A pronoun stands in for a noun: "he came", "this is the man who…". The Greek name ἀντωνυμία says just that, "a word instead of a name" (and the Latin pronomen, "for a noun"). A pronoun takes its gender and number from the word it stands for, and its case from its own place in the sentence.
I and you. The verb's ending already says who acts, so ἐγώ and σύ in the nominative are there for emphasis or contrast: ἐγὼ δέ… "but I…". In the other cases they are the ordinary words for me, you, us:
Pronouns: ἐγώ (I), σύ (you)
The shorter forms (μου, σου…) are unemphatic and lean on the word before them.
| I | we | you (one) | you (all) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| nominative | ἐγώ2k | ἡμεῖς461 | σύ1k | ὑμεῖς498 |
| genitive | ἐμοῦ, μου1k | ἡμῶν626 | σοῦ, σου930 | ὑμῶν892 |
| dative | ἐμοί, μοι3k | ἡμῖν768 | σοί, σοι1k | ὑμῖν1k |
| accusative | ἐμέ, με2k | ἡμᾶς510 | σέ, σε1k | ὑμᾶς865 |
αὐτός does three jobs. On its own in the genitive, dative and accusative it is the ordinary him, her, it, them: αὐτόν "him". With a noun and the article, where it stands decides what it means, as with adjectives in lesson 11: inside the article it means same, outside it -self.
Pronoun: αὐτός, αὐτή, αὐτό
Alone in the genitive, dative or accusative it means him, her, it, them; with the article it means "the same".
| masc. sg | fem. sg | neut. sg | masc. pl | fem. pl | neut. pl | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| nominative | αὐτός18k | αὐτή3k | αὐτό4k | αὐτοί6k | αὐταί431 | αὐτά1k |
| genitive | αὐτοῦ41k | αὐτῆς13k | αὐτοῦ41k | αὐτῶν37k | αὐτῶν37k | αὐτῶν37k |
| dative | αὐτῷ30k | αὐτῇ7k | αὐτῷ30k | αὐτοῖς22k | αὐταῖς2k | αὐτοῖς22k |
| accusative | αὐτόν33k | αὐτήν14k | αὐτό11k | αὐτούς18k | αὐτάς3k | αὐτά7k |
ὁ αὐτὸς βασιλεύς
attributive “the same king”
This and that. οὗτος "this" points to what is near, or has just been mentioned; ἐκεῖνος "that" to what is further off; ὅδε "this here" (the article with -δε) often to what comes next. With a noun they stand outside the article: οὗτος ὁ ἀνήρ or ὁ ἀνὴρ οὗτος "this man". On their own they mean "this man", "that woman", and οὗτος is often the Greek for an emphatic he.
Pronoun: οὗτος, αὕτη, τοῦτο (this)
Where the article has a τ, so does οὗτος; where the article begins with a rough breathing (ὁ, ἡ, οἱ, αἱ), οὗτος does too. The first syllable has ου where the ending has ο or ω, and αυ where it has α or η. ἐκεῖνος (that) declines like αὐτός, with neuter ἐκεῖνο.
| masc. sg | fem. sg | neut. sg | masc. pl | fem. pl | neut. pl | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| nominative | οὗτος10k | αὕτη5k | τοῦτο15k | οὗτοι6k | αὗται2k | ταῦτα10k |
| genitive | τούτου12k | ταύτης5k | τούτου12k | τούτων25k | τούτων25k | τούτων25k |
| dative | τούτῳ9k | ταύτῃ3k | τούτῳ9k | τούτοις11k | ταύταις979 | τούτοις11k |
| accusative | τοῦτον9k | ταύτην8k | τοῦτο26k | τούτους5k | ταύτας2k | ταῦτα25k |
καὶ θεὸς ἦν ὁ λόγος. Οὗτος ἦν ἐν ἀρχῇ πρὸς τὸν θεόν.
“And the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God.”
«οὗτος», masculine like «λόγος», picks up the last thing named: "this one, he". Gospel of John 1.1–2
μῆνιν ἄειδε θεὰ Πηληϊάδεω Ἀχιλῆος οὐλομένην, ἣ μυρίʼ Ἀχαιοῖς ἄλγεʼ ἔθηκε,
“Sing, goddess, the wrath of Achilles son of Peleus, the destructive wrath, which brought countless woes upon the Achaeans,”
«ἥ» "which" (with a grave accent here, before another word) is feminine singular like «μῆνιν» "wrath", but nominative: in its own clause it is the subject of «ἔθηκε» "brought". Homer, Iliad 1.1–2
Κῦρον δὲ μεταπέμπεται ἀπὸ τῆς ἀρχῆς ἧς αὐτὸν σατράπην ἐποίησε,
“And he sends for Cyrus from the province of which he had made him satrap,”
«αὐτόν» "him" is Cyrus. «ἧς» "of which" refers to «ἀρχῆς» "province": feminine singular like it, and genitive because in its own clause it goes with «σατράπην», "satrap of which". Xenophon, Anabasis 1.1.2
Who, which: the relative. ὅς, ἥ, ὅ joins a clause to a noun: "the man who…", "the wrath which…". It looks like the article without its τ, with a rough breathing and an accent on every form. It agrees with its noun in gender and number; its case comes from its own clause.
Relative pronoun: ὅς, ἥ, ὅ (who, which)
It looks like the article without its τ, always with an accent and a rough breathing. It agrees with the word it refers to in gender and number; its case comes from its own clause.
| masc. sg | fem. sg | neut. sg | masc. pl | fem. pl | neut. pl | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| nominative | ὅς9k | ἥ2k | ὅ6k | οἵ4k | αἵ982 | ἅ2k |
| genitive | οὗ9k | ἧς5k | οὗ9k | ὧν21k | ὧν21k | ὧν21k |
| dative | ᾧ8k | ᾗ4k | ᾧ8k | οἷς10k | αἷς1k | οἷς10k |
| accusative | ὅν9k | ἥν10k | ὅ10k | οὕς6k | ἅς3k | ἅ9k |
Who? Someone. τίς; asks "who?" and τί; "what?" (and also "why?"). Without its accent the same word means "someone, something, a certain": τις, τι. The asking word keeps an acute accent on its first syllable; the other leans on the word before it, which may then take a second accent: οἴεταί τι "he thinks something".
Interrogative pronoun: τίς, τί (who? what?)
The accent always stays on the first syllable and is always acute. Without an accent the same forms mean "someone, something, a certain": τις, τι, τινός, τινί… (the indefinite pronoun, which leans on the word before it).
| who? (sg) | what? (sg) | who? (pl) | what? (pl) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| nominative | τίς7k | τί7k | τίνες863 | τίνα337 |
| genitive | τίνος1k | τίνος1k | τίνων524 | τίνων524 |
| dative | τίνι840 | τίνι840 | τίσι(ν)316 | τίσι(ν)316 |
| accusative | τίνα2k | τί14k | τίνας482 | τίνα188 |
Myself, yourself, himself. The reflexive pronouns join the personal pronouns to αὐτός: ἐμαυτόν "myself", σεαυτόν "yourself", ἑαυτόν "himself, herself". They have no nominative, since they point back to the subject: γνῶθι σεαυτόν (also written σαυτόν) "know yourself", the saying written at Delphi.
οὗτος ὁ ἀνὴρ σοφός ἐστιν. This man is wise. «οὗτος» outside the article.
ἡ πόλις ἣν ὁρᾷς μεγάλη ἐστίν. The city which you see is large. «ἥν» is feminine like «πόλις», and accusative as the object of «ὁρᾷς» "you see".
τίς ἐστιν οὗτος; Who is this? «τίς» asks; «οὗτος» points.
λέγει τις ὅτι ὁ βασιλεὺς αὐτὸς ἥκει. Someone says that the king himself has come. «τις» "someone", without an accent; «αὐτός» outside the article: "himself".
Unrolling the passage…
"But who do you say that I am?" ὑμεῖς, emphatic: "but you". τίνα "whom" is the accusative of τίς, and με "me" the accusative subject of the infinitive εἶναι, as in lesson 16.
Greek shown exactly as the source file gives it. Click any word to look it up.
Unrolling the passage…
"I am the way and the truth and the life." ἐγώ is emphatic: εἰμί alone already means "I am". The verse ends διʼ ἐμοῦ "through me", the long form after a preposition.
Greek shown exactly as the source file gives it. Click any word to look it up.
Unrolling the passage…
Socrates on a man thought wise: "he thinks he knows something when he does not, but I, as I do not know, do not think I do either". οὗτος "this man" is set against ἐγώ. τι "something" is the indefinite pronoun; leaning on οἴεται, it gives that word a second accent, οἴεταί. εἰδέναι is the infinitive of οἶδα (lesson 16).
Greek shown exactly as the source file gives it. Click any word to look it up.
- ἐγώ …
- σύ …
- οὗτος …
- ἐκεῖνος …
- ὅς …
- τίς …
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