Alphabet

Greek alphabet has 24 letters and 2 variants

Α α alpha	Β β beta	Γ γ gamma	Δ δ delta	Ε ε epsilon
Ζ ζ zeta	Η η eta	Θ θ theta	Ι ι iota	Κ κ kappa	Λ λ lambda
Μ μ mu	Ν ν nu	Ξ ξ xi	Ο ο omikron
Π π pi	Ρ ρ rho	Σ σ/ς sigma	Τ τ tau	Υ υ ipsilon
Φ φ phi	Χ χ chi	Ψ ψ psi	Ω ω omega

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Notice:

γ is not y but g
δ is not o but d
η is not n but ē
λ is not A but l
μ is not u but m
ν is not v but n
ρ is not p but r
σ is not o but s
ω is not w but ō

Learning Greek by Reading John

Reading the Bible in a different language is the best way to learn it.
Let's begin with the gospel of John.

Ἐν	ἀρχῇ	ἦν	ὁ Λόγος	καὶ	ὁ Λόγος ἦν	πρὸς	τὸν Θεόν	καὶ Θεὸς	ἦν ὁ Λόγος
En	archē	hēn	ho Logos	kai	ho Logos hēn	pros	ton Theon	kai Theos	hēn ho Logos
In	beginning	was	the Word	and	the Word was	with	the God	and God	was the Word

Why "hēn" and "ho"? Because of the breathing mark (ʽ) pointing to the right above the ἦ and ὁ.

Notice that the Greek includes an extra word not found in the usual English translation.
The Word was with the God. Greek uses the definite article and a different noun form to clarify and preserve identity between subjects and objects.

Secondly, the word order is different from what we are accustomed to hearing.
"...and God was the Word" rather than "...and the Word was God."
To understand these differences, we need to learn a little more about Greek nouns.
We'll start with the six in this passage:

Ἐν	ἀρχῇ	ἦν	ὁ Λόγος	καὶ	ὁ Λόγος ἦν	πρὸς	τὸν Θεόν	καὶ Θεὸς	ἦν ὁ Λόγος
En	archē	hēn	ho Logos	kai	ho Logos hēn	pros	ton Theon	kai Theos	hēn ho Logos
In	beginning	was	the Word	and	the Word was	with	the God	and God	was the Word
Prep.	Noun F.loc.	Verb aorist	Art. Noun M.nom.	Conj.	Art. Noun Verb M.nom. aorist	Prep.	Verb Art. Noun aorist M.acc.	Conj. Noun M.nom.	Verb Art. Noun aorist M.nom.

Nouns

Greek nouns have gender, number, and case.

Gender

Greek nouns can be masculine, femanine, or neuter
There are 3 noun declensions
1st Declension nouns are mostly feminine. ἀρχῇ (think "archeology") and ἀγἀπη (agape) are feminine nouns identified by the -ῇ ending.
2nd Declension nouns are mostly masculine. λόγος and Θεὸς are masculine nouns idengified by the -oς ending.

Number

Greek nouns have different endings for singular, plural:
λόγος and Θεὸς are singular nouns: word and God.
λόγοι and θεὸι are the plural forms: words and gods.
ἀρχῇ is the singular: beginning (see also Mark 13:8)
ἀρχαὶ is the plural form of the feminine noun: pincipalities in Romans 8:38.

Case

Greek endings identify a noun as:
subject, object, possession-source, indirect object-agent-location, or personification.
Technically these are called:
Nominative, Accusative, Genitive-Ablative, Dative-Instrumental-Locative, Vocative
The number of cases depends on whether case means function or form.
There are 8 functions (usages) but only 5 forms (ending variations).

FORM	FUNCTION	USAGE	EXAMPLE
Nominative	Nominative	subject, predicate noun/adjective	The Father loves.
Accusative	Accusative	direct object	Father loves the Son.
Genitive	Ablative Genitive	source/origin kind/possession	Bread from heaven. Body of Christ
Dative	Dative Instrumental Locative	indirect object means/agency location	Magi gave them gifts. He came by boat. They lived in Egypt.
Vocative	Vocative	direct adress/personification	O Jerusalem!

An English example of four cases is 1John 5:11

God has given	to us eternal	life and this	life is in	His Son
Nom. Subj.	Dat. In.Obj	Acc. Obj.	Nom. Subj.	Gen. Poss.

And in Greek:

ζωὴν αἰώνιον ἔδωκεν	ὁ Θεὸς	ἡμῖν καὶ	αὕτη ἡ ζωὴ	ἐν τῷ Υἱῷ	αὐτοῦ ἐστιν
Life eternal given-He	the God	to-us and	this the life	in the Son	of-His is-it
Acc. Obj.	Nom. Subj.	Dat. In.Obj.	Nom. Subj.	Dat. In.Obj.	Gen. Poss.

In John 1:1 ἀρχῇ is Dative-locative telling us when/where the λόγος (Nominative subject) was.
In English we would more directly say: "The Word was in the beginning."

Θεόν is the Accusative object of the preposition πρὸς.
All of the case endings for λόγος are:

Singular

Stem	Ending	Case	Meaning
λoγ-	oς	Nomnitive (subject)	The word spoke
λoγ-	oν	Accusative (object)	He spoke a word
λoγ-	ou	Genitive (possessive)	of/from a word
λoγ-	o	Dative (agent)	in/to/for/by/with a word
λoγ-	ε	Vocative (personified)	Oh, word!

Plural

Stem	Ending	Case	Meaning
λoγ-	oι	Nomnitive, Vocative	Words speak, O words!
λoγ-	ouς	Accusative	He spoke words
λoγ-	ων	Genitive, Ablative	of/from words
λoγ-	oις	Dative, Locative, Instrumental	in/for/to/by/with words

So, in summary noun case tells us:

NOMNITIVE	Subject doing the action
GENITIVE	Possessive eg. Word of God (God's Word)
ABLATIVE	Source eg. the Sent of God (sent from God)
DATIVE	Indirect object eg. a gift to/for the man
LOCATIVE	In/on/beside the object
INSTRUMENTAL	with/by means of the object
ACCUSATIVE	Direct object eg. he gave a gift
VOCATIVE	Addressing a person eg. Men and brethren!

Genitive and Ablative share the same endings; and
Dative, Locative, Instrumental share the same endings.

Articles

Greek only has a definite article.
Definite articles are also inflected (change endings) for gender, number and case to match the noun.

Masculine Articles

CASE	SINGULAR		PLURAL
Nom.	ho λoγoς	the word	hoi λoγoi	the words
Acc.	ton λoγoν	the word	tous λoγouς	the words
Gen.	tou λoγou	of/from the word	tωn λoγων	of/from the words
Dat.	tω λoγω	to/for the word	toiς λoγoiς	to/for the words

So, here in John 1:1 ho λoγoς is the subject (nomnitive case).
The genitive (possessive) case can be seen in 1John 1:1 τοῦ Λόγου τῆς ζωῆς "of the Word of(the) life"
The dative (instrumental) case is found in Mark 7:13 τὸν λόγον τοῦ Θεοῦ "by the word of(the) God"
τὸν λόγον is dative (by) and τοῦ Θεοῦ is genitive (of) i.e., the Word is a possession of God.

Verbs

Greek verbs have suffix endings to indicate person, number, tense, voice and mood.
Only one verb occurs in John 1:1, ἦν "ēn" past tense (aorist) third person singular of the most common verb in Greek, εἰμί, "to be." It is an irregular verb that changes with each person, just like the English singular verb.

SINGULAR VERB "to be"
"I am"	"You are"	"He is"
εἰμί	εἶ	ἐστί(ν)

English then uses the same form for all the plural persons, but Greek doesn't.

PLURAL VERB "to be"
"We are"	"You all are"	"They are"
ἐσμέν	ἐστέ	εἰσί(ν)

The infinitive, "to be", is actually εἶναι.

Past tense for εἰμί is

PERSON	SINGULAR		PLURAL
1st	ἦμην	I was	ἦμεν	We were
2nd	ἦ	You were	ἦτε	You all were
3rd	ἦν	He/she/it was	ἦσαν	They were

So, The Word ἦν in the beginning Ἐν ἀρχῇ;
and the Word ἦν with God πρὸς τὸν Θεόν (the person);
and the Word ἦν God Θεὸς ἦν ὁ Λόγος (but not the person).

Two individuals are present in this passage: ὁ Λόγος who is πρὸς τὸν Θεόν.
One is God and one is with God. There are three possible explanations for this.

1. There are two Gods (polytheism).
2. There is only one God with two names: the God and the Word ("oneness" modalism).
3. There is only one God, the Father (as stated in 1Cor 8:6) and the Word who has the same God-nature, who is God in nature, but is not the Father in identity.

"The Lord Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of the Father, is truly God in infinity, but not in personality." E.G. White Ms116-1905.19

The first occurrence of God appears with a definite article and both the noun Θεόν and the article τὸν are in the accusative case indicating the object of the preposition πρὸς.
This clearly identifies the God, the Father, a specific person, distinct and separate from the Word.

But because the second occurrence appears without a definite article, some have assumed that this would dictate the presence of an indefinite article in the English translation: "...and the Word was a god."

However, to express that concept the Greek would have been ὁ Λόγος ἦν Θεὸς. This arrangement has the object lacking a definite article following the verb.

Another possible construction could have been: ὁ Λόγος ἦν ὁ Θεὸς "the Word was the God". This would unambigously state that the Word and the God were a single equivalent identity and perfectly interchangable. But such an expression would contradict the first phrase that describes the Word in relationship with the God.

One final possible arrangement which would mean the same as that which John actually used is:
ὁ Λόγος Θεὸς ἦν. Again "Theos" lacks the definite article yet is in the nomnitive case.

Technically, this use of the word Θεὸς (God) without the definite article and positioned distinctly before the verb in the Greek is referred to as an anarthrous pre-verbal predicate nomnitive which identifies the noun "God" to be understood as the nature, the quality, the character of God, i.e, Godliness, His Divine Nature. Indeed, "in Him dwells all the fullness of the Deity bodily" Colossians 2:9.

"Jn 1:1 should rigorously be translated 'the word was with the God [= the Father], and the word was a divine being.'" John J. McKenzie, Dictionary of the Bible (1965), p. 317. [brackets in original]

"...the only being in all the universe that could enter into all the counsels and purposes of God." Great Controversy p. 493.

Mood

Greek verbs have different endings to distinguish between facts, commands, possibility, and desire.

Indicative:	Assertion/question of fact
Imperative:	Must do command
Subjunctive:	Should/would/could
Optative:	Wish or intention "May it be so", "God forbid"

ἦν in John 1:1 is Indicative, stating the fact that ὁ Λόγος "was with" τὸν Θεόν. In fact, verse 2 repeats the facts again. Οὗτος ἦν ἐν ἀρχῇ πρὸς τὸν Θεόν. This is now easy to read once the new word oὗτος (hūtos) is understood. This word is a nominitive (-ος) meaning "self" or "same" as in automobile or automatic.

Matthew 11:28,29 demonstrates the Imperative mood.

ἄρατε	τὸν ζυγόν	μου	ἐφ’	ὑμᾶς
arate	ton zugon	mou	eph	humas
Take	the yoke	of-Me	upon	you
V-Imp.	N-Acc.	PP-Gen.	Prep.	PP-Nom.

ἄρατε is the Imperative mood of the Indicative 1st person active verb
αἴρω I take (up,away,raise,remove,steal,destroy).

This is a unilateral taking independent of any other.
John 10:18 contrasts this with the reciprocal take-receive verb λαμβάνω lam-ban-o.

οὐδεὶς	αἴρει	αὐτὴν	ἀπ’	ἐμοῦ
oudeis	airei	auten	ap(o)	emou
none	takes-he	it	from	Me
	V.Ind.3	PP.Acc.3	Prep	PP.Gen.1

The preposition ἀπ’ is normally ἀπo but is here contracted because it is followed by a personal pronoun which begins with a vowel.
αἴρει is the 3rd person form (-ei ending) of the 1st person verb αἴρω.
Jesus is saying, "No one can steal my life; they can't take it without my permission." Then he says,

ἐξουσίαν	ἔχω	θεῖναι	αὐτήν
exousian	echo	theinai	auten
authority	have-I	to-place	it
N-Acc.FS	V-PIA-1S	V-Inf.	PP-Acc.FS

καὶ ἐξουσίαν ἔχω πάλιν λαβεῖν αὐτήν.
and authority have-I again to-take it.

λαβεῖν is the infinitive of 1st person λαμβάνω "I take/receive".
Half of the 200 times this verb appears in the New Testament it is translated "take" and the other half as "receive" because it is a coordinated action between a giver and a receiver; one takes as the other gives.
While the KJV renders this passage with the word "power", notice the word is ἐξουσίαν "authority/permission" not δύναμις (dunamis) "power/ability". This point is repeated as Jesus continues,

τὴν ἐντολὴν ἔλαβον παρὰ τοῦ Πατρός μου.
this command received-I from the Father of-Me.

ἔλαβον is the same λαβ- root: "receive/take".
Jesus recieved his Father's command; Jesus received his life back from his Father
just as he received his Father's life "Ἐν ἀρχῇ."

For as the Father has life in Himself, so has He given to the Son to have life in Himself. John 5:26.

ὥσπερ	γὰρ	ὁ Πατὴρ	ἔχει	ζωὴν	ἐν	ἑαυτῷ
hosper	gar	ho Pater	echei	zoen	en	eauto
just-as	therefore	the Father	has-He	life	in	Himself

οὕτως	καὶ	τῷ Υἱῷ	ἔδωκεν	ζωὴν	ἔχειν	ἐν	ἑαυτῷ
hutous	kai	to Huio	edoken	zoen	echein	en	eauto
likewise	also	to-the Son	gave-He	life	to have	in	Himself

Two verbs in this passage: ἔχει 3rd person present tense form "He has" of ἔχω "I have", and
ἔδωκεν 3rd person aorist (past) tense "He gave" of present tense διδῶ "I give". Let's continue studying nouns by examining John 1:4.

ἐν	αὐτῷ	ζωὴ	ἦν	καὶ	ἡ ζωὴ	ἦν	τὸ φῶς	τῶν ἀνθρώπων
In	himself	life	was	and	the life	was	the light	of(the) men

There are three words for life in Greek: bios, psuche, zoe. Physical life, mental (psychological) life, spiritual life.
Zoe is the one used when eternal life is expressed: ζωὴν αἰώνιον "life for eons". Zoe is feminine (a girl's name). ζωὴ is nominative feminine singular.
Phos (phosphorous) is light. φῶς is nominative neuter singular.
τῶν ἀνθρώπων (anthropon) is genative masculine plural. "anthropology: study of mankind".

Person Pronouns

English is simplified by dealing with number, person, and only three "cases".
Though we don't use the terms Nominative, Accusative, Genative, but rather Subject, Object, Possessive,
we'll use the Greek grammatical terms for practice and familiarity:

PERSON	CASE	SINGULAR	PLURAL
1st	Nom.	I	We
1st	Acc.	Me	Us
1st	Gen.	My	Our
2nd	Nom.	You	You all
2nd	Acc.	You	You all
2nd	Gen.	Your	Your
3rd	Nom.	He,she,it	They
3rd	Acc.	Him,her,it	Them
3rd	Gen.	His,hers,its	Their

Greek just adds one more case, Dative (indirect object/agent),
and like English doesn't regard gender until the 3rd person.

CASE	1st Person				2nd Person
	Singular		Plural		Singular		Plural
Nom.	ἐγώ egō	I	ἡμεῖς hēmeis	We	σύ su	You	ὑμεῖς hēmeis	You all
Acc.	ἐμέ eme	Me	ἡμᾶς hēmas	Us	σέ se	You	ὑμᾶς hēmas	You all
Gen.	ἐμοῦ emou	My	ἡμῶν hēmōn	Our	σοῦ sou	Your	ὑμῶν hēmōn	Your
Dat.	ἐμοί emoi	to/by Me	ἡμῖν hēmin	to/by Us	σοί soi	to/by You	ὑμῖν hēmin	to/by You all

ἐμέ, ἐμοῦ, ἐμοί are emphatic. Normally, they appear without the ἐ- as μέ, μοῦ, μοί.

CASE	3rd Masculine				3rd Feminine				3rd Neuter
	Singular		Plural		Singular		Plural		Singular		Plural
Nom.	αὐτός	He	αὐτοί	They	αὐτή	She	αὐταί	They	αὐτό	It	αὐτά	They
Acc.	αὐτόν	Him	αὐτούς	Them	αὐτήν	Her	αὐτας	Them	αὐτό	It	αὐτά	Them
Gen.	αὐτόῦ	His	αὐτῶν	Their	αὐτῆς	Hers	αὐτῶν	Their	αὐτόῦ	Its	αὐτῶν	Their
Dat.	αὐτῷ	to/by Him	αὐτοῖς	to/by Them	αὐτή	to/by Her	αὐταῖς	to/by Them	αὐτῷ	to/by It	αὐτοῖς	to/by Them

Tense

Greek tenses indicate time (past, present, future) and action (punctiliar, ongoing, continuous).
Indicative mood has 7 tenses: past (aorist), present, future, perfect, imperfect, (rarely: pluperfect, future perfect).
Optative/infinitives/particples has 4: past, present, future, perfect.
Imperative/Subjective only 3: past, present, future.

Punctiliar:	a point in time	λuω luo	I free/loose
Ongoing:	continued after starting	λuω luo	I am now freeing/loosing
Continuous:	progressive action	λuω luo	I am still freeing/loosing

The Greek stem λu- (free/loose) is a regular verb and is often used for examples.
Present tense makes no distinction between these forms.

Voice

Active:	Subject is acting on an object
Middle:	Subject acting but affected by the action
Passive:	Subject is acted on by an object

Parsing

Verb description of Tense, Voice, Mood, Person for a particular ending:
Example: λέγω (légō) "I say" is parsed as "Present Active Indicative First person singular."
The ending -ω identifies the first person pronoun "I".

English can also use verb variations to indicate person. For example:
"Am doing fine." I is understood. "Give me a hand." You is understood.
Greek just applies this to all the singular and plural persons.

Present Active Indicative Verb

For example: λu- to set free/loosen/(destroy)

Person	Singular		Plural
1st	λύω lúō	I free/loose	λύoμεν luomen	We free/loose
2nd	λύεις lúeis	You free/loose	λύεtε luete	You all free/loose
3rd	λύει lúei	He/she/it frees/loosens	λύouσι luousi	They free/loose

Future Active Indicative

Formed by adding -s- to the verb stem

Person	Singular		Plural
1st	λύσω lúsō	I will free/loosen	λύsoμεν lusomen	We will loose
2nd	λύσεις lúseis	You will loosen	λύsεtε lusete	You all will loosen
3rd	λύσει lúsei	He/she/it will loosens	λύsouσι lusousi	They will loosen

λuω is one of many thematic verbs that add an e- or o- as or before the ending.
λuω I free, λύεις you free, λύει he frees, λuoμεν we free, λuεtε you all free, λuouσι they free.
λεγω I say, λεγεις you say, λεγει he says, λεγoμεν we say, λεγεtε you all say, λεγouσι(ν) they say.

Other examples:
λαβ- take/receive
γνω- know

Athematic verbs add -mi as or before the ending such as:
δίδωμι I give, δίδωςς you give, δίδωσι (s)he/it gives
δίδoμεν we give, δίδotε y'all give, διδόασι they give.
I am

Present Middle/Passive Indicative

Person	Singular		Plural
1st	λuoμαι luomai	I freed myself	λuoμεθα luometha	We ourselves have
2nd	λuη luē	You free yourself	λuεσθε luesthe	You all yourselves have
3rd	λuαι luai	He frees himself	λuoνtαι luontai	They themselves have

Past Active Indicative

Formed by adding ε- prefix to the verb stem.

Person	Singular		Plural
1st	ἔλuσα élusa	I freed	λu lu	We freed
2nd	λu lu	You freed	λu lu	You all freed
3rd	λu lu	He freed	λu lu	They freed

Imperfect Active Indicative

Formed by adding ε- prefix to the verb stem.

Person	Singular		Plural
1st	ἔλυον éluon	I was freeing	λu lu	We were freeing
2nd	λu lu	You were freeing	λu lu	You all were freeing
3rd	λu lu	He was freeing	λu lu	They were freeing

Perfect Active Indicative

Formed by duplicating the first consonant and adding ε- prefix to the verb stem.

Person	Singular		Plural
1st	λέλυκα léluka	I have freed	λu lu	We have freee
2nd	λu lu	You have freed	λu lu	You all have freed
3rd	λu lu	He has freed	λu lu	They have freed

all indicated by endings and are divided into three "declensions".

Parsing

Noun description of the above properties. For example, anthropos (man) is:
Second declension, nomnitive, singular, masculine.

Case	Singular			Plural
	Masc.	Fem.	Neut.	Masc.	Fem.	Neut.
Nom	ὁ ho	ἡ hē	to	ὁi hoi	ἃi hai	ta
Gen/Abl	tou	tης hēs	tou	tων	tων	tων
Dat/Loc Instr	tω	tη tē	tω	toiς	taiς	toiς
Acc	toν	tην tēn	to	touς	taς	ta

Examples:
Ho aggelos tou ouranou legei tois adelphois.
The angel from heaven speaks to the brothers.

Ho aggelos ouranou legei tw huiw.
The angel from heaven speaks to the son.

Ho huios tou anthropou.
The son of (the) man.

Ho prwtos aggelos legousi tous agathous logous tois ethnois tou kosmou.
The first angel speaks the good words to-the nations of-the world.
prototype, dialog, ethnic cosmos are cognates in English.

Prepositions

Help intensify and clarify case relationships.
ana up, again; compounded with verbs eg. καπνὸς ἀναβαίνει (kapnos anabainei) smoke it-goes up.
anti against, instead of; with genative case.
apo from, away from; with ablative case: Ἄρο τοῦ οὐρανοῦ (apo tou ouranou) from the heaven.
ek out of; ἐξῆλθον ἐκ τοῦ Πατρὸς (exelthon ek tou patros) I came out of-the Father.
eis into/onto; πιστεύετε εἰς τὸν Θεόν (pistuete eis ton theon) you believe in God.
pro before; πρὸ προσώπου αὐτοῦ (pro prosōpou autou) before the face of him.
en in/on; ἐν τῷ ἀγρῷ (en tō agrō) in the field.
meta genitive: with; μετὰ τῶν μαθητῶν (meta tōn mathētōn) with the disciples.
          accusitive: after; μετὰ ταῦτα (meta tauta) after these things.
sun together with; σὺν τοῖς μαθηταῖς (sun tois methētais) with the disciples.
peri genitive: about; τοῖς περὶ αὐτοῦ (tois peri autou) things concerning him.
          accusitive: around; σκάψω περὶ αὐτὴν [τῇ συκῇ] (skapsō peri autēs) will-dig-I around it [the fig-tree]).
pros toward/with; ὁ Λόγος ἦν πρὸς τὸν Θεόν (ho Logos hēn pros ton Theon) the Word was with the God.
huper over/above; τὸ ὑπερῷον (to huperōon) the upper-room.
          ablative: for; τὴν ψυχήν μου ὑπὲρ σοῦ (tēs psuchen mou huper sou) the life of-me for you.
hupo accusative: under; πάντες ὑπὸ τὴν νεφέλην (pantes hupo tēs nephelēn) all under the cloud.
          ablative: by; ὑπὸ τῶν ὄφεων ἀπώλλυντο (hupo tōn opheōn apōllunto) by the serpents were-destroyed.
dia through/by; σεσῳσμένοι διὰ πίστεως (sesōsmenoi dia pisteōs) saved through faith.
epi on/over; ἐν οὐρανοῖς καὶ ἐπὶ γῆς (en ouranois kai epi gēs) in heaven and on earth.
kata according to alone; down/under compounded with verbs; καταλύσει (loose-down) destroy.
para beside/near ἄλλον Παράκλητον (allon paraklēton) another beside-stand (comforter/advocate).

Prepositions (except περὶ and πρὸ) ending with a vowel, will drop it when they are attached to verbs that begin with a vowel. And if the the beginning vowel has a heavy (') breathing mark the prepositions ending consonant will change to an aspirated form. Epi becomes eph, Ek becomes Ex, etc.

Accents & Syllables

Number of syllables in a word = number of vowels/diphthongs
Eg. adelphos (brother) has three syllables and three vowels (a-e-o).
And ouranos (heaven) has three syllables and three vowels/diphongs (ou-a-o).

Accents are placed on only the last three syllables (even if the word has more).
The last three syllables are: antepenultima, penultima, ultima.

Eg. apostolos (apostle) has four syllables:

a-: 4th from end is never accented
	-po-: antepenultima, 3rd from end
		-sto-: penultima, next to last
			-los: ultima, last
vowel 4	vowel 3	vowel 2	vowel 1