12.1 In the last lesson, we discussed 3rd person personal pronouns and demonstrative pronouns. In this lesson, we review relative pronouns, indefinite pronouns, indefinite relative pronouns, and interrogative pronouns. Each can also be used as an adjective that modifies a noun.
12.2 Greek forms the relative pronoun, who/whose/whom, by replacing the τ– of the definite article with the rough breathing (῾). The masculine singular nominative form ends in –ς. Note that the accent pattern is similar to that of the definite article (S 338, G 213).
12.3 Relative pronouns are commonly used to join two sentences or clauses together. Note the following sentences.
- οἱ ἄρχοντες διδόασι τὸ ὕδωρ τοῖς παισίν. οἱ παῖδες ἱστᾶσιν.
- The rulers are giving water to the children. The children are standing.
- οἱ ἄρχοντες διδόασι τὸ ὕδωρ τοῖς παισὶν οἳ ἱστᾶσιν.
- The leaders are giving water to the children who are standing.
In the second sentence, note that the MAIN CLAUSE – the essential part of the sentence that can stand on its own grammatically and as a complete thought – is οἱ ἄρχοντες διδόασι τὸ ὕδωρ τοῖς παισίν. The relative pronoun is introducing a type of subordinate clause called a RELATIVE CLAUSE, which here is οἳ ἱστᾶσιν.
12.4 Relative clauses often serve to give additional information about the pronoun’s ANTECEDENT, i.e., the noun to which the pronoun refers. Note, however, that while the relative pronoun gets its gender and number from its antecedent, its case depends on its use in the relative clause. The form οἵ, in other words, is masculine and plural because its antecedent is τοῖς παισίν, but nominative because it is the subject of the relative clause. Consider the following examples.
- οἱ ἄρχοντες διδόασι τὴν ἐλπίδα τοῖς παισὶν οἷς τὰ χρήματα διδόασι.
- The leaders give hope to the children to whom they (the leaders) are giving money.
- οἱ ἄρχοντες διδόασι τὴν ἐλπίδα τοῖς παισὶν οὓς ἀνιστᾶσι.
- The leaders give hope to the children whom they are appointing.
12.5 Sometimes, the relative pronoun is ATTRACTED to the case of its antecedent, rather than standing for the case it should be in its relative clause. When this happens, the antecedent is usually in the genitive or dative case, and the case that it is replacing is the accusative (S 2522, G 613b).
- οἱ ἄρχοντες διδόασι τὴν ἐλπίδα τοῖς παισὶν οἷς (for οὓς) ἀνιστᾶσι.
- The leaders give hope to the children whom they are appointing.
12.6 The Intensive Relative Pronoun: ὅσπερ, ἥπερ, ὅπερ
The suffix –περ is added to pronouns to denote emphasis (S 338c, G 216). When added to the relative pronoun it means the same/very one(s) who/which/that…
The intensive relative pronoun functions just as the relative pronoun does in a Greek sentence.
- οἱ ἄρχοντες διδόασι τὸ ὕδωρ τοῖς παισὶν οἵπερ ἱστᾶσιν.
- The leaders are giving water to the children, the very ones/the same ones who are standing.
- οἱ ἄρχοντες διδόασι τὴν ἐλπίδα τοῖς παισὶν οὕσπερ ἀνιστᾶσι.
- The leaders give hope to the children, the very ones whom they are appointing.
