English shows place and direction with small words: in the house, into the house, out of the house. Greek has these words too, called prepositions, and each one is followed by a noun in a particular case: genitive, dative or accusative. We say the preposition takes that case.
Behind many of them is one simple pattern. The genitive goes with movement away from a place, the dative with being at rest in it, and the accusative with movement towards or into it.
ἐκ τῆς οἰκίας
genitive · out of the house
ἐν τῇ οἰκίᾳ
dative · in the house
εἰς τὴν οἰκίαν
accusative · into the house
| with the genitive | with the dative | with the accusative | |
|---|---|---|---|
| ἐκ (before a vowel ἐξ) | out of, from | · | · |
| ἀπό | away from | · | · |
| ἐν | · | in, on, among | · |
| εἰς (also spelled ἐς) | · | · | into, to |
| διά | through | · | because of |
| μετά | with | · | after |
| ὑπό | by (the person who does it); under | under | under (with movement) |
| πρός | from the side of (rare) | at, near | to, towards; against |
| παρά | from (a person) | beside, at the house of | to (a person); along, beside |
| ἐπί | on, upon | on, at; for | onto, to, against |
Many prepositions take more than one case, and the case changes the meaning. The pattern still helps: with παρά, the genitive is "from" a person, the dative "beside" them, the accusative "to" them.
Two changes of spelling to expect. A preposition ending in a vowel usually drops it before a word beginning with a vowel: διά becomes διʼ, ἀπό becomes ἀπʼ. And before a rough breathing, π, τ and κ turn into φ, θ and χ: ἀφʼ, καθʼ, ὑφʼ.
ὁ ἄνθρωπος μένει ἐν τῇ οἰκίᾳ. The person stays in the house.
οἱ ἄνθρωποι φεύγουσιν ἐκ τῆς χώρας. The people flee out of the land.
ὁ υἱὸς λέγει πρὸς τὸν πατέρα. The son speaks to his father. Greek often uses the article where English says "his" or "her".
ἔχω δῶρον παρὰ τοῦ πατρός. I have a gift from my father.
Unrolling the passage…
All three directions in one verse: ἐν Βηθλεὲμ "in Bethlehem" (where), ἀπὸ ἀνατολῶν "from the east" (genitive: where from) and εἰς Ἰεροσόλυμα "to Jerusalem" (accusative: where to). ἐν ἡμέραις is "in the days".
Greek shown exactly as the source file gives it. Click any word to look it up.
Unrolling the passage…
παρὰ θεοῦ with the genitive: "sent from God".
Greek shown exactly as the source file gives it. Click any word to look it up.
Unrolling the passage…
Classical prose: King Darius "sends for" his son Cyrus ἀπὸ τῆς ἀρχῆς, "from the province" he governed. Later in the sentence the edition prints ἐς, the other spelling of εἰς: ἐς Καστωλοῦ πεδίον, "to the plain of Castolus".
Greek shown exactly as the source file gives it. Click any word to look it up.
- ἐν …
- εἰς …
- ἐκ …
- ἀπό …
- πρός …
- παρά …