ἐρχόμενον πρὸς αὐτὸν καὶ λέγει αὐτῷ …
“He is seeing the Lord (as He [the Lord] is) coming toward him and he is saying to him…” (John 1:29a)

When the Greek “circumstantial” participle occurs in the Aorist tense. The “temporal” (time-oriented) adverb used to translate an Aorist tense circumstantial participle is “After.” Again, the time frame of the “dependent” (temporal, circumstantial) clause is translated concurrent with the time frame of the indicative verb in the “independent” (main) clause. (ibid, p. 69)

(AORIST) ἐλθῶν οὖν ὁ Ἰησους εὖρεν αὐτὸν.
“Therefore after He came Jesus found him.” (John 11:17a)
(Better): “Therefore after Jesus came He [Jesus] found him.”

Go to:  Wermuth’s GREEKBOOK.com
“It’s All Greek to YOU!”

Don’t be intimidated by these “irregular” New Testament Greek verbs.  If you pay attention, they too reveal structural “patterns” that you can find some comfort level in recognizing in context.  The primary “bottom line” characteristics of μι-Verbs are presented below (right-click for full-screen view), and also as a downloadable PDF, including μι-Verb Indicative Mode formation charts and a listing of the most frequently occurring μι-Verbs in the New Testament.

Go to:  Wermuth’s GREEKBOOK.com
“It’s All Greek to YOU!”

I’ll not remain mute about this.  I’ll teach you something about “Mute Stem” changes within Greek verbs, so you won’t need to remain “mute” about the subject, either!  As a New Testament Greek student it can be helpful in the “short run” (or longer) if you can visualize in your “mind’s eye” certain critical pieces of information.  Some of that critical information is this: “What happens when certain Greek consonants collide with other Greek consonants, and why?“ Please read the following treatise on “Mute Stem” changes (“right click” for enlarged view), and then keep reading below the chart that follows, where I will give you a fairly easy way to “set up this chart” in your mind.

The basic components (the “labials,” “gutterals” and “dentals”) of the above “Mute Stems Changes”chart can be fairly easily replicated in your mind if you remember this “set up” process.  While these three categories of Greek letters (“labials,” “gutterals” and “dentals”) are listed horizontally as they function within the chart, it’s easier to set them up vertically. Here’s how:

(1) Start reciting the Greek alphabet:  α…β…γ...δ… then start writing them (vertically) as soon as you get to β, γ, δ. You now have the first letter of each of the three categories of letters.

(2) Next, vertically write (in Greek) the first letters of the acronym: “preachers kids (are) terrific”…or…π, κ, τ. Now you have the second letters of each row.

(3) For the final vertical row, add the Greek equivalent of an “h” to the letters you just wrote, resulting in: φ, χ, θ. With this done, you can now more easily memorize the results of collisions with various consonants that occur.

Go to:  Wermuth’s GREEKBOOK.com
“It’s All Greek to YOU!”

Here’s a look at “Contract Verbs” made a lot easier. Remember, the only two tenses that are impacted by “contractions” of vowels are the Present and Imperfect, since these are the only two tenses that utilize a “Present” stem (1st Principal Part) with nothing added to the end before it encounters the thematic vowel(s) of the personal endings.  Right-click image below for an enlarged view in a separate window:

**REMEMBER, too, that the predominant indicator that a “contraction” (collision) of vowels has occurred is the Greek circumflex (~) accent that appears (most often) over the location of the contraction.

For you language “geeks,” the English word “contract” comes from two Latin root words (cum + tractus) which mean to “draw together.”  A legal “contract” is a “drawing up/together” of certain conditions.  A housing “contractor” also “draws together” certain skilled workers to complete the construction project.  Other English derivatives would be “tractor” and “traction.”

Go to: Wermuth’s GREEKBOOK.com
“It’s All Greek to YOU!”

But, you can still translate these unusual Greek constructions.  Here are five plausible steps for recognizing and translating the  “Genitive Absolute” —

1. χρονίζοντος δὲ τοῦ νυμφίου ἐνύσταξαν πᾶσαι καὶ ἐκάθευδον. (Matt. 25:5)

“And while the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept.”

2. τοῦ δὲ ‘Ιησοῦ γεννήθεντος ἐν Βηθλέεμ . . . ἰδοῦ μάγοι ἀπὸ ἀνατολῶν παρεγένοντο εἰς ’Ιεροσόλυμα. (Matthew 2:1)

“And after Jesus was born in Bethlehem . . . behold wise men from the East arrived in Jerusalem.”