[B-Greek] John 6:9

frjsilver at optonline.net frjsilver at optonline.net
Thu Jun 1 07:45:12 EDT 2006


Dear Friends --

Isn't the subject here actually TI?  

The parenthetic question TI ESTIN is a grammatical capsule with its own subject and verb, which agree in number.  TAUTA (neuter plural) has merely an implied verb, if any.

In English, maybe this comes out to something like 'But these (few) things -- what is *that* to (so many) of those people?'

Father James Silver

Monk James
Orthodox Church in America

----- Original Message -----
From: "Carl W. Conrad" 
Date: Thursday, June 1, 2006 3:38 am
Subject: Re: [B-Greek] John 6:9
To: "Dony K.Donev" 
Cc: b-greek at lists.ibiblio.org

> 
> On Jun 1, 2006, at 12:32 AM, Dony K. Donev wrote:
> 
> > I need someone to comment on the use plural pronoun with the 
> > singular verb in the second clause of John 6:9.
> 
> Text: ESTIN PAIDARAION hWDE hOS ECEI PENTE ARTOUS KRIQINOU KAI 
> DUO 
> OYARIA; ALLA TAUTA TI ESTIN EIS TOSOUTOUS?
> 
> It's the last question part involved here. There's nothing 
> unusual 
> about a singular verb with a neuter plural subject -- that's 
> standard 
> Greek usage, although it's often not observed in NT Koine.
> 
> Carl W. Conrad
> Department of Classics, Washington University (Retired)
> 1989 Grindstaff Road/Burnsville, NC 28714/(828) 675-4243
> cwconrad2 at mac.com
> WWW: http://www.ioa.com/~cwconrad/
> 
> 
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