First-Person Pronoun (ἐγώ, 'I/we')
The first-person pronoun **ἐγώ** ('I'), **ἡμεῖς** ('we') inflects for case and number. Short forms **μου, μοι, με** are commonly enclitic and less prominent; longer/orthotone forms **ἐμοῦ, ἐμοί, ἐμέ** occur in contexts requiring prosodic or discourse prominence. Greek normally omits an explicit subject pronoun because the verb ending marks person and number. When **ἐγώ** is expressed, its precise discourse contribution may be emphasis, contrast, topic/focus, coordination, or disambiguation according to context.
**Matt 16:16** — Σὺ εἶ ὁ Χριστὸς ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ θεοῦ τοῦ **ζῶντος**.
**John 7:34** — …ὅπου **εἰμὶ ἐγώ**, **ὑμεῖς** οὐ **δύνασθε** ἐλθεῖν ('…where **I am**, **you** cannot come').
Second-Person Pronoun (σύ, 'you')
The second-person pronoun **σύ** ('you sg.'), **ὑμεῖς** ('you pl.') inflects for case and number. Short forms **σου, σοι, σε** commonly behave as enclitics; orthotone forms **σοῦ, σοί, σέ** occur in appropriate prosodic or discourse environments. An explicit **σύ** is not required by the verb and is therefore normally discourse-marked, often for emphasis or contrast but not only for those functions. **ὑμεῖς** is the plural second-person pronoun.
**John 13:34** — ἐντολὴν καινὴν **δίδωμι ὑμῖν**, ἵνα **ἀγαπᾶτε** ἀλλήλους ('A new commandment **I give you [pl.]**, that **you [pl.]** love one another').
Third-Person Reference (αὐτός)
Greek does not use a dedicated nominative third-person personal pronoun directly parallel to **ἐγώ** and **σύ** in the older pronominal system. In Koine, the **oblique cases of αὐτός** — e.g. **αὐτοῦ, αὐτῷ, αὐτόν, αὐτούς** — commonly supply ordinary third-person reference ('him/her/it/them'). Nominative **αὐτός, αὐτή, αὐτό** is characteristically intensive ('he himself / she herself / it itself') rather than simply the ordinary weak 'he/she/it' form. With the article, **ὁ αὐτός** expresses identity ('the same').
**John 1:1** — …καὶ ὁ λόγος ἦν πρὸς τὸν θεόν, καὶ θεὸς ἦν ὁ λόγος.
**Matt 3:16** — …εἶδεν τὸ πνεῦμα τοῦ θεοῦ καταβαῖνον ὡσεὶ περιστερὰν καὶ ἐρχόμενον **ἐπ' αὐτόν** ('…coming upon **him**') — αὐτόν = acc. sg. m. ('him', i.e. Jesus).
Strong and Weak Forms
First- and second-person pronouns distinguish **orthotone/strong** and **enclitic/weak** forms in the oblique cases: **ἐμοῦ/μου, ἐμοί/μοι, ἐμέ/με; σοῦ/σου, σοί/σοι, σέ/σε**. Enclitic forms normally lean prosodically on the preceding word and are common in less prominent reference; orthotone forms occur where syntax, prosody, or discourse favors an independent form. The nominatives **ἐγώ, σύ** have no corresponding weak nominative forms and, when overt, are normally discourse-marked.
Enclitic Pronoun Forms
The enclitic forms (μου, μοι, με; σου, σοι, σε; οὗ, οἱ, ἕ — the last rare) **lean back** onto the preceding word for their accent (Chapter 5.23-25). They are extremely common: 'my father' is **ὁ πατήρ μου** (lit. 'the father of me'). Recognizing enclitics is essential for reading Greek fluently.
**Mark 5:23** — τὸ **θυγάτριόν μου** ἐσχάτως ἔχει ('my little daughter is at the point of death') — **μου** is an enclitic genitive singular; note that θυγάτριον receives an **additional acute** on its final syllable before the enclitic: **θυγάτριόν μου**.
αὐτός
**αὐτός, αὐτή, αὐτό** is one of the most versatile words in Greek. It serves three major functions:
1. **Ordinary third-person reference** in the **oblique cases**: αὐτοῦ 'of him/his', αὐτῷ 'to him', αὐτόν 'him'.
2. **Intensive** ('-self'): nominative/predicate **αὐτὸς ὁ βασιλεύς** = 'the king himself'.
3. **Identity marker** ('the same'): with the article in attributive structure, **ὁ αὐτὸς βασιλεύς** = 'the same king'.
Case and construction together distinguish these uses; article-relative position is especially important for the intensive/identity contrast.
Possessive Adjectives (ἐμός, σός, ἡμέτερος)
Greek has possessive adjectives — **ἐμός, ἐμή, ἐμόν** ('my'), **σός, σή, σόν** ('your'), **ἡμέτερος, ἡμετέρα, ἡμέτερον** ('our'), **ὑμέτερος** ('your [pl.]) — but they are **less common** than the genitive of the personal pronoun. 'My father' is normally **ὁ πατήρ μου** ('the father of me'), not ὁ ἐμός πατήρ. The possessive adjective is more emphatic.
**John 20:17** — …ἀναβαίνω πρὸς τὸν **πατέρα μου** καὶ **πατέρα ὑμῶν** ('…I am ascending to **my Father** and **your Father**') — μου, ὑμῶν are possessive genitives.
Possession Expressed by Genitive Pronouns
The standard way to express possession is the **genitive of the personal pronoun**: **ὁ λόγος μου** ('my word', lit. 'the word of me'), **ὁ θεὸς ἡμῶν** ('our God'), **ὁ πατὴρ αὐτῶν** ('their father'). This is far more common than the possessive adjective and is the idiomatic Greek way to say 'my/your/his/her/our/their'.
Explicit versus Implicit Personal Pronouns
Because a finite Greek verb normally marks person and number, an explicit subject pronoun is **usually omitted**: **λέγω** already means 'I say'. When an overt subject pronoun is present, it is normally **discourse-marked** and may signal emphasis, contrast, topic/focus, coordination, disambiguation, or another contextual prominence. Thus **ἐγὼ λέγω** is more explicit/prominent than bare **λέγω**, but morphology alone does not assign one universal discourse function. The **ἐγώ εἰμι** sayings contain an overt first-person pronoun; further intertextual or theological interpretation belongs to exegesis.
**Mark 14:62** — **Ἐγώ εἰμι** ('I am') — the explicit first-person pronoun makes the subject overt and prominent in the reply.
**John 8:58** — πρὶν Ἀβραὰμ γενέσθαι **ἐγὼ εἰμί** ('Before Abraham was, I am'). Morphologically, **ἐγώ** is nominative singular first person and is not required for person marking because **εἰμί** already encodes first-person singular. Any further intertextual or theological interpretation belongs to exegesis rather than the morphology parse.
Paradigms
Personal Pronouns: 1st and 2nd Person
First and second person. Each non-nominative case has a long (emphatic) and short (enclitic) form: ἐμοῦ/μου.
| Case | 1st sg. ('I') | 1st pl. ('we') | 2nd sg. ('you') | 2nd pl. ('you all') |
| Nom. | ἐγώ | ἡμεῖς | σύ | ὑμεῖς |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gen. | ἐμοῦ/μου | ἡμῶν | σοῦ/σου | ὑμῶν |
| Dat. | ἐμοί/μοι | ἡμῖν | σοί/σοι | ὑμῖν |
| Acc. | ἐμέ/με | ἡμᾶς | σέ/σε | ὑμᾶς |
αὐτός, αὐτή, αὐτό ('he/she/it; -self; the same')
**αὐτός** declines like **ἀγαθός**. Its **oblique cases** commonly supply ordinary third-person reference; nominative **αὐτός** is characteristically intensive ('self'), while **article + αὐτός** marks identity ('the same'). See Chapters 19–20.
| Case | m. sg. | f. sg. | n. sg. | m. pl. | f. pl. | n. pl. |
| Nom. | αὐτός | αὐτή | αὐτό | αὐτοί | αὐταί | αὐτά |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gen. | αὐτοῦ | αὐτῆς | αὐτοῦ | αὐτῶν | αὐτῶν | αὐτῶν |
| Dat. | αὐτῷ | αὐτῇ | αὐτῷ | αὐτοῖς | αὐταῖς | αὐτοῖς |
| Acc. | αὐτόν | αὐτήν | αὐτό | αὐτούς | αὐτάς | αὐτά |
Chapter glossary
- ἐγώ — I
egō
pronoun
First-person singular nominative personal pronoun. Because the finite verb normally marks first-person singular, overt ἐγώ is usually discourse-marked (often emphatic or contrastive) rather than grammatically required.- ἡμεῖς — we
hēmeis
pronoun
First-person plural personal pronoun.- σύ — you (sg.)
sy
pronoun
Second-person singular personal pronoun.- ὑμεῖς — you (pl.)
hymeis
pronoun
Second-person plural personal pronoun; Greek distinguishes sg./pl. 'you'.- ἐμός — my, mine
emos
pronoun
Possessive adjective (ἐμός, ἐμή, ἐμόν); less common than the genitive μου.- ἡμέτερος — our, ours
hēmeteros
pronoun
Possessive adjective; 'our Father' usually ὁ πατὴρ ἡμῶν instead.- αὐτός — he/she/it; -self; the same
autos
pronoun
Pronoun/adjective αὐτός: its oblique cases commonly supply ordinary third-person reference; nominative αὐτός is characteristically intensive ('self'); with the article, ὁ αὐτός expresses identity ('the same').- — personal pronoun
pronoun
Pronoun referring to a person (1st/2nd person; 3rd via αὐτός).- — enclitic
pronoun
Prosodically dependent word that normally leans on the preceding word and participates in Greek enclitic accentuation. Enclitics usually lose or redistribute lexical accent but may surface with accent in specified environments; personal-pronoun examples include μου, μοι, με, σου, σοι, σε.- — possessive genitive
pronoun
Genitive of personal pronoun expressing possession: ὁ πατήρ μου 'my father'.- — pro-drop
syntax
Greek permits unexpressed subjects: finite morphology identifies person/number and discourse helps identify the referent. Overt subjects have several discourse functions and are not automatically emphatic.