If I were to begin learning Greek, what grammar text should I purchase to teach myself with?
Ah.
A grammar is a reference. Smyth is the standard English reference. It’s huge, and perhaps excessive for a beginner, but you’ll use it until the end of your Greek studies.
For first training material, a primer, that depends. What are you planning to read?
I am planning to major in Classics when I graduate from high school. I already have extensive experience in Latin, but I also am going to study Greek. I want a text which will allow me to begin to understand the language and its forms so that I will already have a firm foundation in the language when I begin college.
Morwood (Oxford Greek Grammar) definetly. By far the most user friendly; ideal for beginners.
Morwood is the pits.
~D
Whiteoctave, your perceptive faculties are uncanny. I concur re. Morwood. But then again, what do I know? I never had anything published (let alone a Greek grammar!). 
By far the most user friendly
the pits
Two opposite opinions. Can both of you elaborate?
the JACT Greek Summer School (300+ people learning Greek intensively on a residential course for two weeks) gives all its students a copy of Morwood.
Oxford first year undergraduates are expected to revise to their greek accidence for weekly tests from Morwood’s Greek grammar (though not his Latin).
Strangely enough I’ve been taught greek by Morwood himself and we used his greek grammar. He confessed that the sixth column in the irregular verbs page (future passive) was only put in to fill up space.
If you get a bad copy of Morwood and spend loads of time with it open at the irregular verbs page it eventually falls apart. Mine did this after two years but most others that I know of similar vintage are still fine.
The opinions aren’t quite opposite. I suppose Morwood is at the bottom (‘pits’) of the greek grammar hierarchy because it’s the smallest but I stick by my assertion that it’s best for beginners and I think a lot of classics teachers would agree.
For those of us wanting to learn dead languages (ones without natives to learn from who can’t tell a noun from a verb) I’d say that your first grammar book should be one about your native tongue. If you don’t know your own grammar, no Greek grammar is going to be of much help (don’t ask how I know).
(That was a general thought, not directed to anyone in particular.)
I’d say that your first grammar book should be one about your native tongue.
True, but how do you explain that I learned more English grammar through my study of French, then, later Latin and Greek, than I ever did from an grammar?
I know others who make a smiliar claim. Perhaps it’s a case of reverse osmosis!
Inero
You never had to worry about grammar to speak English, Inero.
“I’d say that your first grammar book should be one about your native tongue.”
Would someone correct this sentence? The ‘about’ doesn’t sound right; and if I change it for ‘in’, it’s ambiguous whether I mean (in my case) a Spanish grammar or a Greek grammar written in Spanish.
I would either say “I’d say that your first grammar book should be one on your native tongue.” or “I’d say that your first grammar book should be about your native tongue.”
I would either say “I’d say that your first grammar book should be one on your native tongue.”
reading this, the first thing that came to warped mind was aeschylus: [size=150]τὰ δ’ ἄλλα σιγῶ· βοῦς ἐπὶ γλώσσηι μέγας βέβηκεν[/size]; i.e. i’ll stay quiet on the other things: a great bull stands on my tongue. (the herald suggesting bad things have been happening at agamemnon’s house in his absence, agamemnon 36-37).
Thank you, Gluteal Greek Cheek! 
English prepositions are going to be the end of me!
You never had to worry about grammar to speak English, Inero
That’s logical. Perhaps, Bardo, your statement should read something like : <Before attempting to learn another language, one should nail down the grammar of one’s own>. This is precisely what happened to me.
Inero
I know that many will disagree with me, but I’ve found it easier to start with Koine because there are a lot of self study materials available with audio, and the reduced vocab of the NT allows me to concentrate on the grammar more, as I prepare to read real Greek texts.
I too intend to later on study a heavy duty classical Greek course from the beginning, but want to go into it with previous experience.
I like the 1st edition of Machen as my base curriculum. You can get a photocopy or a pdf from Still Waters Revival Books in Canada.
I like the DVDs and study guide and flash cards by Dr. Sellers
[http://www.nbcbible.org/bookstore/bookstoreindex.html
You can get another study guide from Amazon.com by Thompson that I really like, that includes an answer key.
“Mastering New Testament Greek” software runs the grammar topics, but not all of the vocabulary, in the same order as Machen. You can drill and hear all the forms, and some of the vocab.
I look up all my Machen vocab in Strong’s Greek Dictionary and write down the Strong’s # and the pronunciation guide.
The leaping Lions software drills by frequency, but if you go under program files, there are soundfiles listed by Strong’s #, so you can hear the vocabulary words for your Machen lists, if you know the strong’s #s.
http://www.llstudy.com/index.html
Before you start Machen, you may want to do workbooks 3 and 4 of “Hey Andrew Teach me some Greek”. They cover most of the material in the first few chapters of Machen, presented at a 3rd and 4th grade level.]()