Hellenistic Greek © 2009, 2015
Lesson 7: The Article

Grammatical Discussion

Usage of the Article

English has two different kinds of articles: a definite article (the word “the”) and an indefinite article (the words “a” and “an”). Greek does not distinguish between these two types of articles. For that reason the usage of the article in Greek has some striking differences from the word “the” in English. While “the” is often the best translation for the Greek article, the Greek article is used in some contexts where we clearly would not use “the” in English. In such cases, the Greek article must be left untranslated.

One example of the difference between the Greek article and the English word “the” may be found in the use of abstract nouns (that is, words that refer to abstract ideas like love, peace, friendship, etc.). For example, ἡ ἀγάπη should usually not be translated as “the love,” but simply “love” since we do not use an article in English with nouns that indicate abstract concepts except in a few very restricted contexts.

At the same time, in a phrase such as ἡ ἀγάπη τοῦ θεοῦ the article (ἡ) should be translated: “the love of God.” Here it is translated because the English rule against articles with abstract nouns does not apply when those nouns are modified by another phrase (such as “of God” in this example).

ἡ ἀγάπη ➞ love (1 Corinthians 13:4; Notice that it would be inappropriate to say "the love" in this context.)

ἡ ἀγάπη τοῦ θεοῦ ➞ the love of God, God's love, love for God (Romans 8:39)

Another case in which the Greek article is left un-translated is when it occurs with a proper name. English does not use articles with proper names except in a few very specialized contexts. You will probably never hear anyone say something like

If you were attempting to distinguish between several people named Steven, though, you might say something like

In contrast to English, Greek often uses the article with proper names, even when there is no attempt to distinguish between more than one person with the same name. For this reason, ὁ Ἰησούς must be translated simply as "Jesus," not “the Jesus.”

Observe the following examples from Mark 9:2:

ὁ Ἰησοῦς ➞ Jesus (not "the Jesus")

τὸν Πέτρον ➞ Peter (not "the Peter")

τὸν Ἰάκωβον ➞ Jacob / James (not "the James")

τὸν Ἰωάννην ➞ John (not "the John")

The Greek article may also be used to indicate the subject of any equative verb. In the sentence θεὸς ἦν ὁ λόγος (John 1:1), the article (ὁ) marks λόγος as the subject of the verb ἦν, so the translation should be “The word was God,” not “God was the word.” Here the article usually is translated, but it serves a function not found in English

θεὸς ἦν ὁ λόγος ➞ The word was God (John 1:1)

κύριός ἐστιν ὁ ὑιὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου ➞ The Son of Man is Lord (Mark 2:28)

As you saw in lesson five, the article may also be used to distinguish attributive uses of an adjective from predicate uses. If you do not remember the meanings of these terms, review lesson five.

The rules for using the article discussed here should make it clear that there are many times when an article is present in the Greek text yet an article would not be appropriate in the English translation. When you encounter the article in a Greek text, you must ask yourself, "Why is the article here?" It is not enough to simply put "the" in your translation.

Similarly, there are times when a Greek text does not contain an article, but “the” is clearly needed in the English translation. The determining factor for whether or not to include the article in the English translation of a Greek text is the context of the Greek phrase. For example, in John 1:1 we find the statement

ἐν ἀρχῇ ἦν ὁ λόγος ➞ In the beginning was the word (John 1:1)

The noun ἀρχῇ ("beginning") does not have an article before it, but the context of John, chapter one makes it clear that ἀρχῇ refers to a specific beginning, not the process of beginning in general nor one beginning among many. For this reason, it must be translated as "the beginning," not simply "beginning" or "a beginning." The key question is "What does the context demand?"

Agreement of the Article

The article always has the same gender, case, and number as the word it modifies. This agreement can be helpful in identifying the case, gender and number of unfamiliar nouns. It can also help you determine which of several words the article is modifying.

Forms of the Article

Study the following forms of the Greek article and commit them to memory. The article appears almost 20,000 times in the Greek New Testament alone, and learning its forms will help you learn the endings for adjectives and nouns as well. It is well worth your time to memorize all of the forms of the article.

Note the following five features of the article forms:

1. With only a few exceptions, the endings for the article are the same as those for adjectives. The exceptions are the nominative masculine singular and the nominative and accusative neuter singular forms. These are different from the adjective endings you have studied.

2. All but four forms of the article begin with τ. The four that do not are the nominative case of the masculine and feminine forms.

3. The genitive plural form is always the same (τῶν), regardless of gender.

4. The nominative and accusative case forms of the neuter article are identical (τό for nominative and accusative singular, τά for nominative and accusative plural). This same pattern holds true of all Hellenistic Greek words that are neuter.

5. The genitive and dative cases of the neuter forms of the article are identical to those of the masculine forms. (This is also true of nouns and adjectives.)

Exercise 1: Forms of the Article

Take a few minutes now to practice recognizing the 24 forms of the article. Click here to get started.