# BBG Chapter 14 — Relative Pronoun

## Files

### Exercises

Exercise | Description
--- | ---
exercises/ch14-relative-parsing/ | 20-item drill: parse relative pronoun, identify antecedent, and translate relative clause

### Flashcards

File | Description
--- | ---
ch14-vocab-deck.md | Human-readable card list — 18 vocabulary words
ch14-vocab-deck.txt | Anki import file (File → Import)
ch14-vocab-deck-fd.txt | Flashcards Deluxe import file

### Notebooks

Notebook | What it shows
--- | ---
NT Syntactic Roles | Clause-level syntactic role analysis

Basics of Biblical Greek Grammar, Mounce, 4th Edition

## 1. Overview

The relative pronoun (ὅς, ἥ, ὅ — "who, which, that") introduces a subordinate relative clause that modifies or describes its antecedent. It is one of the most common pronouns in the GNT and follows a predictable pattern.

> Key Rule: The relative pronoun agrees with its antecedent in gender and number, but its case is determined by its function within its own clause.

## 2. Paradigm — ὅς, ἥ, ὅ

The relative pronoun closely resembles the Greek article — it is essentially the article with rough breathing and no τ- forms in the nominative, plus a distinct neuter singular form (ὅ rather than τό).

### Masculine

Case | Singular | Plural
--- | --- | ---
Nominative | ὅς | οἵ
Genitive | οὗ | ὧν
Dative | ᾧ | οἷς
Accusative | ὅν | οὕς

### Feminine

Case | Singular | Plural
--- | --- | ---
Nominative | ἥ | αἵ
Genitive | ἧς | ὧν
Dative | ᾗ | αἷς
Accusative | ἥν | ἅς

### Neuter

Case | Singular | Plural
--- | --- | ---
Nominative | ὅ | ἅ
Genitive | οὗ | ὧν
Dative | ᾧ | οἷς
Accusative | ὅ | ἅ

> Note: All forms of the relative pronoun carry a rough breathing (ὅς, ἥ, ὅ, οἵ, αἵ, etc.). This rough breathing is the primary visual distinction from the article. The genitive plural ὧν is the same across all three genders.

## 3. Relative Pronoun vs. the Article

The relative pronoun and the article share many identical-looking forms. The reliable distinguishing marks are:

Feature | Article | Relative Pronoun
--- | --- | ---
Nom. masc. sg. | ὁ (no written breathing) | ὅς (rough breathing)
Nom. fem. sg. | ἡ (smooth breathing) | ἥ (rough breathing + accent)
Neuter sg. nom./acc. | τό | ὅ (rough breathing)
Most forms | Begin with τ- | Never begin with τ-
Gen. sg. masc./neut. | τοῦ | οὗ
Dat. sg. masc./neut. | τῷ | ᾧ

> Mnemonic: "The relative pronoun looks like the article minus the τ, plus a rough breathing." Where the article has τ (τοῦ, τῷ, τόν…), the relative pronoun has the vowel with rough breathing (οὗ, ᾧ, ὅν…).

## 4. The Agreement Rule

The relative pronoun's gender and number agree with its antecedent (the noun it refers back to). Its case comes from its role inside the relative clause.

Example 1 — accusative (direct object in clause):

> ὁ ἄνθρωπος ὃν εἶδον ἦν δίκαιος.
> "The man whom I saw was righteous."

> Antecedent: ὁ ἄνθρωπος (masc. sg.) → pronoun is masc. sg.
> Function inside clause: direct object of εἶδον → accusative
> Result: ὅν (masc. acc. sg.)

Example 2 — dative (indirect object in clause):

> ἡ γυνή ᾗ ἐλάλησεν ἦλθεν πρὸς αὐτόν.
> "The woman to whom he spoke came to him."

> Antecedent: ἡ γυνή (fem. sg.) → pronoun is fem. sg.
> Function inside clause: indirect object of ἐλάλησεν → dative
> Result: ᾗ (fem. dat. sg.)

Example 3 — nominative (subject in clause):

> πᾶς ὃς ζητεῖ εὑρίσκει.
> "Everyone who seeks finds."

> Antecedent: πᾶς (masc. sg.) → pronoun is masc. sg.
> Function inside clause: subject of ζητεῖ → nominative
> Result: ὅς (masc. nom. sg.)

## 5. The Relative Clause as a Noun/Adjective Clause

Relative clauses function most often as adjective clauses (modifying a noun) or as noun clauses (functioning as subject or object of the main verb).

Clause type | Example | Translation
--- | --- | ---
Adjective clause | ὁ λόγος ὃν ἤκουσας | "the word that you heard"
Noun clause (subject) | ὃς πιστεύει εἰς ἐμέ | "whoever believes in me"
Noun clause (object) | οἶδα ὃ ποιεῖς | "I know what you are doing"

## 6. Indefinite Relative Pronoun — ὅστις

The indefinite relative ὅστις (= ὅς + τις) means "whoever, everyone who, whichever." It is formed by attaching the indefinite pronoun τις to ὅς. In the GNT it is most common in the nominative and often interchangeable with simple ὅς.

Form | Meaning
--- | ---
ὅστις (masc. nom. sg.) | "whoever, everyone who"
ἥτις (fem. nom. sg.) | "whoever (f.), whichever (f.)"
ὅτι (neuter nom./acc. sg.) | "whatever" — but compare ὅτι conjunction!
οἵτινες (masc. nom. pl.) | "all who, those who"

> Note: The neuter ὅτι is identical in spelling to the conjunction ὅτι ("that, because"). Context distinguishes them: ὅτι as an indefinite relative will have a nominal or pronominal antecedent and function within a relative clause structure.

## 7. Common Patterns in the GNT

Relative clause as adjective:

> ὁ λόγος ὃν ἤκουσατε οὐκ ἔστιν ἐμός (John 14:24)
> "The word that you heard is not mine."
> → ὃν: masc. acc. sg.; antecedent = ὁ λόγος; function = direct object of ἤκουσατε

Relative pronoun in dative with preposition:

> ἔρχεται ὥρα ἐν ᾗ πάντες… ἀκούσουσιν (John 5:28)
> "An hour is coming in which all… will hear."
> → ᾗ: fem. dat. sg.; antecedent = ὥρα; function = object of ἐν

Relative clause introducing a noun clause:

> τοῦτό ἐστιν τὸ ἔργον τοῦ θεοῦ, ἵνα πιστεύητε εἰς ὃν ἀπέστειλεν ἐκεῖνος (John 6:29)
> "This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he sent."
> → ὃν: masc. acc. sg.; antecedent = implied "the one"; function = object of πιστεύητε εἰς

Genitive relative (possession):

> ὁ υἱός, οὗ ἡ μήτηρ παρειστήκει (John 19:26)
> "the son, whose mother was standing there"
> → οὗ: masc. gen. sg.; antecedent = ὁ υἱός; function = genitive of possession

## 8. Parsing Strategy

To parse a relative pronoun, work through these steps:

1. Identify the antecedent — what noun (or idea) does the pronoun refer back to?
2. Gender and number — match the antecedent (e.g., if antecedent is feminine plural, relative pronoun is feminine plural)
3. Case — ask: what is this relative pronoun doing inside its own clause?
4. Subject → nominative
5. Direct object → accusative
6. Indirect object → dative
7. Object of preposition → depends on preposition
8. Possession → genitive
9. Translate — render as "who/whom" (persons), "which/that" (things), or "whose" (genitive)