[B-Greek] Hi, Becky here
Raymond Regalado
fwgk5942 at mb.infoweb.ne.jp
Thu Mar 25 07:47:40 EST 2004
On 2004.3.25, at 02:57 PM, Becky wrote:
> I'm studying Greek on my own using New Testament Greek for Beginners
> by J. Gresham Machen. And I also have Fundamental Greek Grammar by
> James W. Voelz.
>
> I started studying it with my Pastor, but I was the only one going.
> Felt bad so am doing it on my own. So far, so good. Thank the Lord!
>
> I'm on participles and would appricieate input. I've read both books
> on it, can you make the concept a little easier to understand?
I'm a beginner just like you, and I find that Bill Mounce is right when
he says that participles can be confusing if you're not caught up with
your noun grammar and verb grammar, since they have both adjective-like
characteristics and verb-like characteristics -- they're "verbal
adjectives". They modify nouns (like adjectives do) agreeing with them
in case, number, gender, and like verbs they have tense and voice and
may take a direct object. I like the chapters in Machen on
participles, though it would help to consult other books, too. I think
it takes several readings of those explanatory chapters before it
really sinks in. I like this example from Mounce's book of a
participle: hO ANQRWPOS APEQANE DIDASKWN THN KOINHN -- "The man died
while teaching koine." (Mounce adds, "He died very happily!" ;-))
DIDASKWN ([while] teaching) is the participle. It agrees with ANQRWPOS
in case, number and gender... Anyways, hang in there! I've only just
recently started reading the GNT myself, but I'm finding participles
everywhere! So we really need to get a handle on it. ;-)
My two cents,
Raymond Regalado
Tokyo, Japan
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