Personal Pronouns: Third Person

Biblical Greek Lesson 13

The third person personal pronouns are used to refer to subjects or objects that are not the speaker or the addressee. They use the nominative, genitive, ablative, dative, locative, instrumental, and accusative cases to indicate their syntactical role in the sentence.

The most common third person pronoun is αὐτός (autos), which can mean "he," "she," "it," or "they," depending on gender, number, and person.

Declension of αὐτός (Third Person Pronoun):

Singular:

Masculine:

Nominative: αὐτός (he)

Genitive: αὐτοῦ (of him, his)

Ablative: αὐτοῦ (from him, his)

Dative: αὐτῷ (to him)

Locative: αὐτῷ (in him)

Instrumental: αὐτῷ (by him)

Accusative: αὐτόν (him)

Feminine:

Nominative: αὐτή (she)

Genitive: αὐτῆς (of her, her)

Ablative: αὐτῆς (from her, her)

Dative: αὐτῇ (to her)

Locative: αὐτῇ (in her)

Instrumental: αὐτῇ (by her)

Accusative: αὐτήν (her)

Neuter:

Nominative: αὐτό (it)

Genitive: αὐτοῦ (of it, its)

Ablative: αὐτοῦ (from it, its)

Dative: αὐτῷ (to it)

Locative: αὐτῷ (in it)

Instrumental: αὐτῷ (by it)

Accusative: αὐτό (it)

Plural:

Masculine:

Nominative: αὐτοί (they)

Genitive: αὐτῶν (of them, their)

Ablative: αὐτῶν (from them, their)

Dative: αὐτοῖς (to them)

Locative: αὐτοῖς (in them)

Instrumental: αὐτοῖς (by them)

Accusative: αὐτούς (them)

Feminine:

Nominative: αὐταί (they)

Genitive: αὐτῶν (of them, their)

Genitive: αὐτῶν (from them, their)

Dative: αὐταῖς (to them)

Locative: αὐταῖς (in them)

Instrumental: αὐταῖς (by them)

Accusative: αὐτάς (them)

Neuter:

Nominative: αὐτά (they)

Genitive: αὐτῶν (of them, their)

Ablative: αὐτῶν (from them, their)

Dative: αὐτοῖς (to them)

Locative: αὐτοῖς (in them)

Instrumental: αὐτοῖς (by them)

Accusative: αὐτά (them)

Pronoun Use: Pronouns are used either emphatically (when it functions as an intensive pronoun meaning "he himself") or as a simple personal pronoun.

The Emphatic Use:

αὐτὸς δὲ Ἰησοῦς οὐκ ἐπίστευεν αὐτὸν αὐτοῖς διὰ τὸ αὐτὸν γινώσκειν πάντας – John 2:24

But Jesus, Himself, did not commit Himself to them because He experientially knew all.

The Simple Use:

Τίνα δὲ ὑμῶν τὸν πατέρα αἰτήσει ὁ υἱὸς ἄρτον, μὴ λίθον ἐπιδώσει αὐτῷ; Ἤ καὶ ἰχθύν, μὴ ἀντὶ ἰχθύος ὄφιν ἐπιδώσει αὐτῷ; - Luke 11:11

If a son asks for bread from any father among you, will he give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent instead of a fish?

Pronoun Agreement: Pronouns agrees in gender and number with the antecedent noun it refers to.

Κατανοήσατε τὰ κρίνα πῶς αὐξάνει οὐ κοπιᾷ, οὐδὲ νήθει λέγω δὲ ὑμῖν, οὐδὲ Σολομὼν ἐν πάσῃ τῇ δόξῃ αὐτοῦ περιεβάλετο ὡς ἓν τούτων.– Luke 1:27

Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.

Vocabulary:

ἄγγελος (angelos) - messenger, angel.

ἀκούω (akouō) - to hear.

ἀλήθεια (alētheia) - truth.

ἀναγγέλλω (anaggellō) - to announce.

ἀνομία (anomia) - lawlessness.

ἁμαρτία (hamartia) - sin.

ἀφίημι (aphiēmi) – to send away (forgive).

ἁγνός (hagnos) - holy.

αἰώνιος (aiōnios) - age.

ἄρτος (artos) - bread, loaf.

παράκλητος (paraklētos) - advocate.

ἡγέομαι (hēgeomai) - to consider, regard.

μένω (menō) - to abide.

πατήρ (patēr) - father.

παιδίον (paidion) - child, little one.

νικᾷ (nikaō) - to conquer, overcome.

φως (phōs) - light.

κόσμος (kosmos) - world, cosmos.

σκότος (skotos) - darkness.

ἁρπάζω (harpazō) - to seize, snatch away.