Questions in Koine

[Σαῦλος]

version: 17-Oct-2019 PD Nitz

Asking Questions in Koine 

Do you Understand?

συνῆκας;  Do you understand? (singular)

συνήκατε;  Do you understand? (plural)

ναί.  συνῆκα! Yes.  I understand!

καταλαμβάνεις;  Are you getting it? (singular)

καταλαμβάνετε;  Are you getting it (plural)

μνημονεύεις;   μνημονεύετε;  Do you remember?  (sg. / pl.)

ναί.  κατέλαβον πάντα.  Yes.  I got everything.

τί σημαίνει τοῦτο;   What does this mean?

τί σημαίνει τὸ _______ (word);  What does the word _____ mean?

τί διαφέρει τοῦτο καὶ τοῦτο;  How does this and this differ?

τί διαφέρει τὸ φιλεῖ καὶ τὸ ἀγαπᾷ;  How does the word φιλεῖ and the word ἀγαπᾷ differ?

δείξον μοι.   Show me.

δείκνυμι σοι / ὑμῖν.   I (will) show you.

μένε / μένετε.   Wait (sg. / pl.)

φιλεῖ ἐστὶν ὡς ἀγαπᾷ.   φιλεῖ is like ἀγαπᾷ.  

τὸ φιλεῖ καὶ τὸ ἀγαπᾷ ὁμοία ἐστίν.   The word φιλεῖ and the word ἀγαπᾷ are similar.

πῶς λέγουσι....;   How do they say….?

οὐκ οῖδα.   I don’t know.

οὐ μνημονεύω.  I don’t remember.

ἀποκρίθητι ἐν Βριττανικῇ / Ἑλληνικῇ.   Answer in English / Greek

Who-What Questions

                                                                        M/F                                         N

Nominative:	τίς;	τί;
Genitive:	τίνος;	τίνος;
Dative:	τίνι;	τίνι;
Accusative:	τίνα;	τί;
Nominative:	τίνες;	τί (plural, τίνα; is not used)
Genitive:	τίνων;	τίνων;
Dative:	τίσι;	τίσι;
Accusative:	τίνας;	τί; (plural, τίνα; is not used)*

* For anything undefined, even if it is known that the undefined things are many, the singular τί is used.

Examples:

τίς ἔγραψεν ταύτην τὴν γράφην;  Who wrote this text?

τίνος ἐπιστολὴν ἐστιν; Whose text/writing is it?

τίνι ἔγραψεν ταύτην τὴν ἐπιστολήν; To whom did he write this letter?

τίνα εἶδεν; Whom did he see?

τί ἐστιν τοῦτο; What is this?  (thing undefined).

τίς ἐστιν οὖτος; Who is this?  (gender undefined)

τίς ἐστιν αὕτη; Who is this woman? 

Where?

ποῦ;  where?   (ἐστιν ἐν τῷ οἴκῳ - he’s in the house)

When?

πότε;  when?   (σήμερον.   today)

How?

πῶς;  how?                           

How many?

Nom. m/f/n:   πόσοι, πόσαι, πόσα;

Acc:  πόσους, πόσας;                    πόσα;

Why?

διὰ τί;    why?  (διὰ τοῦτο ὅτι...   because of this, that…)

ἵνα τί;   why? 

What things?  Which?  What kind?

ποῖος, ποία, ποῖον

Luke 24:18–19 (NA27) 18 ἀποκριθεὶς δὲ εἷς ὀνόματι Κλεοπᾶς εἶπεν πρὸς αὐτόν· σὺ μόνος παροικεῖς Ἰερουσαλὴμ καὶ οὐκ ἔγνως τὰ γενόμενα ἐν αὐτῇ ἐν ταῖς ἡμέραις ταύταις; 19 καὶ εἶπεν αὐτοῖς· ποῖα; οἱ δὲ εἶπαν αὐτῷ· τὰ περὶ Ἰησοῦ τοῦ Ναζαρηνοῦ, ὃς ἐγένετο ἀνὴρ προφήτης δυνατὸς ἐν ἔργῳ καὶ λόγῳ ἐναντίον τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ παντὸς τοῦ λαοῦ,

Luke 24:18–19 (NIV84) 18 One of them, named Cleopas, asked him, “Are you only a visitor to Jerusalem and do not know the things that have happened there in these days?”  19 “What things?” he asked. “About Jesus of Nazareth,” they replied. “He was a prophet, powerful in word and deed before God and all the people.

Matthew 22:35–36 (NA27) 35 καὶ ἐπηρώτησεν εἷς ἐξ αὐτῶν [νομικὸς] πειράζων αὐτόν· 36 διδάσκαλε, ποία ἐντολὴ μεγάλη ἐν τῷ νόμῳ;

Matthew 22:35–36 (NIV84) 35 One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: 36 “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”

1 Corinthians 15:35 (NA27) 35 Ἀλλὰ ἐρεῖ τις· πῶς ἐγείρονται οἱ νεκροί; ποίῳ δὲ σώματι ἔρχονται;

1 Corinthians 15:35 (NIV84) 35 But someone may ask, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body will they come?” 

Yes, No, Or, Maybe

ναί   yes           οὔ   no, not

Mt 5:37 ἔστω δὲ ὁ λόγος ὑμῶν ναὶ ναί, οὒ οὔ· τὸ δὲ περισσὸν τούτων ἐκ τοῦ πονηροῦ ἐστιν.

οὐχί   no        

John 9:9  οὐχί, ἀλλὰ ὅμοιος αὐτῷ ἐστιν.  No, but he looks like him.

ἤ   or

Mt 11:3 Σὺ εἶ ὁ ἐρχόμενος ἢ ἕτερον προσδοκῶμεν;

τάχα   perhaps, maybe

Phm 15  Τάχα γὰρ διὰ τοῦτο ἐχωρίσθη πρὸς ὥραν, ἵνα...  Perhaps he was separated from you for awhile so that…

NOTES

The interrogative usually comes first in the sentence,

τίς ἐπορεύθη πρὸς τὴν πόλιν; 

Not, ἐπορεύθη τίς πρὸς τὴν πόλιν;  But acceptable, πρὸς τὴν πόλιν, τίς ἐπορεύθη; 

Exceptions:

A personal pronoun may lead the question for emphasis.

Σὺ τίς εἶ;

Who are you?

ὑμεῖς τίνες ἐστέ;

Who are you?

If a preposition is part of the question, it leads.

ὐπὸ τίνος ἐβαπτίσθην;   By whom were you baptized.

Initial clauses can set up the question:

 Ἐν τῷ νόμῳ τί γέγραπται; 

Luke 10:26 – In the law, what is written?

ἃ δὲ ἡτοίμασας, τίνι ἔσται;

Luke 12:20 – What you prepared, to whom will it be?

ὁ βραχίων κυρίου τίνι ἀπεκαλύφθη;

John 12:38 – To whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? 

How to answer “why?”(the cause) in Ancient Greek:

When the answer to “why?” is a sentence (clause), use:

ὅτι (διοτι, διὰ τοῦτο ὅτι, καθοτι) - because (literally “that”)

James 4:3 αἰτεῖτε καὶ οὐ λαμβάνετε διότι κακῶς αἰτεῖσθε… You ask and do not have because you ask badly.

ἐπεί (ἐπειδη, επειδηπερ) – since, seeing that (literally? “on that”)

John 13:29 τινὲς γὰρ ἐδόκουν, ἐπεὶ τὸ γλωσσόκομον εἶχεν Ἰούδας, ὅτι λέγει αὐτῷ [ὁ] Ἰησοῦς… Some were thinking, seeing that Judas had the purse, that he Jesus said to him…

γαρ – for (In the sense of “I hit him for he hit me first,” not “I did it for him”).

Colossians 3:20 Τὰ τέκνα, ὑπακούετε τοῖς γονεῦσιν κατὰ πάντα, τοῦτο γὰρ εὐάρεστόν ἐστιν ἐνκυρίῳ. Children, obey parents in everything, for this is pleasing to the Lord.

When the answer to “why?” is a single thing (such as a noun), use:

διά τινα – because (διά physically/literally means “through”)

Matthew 6:25 Διὰ τοῦτο λέγω ὑμῖν· μὴ μεριμνᾶτε Because of this I tell you, do not worry…

ἐπί τινι – because, the cause of (ἐπί physically/literally means “on”)

Matthew 7:28 ἐξεπλήσσοντο οἱ ὄχλοι ἐπὶ τῇ διδαχῇ αὐτοῦ· The crowds, being amazed because of his teaching.

ἕνεκεν τινος – because (literally “in that”)

Matthew 10:39 ὁ ἀπολέσας τὴν ψυχὴν αὐτοῦ ἕνεκεν ἐμοῦ εὑρήσει αὐτήν. The one who loses his life because of me will find it.

κατὰ τινα - according to (literally “down”)

Matthew 19:3 εἰ ἔξεστιν ἀνθρώπῳ ἀπολῦσαι τὴν γυναῖκα αὐτοῦ κατὰ πᾶσαν αἰτίαν; [they asked] if it is permitted for a man to let loose his wife because of every reason (for any reason).

ὑπὲρ τινος – because, on behalf of (literally “over”)

Acts 21:13 ἀποθανεῖν εἰς Ἰερουσαλὴμ ἑτοίμως ἔχω ὑπὲρ τοῦ ὀνόματος τοῦ κυρίου Ἰησοῦ. I am ready to die in Jerusalem because of the name of the Lord Jesus.

Discussions about questioning

Here are three threads on the forum B-Greek which discuss questioning in Greek. These discussions are useful for any Greek Teacher using communicative methods. They would also be useful for an autodidact to learn how to ask questions of a text. Note the downloadable file on questions in the first thread. http://www.ibiblio.org/bgreek/forum/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=3235 http://www.ibiblio.org/bgreek/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3253

http://www.ibiblio.org   /bgreek/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3253

[dewayne...@gmail.com]

βοήθημα μέγα εστι! Ευχαριστω σε, ω φιλε Σαυλε!

[Σαῦλος]

Glad you liked it.  I think asking questions of a text (in the target language) is about the best, simplest way for an autodidact to increase their comprehension.  But in order to do that, a person needs to really master the questions.

For what it's worth, I like to think of τις as a shrug.  That's my internal "definition."  When I say τις, or some form of it, I'm shrugging and saying "I don't know."

τίς ἦλθεν πρὸς οἶκον ἐχθές;

ἆνθρωπος τις ἦλθεν πρὸς τὸν οἶκον μου.

I'm just playing around with ποῖος in my mind these days.  My internal definition has been slightly off.  I think "what kind of..."   It mostly works, but falls down when you say something like ποίος ἀνθρώπων.  

Again, I'm thinking a shrug works - an expression of not knowing.  Let me just express it with three English ???

διὰ ποίον ἔγων... because ??? of the works?  

ποίῳ σώματι ἔρχονται... with ??? body are they coming?

I wonder if there's a relation between ποῖος and πῶς.  The shrug works for me there, too.

πῶς δύνασαι λέγειν τοῦτο... .  ??? you are able to say this?

Maybe my thoughts are not your thoughts, but thinking in Greek on Greek's terms has really helped my implicit comprehension of Greek.

Nestle, E., Nestle, E., Aland, B., Aland, K., Karavidopoulos, J., Martini, C. M., & Metzger, B. M. (1993). The Greek New Testament (27th ed., 1 Co 15:35). Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft.

[Dewayne Dulaney]

χαιρετε πασιν εταιραις, και τω Σαυλω!

I've often thought it would be helpful, particularly for an autodidact, to learn to ask questions of a text in Greek. I haven't mastered all the question words yet, though, so I haven't started practicing it. But now that you've posted this, I plan to start. I'm mostly an autodidact in Greek myself, except for taking 1st year Greek three times. 😢 It was the typical Grammar-Translation approach all three times. The first time, I took a non-credit course at night. Ι really struggled with the case system concept and memorizing all those paradigms. Later, I took it again for credit and did well, having benefited from two years of college German in the meantime, which has a lot of similarities in grammar. The third time was as a review, and I also did well with it. None of these, however, gave us any CI activities or any contact with an authentic Greek text until the last few lessons of the course.

I think it would be helpful also, as a composition exercise, as well as to increase comprehension, to ask and answer questions in Greek of a text in writing. Publishing them in some form would be even better, both to get feedback for correction, and to help other learners. Definitely, using both oral and written questions in Greek in the classroom seems to be helpful. I'm glad you're having the opportunity to test this out with your students.

η χαρις μετα υμων,

Δεβένιος Δουλένιος

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"In the world you will have trouble. But, be brave! I have defeated the world!"
—John 16:33, DDV (Dewayne Dulaney Version)

My Bible blog: Let Ancient Voices Speak, http://letancientvoicesspeak.wordpress.com

[Σαῦλος]

I guess I should have added πηλίκος.