Chapter 5: The definite article: "the"

 

Lesson 1: The definite article: the

• Greek words are either masculine, feminine, or neuter.
• As you learn new words you will also learn what gender they are.
• English only has one definite article: the
• But Greek has three different definite articles depending on whether the noun is masculine, feminine, or neuter:
  • ὁ This is the masculine definite article and will be in front of masculine nouns.
    • This has a rough breathing mark, which looks like a single quotation mark at the beginning of a quote. That means it begins with an "h" sound.
    • It is pronounced like "hot" but without the "t."
  • ἡ This is the feminine definite article and will be in front of feminine nouns.
    • It also has a rough breathing mark. That means it begins with an h sound also.
    • It is pronounced like "hey."
  • τό This is the neuter definite article and will be in front of neuter nouns.
    • This does not have a breathing mark but has an accent mark instead.
    • It is pronounced like "top" but without the "t."

Lesson 2: The letter kappa

• It is a consonant.
• It is pronounced like "k."

Greek	Small	Capital
Kappa	κ	Κ

Lesson 3: New word: a

• This will be the easiest lesson you ever have. Greek does not have a letter or word for "a".
• When you see a noun and it does not have the definite article, then you usually add "a" to the beginning of a word.
• Examples:
  • ἰχθύς is "a fish"
  • ὁ ἰχθύς is "the fish"

Lesson 4: New word: not

• οὐ
• This has two special cases:
  • In front of words that start with a vowel:
    • When it is before a word with smooth breathing mark, it is οὐκ
    • When it is before a word with a rough breathing mark, it is οὐχ
  • In front of words that start with a consonant: οὐ
  • Examples:
    • οὐκ ἰχθύς is "not a fish"
    • οὐ σωτήρ is "not a savior"

Lesson 5: The letter beta

• It is a consonant.
• It is pronounced like "b."

Greek	Small	Capital
Beta	β	Β

• Note: the "tail" at the bottom of the small letter goes a little below the line.

Lesson 6: The letter gamma

• It is a consonant.
• It is pronounced like "g."

Greek	Small	Capital
Gamma	γ	Γ

• Note: like the letter "g", the small gamma goes below the line.

What you have learned so far

1. Alphabet

Greek small	Greek capital	English name	Sound
α	Α	alpha	short a
β	Β	beta	b
γ	Γ	gamma	g
ε	Ε	epsilon	short e
η	Η	eta	ay
θ	Θ	theta	th
ι	Ι	iota	i/ee
κ	Κ	kappa	k
ο	Ο	omicron	o
ρ	Ρ	rho	r
σ ς	Σ	sigma	s
τ	Τ	tau	t
υ	Υ	upsilon	u
χ	Χ	chi	ch
ω	Ω	omega	long o

2. Breathing marks and "h" sound: week 2

3. Accents: week 2

4. Diphthongs from letters we have covered so far: week 2

• οι ου υι
• You can memorize them if you want. Or you can wait and I will tell you if each new word has a diphthong or not.

5. Definite article

• ὁ This is the masculine definite article and will be in front of masculine nouns.
• ἡ This is the feminine definite article and will be in front of feminine nouns.
• τό This is the neuter definite article and will be in front of neuter nouns.

6. "A"

• Greek does not have a word for "a".

Vocabulary (this will always be in alphabetical order)

All the words you have learned so far are masculine.

ἢ	or
θεός, ὁ	God
Ἰησοῦς	Jesus
ἰχθύς, ὁ	fish
οὐ, οὐκ, οὐχ	not before a consonant, before smooth breathing, before rough breathing
σωτήρ, ὁ	savior
υἱός, ὁ	son
Χριστός, ὁ	Christ