# BBG Chapter 6 — Nominative and Accusative; Article

## Files

### Exercises

Exercise | Description
--- | ---
exercises/ch6-nom-acc-parsing/ | 20-item parsing drill — identify case, number, gender, lexical form, and function for 2nd-declension nouns and articles

### Flashcards

File | Description
--- | ---
ch6-vocab-deck.md | Human-readable card list — 13 vocabulary words
ch6-vocab-deck.txt | Anki import file (File → Import)
ch6-vocab-deck-fd.txt | Flashcards Deluxe import file

### Notebooks

Notebook | What it shows
--- | ---
GNT Noun Morphology | Case/gender distribution, article co-occurrence, top lemmas (nominative and accusative cases)

Basics of Biblical Greek Grammar, Mounce, 4th Edition

## 1. The Second Declension (BBG §6.1–6.2)

The second declension covers the largest and most central group of Greek nouns. Most masculine nouns (and all neuter nouns that follow the -ον pattern) belong to the second declension.

Characteristics of the second declension:
- The stem ends in ο (the "omicron declension")
- Masculine nouns: nominative singular ends in -ος
- Neuter nouns: nominative singular ends in -ον

## 2. Second Declension Masculine Endings (BBG §6.3)

Paradigm word: λόγος (word) — stem: λογ-

Case | Singular | Plural
--- | --- | ---
Nominative | λόγος | λόγοι
Genitive | λόγου | λόγων
Dative | λόγῳ | λόγοις
Accusative | λόγον | λόγους
Vocative | λόγε | λόγοι

Endings only:

Case | Singular | Plural
--- | --- | ---
Nominative | -ος | -οι
Genitive | -ου | -ων
Dative | -ῳ | -οις
Accusative | -ον | -ους
Vocative | -ε | -οι

> Note: The vocative plural is identical to the nominative plural (-οι). Context distinguishes them — the vocative is direct address; the nominative is subject.

## 3. Second Declension Neuter Endings (BBG §6.4)

Paradigm word: ἔργον (work) — stem: ἐργ-

Case | Singular | Plural
--- | --- | ---
Nominative | ἔργον | ἔργα
Genitive | ἔργου | ἔργων
Dative | ἔργῳ | ἔργοις
Accusative | ἔργον | ἔργα
Vocative | ἔργον | ἔργα

Endings only:

Case | Singular | Plural
--- | --- | ---
Nominative | -ον | -α
Genitive | -ου | -ων
Dative | -ῳ | -οις
Accusative | -ον | -α
Vocative | -ον | -α

> The Neuter Rule: In neuter nouns (and neuter adjectives), the nominative, accusative, and vocative are always identical — in both singular and plural. This means that for neuter nouns, you often must determine whether the form is a subject or object from context alone.

> Neuter Plural Rule: Neuter plural nominative/accusative subjects often take a singular verb. This is a standard Greek idiom: τὰ τέκνα ἔρχεται = "the children come" (neuter plural subject + singular verb). Do not "fix" this when translating.

## 4. The Definite Article (BBG §6.5)

Greek has a definite article (equivalent to English "the") but no indefinite article (no Greek word for "a/an"). The absence of the article does not automatically mean "a/an" — context and grammar determine translation.

The Greek definite article is fully inflected in all three genders, four cases, and two numbers. It must be memorized completely.

### Full Definite Article Paradigm

| Masculine | Feminine | Neuter
--- | --- | --- | ---
Nom. Sg. | ὁ | ἡ | τό
Gen. Sg. | τοῦ | τῆς | τοῦ
Dat. Sg. | τῷ | τῇ | τῷ
Acc. Sg. | τόν | τήν | τό
Nom. Pl. | οἱ | αἱ | τά
Gen. Pl. | τῶν | τῶν | τῶν
Dat. Pl. | τοῖς | ταῖς | τοῖς
Acc. Pl. | τούς | τάς | τά

### Patterns to Notice

- The article never has a vocative form (you do not say "the O word!").
- The masculine and neuter article share identical forms in the genitive, dative (sg. and pl.), and accusative plural is close.
- The feminine nominative forms (ἡ, αἱ) are the only article forms that do not begin with τ. They begin with the rough breathing η-sound alone.
- The genitive plural (τῶν) is the same for all three genders.

> Memory tip for the article: The nominative forms (ὁ, ἡ, τό / οἱ, αἱ, τά) do not follow the regular noun endings pattern. They must be memorized separately. Everything else follows the standard endings.

## 5. Nominative Case: Functions (BBG §6.6)

The nominative case marks the subject of a finite verb and the predicate nominative.

### Subject

The nominative noun (or noun phrase) identifies who or what performs the action of the verb (active voice) or receives the action (passive voice).

> ὁ θεὸς ἀγαπᾷ τὸν κόσμον — "God loves the world" (John 3:16)
> θεὸς ἐστίν = "he is God" (predicate nominative — see below)

### Predicate Nominative

When a linking verb (especially εἰμί, "to be") connects two nouns, both nouns are in the nominative case. The first is the subject; the second is the predicate nominative.

> ὁ λόγος θεὸς ἦν — "the Word was God" (John 1:1)
> → λόγος is the subject (with article ὁ); θεός is the predicate nominative (no article)

> The Granville Sharp Rule: When two nouns in the nominative (or any case) are connected by καί and the first has a definite article but the second does not, both nouns refer to the same person. Classic example: Titus 2:13 — "our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ" — both nouns refer to one person.

## 6. Accusative Case: Functions (BBG §6.7)

The accusative case marks the direct object of a transitive verb and the object of many prepositions.

### Direct Object

The accusative noun receives the action of the verb.

> ὁ θεὸς ἀγαπᾷ τὸν κόσμον — "God loves the world"
> → τόν κόσμον is accusative: it receives the action of "loves"

> ἐγείρω τὸν νεκρόν — "I raise the dead (man)"
> → τόν νεκρόν is accusative singular masculine

### Object of Prepositions

Several prepositions take their object in the accusative:

Preposition | Meaning with Accusative
--- | ---
εἰς | into, to, for
διά | because of, for the sake of
κατά | according to, against
μετά | after
περί | concerning, about
πρός | to, toward, with

> Note: Several of these prepositions can also take the genitive — and their meaning changes accordingly. Learning preposition + case pairings is essential for NT reading.

## 7. The Absence of an Indefinite Article (BBG §6.8)

Greek has no word for "a" or "an." When a noun lacks the definite article, it may be translated with "a/an" — but not always.

Greek | Literal | Good Translation
--- | --- | ---
ὁ λόγος | the word | the word
λόγος | word | a word
λόγος θεοῦ | word of God | the word of God / God's word

> Anarthrous (without article) nouns are not automatically indefinite. In John 1:1, θεὸς ἦν ὁ λόγος — the predicate nominative θεός lacks the article not because it is indefinite but because it is qualitative: the Word has the nature/character of God. Context and grammar — not merely the presence or absence of the article — determine translation.

## 8. Identifying Word Function by Ending, Not Position (BBG §6.9)

Repeat of the core principle from Ch5, now illustrated with real forms:

Sentence | Subject | Verb | Direct Object
--- | --- | --- | ---
ὁ νόμος σῴζει τὸν ἄνθρωπον | ὁ νόμος (nom. sg. m.) | σῴζει | τὸν ἄνθρωπον (acc. sg. m.)
τὸν ἄνθρωπον σῴζει ὁ νόμος | same | same | same

Both sentences mean "The law saves the man" — word order is rhetorical, not grammatical.

## 9. Practice Vocabulary — Ch6 Words (2nd Declension)

These high-frequency 2nd-declension nouns appear constantly in the NT:

Greek | Lexical Form | Gender | Gloss | NT Frequency
--- | --- | --- | --- | ---
λόγος | λόγος, -ου, ὁ | masculine | word, message | 330×
κόσμος | κόσμος, -ου, ὁ | masculine | world | 186×
κύριος | κύριος, -ου, ὁ | masculine | Lord, master | 717×
θεός | θεός, -οῦ, ὁ | masculine | God, god | 1,317×
νόμος | νόμος, -ου, ὁ | masculine | law | 194×
ἄνθρωπος | ἄνθρωπος, -ου, ὁ | masculine | man, human | 550×
ἀπόστολος | ἀπόστολος, -ου, ὁ | masculine | apostle | 80×
ἔργον | ἔργον, -ου, τό | neuter | work, deed | 169×
εὐαγγέλιον | εὐαγγέλιον, -ου, τό | neuter | gospel | 76×
ἱερόν | ἱερόν, -οῦ, τό | neuter | temple | 71×

> Lexical entry format: λόγος, -ου, ὁ — the genitive singular ending is given in the dictionary form to confirm the declension, and ὁ/ἡ/τό identifies the gender.