How Greek Cases Are Used

8/10/2019 How Greek Cases Are Used

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How Greek Cases are Used

Contents of This Document:

This document provides general information about the use of Greek cases. It begins bydescribing the overall Greek case system, then briefly explains the various ways that eachcase can be used in a clause or sentence. A more detailed discussion of grammaticaluses for each case is available through a link at the end of each explanation of each case.

However, this document does not discuss the case endings or inflections of nouns,pronouns, articles, adjectives and participles. For more information about the case

endings, see the document The Greek Article and Case Endings.

My own comments are added, but the following information basically came from threesources: (1)Daniel B. Wallace's book, Greek Grammar: Beyond the Basics; (2)WardPowers' book, Learn to Read the Greek New Testament, and, of course, (3)WilliamMounce's book, Basics of Biblical Greek Grammar. All of these are recommendedgrammars.

The Greek Case System

About 60% of all the words in the Greek New Testament (GNT) are declined into caseforms. There are 28,956 nouns, 19,869 articles, 16,703 pronouns, 7,636 adjectives and6,674 participles. Each one is an inflected form, indicating a grammatical case. In theGreek New Testament, the breakdown of these words into cases is as follows:

Nominatives:24,618or 31%(with 7,794 nouns; 3,145 pronouns; 6,009 articles;4,621 participles; 3,049 adjectives)

Vocatives:317or 1%(with 292 nouns, 1 participle, and 24 adjectives. Note: Notall of these can be considered to be true vocative forms. Many are nominativeforms.)

Accusatives:23,105or 29%(with 8,815 nouns; 5,009 pronouns; 5,889 articles,957 participles; 2,435 adjectives)

Genitives:19,633or 25%(with 7,681 nouns; 4,986 pronouns; 5,028 articles; 743participles; 1,195 adjectives)

Datives:12,173or 15%(with 4,375 nouns; 3,565 pronouns; 2,944 articles, 353participles, 936 adjectives)

The above numbers are all based on statistics in Wallace's book, calculated by acCordance software.
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The study of the Greek case system is critical. As you can see above, there are verymany Greek New Testament (GNT) words which indicate case. Each one's specific role,function and meaning in its clause or sentence is determined according to case.Therefore, if one cannot first identify the case of a word, to first determine its specific roleand function in its sentence, very little meaning can be derived from the word. Thus, it isabsolutely necessary to be able to identify the case forms correctly, then further identifyexactly how each form is used.

The use of Greek cases is very flexible. Each case can serve in several differentgrammatical roles. Then each role can be broken down into several different kinds ofgrammatical functions, with different meanings implied by each. On top of all this, eachfunction can imply different things in different contexts. All this is based on the lexicaldefinition of the word, of course. Yet one lexical definition can imply radically differentthings in different functions and contexts.

So one role of a noun in the genitive case may be to modify another noun. But, in that

grammatical role as a modifier, that genitive noun might be able to perform possibly anyone of more than twenty different functions. Then the meaning of that specific genitivenoun in the same specific role and same specific function can be different in a differentcontext as well.

A specific example can be the genitive form of the noun , when it modifies anothernoun in the phrase in Romans 3:21. Here it serves in the grammaticalrole of a modifier. But, as a modifier, what function does it serve? Does this genitivemodifier serve the function of a possessive, or an ablative indicating a source, or some

other function? If it functions as a possessive, it should be translated something like"God's righteousness." If it functions as an ablative indicating source, it should betranslated something like "righteousness from God." Its context, and the lexical definitionof the word, will determine its function. After we know that this word means "God," andrefers to the one and only God, and we know the global context of all that is taught aboutGod in the entire Bible, and we know the local context of what is stated, we can draw aconclusion about what function this genitive form, in the role of a modifier, serves. Thus,we know it should be interpreted "righteousness from God."

Thus, in order to read Greek with comprehension, one must be able to:

1. know the lexical definitionof the word, what it can mean in all possible roles,functions and contexts;

2. clearly recognize and correctly identify its case form;3. understand the specific grammatical rolethat case is serving in its clause or

sentence;4. know the contextenough to be able to determine which specific function that case

form is performing in that role; and

5. identify and know the implications of its specific function, the way in which it isused to express meaning in its specific grammatical role.

This process of understanding Greek inflections can be very difficult for an English-speaking person, because, in English, we do not use very many inflected forms. And we


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only need a few inflected forms, because the grammatical roles of our words aredetermined primarily by the lexical definitions, context, and the order in which we placethem in a sentence.

The lexical definition of English nouns are normally fairly constant, although they canchange in context. But each is modified by an adjective when it needs to bear animplication beyond what the lexical definition suggests. The inflection or position of the

noun in a construction or clause does not affect its meaning much. Then any function,other than the most obvious, is normally indicated through the use of a preposition, not aninflection. So most English nouns only need singular and plural forms, where plural formscan take a suffix or infix or both ("saint" and "saints," "man" and "men," "body" and"bodies"). And some of our pronouns take different forms according to gender ("he,""she"), case ("he," "him," "his"), and number ("he," "they"). But, aside from these fewinstances, we rarely ever think about inflections in English.

The opposite is true in Greek. One must always think about the inflections of all the

words. Greek is a highly inflected language. Inflections are everything, and withoutunderstanding the role and function of each inflected form, one cannot comprehend muchof anything in Greek.

So we must learn to think like the Greek writers, to fully comprehend their meaningthrough their use of inflections. We must understand Greek syntax, that is, the way inwhich the Greeks built the structure of their sentences through the use of inflections. Thenwe need to convert that Greek syntax into English syntax, and translate the Greekinflected forms into English non-inflected forms, with added prepositions and other words,

to create the English structure of sentences, in order to convey the same meaning thatthe Greek text indicated.

The Five-Case System Versus the Eight-Case System

Some Baptist and Presbyterian Greek grammars and teachers may talk about eightcases, while the majority only recognize the existence of five cases. This course followsthe assumptions of the more common five-case system. In order for you to understand

what those other grammars and instructors are talking about, and to know why this courseonly delineates five Greek cases, the eight-case system is briefly explained here.

The five-case system is straightforward. A particular case takes a certain form, and acertain form is a particular case. So a genitive form is a genitive case, and a dative form isa dative case, plain and simple. Case and form are directly related, and one is the other.But the eight-case system categorizes case according to function, not form.

In the eight-case system, any one genitive form can be either one of two different cases,depending on how it is used in a sentence. In one Greek text, a particular genitive form of

a certain word might be said to be of the genitive case, just as one would call it a genitivein the five-case system. But, in the eight-case system, they would only call it a genitive if itserved certain kinds of normal genitive functions. However, they might say exactly thesame word in the same genitive form was of the "ablative case" if it served a different kind


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of function in another sentence. Then the eight-case system designates three differentcases for a dative form. The following chart describes the cases in the eight-case system.

CaseRepresented

by the form:Explanation:

Nominative Nominative Same as the five-case system.

Vocative Vocative Same as the five-case system.

Accusative Accusative Same as the five-case system.

Genitive Genitive Most of the functions which can beindicated by a genitive form in the five-case system, except the ablativefunctions.

Ablative Genitive In general, the genitive form indicates"separation" of some kind, such as:

Separation: "from," "awayfrom," or "out of" as in "dustfrom the feet," mostlyreplaced in koine Greek byprepositions like ("from")+ genitive, or ("out of") +

genitive.Source or Origin: "out of,""derived from" or "from" as in"the righteousness thatcomes from God," mostlyreplaced by ("out of") +genitive.Comparison: usually foundafter an adjective in the

comparative degree and istranslated as "than" as in"wiser than men" or "worthmore than many sparrows."

Dative Dative Most of the functions which can beindicated by a dative form in the five-case system, except the locative andinstrumental functions.

Locative Dative Indicates a positionin physical space,non-physical terms, or time, such as:


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Sphere: "in the sphere of,"i.e., within all the thingsexisting that are representedby the noun, as in "the purein heart" or "death in theflesh."Time: "on," "at" or "in,"referring to a point in timeand answering the question"when?", as in "raised on thethird day."Rule: "according to" or "inconformity with" the sphereof a body of standards, rules,codes of conduct, etc., as in"walk according to their ownways."

Instrumental Dative Indicates the meansor answers thequestion "how?" usually with regards tothe action of a verb, such as:

Association: "with" as in"unequally yoked [in

association] withunbelievers."Manner: "with" or "in," as in"he speaks with boldness,"mostly replaced by ("in") +dative, or ("with") +dative.Means / Instrument: "by," "bymeans of" or "with" as in

"justified by faith."Agency: "by" or "through" asin "done by him."Measure / Degree ofDifference: after or before anadjective (or adverb) in thecomparative degree, oftenthe dative ("much")with the comparative adverb

("more"), as in"saved much more."Cause: "because of" or "onthe basis of " as in


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"persecuted because of thecross."Cognate: used in order toemphasize the verb's action,a cognate with same form asthe verb as in ("will bedreaming dreams"), or withthe same meaning as in ("rejoicewith joy").Material: "with" as in"anointed with oil."Content: "with" as in "filledwith wisdom."

Wallace points out some of the things which cause disagreements between those whouse the eight-case system (classified by the functionof the cases), and those who use thefive-case system (classified simply by form). The case system can affect the way in whichone interprets the Greek text. From what I understand in Wallace's explanations, theeight-case system does not really allow for as much flexibility or integrity in theinterpretation of cases.

The eight-case system appears to be somewhat academic and artificial. Yet Scriptureswere natural and heart-felt communications to ordinary persons, packed with subtleimplications, just like much of our conversational English. For instance, Wallace points outthat the one who takes the eight-case view may not acknowledge that a genitive or dativeword form may be intended to convey two functions (and thus two meanings) at once. Butthe five-case view, held by most grammars, maintains that a Greek writer could use agenitive or dative form with a double meaning, in a way that serves two functions at once.

Wallace also refuted two main arguments for the eight-case system. The eight-case

system stands on two main premises: (1)the historical argument, that the older Sanskritlanguage (to which Greek is closely linked) had an eight-case system, so Greek shouldhave an eight-case system too; and (2)the linguistic argument, that a case system shouldbe a matter of function and not form. Wallace countered that we must look at the actualway the Greeks developed and used their own language. This is a more importantconsideration than anything regarding the historical origins of their language. History canhelp us understand reasons for many things which happen later on, but the fact is thatthings change. Also, Wallace says it is not a valid assumption that case is a matter offunction. Both the Sanskrit and Greek had different forms for the different cases, and,therefore, "case is a matter of form rather than function."

Of course, each Greek case is clearly used for numerous different functions, especiallythe genitive and dative cases. And we need to understands these various functions. But it


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is simply inappropriate to begin any interpretation of a text by first classifying casesaccording to function, since it automatically distorts the meaning of the text before youeven get started.

Wallace says, "If case is truly a matter of function only, then there should be over onehundredcases in Greek. The genitive alone has dozens of [distinct and very different]functions.... to begin with semantic categories [i.e., to categorize cases according to

function, thus according to meaning] is to put the cart before the horse. Syntax [i.e., theway in which words are used to construct a clause or sentence] must first of all be basedon an examination and interpretation of the structures. To start with semantics skews thedata."

So a good and objective interpretation must start by obtaining a general overview of thesentence structure (syntax), which will indicate all the possible functions and meaningsavailable for each case form found within that particular structure. Since the grammaticalfunction determines the meaning of the word, to assign it a function is to assign it a very

narrow area of meaning. Thus, one does not do that until one first explores all thepossible options available.

Yet, in the eight-case system, assigning a function (thus a meaning) is done first, becausea case is a function to them, and they need to know the case of each word (thus thefunction) before they can even continue to read the rest of the words in a sentence,before they can even begin to interpret anything. Therefore, they must assign the function(thus the meaning) very quickly and hastily, without really taking the time to consider theoverall syntax and all the available options. So the eight-case system promotes hastiness

and carelessness in determining the function, and therefore the meaning of all declinedwords.

But the five-case system simply determines the case by form, and the form is used first toindicate syntax only. So, when a declined word is found, all that needs to be done is torecognize the form, which only indicates the general grammatical role that word isserving. Then the rest of the sentence can be interpreted in a general way. After this,more time can be spent to accurately determine each word's precise function, and thus itsexact implied meaning (or possibly multiple implied meanings) according to its entire

context.

Syntax is about understanding the roles which the words serve in a clause or sentence,where and how each word fits into the surface structure of the sentence, how thesentence is constructed or put together. Determining the syntax is the first step towardsdetermining the meaning of the sentence, and each individual word in it. In the five-casesystem, grammatical cases simply provide information about syntax -- about how andwhere a noun, pronoun, adjective or participle fits into the structure of a sentence. That iswhat we must know first, in order to interpret a clause or sentence. And that is really all a

case form itself can tell us.

Then, after we know the syntax or structure, after we see what the sentence is saying in ageneral way, we can work on finding out the deeper meaning. We can determine --through the local and global context, through the broad area of meaning given in the


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lexical definition of each word, and by many other considerations -- the precise functionand implied meanings of each word. After the case form tells us the general role that theword plays in the clause or sentence, and after we see the big picture of the wholesentence structure and its context, then we can then figure out what the authorspecifically meant or implied when he used each word in a given role, that is, the functionand meaning of each word.

Because function involves so many factors other than the case form, and because thereare so many different functions, it is impossible to designate a case by function first, likethey do in the eight-case system.To determine function and meaning, thus to delve intosemantics, one must look at the whole context and other information, not just the caseform.

The case form, which only indicates syntax, is only a starting point, the first step.Semantics, determining meaning or function, is the second step, after understanding thesyntax. After one determines the syntax, then one can look at the words' lexical definitions

more closely, determine what kinds of verbs and nouns used with the word, examine thecontext, put all the data together logically, and take into account many otherconsiderations.

So one must first determine the syntax, and understand the sentence structure. Only afterone comprehends the structure, can one work on the semantics, to gain an understandingof the function and meaning of each particular word in its assigned syntactical role.Function is about expressing meaning, and is therefore a semantic category, thus asecond step. But case is clearly just a syntactical category and does not provide much

semantic information, only syntax, only a general indication of the role of a word in thestructure of the sentence.

Consequently, as Wallace says, one cannot "put the cart before the horse," and classifycase according to function and meaning first, according to semantic categories.Therefore, a case form is also a case category. Every genitive form is a genitive case,and every dative form is a dative case. Like the majority of grammars, BB Greekfollowsthe five-case system.

The Nominative Case

A noun or pronoun in the nominative case is most often used as a subject of a clause orsentence. If the Greek clause or sentence uses a linking verb, a second nominative formmay also be found in it, one used as a "subject complement" (which we place after thelinking verb in our English translations). Sometimes this subject complement is also calleda "predicate nominative," if it is a nominative form of a noun, pronoun or substantive (likean adjective or participle functioning as a noun). Or it may be called a "predicateadjective," if it is a nominative form of an adjective or participle which asserts somethingabout the subject.


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The nominative singular form is the lexical form, the form found in a lexicon.

English pronouns in the "nominative" case include: "I," "we," "he," "she" and"they." The Greek nominative case nouns are used grammatically in much thesame way as we use these kinds of English pronouns in a sentence. However,Greek nominative nouns can be put almost anywhere in a sentence, since roles ofwords in a Greek sentence are primarily assigned according to inflections, butalso by the use of articles or the word order at times (unlike English, whichassigns the roles of words strictly according to the order in which the words areplaced in a sentence).

In Greek, when a nominative nounis the subject of the sentence, its position inthe sentence is often after an action verb, unless it is placed at the beginning orend of a sentence or clause for emphasis. But a nominative pronoun(acting asthe subject) is mostly placed in front of the verb. Also, a nominative noun subjectwill often have an article in front of it, so it is often easily recognized no matterwhere it is.

An adjective or participle in the nominative case often modifies a nominative noun.If a noun has an article in front of it, its modifier will almost always have an articlein front of it too. Either the modifier will be placed behind the noun's article, or thenoun's article will be repeated in front of the modifier. The modifier's position, inrelation to the noun, is called an attributive position:

1st Position:Article - Adjective - NounHere the modifier sits between the noun and its article: ("the good man")

2nd Position:Article - Noun - Article - AdjectiveHere the noun's article is repeated somewhere after the noun, and themodifier is placed after that repeated article. Sometimes a genitive maybe placed between the noun and its modifier, but the article in front of theadjective will always be the same as the one in front of the noun it

modifies: ("the good man of God")

3rd Position:Noun - Article - AdjectiveHere, if the noun does not have an article, but the modifier does, themodifier will be placed after the noun, never in front of the noun. Thisposition is rare: ("a good man")

Other:Noun - AdjectiveorAdjective - NounIf neither the noun nor the modifier has an article, they can be interpretedaccording to whatever fits the context. For example, whether it is writtenas or as , the adjective may


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nominative substantive is usually the subject, while the anarthrousnominative in front of it is the subject complement: ("God is spirit.")

3rd Position:Noun/Subject - Noun/PredicateHere neither nominative will have an article. If one is a modifier and theother is a substantive, the modifier can be translated either as anattributive ("a good man") or as a subject complement ("a man is good"),depending on what seems to fit the context. But if both are nominativesubstantives, the first is usually translated as the subject, and the secondas the subject complement: ("God is spirit.")

In a Greek sentence with a linking verb, if both the subject and subjectcomplement have an article, or both have no article, the first nominative usuallywill be the subject, and the second will be the complement. But this general ruledoes not always hold true. Context will usually make it clear as to which of the twonominatives will be the subject and which will be the predicate.

In a Greek sentence with a finite verb (any verb form that indicates personandtime, not a linking verb), the subject and its modifiers will often be the onlynominative forms, and might be placed anywhere in the sentence. If there is acomplement (like a direct object, usually in the accusative case) it may be placedjust before the finite verb, unless it takes a place of emphasis at the beginning (or

end) of a clause or sentence. And the complement is frequently anarthrous (hasno article in front of it).

The nominative form can be used in direct address, if no separate vocative

form of the word exists(see "Vocative Case" below). When used as a vocative,an article may be with the nominative noun. For example, the Greek word ("spirit") has no separate vocative form. So, in addressing a spirit, Jesus used thenominative form of the word: , ,

So this verse (Mark 9:25) can be translated, "Spirit, I command you, come out ofhim." And the article in front of the nominative case noun ( ) is ignored. Ofcourse, one does not translate a vocative as "The spirit, I command you ..."

An "independent nominative" (or "hanging nominative") is a nominative nounwhich may be used in place of an accusative (or dative) at times, such as whenthe direct object (or indirect object) is referred to almost as a quote, as thoughsomeone were speaking the words. Powers gives this example:

It can be translated, "You call Me the Teacher and the Lord" (John 13:13). TheGreek words in green are nominative nouns with articles in front of them(articular), yet really should be the direct objects (in the accusative case) of theverb.


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nominative plural usually is employed as the vocative plural.

Even when a vocative form existed, some koine Greek writers would still use thenominative form instead. The vocative case was beginning to fall into disuseduring the first century when the New Testament was being written.

For a more complete explanation regarding the grammatical functions of the vocative

case, see The Vocative Case.

The Accusative Case

A noun, pronoun, or adjective in the accusative case is mostly used as a direct objectorthe object of a preposition.

English pronouns in the objective case -- which actually includes both the Greekaccusative case (direct object) and dative case (indirect object) -- are "me," "us,""him," "her" and "them."When an action verb is used in a sentence, there may be an object directlyreceiving the action of the verb. That direct object usually is a noun in theaccusative case and is called an "objective accusative." Powers gave thefollowing example:

This can be translated, "I baptized youin water" (Mark 1:8). The pronoun isthe direct object, receiving the action of being baptized, and is in the accusativeplural form.As a complement, the direct object often will not have an article in front of it, andmight be placed immediately in front of the action verb (opposite to English order).The accusative is one of the three oblique cases. (The genitive and dative arealso oblique cases.) And prepositions will take a noun from one or more of theoblique cases as an object of its prepositional phrase. If a preposition is found infront of a noun in the accusative case, the accusative form of the noun is an

object of a preposition, not the direct object of the verb, of course.An "extentive accusative" (or "accusative of extent") implies "motion towards orextension towards, [or] the extent of something [like time, distance, etc.]." Itanswers questions like "How long?" or "How far?" The following example wasprovided by Powers: Literally this means, "I with you am all days." It means, "I am with you all days"(Mat. 28:20). The adjective, article and noun in green are all in accusative pluralforms, and answer the question, "How long is Jesus with us?"

An accusative noun, pronoun or adjective (used substantively) may be used asthe "subject" of an infinitive. Powers gave the example: |This is literally, "They say a resurrection not to be," but is translated something
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like, "They say a resurrection will not be / happen," or, "They say there will not be

a resurrection" (Mark 12:18). The infinitive is | ("to be") with a negative ().And is the accusative singular form of ("a resurrection").

For a more complete explanation regarding the grammatical functions of the accusativecase, see The Accusative Case.

The Genitive Case

A noun, pronoun, or adjective in the genitive case is often used as a possessive formorthe object of a preposition.

English pronouns in the genitive (possessive) case include "my," "our," "your,""his," "her," "its" and "their." The Greek genitive case is used and translated inmuch the same way we use these English pronouns.A genitive noun often has a genitive article in front of it, and is usually placed afteranother noun. The noun in front of it can be of any case. For example: This means, "the peace of Christ." The article , and the noun , are bothin the genitive singular masculine case. (The article must agree with its noun incase, number and gender.) But the noun which precedes it (), and its article(), are both nominatives.

In Greek, a genitive usually follows after the noun it qualifies, which is called itshead noun. The head noun in the above example is "peace."As you can see in the example above, the genitive form is usually translated withthe word "of,"and its article frequently is not translated at all. But we could alsohave translated the above phrase as "Christ's peace."In the example above, the genitive "of Christ" could be possessive and indicatethat its head noun is His personally owned peace within Himself. But the genitivemay also indicate that Christ is the source or cause of peace enjoyed by anotherperson. A genitive is not always about ownership, but may also indicate cause or

source, or connote something like, "concerning the matter of," and so on.A genitive may generally portray two kinds of "relationships" to a head noun. A"true genitive" is one which defines the genusof the head noun, i.e., the kind ofthing it is, further describing the head noun like the possessive form often does inEnglish, "Bill's bike," "the ocean's waves." An "ablative" is a genitive form whichindicates "the derivation, source or origin of something, [a source or originnormally] from which that something is now separated."Some verbs may take a genitive form as a direct object, to basically indicate "whatowns or possesses the action of the verb." Powers tells us that these are mostly

verbs of "touching or grasping (, 'I touch'); perception and feeling (,'I hear'); remembering and forgetting; emotion and accusation; or ruling andsurpassing (, 'I rule')." Powers gave this example:
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Literally this is, "The sheep of mine of the voice of mecontinuously hear," but is

better translated as, "My sheep continuously hear My voice" (John 10:27). So thedirect object of the verb is in the genitive case, indicating that His sheep hear "ofHis voice," where His voice is a "source" and owns the action of the verb.The genitive is one of the three oblique cases. If a preposition is found before anoun in the genitive case, the genitive form of the noun is an object of thepreposition in a prepositional phrase. As an object of a preposition, it is notindicating possession, so the word "of" will not be used in the translation of thatgenitive noun -- unless the word "of" is part of the translation of the prepositionitself (like the preposition is translated "out of," and, by the way, always uses anoun in the genitive case as its object).The general "relationship" of the genitive to its head noun can be described by theterms "true genitive" and "ablative." But a more specific relationship can bedescribed by the following terms. A close examination of a genitive's context willhelp one determine what kind of relationship is expressed by each genitive.

1. Possessive Genitive:Indicates the head noun is owned, possessed,"belonging to" the genitive; ("field of his")

2. Subjective Genitive:If the head noun is an "action noun" (a noun referringto an action, like "love" refers to the action of loving), the genitive modifyingthis noun may indicate the "subject" performing the action of that noun: ("the love of God" or "God loves [us]," where the genitive refers to the subject, telling us who performs the action of loving).

3. Objective Genitive:Again, if the head noun is an "action noun," a genitivemight indicate the "object" which receives the action:

("the light of the world" or "[we] light up the world," where the genitive refers to the object, telling us what receives the action of being lit).4. Durative Genitive:If a head noun refers to an event, a genitive may indicate

the time in which that event took place. Also, a durative genitive sometimesmay not even modify a head noun, but stand alone after a verb. An examplemight be: ("flight of winter" or "flight during the winter," wherethe genitive indicates when the flight takes place).

5. Comparative Genitive:When a comparitive form of an adjective or adverb(e.g., "greater, smaller, purer") is followed by a genitive, the genitive may be

translated with the key word "than" instead of the key word "of": ("greater than these," where the genitive demonstrative pronoun indicates what the subject of the sentence was "greater than").

6. Definitive Genitive:A genitive may be the same person or thing as the headnoun, and simply present the head noun in a different way, to draw a clearerpicture of the head noun in one's mind: ("comfort oflove," where the genitive refers to the same thing as the head noun -- love is a kind of comfort, and comfort is a kind of love).

7. Adjectival Genitive:A genitive may simply describe, specify, qualify or

modify the head noun in some way, like an ordinary adjective: ("the words of grace," or, "the graceful words," where the genitive describes the kind of "words," and functions as an adjectivemodifying the head noun ).


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8. Partitive Genitive:This type of genitive indicates what category its headnoun belongs to, describing the head noun as being a part of some whole: ("the remainder of the dead," where the genitive describes the category of the head noun -- where , "the remainingones," are part of the whole of all the dead).

9. Genitive of Content:The genitive describes the contents of the head noun: ("the waterpot of water," where the genitive describeswhat is in the waterpot).

10. Genitive Absolute:This is a grammatical construction consisting of agenitive participle and a genitive noun, but exists independently from therest of the sentence (is not a subject, object, modifier, etc.). Thisconstruction just adds some "aside information" to the sentence: ("of a coming of a sabbath," or, "when the sabbath came," Mark6:2). The genitive participle is modified by the genitive noun. Then a full clause is provided after this, complete with a subjectand predicate. So these two genitives are not necessary for the grammaticalconstruction of the clause, and stand alone as a separate construction orphrase. This phrase (genitive absolute) simply adds some loosely related orinteresting information to what was said in the clause it is being joined to.

For a more complete explanation regarding the grammatical functions of the genitivecase, see The Genitive Case.

The Dative Case

A noun, pronoun, or adjective in the dative case most often used as an indirect objectorthe object of a preposition.

Again, English pronouns in the objective case, used as both direct objects(accusative case) and indirect objects (dative case), would be "me," "us," "him,""her" and "them."

Basically there were originally three different cases which were all combined intoone "dative" case over time. Those three cases are:1. The "true dative case" (or "dative proper"): It connotes receiving or accrual,

and "has the primary idea of personal interest or reference, designatingpersonal relations or involvement" (Powers). So a Greek "true dative" isusually translated with either the key word "to" or "for" in front of it. Forexample, the dative pronoun can be translated as "to you" or "for you."

2. The "instrumental case": It indicates "the means by which or with which theaction of the verb is carried out" (Powers). So it may express the noun's role

as an instrument or agent in causing something. Therefore, an"instrumental" might be translated with either the key word "with," "by," or"in" before it, or sometimes "on" or "at." For example:
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Here the dative noun "" can be translated into the prepositional phrase,

"with a word," and the whole clause as, "He cast out the spirits with a word"(Matthew 8:16).

3. The "locative case": It is used to indicate location (a place); or a point intime. Thus, it may be translated with the word "in" or "on." One of Power'sexamples was the dative noun, (John 21:8), which is translated"in a small boat." Another was the dative noun phrase, (Mat.17:23), which means, "on the third day."

Sometimes a casual look at the context does not make it entirely clear as towhether a dative is instrumental or locative. For example: The noun might be used as an "instrumental dative," indicating what wasused to perform the baptism: "I baptized you with water." But it could also be alocative dative," indicating where the baptism took place: "I baptized you in water"(Mark 1:8). However, since the core meaning of the verb means"immerse," the dative is likely locative and means "in water."Most dative nouns can be translated into the English word order -- subject / verb /indirect object / direct object. In English, the indirect object is always placedimmediately after the verb and in front of the direct object. However, mosttranslators like to turn the Greek indirect object into a prepositional phraseinstead, which they generally place after the direct object.The key words (i.e., the prepositions "to," "for," "with," "in," "at," "on") often portraythe meaning of the dative case more clearly, especially for instrumental or locativedatives. But, in many instances, the English word order works just as well.

Example: The word ("for themselves") is a dative plural form. We could translate thedative noun into a prepositional phrase, placing it after the direct object, like this:"They may buy food for themselves" (Mat. 14:15). Or we can simply translate itinto the English word order, placing the indirect object after the verb and beforethe direct object like this: "They may buy themselves food."Although the dative case mostly indicates an indirect object, some verbs willoften take a "direct object" in the dative case, instead of the accusative case. As

a "direct object," the dative noun indicates "the person [or thing] involved"(Powers). Powers also gave the following examples of verbs which will sometimestake a dative "direct object": ("follow"), ("answer"), ("serve"), ("pray"), and ("believe"). When no directobject (a noun in the accusative case, outside a prepositional phrase) exists, youcan generally judge by context whether the dative noun is being used as the directobject. If the dative noun is used as a direct object, we would not always translateit with a key word like "to," "for" or "with." So a verb with a dative "direct object" of might be translated something like "follow Him," "pray to Him," "believe Him"

or "believe it."The dative is one of the three oblique cases. If a preposition is found in front of adative noun, the dative noun is an object of a prepositional phrase, and not anindirect object. If a dative noun is an object of a preposition, we do not add any of


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the key words ("to," "for," "with," "in," or "by") before the dative noun in addition tothe preposition. For example, the preposition means "at" or "on the basis of"when it takes a dative object, as in the sentence: . The preposition , with its dative plural noun object, , istranslated, "at His words/teachings," and the whole sentence can be translated,"And the disciples were amazed at His words" (Mark 10:24).

For a more complete explanation regarding the grammatical functions of the dative case,see The Dative Case.

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How Greek Cases Are Used