Greek

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Letters and sounds

  1. The Greek alphabet (1)You will know why the New Testament is written in Greek, recognise the first twelve letters α–μ by name and sound, and read short words such as καί, δέ, ἀλλά and θέλημα.
  2. The Greek alphabet (2)You will learn the remaining letters ν–ω, the final sigma, the diphthongs and γγ, and be able to sound out John 1:1, "ἐν ἀρχῇ ἦν ὁ λόγος", letter by letter.
  3. Breathing marks and accentsYou will know what the small marks on Greek words mean, and read words such as ὁ, ἐν and ἅγιον with the right "h" sound, stress and syllables.
  4. Reading John 1:1 aloudYou will put the letters, breathing marks and accents together to read John 1:1–2 aloud, syllable by syllable and then as a whole, and know what each word means.
  5. Using the Original panelYou will be able to read one line of the 원어 panel, understand the name tags it adds (Title, Individual, Location, Person Gentilic, Transcribed from Hebrew), and examine any verse word by word.

Nouns and pronouns

  1. Nouns and caseYou will understand that a Greek noun shows its job in the sentence by its ending, not its position, and you will recognise the five cases and the singular and plural in real verses.
  2. The articleYou will know that Greek has "the" but no "a", that the article changes with its noun's case, number and gender, and you will use it to read a noun's gender and to find the subject in John 1:1.
  3. First and second declensionsYou will know that Greek nouns fall into a few families that share endings, recognise the second- and first-declension patterns, and trace any form back to the dictionary word.
  4. PrepositionsYou will see that a Greek preposition decides the case of the noun after it, recognise the common ones (ἐν, εἰς, ἐκ, ἀπό, πρός, διά, μετά and more) in real verses, and read the shortened forms δι᾽, ἀπ᾽ and μεθ᾽.
  5. Adjectives and demonstrativesYou will see that a Greek adjective matches its noun in case, number and gender, tell attributive from predicate use by the article, recognise πᾶς and οὐδείς, and read the demonstratives οὗτος "this" and ἐκεῖνος "that" in real verses.
  6. Personal pronouns and αὐτόςYou will recognise the forms of "I/we" (ἐγώ), "you" (σύ) and "he/she/it" (αὐτός), read genitive pronouns as "my, our, your", and tell αὐτός "him", "himself" and "the same" apart, with the reflexive ἑαυτοῦ, in real verses.

Verb basics

  1. The verb εἰμί, 'to be'You will see that a Greek verb carries its subject in its ending (person and number), recognise the six present forms of εἰμί "to be", and read the "I am" sayings of Jesus in the original.
  2. The present active indicativeYou will split a regular Greek verb into stem and ending, recognise the six present active endings, and see in real verses that the present tense usually describes an ongoing or repeated action.
  3. The Greek verb systemYou will read the five slots the panel gives every verb (tense, voice, mood, person, number), understand that Greek tense is mainly about how an action is viewed rather than when it happens, and see why the lexicon form matters.
  4. The imperfectYou will know that the imperfect describes an ongoing or repeated action in the past, recognise it by the augment ε- before the stem and its past endings, and read ἦν in John 1:1 with care.

Tenses and voices

  1. The aoristYou will recognise the aorist, the everyday past tense of Greek narrative, tell the regular "1st aorist" (-σα-) from the "2nd aorist" (changed stem), and connect forms like εἶπον and ἦλθον to their dictionary entries.
  2. The futureYou will spot the σ that marks the Greek future, read "will …" verbs, follow the promises of Matthew 7:7 (including the 2nd future), and recognise futures that have middle-looking endings.
  3. The perfect and pluperfectYou will recognise the perfect by its reduplication and -κα-, read it as a completed action with a lasting result (against the aorist's plain event), and spot the rare pluperfect and the odd verb οἶδα.
  4. Middle and passive voiceYou will tell active, passive and middle voice apart, recognise the -ται endings and the aorist passive -θη-, find the agent with ὑπό, and read the panel's "deponent" labels as verbs with active meaning.

Participles and infinitives

  1. The third declensionYou will recognise the third family of nouns, whose stem shows only in the genitive, and read words like σάρξ, πατήρ, χάρις and πνεῦμα by trusting the panel's case label and lexicon form.
  2. Participles (1)You will know that a participle is a verb-and-adjective in one word, and recognise it with the article as "the one who …" (ὁ πιστεύων) or describing a noun, using the endings -ων, -ντ-, -μενος and -σας.
  3. Participles (2)You will see that a participle without the article gives the background of the main verb ("having …, when …, while …"), and use the rule of thumb that an aorist participle usually comes first and a present one alongside, to read real verses.
  4. The infinitiveYou will recognise the infinitive ("to …") by its endings -ειν, -σαι, -ναι and -σθαι, and read how it completes verbs like "can", "want", "must" and "be about to", and how it expresses purpose.

Moods and sentences

  1. Subjunctive and imperativeYou will recognise the moods beyond the indicative (subjunctive, imperative, optative), tell the two Greek negatives οὐ and μή apart, and read the verbs of John 3:16 and the Lord's Prayer with confidence.
  2. Contract and -μι verbsYou will recognise two families of verbs whose forms look unusual, contract verbs and -μι verbs, and follow the panel's lexicon form back to the dictionary word.
  3. Conjunctions and word orderYou will recognise the small words that join Greek clauses (conjunctions and the relative pronoun) and notice how word order puts the emphasis on the word that comes first.

Reading Scripture

  1. Reading John 1:1–5You will gather what the course has taught about cases, the article, tenses, prepositions and the relative pronoun, read John 1:1–5 word by word, and see exactly where translations part ways.
  2. Reading John 3:16–17You will read the best-loved verse of the New Testament word by word, recognise its aorist verbs, participle and ἵνα clauses with subjunctives, and see why "so" in "God so loved" is translated in two ways.
  3. Reading the Lord's PrayerYou will read Matthew 6:9–13 in Greek, reviewing the vocative, cases, third-person and second-person imperatives and the prohibition, and learn which parts are debated or found only in some manuscripts.
  4. Using the tools, and what nextYou will have a routine for reading any New Testament verse with the app, recognise five labels you have not yet met (interrogative pronoun, indefinite pronoun, interrogative adverb, interjection, comparative), and know sensible next steps.