Can verbs have a case?

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mmorris
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Can verbs have a case?

Post by mmorris »

In Basics of Biblical Greek, Dr. Mounce said "verbs do not have case or gender"

However, wouldn't this be incorrect if the verb is articular?

For instance in 1 Thessalonians 1:10 τὸν ῥυόμενον, wouldn't ῥυόμενον be considered being in the Accusative case based on τὸν?

Thanks for the help!
Stephen Carlson
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Re: Can verbs have a case?

Post by Stephen Carlson »

The example you gave is a participle, and yes, participles have case and other nominal inflections, with or without an article..

Also articular infinitives have case in the sense that their article has case which would ordinarily agree with its head.
Stephen C. Carlson, Ph.D.
Melbourne, Australia
RandallButh
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Re: Can verbs have a case?

Post by RandallButh »

mmorris wrote: May 18th, 2018, 10:40 pm In Basics of Biblical Greek, Dr. Mounce said "verbs do not have case or gender"

However, wouldn't this be incorrect if the verb is articular?

For instance in 1 Thessalonians 1:10 τὸν ῥυόμενον, wouldn't ῥυόμενον be considered being in the Accusative case based on τὸν?

Thanks for the help!
Technically, Bill's statement can be accepted because participles are actually adjectives. Yes, they are built out of verbs, but they have become adjectives. Adjectives have case, gender, and number.
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- Participle's transgender
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Barry Hofstetter
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Re: Can verbs have a case?

Post by Barry Hofstetter »

This is where it's helpful to be a bit more precise with our metalanguage. Just to expand a bit for clarity:

Finite verbs do not have case, finite meaning that the verb is marked for person and number.

Participle derives from the Latin particeps, which means "to have a share in, sharing." Participles share in the qualities of a verb and an adjective, verbal adjectives. They have voice and aspect (older texts will say voice and tense), and case endings better to modify nouns and act as substantives.

And using the article with an infinitive is another way of nominalizing the verb (marking it as a noun/substantive). The infinitive itself stays the same, but the article changes its case depending on how the phrase is being used in the sentence (usually in a special adverbial sense in the overall syntax). Normally the article is not used when the infinitive is being used as the subject or object.
N.E. Barry Hofstetter, M.A., Th.M.
Ph.D. Student U of FL
Instructor of Latin
Jack M. Barrack Hebrew Academy
καὶ σὺ τὸ σὸν ποιήσεις κἀγὼ τὸ ἐμόν. ἆρον τὸ σὸν καὶ ὕπαγε.
Barry Hofstetter
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Re: Can verbs have a case?

Post by Barry Hofstetter »

Barry Hofstetter wrote: May 19th, 2018, 8:29 am Normally the article is not used when the infinitive is being used as the subject or object.
Having made that statement, I found this in my daily NT reading today:

Rom 14:21 καλὸν τὸ μὴ φαγεῖν κρέα μηδὲ πιεῖν οἶνον μηδὲ ἐν ᾧ ὁ ἀδελφός σου προσκόπτει.

"Normally" does not mean "never..." :o
N.E. Barry Hofstetter, M.A., Th.M.
Ph.D. Student U of FL
Instructor of Latin
Jack M. Barrack Hebrew Academy
καὶ σὺ τὸ σὸν ποιήσεις κἀγὼ τὸ ἐμόν. ἆρον τὸ σὸν καὶ ὕπαγε.
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