The Article. Adjectives of the First and Second Declension. Agreement. Use of the Article. Attributive and Predicate Positions of Adjectives. Substantive Use of Adjectives.

§62

Learn the declension of μικρός, small, and of δίκαιος, righteous (in §§569, 570). Note that long a not ἢ stands in the feminine of these adjectives when the preceding letter is p or a vowel (compare §55). The accent in the genitive plural feminine of all adjectives of the second and first declension follows the regular noun rule and not the special rule for nouns of the first declension (§51).

§63

The declension of the article is as follows:

§64

The forms ὁ, ἡ, οἱ, αἱ are proclitics. A proclitic is a word that goes so closely with the following word as to have no accent of its own.

§65

Note that except for (1) these irregular proclitic forms, (2) the form τό in the nominative and accusative singular (instead of τόν), and (3) the absence of the vocative, the article is declined like the adjective ἀγαθός.

§66

Adjectives, including the article, agree with the nouns that they modify, in gender, number, and case.

Examples: (1) ὁ λόγος, τοῦ λόγου, TH λόγῳ, βλέπω τὸν λόγον, οἱ λόγοι, τῶν λόγων, τοῖς λόγοις, βλέπω τοὺς λόγους. (2) τὸ δῶρον, τοῦ δώρου, etc. (3) ἡ ὥρα, τῆς ὥρας, τῇ ὥρᾳ, βλέπω τὴν ὥραν, αἱ ὧραι, etc. (4) ἡ ὁδός (see §60), τῆς ὁδοῦ, τῇ ὁδῷ, βλέπω τὴν ὁδόν, αἱ ὁδοί, τῶν ὁδῶν, ταῖς ὁδοῖς, βλέπω τὰς ὁδούς. (5) καλὸς λόγος, etc., καλὴ ὥρα, καλὴ ὁδός, etc.

§67

The use of the article in Greek corresponds roughly to the use of the definite article in English. Thus λόγος means a word; ὁ λόγος means the word; λόγοι means words; οἱ λόγοι means the words. The differences between the Greek and the English use of the article must be learned by observation, as they occur. For the present, the presence or absence of the Greek article should always be carefully indicated in the English translation.

§68

Adjectives are used in two distinct ways: (1) attributively, (2) predicatively.

In the phrase the good word, the adjective good is an attributive adjective; it tells what word we are mentioning. We are not mentioning all words or any word, but only the good word.

In the sentence, the word is good, the adjective good is a predicate adjective; with the verb is it makes an assertion about the subject, the word.

§69

In Greek, the distinction between the attributive and the predicate adjective is of vastly more importance than in English; indeed, as will be observed later, some of the most important and characteristic parts of Greek grammar are based upon this distinction.

§70

The good word can be expressed in two common ways in Greek—either by ὁ ἀγαθὸς λόγος or by ὁ λόγος ὁ ἀγαθός. It will be observed that what is characteristic about this attributive position of the Greek adjective is that the adjective comes immediately after the article. The former of the two alternatives, ὁ ἀγαθὸς λόγος, is just like English; it has the order (1) article, (2) attributive adjective, (3) noun, and is a literal translation of the good word. The latter of the two alternatives, ὁ λόγος ὁ ἀγαθός, means literally the word—namely the good one. But it is of course vastly commoner than this cumbersome usage is in English, and like ὁ ἀγαθὸς λόγος should be translated simply the good word.

§71

The word is good can be expressed in two ways in Greek—either by ὁ λόγος ἀγαθός or by ἀγαθὸς ὁ λόγος (the simple copula, meaning is, can be omitted). What is characteristic about this predicate position of the adjective in Greek is that the adjective does not come immediately after the article.

§72

The matter can be summarized as follows:

Attributive Position |° oi aa kd ee or = the good word. of the Adjective |.,, ats ; ὁ λόγος ὁ ἀγαθός ὁ λόγος ἀγαθός or = the word is good. ἀγαθὸς ὁ λόγος

§73

The student should fix this distinction in his mind by thoughtful reading aloud of the above and similar phrases, until ἀγαθὸς ὁ λόγος, for example, comes to mean to him, even without conscious translation, good (is) the word, and comes to be dissociated entirely from the idea the good word. If this advice be heeded, a solid foundation will have been laid for the mastery of a large part of Greek

§74

It should be observed that the distinction between the attributive and the predicate position of the adjective can be made in Greek only when the noun has the article. ἀγαθὸς λόγος or λόγος ἀγαθός (the noun here not having the article) may mean either a good word (attributive) or a word is good (predicate).

§76

The adjective may be used as a noun, especially with the article.

Examples: (1) ἀγαθός may mean a good man; ἀγαθή, a good woman; ἀγαθόν, a good thing; ἀγαθοί, good men; ἀγαθαί, good women; ἀγαθά, good things. (2) ὁ ἀγαθός means the good man; ἡ ἀγαθή, the good woman; τὸ ἀγαθόν, the good thing; οἱ ἀγαθοί, the good men; αἱ ἀγαθαί, the good women; τὰ ἀγαθά, the good things.

Sometimes, in the plural masculine, the English language, like Greek, can use the adjective as a noun without adding the word men. Thus οἱ ἀγαθοί may be translated the good meaning the good men or the good people; oi vexpoi, the dead, meaning the dead people, etc.