# BBG Chapter 29 — Adjectival Participles

## Files

### Exercises

Exercise | Description
--- | ---
exercises/ch29-adjectival-participle-parsing/ | 15-item drill: parse adjectival participles, identify attributive vs. substantival use, translate

### Flashcards

File | Description
--- | ---
ch29-vocab-deck.md | Human-readable card list — 5 vocabulary words
ch29-vocab-deck.txt | Anki import file (File → Import)
ch29-vocab-deck-fd.txt | Flashcards Deluxe import file

### Notebooks

Notebook | What it shows
--- | ---
Greek Participles | Adjectival vs adverbial role profile; substantival participles (ὁ πιστεύων)
Genre Comparison | Adjectival vs adverbial participle rates by genre

Basics of Biblical Greek Grammar, Mounce, 4th Edition
Data: MACULA Greek TAGNT (~2,100 adjectival/substantival participle tokens NT-wide)

## 1. Adjectival vs. Adverbial Participles

In Ch27–28 you learned the adverbial participle (no article; modifies the main verb). This chapter focuses on the adjectival participle (with article; modifies a noun or functions as a noun).

Feature | Adverbial | Adjectival / Substantival
--- | --- | ---
Article? | No | Yes
Modifies | Main verb (circumstance) | Noun (attribute) or is a noun itself
Case | Usually nominative | Any case (agrees with noun)
Translation | "while/after/because…" | "who/which…" or "the one who…"

The forms are identical — only the presence of the article and the context distinguish the uses.

## 2. The Attributive (Adjectival) Participle

The attributive participle modifies a noun, just like an ordinary adjective. It appears in the attributive position — with the article.

### 2.1 Two Attributive Positions

Position | Greek Structure | Translation
--- | --- | ---
First attributive | ὁ λύων ἄνθρωπος | "the loosing man"
Second attributive | ὁ ἄνθρωπος ὁ λύων | "the man who is loosing"

Both positions are equivalent in meaning. The article signals that the participle is functioning attributively.

> Note: The article always agrees with the noun being modified in gender, case, and number. The participle also agrees with that noun. Look for the article + participle + noun pattern (or article + noun + article + participle) as a reliable signal.

### 2.2 Examples in Context

> ὁ πιστεύων ἄνθρωπος σῴζεται. = "The believing man is being saved."
> → Attributive: ὁ agrees with ἄνθρωπος (masc nom sg); πιστεύων is the participle

> ἐν τῷ οἴκῳ τῷ λεγομένῳ = "in the house called [= which is called]"
> → Second attributive: τῷ λεγομένῳ modifies τῷ οἴκῳ (masc dat sg)

### 2.3 Translating as a Relative Clause

Because Greek uses adjectival participles where English typically uses relative clauses, the smoothest translation is usually:

> ὁ πιστεύων = "the man who believes"
> τοὺς ἀγαπῶντας τὸν θεόν = "those who love God" (cf. Rom 8:28)

## 3. The Substantival Participle

The substantival participle has an article but no accompanying noun. The participle itself functions as a noun — as subject, direct object, indirect object, or predicate.

### 3.1 Recognition

Signal | Explanation
--- | ---
Article present | Marks the participle as substantival or attributive
No accompanying noun | Distinguishes substantival from attributive
Any gender | Article + participle gender tells you the referent's gender

### 3.2 Translation

The standard translation is "the one who [verb]-s" (singular) or "those who [verb]" (plural).

> ὁ πιστεύων = "the one who believes" / "the believer"
> οἱ ἀγαπῶντες = "those who love" / "the ones who love"
> τοῖς πιστεύουσιν = "to those who believe" (dative plural — indirect object)
> τὸν σῴζοντα = "the one who saves" (accusative singular — direct object)

### 3.3 Gender and Number of Substantival Participles

The article tells you whether the referent is masculine (persons generally), feminine, or neuter (things/abstract):

Form | Meaning
--- | ---
ὁ πιστεύων | "the one (male/generic) who believes"
ἡ πιστεύουσα | "the woman who believes"
τὸ πιστευόμενον | "the thing that is believed"
οἱ πιστεύοντες | "those who believe" (group)

## 4. Very Common NT Adjectival/Substantival Participles

Greek | Parsing | Translation
--- | --- | ---
ὁ πιστεύων | Pres act ptc masc nom sg | "the one who believes / the believer"
οἱ ἀγαπῶντες | Pres act ptc masc nom pl | "those who love"
ὁ ἐρχόμενος | Pres mid ptc masc nom sg | "the one who is coming / the Coming One"
ὁ ποιῶν | Pres act ptc masc nom sg | "the one who does"
οἱ πιστεύσαντες | Aor act ptc masc nom pl | "those who believed"
τὸν λόγον τὸν σπαρέντα | Aor pass ptc masc acc sg | "the word that was sown" (Mark 4:15)
ὁ ὢν ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς | Pres ptc (εἰμί) masc nom sg | "the one who is in the heavens"

## 5. The Article as the Key Signal

The article is the single most important signal for distinguishing the three uses of the participle:

Article | No Noun | With Noun
--- | --- | ---
Present | Substantival — functions as a noun | Attributive — modifies the noun
Absent | — | Adverbial — modifies the main verb

> Note: There is no such thing as an "adverb with article" or a "substantive without article" for participles in standard usage. The rule is clean: article → adjectival/substantival; no article → adverbial.

## 6. Attributive vs. Predicate Position — Contrast

Just as regular adjectives can appear in predicate position (ὁ ἄνθρωπος πιστός = "the man is faithful"), participles can sometimes appear in predicate position. But predicate-position participles without an article typically function adverbially, not attributively.

The key:

Form | Use
--- | ---
ὁ πιστεύων ἄνθρωπος | Attributive: "the believing man"
ὁ ἄνθρωπος πιστεύων | Adverbial: "the man, while believing…"

## 7. Why Greek Prefers Adjectival Participles

English typically uses relative clauses ("the man who believes"), while Greek frequently prefers the article + participle construction. This is not merely stylistic — the participle carries aspect information that a relative clause with a finite verb also can, but the participle does it more compactly.

GNT examples of the substantival participle in key theological contexts:

> ὁ πιστεύων εἰς αὐτὸν οὐ κρίνεται. (John 3:18)
> "The one who believes in him is not judged."

> οἱ ἀγαπῶντες τὸν θεόν. (Rom 8:28)
> "Those who love God."

> ὁ νικῶν κληρονομήσει ταῦτα. (Rev 21:7)
> "The one who conquers will inherit these things."

> ὁ ἐρχόμενος ἐν ὀνόματι κυρίου. (Matt 21:9)
> "The one who comes in the name of the Lord."