[B-Greek] Greek Word Order And Emphasis

Eric Weiss papaweiss1 at yahoo.com
Sun Aug 22 20:53:47 EDT 2004


"Normal" Greek word order (and I use the term loosely)
is verb-subject-object, e.g., "Ate the-man dinner."
There are also "normal" word orders for adjectives and
other parts of speech. When you come across a phrase
that is not the "normal" word order (the term is
"unmarked" - i.e., it lacks anything "marking" it as
being unusual or emphasized), it often indicates that
the writer wanted to emphasize a particular word.
Sometimes it's stylistic on the author's part to write
a certain way, so you can't automatically assume that
a non-normal word order indicates emphasis. Because
Greek is an inflected language and one can thus tell
the subject from the object, as well as what
adjectives/participles, etc., modify what nouns, the
writer can pretty much put the words in any order
he/she pleases and the reader will know how to
translate the sentence. Hence, if he/she wants to
emphasize something, he/she will often put it first,
or otherwise deviate from the "normal" word order that
a reader would expect.

I think John 4:17-18 may be an example. The woman says
to Jesus, "Not have I a husband" (OUK ECW ANDRA -
i.e., negative adverb - verb - direct object). Jesus
switches the order of her words and replies back to
her, "You have well said, '"A (i.e., only one)
HUSBAND" not have I' (ANDRA OUK ECW - i.e., direct
object - negative adverb - verb), for FIVE husbands
you have had...." Jesus fronts the word "(a) husband"
and then "five husbands" - i.e., He places them before
the verb to show that He is emphasizing the words
"husband" and "five husbands" as part of His response
to her.

May I suggest that you buy a copy of David Alan
Black's LEARN TO READ NEW TESTAMENT GREEK (Expanded
Edition) as a secondary reference for your studies? I
used it in conjunction with learning from Mounce to
help me better understand some things and/or to give
me examples of things Mounce writes about. Black is
concise and easy to read, and he specifically
addresses this issue in sections 35 (p. 29) and 170
(pp. 182-185), where he gives numerous examples.
Different authors explain grammatical terms and
concepts differently, and it often helps to read some
things in two or three grammars to get a better
understanding of some things that may puzzle you. 

If you intend to pursue Greek with any seriousness,
you will acquire many, many grammar books, so don't
hesitate to buy Black - you'll find it useful both for
yourself and for helping your current classmates or
future students, should you choose to help others
learn Greek.

Best wishes in your studies!

=====
Eric S. Weiss




	
		
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