Simple, GNT type sentences composed in Koine

Greek Koine and Biblical and Medieval Greek
1

Here’s one , for starters. I try to speak out the sentences that I’m thinking of first, in order to facilitate for internalization before putting them on a thread:

οἱ Φαρισαῖοι πάντοτε ἐνέπαιζον τὸν οινοπότην. Ἐγένετο δὲ ἐν μιᾷ τῶν ἡμερῶν ὁ οἰνοπότης συνλαλων ἦν τινι Φαρισαίῳ. ὁ οἰνοπότης εἶπεν τῷ Φαρισαίῳ, “τί καταφρονεῖτε με ?”


Translation: The Pharisees were always mocking the drunkard. It so happened that one day the drunkard was conversing with a certain Pharisee. The drunkard said to the Pharisee, “why do you(pl) despise me”;

I think there is nothing grammatically wrong with this short composition.

I’ve had someone fault me for placing the indefinite pronoun before Φαρισαίῳ. According to them the indefinite pronoun comes after the “noun which it is modifying.” But I’m not convinced. I think they may be confusing the fact that the indefinite pronoun does not (or rarely) stand at the beginning of a sentence and/or a clause with the fact that it does not come before the noun it is modifying.

Here are some examples from the GNT which show τινι before the noun:


Τί ὑμῖν δοκεῖ; ἐὰν γένηταί > τινι ἀνθρώπῳ > ἑκατὸν πρόβατα καὶ πλανηθῇ ἓν ἐξ αὐτῶν, οὐχὶ ἀφήσει τὰ ἐνενήκοντα ἐννέα ἐπὶ τὰ ὄρη καὶ πορευθεὶς ζητεῖ τὸ πλανώμενον;

Matthew 8:12

Ἐγένετο δὲ ἡμέρας ἱκανὰς μεῖναι ἐν Ἰόππῃ παρά > τινι Σίμωνι > βυρσεῖ.

Acts 9:43

λέγων > Κριτής τις > ἦν ἔν > τινι πόλει > τὸν Θεὸν μὴ φοβούμενος καὶ ἄνθρωπον μὴ ἐντρεπόμενος.

Luke 8:2

etc.

This one is interesting since in one use the indefinite pronoun comes after the noun (Κριτής τις) but in the same sentence and context with the other use the indefinite pronoun comes before the noun (τινι πόλει).

So I don’t think there is any real rule of grammar which prevents the indefinite pronoun from occurring before the noun. I don’t even think that we can say that the indefinite pronoun “normally” stands after the noun. There are 16 examples for instance of the use of τινι in the GNT, and the majority (of the relevant examples) have τινι standing before the noun.

Any thoughts ?

Incorporating authentic politeness strategies into compositi
2

Here’s another:

ἀνὴρ πρεσβύτης εἶχεν δύο υἱοὺς. Καὶ ἐγένετο ἐν μιᾷ τῶν ἡμερῶν τοῦ σαββάτου, ἐβούλετο πειράσαι αὐτοὺς. καὶ συναγαγὼν αὐτοὺς εἶπεν αὐτοῖς “ὦ τέκνα μου, δεῦρο , καὶ ἀκούσατε τὸν λόγον μου. ἠγόρασα τὰς δύο κῑβωτούς γέμοντα χρυσίου ὑπὲρ ὑμῶν. > οἱ δὲ παῖδές μου ἔθηκαν μίαν ἑκάστην ἐν τοῖς ἐκείνοις τοὺς οἴκους ὑμῶν> . ἀλλά πρόσεχε σεαυτῷ μὴ βλέπειν ἔσωθεν τὴν κῑβωτόν .”

ἡ νὺξ αὕτη ὁ νεώτερος ἦλθεν κοιμηθῆναι ἐν ὑπερῴῳ αὐτοῦ πεπιστευκὼς ἐν τῷ αἴτημα τοῦ πατρός αὐτοῦ. ὁ δὲ πρεσβύτερος πειρασθείς ἠνέῳξέν τὴν κῑβωτόν. Καὶ ἰδοὺ μέλισσαι ἐξῆλθαν καὶ ἔπαισν αὐτὸν.


Τῇ ἐπαύριον ὁ πατήρ ἐκάλεσεν τοὺς δύο υἱοὺς αὐτοῦ. ὁ δὲ πρεσβύτερος μετὰ αἰσχύνης ἔστη πρὸς τὸν πατέρα ὅτι τὸ πρόσωπον αὐτοῦ εἱλκωμένος ἦν


English translation:

An old man had two sons. And it so happened that on one of the days of the Sabbath he resolved to test them. So having gathered them together, he said to them, “oh my children, come here, listen to what I have to say. I have purchased two chests full of gold for you. My servants have placed each one in your respective houses. But be careful to not look inside the box.”


That night the younger son went to sleep in his upper room, having believed in the command of his father. However the older son having been tempted , opened the box. And behold, bees came out ( from the box) and attacked him.


The next day, the father summoned his two sons. And the elder stood before the father in shame because his face was covered in sores.

Underlined above seems to me to be a little awkward. Maybe not. All corrections are wellcome.

3

These are incredibly bad compositions, which have more elementary errors than I can count.

4

Thanks for the criticism. Could you please point to a few of the errors which you see, so that I may learn from any mistakes and improve my composition skill as a resut ? Let’s begin with the first one, from the OP:

οἱ Φαρισαῖοι πάντοτε ἐνέπαιζον τὸν οινοπότην. Ἐγένετο δὲ ἐν μιᾷ τῶν ἡμερῶν ὁ οἰνοπότης συνλαλων ἦν τινι Φαρισαίῳ. ὁ οἰνοπότης εἶπεν τῷ Φαρισαίῳ, “τί καταφρονεῖτε με ?”

Translation: The Pharisees were always mocking the drunkard. It so happened that one day the drunkard was conversing with a certain Pharisee. The drunkard said to the Pharisee, “why do you(pl) despise me”;

Thanks mwh.

By the way, all constructive discussion from everyone is welcome. Also I’m more concerned with any syntactical and grammatical errors in my compositions, not so much with that I may have accented a word wrongly or else used the English question mark (?) rather than the Koine (;), etc..

5

Hi, Isaac,

I like your sentences. They are comprehensible and fun. I look forward to reading more.

συλλαλῶν
ἐνέπαιζον τῷ οἰνοπότῃ
τί καταφρονεῖτέ μου?
maybe add a connective: ὁ δ’ οἰνοπότης εἶπεν τῷ Φαρισαίῳ or καὶ ὁ οἰνοπότης εἶπεν τῷ Φαρισαίῳ,

ἔρρωσο ἐν Χριστῷ!

6

Thank you Marcos. So in better Koine my sentence would look as follows –


οἱ Φαρισαῖοι πάντοτε ἐνέπαιζον > τῷ οἰνοπότῃ> . Ἐγένετο δὲ ἐν μιᾷ τῶν ἡμερῶν ὁ οἰνοπότης > συλλαλῶν > ἦν τινι Φαρισαίῳ. ὁ > δ’ > οἰνοπότης εἶπεν τῷ Φαρισαίῳ, “τί καταφρονεῖτε > μου > ?"

The corrections you suggested are honest and of a high caliber. It betrays the hand of someone who has been communicating (not just reading) in Koine for some time. When you have the time could you go through the second composition ? Please speak freely, even if every sentence needs correction I would not take offense.

7

I didn’t like ἐγένετο followed by a finite verb. Maybe it’s something that Semitic Koine authors do, but I would have expected ὅτε.

Notice that Luke 8:22 (which is very similar) has καί: Ἐγένετο δὲ ἐν μιᾷ τῶν ἡμερῶν καὶ αὐτὸς ἐνέβη…

Something sticks about “συνλαλων ἦν”? Would a Greek have said that? I think that “τινι Φαρισαίῳ” would have to mean something like “someone, a Pharisee.”

8

Yes, Semitc koine authors tend to do that.

Mark 1:9 –

Καὶ ἐγένετο ἐν ἐκείναις ταῖς ἡμέραις ἦλθεν Ἰησοῦς ἀπὸ Ναζαρὲτ τῆς Γαλιλαίας καὶ ἐβαπτίσθη εἰς τὸν Ἰορδάνην ὑπὸ Ἰωάνου.

Mark 2:23–

Καὶ ἐγένετο αὐτὸν ἐν τοῖς σάββασιν παραπορεύεσθαι διὰ τῶν σπορίμων, καὶ οἱ μαθηταὶ αὐτοῦ ἤρξαντο ὁδὸν ποιεῖν τίλλοντες τοὺς στάχυας.

Luke 1:59–

Καὶ ἐγένετο ἐν τῇ ἡμέρᾳ τῇ ὀγδόῃ ἦλθον περιτεμεῖν τὸ παιδίον, καὶ ἐκάλουν αὐτὸ ἐπὶ τῷ ὀνόματι τοῦ πατρὸς αὐτοῦ Ζαχαρίαν.

Luke 2:1–

Ἐγένετο δὲ ἐν ταῖς ἡμέραις ἐκείναις ἐξῆλθεν δόγμα παρὰ Καίσαρος Αὐγούστου ἀπογράφεσθαι πᾶσαν τὴν οἰκουμένην·

Luke 2:6–

Ἐγένετο δὲ ἐν τῷ εἶναι αὐτοὺς ἐκεῖ ἐπλήσθησαν αἱ ἡμέραι τοῦ τεκεῖν αὐτήν,

Luke 7:11–

Καὶ ἐγένετο ἐν τῷ ἑξῆς ἐπορεύθη εἰς πόλιν καλουμένην Ναΐν, καὶ συνεπορεύοντο αὐτῷ οἱ μαθηταὶ αὐτοῦ καὶ ὄχλος πολύς.

Luke 9:18–

Καὶ ἐγένετο ἐν τῷ εἶναι αὐτὸν προσευχόμενον κατὰ μόνας συνῆσαν αὐτῷ οἱ μαθηταί, καὶ ἐπηρώτησεν αὐτοὺς λέγων Τίνα με οἱ ὄχλοι λέγουσιν εἶναι;

etc..

Thanks for the comments.

9

Here’s another composition:

Καὶ ἐγένετο ὅτε ἐκάθισεν προφήτης τοῦ θεοῦ ὑπὸ τὴν συκῆν παρὰ τὸ ὄρος τῶν ἐλαιῶν, ἀφύπνωσεν χαμαὶ. καὶ ἰδοὺ ἄφρων ἐλθὼν ὄπισθεν καὶ ἐπάταξεν τῆς κεφαλῆς αὐτοῦ ἐν λίθῳ . Εὐθέως ὁ προφήτης τοῦ θεοῦ ἐξυπνίσθη ἐκ τοῦ ὕπνου αὐτοῦ καὶ ἐπετίμησεν αὐτὸν λέγων Ἄφρων, καὶ ἵνα τί εδειρας μου / με ? Αὐτὸς δὲ ὁ Θεὸς σβεσαι σε.” Καὶ ἐν ἐκείνῃ τῇ ὥρᾳ ἐξανηλώθη ἐν πυρὶ ἀπὸ κεφαλῆς ἕως ποδῶν αὐτοῦ


Translation: And it came to be that when a prophet of God sat under the fig tree near(by) the the Mount of Olives, he dozed off on the ground. And behold, a fool came from behind and struck his (the prophet’s) head with a stone. Immediately the prophet of God arose (was awakened ) from his slumber and he rebuked him saying “You fool, for what did you strike me ? May God himself snuff you out.” And in that same hour he was consumed by fire from (his) head to toe (feet).

10

χαῖρε φίλε Ἰσαακ!

ἠγόρασα τὰς δύο κῑβωτούς γέμοντα χρυσίου ὑπὲρ ὑμῶν.
the participle has to agree with κῑβωτούς, which is fem plural acc, thus γεμούσας. ὑπὲρ ὑμῶν is certainly not wrong, and I can imagine a Semitic Koine author writing this, but I think the bare dative would work here. I’m not sure that you need the article.
ἠγόρασα ὑμῖν δύο κιβωτοὺς γεμούσας χρυσίου.

οἱ δὲ παῖδές μου ἔθηκαν μίαν ἑκάστην ἐν τοῖς ἐκείνοις τοὺς οἴκους ὑμῶν.

οἱ δὲ παῖδές μου ἔθηκαν ἑκάστην ἐν τοῖς οἴκους ὑμῶν.

ἀλλά πρόσεχε σεαυτῷ μὴ βλέπειν ἔσωθεν τὴν κῑβωτόν.

Again, given the freedom of Semitic Koine Greek, I don’t think this is exactly wrong, but I would expect the subjunctive. (and ἔσωθεν takes the genitive.)

ἀλλά πρόσεχε σεαυτῷ μὴ βλέπῃς ἔσωθεν τής κιβωτοῦ.

ἡ νὺξ αὕτη ὁ νεώτερος ἦλθεν κοιμηθῆναι ἐν ὑπερῴῳ αὐτοῦ πεπιστευκὼς ἐν τῷ αἴτημα τοῦ πατρός αὐτοῦ.

ταύτῃ τῇ νυκτὶ ὁ νεώτερος…

For Koine Semitic Greek, ἦλθεν κοιμηθῆναι is not wrong (although obviously there are more elegant ways to say this, in say, Attic.) But I think that adding the article makes the purpose clause a little more clear: ἦλθεν τοῦ κοιμηθῆναι.

ἐν τῷ αἴτημα → ἐν τῷ αἰτήματι

ὁ δὲ πρεσβύτερος μετὰ αἰσχύνης ἔστη πρὸς τὸν πατέρα ὅτι τὸ πρόσωπον αὐτοῦ εἱλκωμένος ἦν.

ὁ δὲ πρεσβύτερος μετὰ αἰσχύνης ἔστη πρὸς τὸν πατέρα ὅτι τὸ πρόσωπον αὐτοῦ εἱλκωμένον ἦν.

You shouldn’t take offense. Writing Greek is hard. There are a million places where you can go wrong. Randal Buth once said that in order to learn a language you have to make 50,000 mistakes. (And I am sure that I have in turn made mistakes in “correcting” your Greek. :laughing: )

But, again, your Greek is robust and creative and basically sound. I really like the way you have sought to emulate a Semitic Koine style. And you know your GNT very well. I would not therefore worry too much about the mistakes. Just continue to write early and often. And read Greek early and often. From reading, you will notice your mistakes, and as you say that leads to better internalization of the language.

I like your third comp too. Keep it up!

As Isaac points out, this Semitism can take an infinitive, a finite verb, or καί plus a finite verb. I think it is cool that Isaac is actually trying to compose original product using this construction. He may be the first to do so. So, there is lots of room for experimentation here.

Yes. Very common in, for example Mark. “periphrastic imperfect” or something, is the metalanguage.

11

Thanks for taking the time Marcos. I think Mr. Randall Booth has a point (regarding the 50 000 mistakes). The reason children learn a new language faster than most adults is because they’re not easily shamed. But as adults, we sometimes spend too much time thinking about how others would perceive us if we penned a less than perfect sentence. As a result, some of us end up developing an “all or nothing” mentality in composition or communication in Koine – we say to ourselves, “either I write a perfect set of sentences on a public forum or I’m not writing at all because I don’t want to look like a fool.” This is fatal for one’s language development, since improvement in communication comes about as a result of learning from our own errors , errors which are then accuractly corrected by another or else discovered by ourselves later on .

A child does not worry about whether a sentence which they speak is 100% grammatically sound; they just want to express themselves as best that they can. So a five year old may “instinctively” say , “I and Dad goed to the store to buy traps to catch the mouses.” The sentence is hardly perfect, but it is certainly legible and we can already see that the foundations are there for the child to have his way with the language, over time. An adult learning a new language should adopt the same attitude as children doing the same. But I digress.

Your corrections are very sensible . So following is my write-up with your suggestions:


ἀνὴρ πρεσβύτης εἶχεν δύο υἱοὺς. Καὶ ἐγένετο ἐν μιᾷ τῶν ἡμερῶν τοῦ σαββάτου, ἐβούλετο πειράσαι αὐτοὺς. καὶ συναγαγὼν αὐτοὺς εἶπεν αὐτοῖς “ὦ τέκνα μου, δεῦρο , καὶ ἀκούσατε τὸν λόγον μου. > ἠγόρασα ὑμῖν δύο κιβωτοὺς γεμούσας χρυσίου> . οἱ δὲ παῖδές μου ἔθηκαν μίαν ἐν τοῖς οἴκους ὑμῶν. ἀλλά πρόσεχε σεαυτῷ μὴ > βλέπῃς > ἔσωθεν τὴν κῑβωτόν .”

ταύτῃ τῇ νυκτ> ὶ ὁ νεώτερος ἦλθεν > τοῦ > κοιμηθῆναι ἐν ὑπερῴῳ αὐτοῦ πεπιστευκὼς ἐν τῷ > αἰτήματι > τοῦ πατρός αὐτοῦ. ὁ δὲ πρεσβύτερος πειρασθείς ἠνέῳξέν τὴν κῑβωτόν. Καὶ ἰδοὺ μέλισσαι ἐξῆλθαν καὶ ἔπαισαν αὐτὸν.

Τῇ ἐπαύριον ὁ πατήρ ἐκάλεσεν τοὺς δύο υἱοὺς αὐτοῦ. ὁ δὲ πρεσβύτερος μετὰ αἰσχύνης ἔστη πρὸς τὸν πατέρα ὅτι τὸ πρόσωπον αὐτοῦ > εἱλκωμένον > ἦν

One point concerning γέμοντα vs γεμούσας. When I was writing out this sentence, I was naturally thinking of κιβωτός as a thing, and that is why without thinking about the grammatical gender of the noun I used a neuter participle to modify it instead of the feminine. I don’t want to press the issue but I think γέμοντα would be acceptable if we invoke ad sensum ?

12

Here’s how someone writing in Koine in the spirit of apostle John might encourage a Church which they were shepherding :

Παιδία, ἠκούσατε ὅτι ὁ ἄνθρωπος τῆς ἀνομίας ταχύ ἔρχεται εἰς τὸν κόσμον . Οὗτος ὅταν ἔλθῃ πλανήσεἰ τὸν ὅλον τὸν κόσμον . λαλήσει ψευδῆ κατά τοῦ Θεοῦ καὶ κατά τῶν ἁγίων αὐτοῦ. ἀλλά μὴ φοβηθῆτε . ὅτι ὁ πατήρ ἡμῶν ἐστιν πάντων μεῖζόν. ἀποστελεῖ χριστὸν Ἰησοῦν πάλιν ἀπολέσαι αὐτόν ὑπό πυρί. ἀγαπητοὶ, μὴ πλανᾶσθε . οὐκ οἴδατε ὅτι ὁ ἄνθρωπος τῆς ἀνομίας ἔρχεται ἐν δυνάμει τοῦ ὄφεως τοῦ ἀρχαίου ? Οὗτος ἔκπαλαι ἀπεκαλύφθη ὑπό τοῦ ἀποστόλου Ἰωάννου .

Translation:
Children, you have heard that the man of sin is coming soon into the World. This one, when he comes will deceive the whole world. He will speak great lies against God and against His Saints. But do not be afraid! Because our Father is greater than all. He will send Jesus Christ again to destroy him with fire. Beloved, do not be deceived. Do you not know that the man of sin comes in the power of the Ancient Serpent ? This one was revealed by apostle John long ago.

13

They are basically understandable. You been successful in using Greek to communicate you perhaps 95% of your meaning. There are only a few places where I was lost for meaning, other places, I think you have a meaning, but perhaps not the one you want, eg.

My guess was that this meant, “at 7am”.

I think there is nothing grammatically wrong with this short composition.

There is always something wrong with compositions. Rules are formed both negatively and positively - as in “that can’t go with that”, besides the “that has to go with that” rules. The usual feeling is we’ve made the best of several inadequate choices.

τινι before the noun:

I take τις in these cases to function as a place marker - like a formalised cough that obscures what we say in English speech habit or a null adjective come demonstrative that acknowledges that the audience expects some more information - where something is required. Like saying, “that’s all the information you’re going to get”, or “need for this story”.

English idioms may be understood differently:

ἦλθεν κοιμηθῆναι

Did he need to journey far?

14

ἄφες ἐρωτήσω τι.
Τί ἐξεπείρασεν ὁ πατὴρ τοὺς δύο;

15

Hi ἑκηβόλος

Thanks for your thoughts…ἐν μιᾷ τῶν ἡμερῶν is an expression I picked up from apostle Luke. He uses it multiple times:

Καὶ ἐγένετο ἐν μιᾷ τῶν ἡμερῶν καὶ αὐτὸς ἦν διδάσκων, καὶ ἦσαν καθήμενοι Φαρισαῖοι καὶ νομοδιδάσκαλοι οἳ ἦσαν ἐληλυθότες ἐκ πάσης κώμης τῆς Γαλιλαίας καὶ Ἰουδαίας καὶ Ἱερουσαλήμ· καὶ δύναμις Κυρίου ἦν εἰς τὸ ἰᾶσθαι αὐτόν.

Luke 5:17

Καὶ ἐγένετο ἐν μιᾷ τῶν ἡμερῶν διδάσκοντος αὐτοῦ τὸν λαὸν ἐν τῷ ἱερῷ καὶ εὐαγγελιζομένου ἐπέστησαν οἱ ἀρχιερεῖς καὶ οἱ γραμματεῖς σὺν τοῖς πρεσβυτέροις,

Luke 20:1

Ἐγένετο δὲ ἐν μιᾷ τῶν ἡμερῶν καὶ αὐτὸς ἐνέβη εἰς πλοῖον καὶ οἱ μαθηταὶ αὐτοῦ, καὶ εἶπεν πρὸς αὐτούς Διέλθωμεν εἰς τὸ πέραν τῆς λίμνης· καὶ ἀνήχθησαν.

Luke 8:22

It means something similar to our English “one day..” and with Ἐγένετο we get something like our English “One day it so happened that…”


Berean Literal Bible translates it quite literally, so at Luke 8:22 we get the following for Ἐγένετο δὲ ἐν μιᾷ τῶν ἡμερῶν:

And it came to pass, on one of the days > also, He with His disciples entered into a boat, and He said to them, “Let us pass over to the other side of the lake.” And they launched out.

16

εἰ τὸν λόγον αὐτοῦ τιμησουσιν.

17

Μᾶρκος τῷ Ἰσαακ χαίρειν πλεῖστον ἐν Κυρίῳ.

ἄλλην καλὴν γραφὴν πεποίηκας σύγε.

Οὗτος ὅταν ἔλθῃ πλανήσεἰ τὸν ὅλον τὸν κόσμον.

ὃλος, as you may know, is a funny adjective, at least as it is used in the GNT. We find ὅλον τὸν κόσμον and τόν κόσμον ὅλον but not τὸν ὅλον κόσμον or τὸν κόσμον τὸν ὄλον. τὸν ὅλον τὸν κόσμον would not, I think be used, for the same reason you would not use τὸν κακὸν τὸν κόσμον. (if any of this is confusing just ignore it. I may be wrong about some of this.)

ὅτι ὁ πατήρ ἡμῶν ἐστιν πάντων μεῖζόν.

μείζων (unless construction ad sensum ὁ πατήρ = τὸ πνεῦμα :smiley: :smiley: :smiley:

ἀποστελεῖ χριστὸν Ἰησοῦν πάλιν ἀπολέσαι αὐτόν > ὑπό πυρί> .

ἐν πυρὶ (or maybe, if the fire is perceived somewhat as a person) ὑπὸ πυρός



τῷ Ἰσαακ ὁμολογῶ. ἐὰν πίστιν οἱ υἰοὶ ἔχωσι, τοῦτο ὀ πάτηρ θέλει γνῶναι.

18

πηλίκαι καὶ ποταπαὶ αἱ κιβωτοί; πῶς μὲν τὸ μῆκος αὐτῶν, ἢ τὸ ὔψος, κ.τ.λ.; ἐκ δὲ τινός ὕλης κατειργάσθησαν; πόσα χρυσία δὲ ἐνεῖχον ἄν; καὶ ἦσαν αἱ δύο ἴσαι ἢ τί διεκρίθησαν μεταξὺ αὐτῶν;

καὶ πῶς μὴ ἐπνίγοντο αἱ μέλισσαὶ ἄν;

19

Definitely meant μείζων, but spelled it as μεῖζόν ( both forms sound identical ofcourse). This is where my lack of experience with written Koine begins to show.

Valuable comments and suggestions, as usual.

20

νομίζω ὅτι ὀπαὶ μικραὶ ἐν τοῖν κιβωτοῖν τὰς μελίσσας ἔσῳσαν.