Intransitive Verbs
An **intransitive use** has no direct object. A simple example has a subject alone, as **ἐδάκρυσεν ὁ Ἰησοῦς** ('Jesus wept', John 11:35), but 'intransitive' does not mean that no other participant or selected complement is possible. Motion predicates can include a source or destination; a particular verb can also have different frames in different senses. Middle morphology does not imply an object.
**Unaccusative** and **unergative** name a theoretical distinction among intransitive constructions, often associated respectively with undergoer/theme subjects and activity/agent-like subjects. These labels require diagnostics appropriate to the language and construction; they cannot be assigned solely from an English gloss or active ending. Weeping is not necessarily deliberate, and motion can involve both agency and a moving theme. An unaccusative analysis is not the claim that the clause is a morphological passive. See Chapter 48.
**John 11:35 — HBS BYZ04:** **ἐδάκρυσεν ὁ Ἰησοῦς** ('Jesus wept'). The aorist active indicative has a nominative subject and no object in this clause.
Monotransitive Verbs
A **monotransitive frame** has a subject and one object. **John 3:16**, **ἠγάπησεν ὁ Θεὸς τὸν κόσμον**, clearly identifies a nominative subject and accusative object. The grammatical analysis does not require the subject to be an agent or the object a changing patient in every clause; perception, emotion, and other predicates have different participant relations.
Greek also has lexically selected genitive and dative complements. Terminology differs: some frameworks call these objects, while others distinguish oblique complements or restrict 'transitive' to accusative-object constructions. State the convention and record the actual case and frame. Verbs such as ἀκούω have more than one complement pattern; a genitive does not automatically mean 'partial object'. No frequency ranking is assumed here.
**John 3:16 — HBS BYZ04:** **ἠγάπησεν ὁ Θεὸς τὸν κόσμον** ('God loved the world'). **τὸν κόσμον** is the accusative object. The syntax is clear without forcing 'love' into a single universal agent/patient model.
Ditransitive Verbs
A prototypical **ditransitive transfer frame** has a subject, a transferred or communicated **theme**, and a **recipient**. Greek commonly uses an accusative theme and dative recipient, as **ἔδωκεν ἄν σοι ὕδωρ ζῶν** in **John 4:10**. **ἔδωκεν is aorist active indicative, third singular**, not subjunctive. With ἄν in this conditional setting, the clause means 'he would have given you living water'.
Not every occurrence of a verb of giving, receiving, teaching, or asking uses the same frame. Receiving can make the recipient the subject and express a source separately. Some teaching/asking constructions have two accusatives; a content clause is a clausal complement, not a second accusative noun phrase. Case roles do not establish a fixed word order. Recipient and beneficiary are distinct concepts, even when one person fills both roles.
**John 4:10 — HBS BYZ04:** **ἔδωκεν ἄν σοι ὕδωρ ζῶν** ('he would have given you living water'). **ἔδωκεν** is third singular aorist active indicative; **σοι** is dative recipient; **ὕδωρ ζῶν** is accusative theme. The giver is understood from context.
Copular Verbs
A **copular predicate** links a subject with a predicative complement that identifies, classifies, or characterizes it. It is not always an interchangeable mathematical equality. **εἰμί** has copular uses; **γίνομαι** can express becoming, and **ὑπάρχω** has related uses with its own lexical contribution. These verbs also occur in other constructions.
In **1 John 4:8**, **ἀγάπη is a noun**, not an adjective: **ὁ Θεὸς ἀγάπη ἐστίν** has an articular subject and an anarthrous predicate nominative. **John 1:1c**, **καὶ Θεὸς ἦν ὁ Λόγος**, likewise has ὁ Λόγος as subject and Θεός as predicate. Article distribution and context support that syntactic identification; absence of the article is not an automatic marker of indefiniteness.
Interpretation of the predicate’s qualitative and referential force requires lexical and discourse evidence. Definite and qualitative descriptions need not be mutually exclusive, and acknowledging interpretive debate does not make every proposed reading equally supported. Colwell’s observation about definite preverbal predicates cannot be reversed into a proof that every anarthrous preverbal predicate is definite. This chapter identifies the syntax without turning it into a complete theological argument.
**HBS BYZ04:** **1 John 4:8:** **ὁ Θεὸς ἀγάπη ἐστίν** ('God is love'), with a predicate noun. **John 1:1:** **καὶ Θεὸς ἦν ὁ Λόγος** ('and the Word was God'), with ὁ Λόγος as subject. **John 14:6:** **ἐγώ εἰμι ἡ ὁδὸς καὶ ἡ ἀλήθεια καὶ ἡ ζωή** ('I am the way and the truth and the life'), with three coordinated predicate nominatives.
Complement-taking Verbs
An **object-complement construction** predicates a description, status, or name of an object. In **Luke 6:13**, **οὓς καὶ ἀποστόλους ὠνόμασε**, **οὕς** is the accusative object and **ἀποστόλους** the accusative predicative complement. It differs from two objects representing a recipient/person and thing taught or requested. A paraphrase 'X is Y' can help reveal predication, but is not a complete diagnostic.
In **Acts 2:36**, **αὐτόν** is object and **Κύριον καὶ Χριστόν** are coordinated predicative complements of ἐποίησε. The grammar identifies what is predicated of Jesus; interpreting the making/appointment and its theological implications requires Peter’s whole argument. It does not follow from the accusatives alone. Naming formulas, quoted names, and case behavior must be examined construction by construction.
**HBS BYZ04:** **Acts 2:36:** **καὶ Κύριον καὶ Χριστὸν αὐτὸν ὁ Θεὸς ἐποίησε** ('God made him both Lord and Christ'). **Luke 6:13:** **οὓς καὶ ἀποστόλους ὠνόμασε** ('whom he also named apostles'). Identify the accusative object and what is predicated of it before drawing wider interpretive conclusions.
Subject
The **subject** is a grammatical relation, normally associated with nominative marking in an ordinary finite clause and person/number agreement with its verb. Greek agreement has construction-specific patterns, including singular verbs with neuter plural subjects. Subject is not defined as agent, and it is not invariably the first noun.
Greek permits unexpressed subjects. A finite ending identifies person and number, but a third-person ending alone does not identify the referent or its gender; discourse supplies that information. Subjects may also be substantival expressions or clauses. Word order interacts with syntax and information structure; neither free order nor a later-position subject proves emphasis automatically.
**HBS BYZ04:** **Romans 5:8:** **συνίστησι δὲ τὴν ἑαυτοῦ ἀγάπην εἰς ἡμᾶς ὁ Θεός** ('but God demonstrates his own love toward us'). The subject follows the object; that position alone does not prove emphasis. **Matthew 5:4:** **μακάριοι οἱ πενθοῦντες** ('blessed are those who mourn'), with a substantival participle in a verbless copular clause.
Direct Object
A **direct object** is a grammatical relation, commonly expressed by an accusative noun phrase in a Greek transitive construction. It need not be a physically affected patient: an object may be perceived, known, loved, or communicated. A verb can also select a content clause or infinitival complement; calling these 'objects' depends on the analysis.
Lexically governed genitive/dative complements must be identified by their actual construction rather than called 'direct objects semantically': direct object is a syntactic label, not a semantic role. In many active/passive correspondences an active object corresponds to the passive subject, but lexical constraints matter. Article presence or absence does not mechanically distinguish specific from nonspecific objects.
**Matthew 28:19 — HBS BYZ04:** **μαθητεύσατε πάντα τὰ ἔθνη** ('make disciples of all the nations'). **πάντα τὰ ἔθνη** is accusative and functions as the object; the subject is understood from the second-person plural imperative.
Indirect Object
The **indirect object** in a prototypical giving construction is a recipient commonly expressed by a bare dative. In **John 4:10**, **σοι** is recipient and **ὕδωρ ζῶν** theme. Other cases and prepositional expressions occur in other frames; phrases meaning 'for someone' are not automatically indirect objects. A dative can instead express means, reference, or another relation.
**Matthew 7:7**, **δοθήσεται ὑμῖν**, illustrates a passive giving construction with the recipient remaining dative. This does not establish that Greek can never have a recipient-like passive subject. **Galatians 2:7**, **πεπίστευμαι τὸ εὐαγγέλιον**, has the person entrusted as the first-person passive subject and retains the thing entrusted in the accusative. Passive patterns must be learned with the predicate; English recipient-subject translations are not automatically mistranslations.
**HBS BYZ04:** **Matthew 7:7:** **δοθήσεται ὑμῖν** ('it will be given to you'), with a retained dative recipient. **Galatians 2:7:** **πεπίστευμαι τὸ εὐαγγέλιον** ('I have been entrusted with the gospel'), with the entrusted person as subject and accusative content retained. These predicates have different passive frames.
Predicative Complement
A **predicative complement** characterizes or identifies a subject or object. Nominal/adjectival complements commonly agree in case with the relevant nominal in ordinary patterns: nominative with a finite copula, accusative in an object-complement construction. This is not an exceptionless definition: other kinds of predicative expressions, naming conventions, and nonfinite constructions require their own analysis.
When both subject and predicate are nominative, case alone cannot distinguish them. Article distribution, pronominal form, agreement, and discourse help. In **John 1:1c**, **ὁ Λόγος** is subject; **Θεός** is predicate. This identifies grammatical function without mechanically deciding definiteness or the full semantic interpretation. In **John 1:14**, **σάρξ** is a predicate noun with γίνομαι. A predicate noun is not a predicate adjective merely because it describes the subject.
**John 1:14 — HBS BYZ04:** **Καὶ ὁ Λόγος σὰρξ ἐγένετο** ('and the Word became flesh'). **σάρξ** is a nominative predicate noun with γίνομαι; it is not a direct object.
Oblique Complement
An **oblique complement** is a selected argument expressed through a prepositional phrase or a case construction distinguished from the core subject/object pattern in the framework used. An **adjunct** supplies a less specifically selected circumstance. Omissibility is useful evidence, not a definition: both selected arguments and adjuncts can be absent from a particular sentence.
In **John 14:6**, **πρὸς τὸν πατέρα** supplies the destination of ἔρχεται. Whether every source, route, or mediating phrase counts as selected valency must be argued for the particular frame. Motion verbs do not invariably require an overt source or goal. Nor is every prepositional phrase a verbal complement: **Galatians 1:1** describes Paul’s apostleship in a nominal opening rather than furnishing a finite-verb valency example.
**HBS BYZ04:** **John 14:6:** **οὐδεὶς ἔρχεται πρὸς τὸν πατέρα εἰ μὴ δι᾽ ἐμοῦ** ('no one comes to the Father except through me'). Distinguish destination and mediation from the separate question of which expressions are selected arguments. **Galatians 1:1:** **ἀπόστολος οὐκ ἀπ᾽ ἀνθρώπων, οὐδὲ δι᾽ ἀνθρώπου** ('an apostle not from human beings nor through a human being'), a nominal setting for source and agency phrases.
Semantic Roles
**Semantic roles** describe participants’ relations to an event or state; **subject**, **object**, and **oblique complement** describe grammatical relations. The inventories and boundaries of role labels vary by framework. Patient and theme can be distinguished, and some predicates need experiencer, stimulus, possessor, or other descriptions.
An active/passive correspondence can change grammatical mapping while preserving roles in the same described event. In the constructed English pair 'John baptized Jesus' / 'Jesus was baptized by John', John remains agent and Jesus remains the participant baptized. The voice change does not turn John into a patient. Case and morphology supply evidence, but no one-to-one role-to-case equation applies to every Greek clause.
**Mark 1:9 — HBS BYZ04:** **ἐβαπτίσθη ὑπὸ Ἰωάννου** ('he was baptized by John'). In the constructed active paraphrase 'John baptized Jesus', the grammatical relations differ, but John remains agent and Jesus remains the participant baptized.
Agent
An **agent** is prototypically an initiator or controller of an action. Deliberate animate action is the clearest case; frameworks differ in how they distinguish agents from nonvolitional causes or forces. Agent is not another word for grammatical subject.
In the baptism described in **Mark 1:9**, John is the agent, expressed by **ὑπὸ Ἰωάννου**, while Jesus is the passive subject. In **Matthew 28:19**, the understood second-person plural subject of **μαθητεύσατε** identifies those commanded to act. An unexpressed passive agent must be recovered from the passage; omission alone does not identify God. Prepositions contribute to interpretation but do not define a participant’s complete status.
**Matthew 28:19 — HBS BYZ04:** **μαθητεύσατε πάντα τὰ ἔθνη** ('make disciples of all the nations'). The second-person plural imperative addresses those commanded to act; an expressed subject pronoun is unnecessary.
Patient
A **patient** is an affected participant or undergoer, especially one undergoing change. A **theme**, in frameworks distinguishing the labels, can be something moved, located, transferred, or otherwise involved without the same claim of affectedness. The role inventory must be stated rather than treating the labels as universally identical.
In **Mark 1:9**, Jesus is the participant baptized and the passive subject. A corresponding active construction would present him as object while preserving that event role. It does not follow that only changing patients can be passive subjects: perception and entrusting constructions illustrate wider possibilities. Nor must a moving participant lack agency; someone can deliberately move while also being the moving theme.
**Mark 1:9 — HBS BYZ04:** **ἐβαπτίσθη ὑπὸ Ἰωάννου** ('he was baptized by John'). Jesus is the passive subject and participant baptized; John is the named agent. Voice distinguishes grammatical presentation without exchanging these roles.
Experiencer
An **experiencer** is a sentient participant who perceives, feels, or knows. Experiencers are subjects in many constructions, but their grammatical position depends on the predicate and voice. 'Active subject' is not equivalent to 'grammatically agentive'. Deliberate attention or action and experience can overlap; a dictionary gloss alone need not select one exclusive role.
In **Matthew 5:8**, **αὐτοί** identifies those who will see, and **τὸν Θεόν** the object of perception. **ὄψονται** is third plural **future middle indicative** of ὁράω, not future middle/passive syncretism; the passive future has a different formation. In **John 21:17**, σύ is the knower in **σὺ γινώσκεις**. With love or trust predicates, assess the passage rather than deriving a theology of emotion or volition from a role label or the preposition εἰς.
**HBS BYZ04:** **Matthew 5:8:** **αὐτοὶ τὸν Θεὸν ὄψονται** ('they will see God'). **ὄψονται** is future middle indicative, third plural; **αὐτοί** are the perceivers. **John 21:17:** **σὺ γινώσκεις ὅτι φιλῶ σε** ('you know that I love you'), with an experiencer/knower subject and a content clause.
Recipient
A **recipient** is the participant to whom something is transferred or communicated in the event being described. The event may be negated, intended, or hypothetical: the role does not guarantee that anyone actually received anything. Thus **σοι** in John 4:10 is the recipient in a counterfactual giving frame.
A **beneficiary** is someone for whose benefit an event is undertaken, whether or not that person receives a transferred theme. Case and prepositions provide evidence in combination with the predicate. In **δοθήσεται ὑμῖν** (Matthew 7:7) the recipient remains dative. In **πεπίστευμαι τὸ εὐαγγέλιον** (Galatians 2:7), the person entrusted is subject. Do not generalize one giving construction into an absolute rule about every Greek passive.
**HBS BYZ04:** **John 4:10:** **ἔδωκεν ἄν σοι ὕδωρ ζῶν** ('he would have given you living water'), a hypothetical recipient, not a claim that the gift was received. **Matthew 7:7:** **δοθήσεται ὑμῖν** ('it will be given to you'); **7:11** explicitly identifies the heavenly Father as giver in the surrounding teaching. Divine agency is a contextual inference.
Beneficiary
A **beneficiary** is a participant for whose benefit an action is performed or intended. Benefit need not be a transferred object or an achieved outcome. A bare dative and several prepositional constructions can express beneficiary-related meanings; **ὑπέρ + genitive** is one important pattern, not a universal or independently counted majority rule.
In **Romans 5:8**, **ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν** identifies those on whose behalf Christ died. It does not make 'us' recipients of a transferred death. Whether a passage emphasizes benefit, representation, or substitution requires context; neither ὑπέρ nor its contrast with ἀντί settles the whole account. A middle form likewise does not automatically mean 'for oneself'.
**HBS BYZ04:** **Romans 5:8:** **Χριστὸς ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν ἀπέθανε** ('Christ died for us'). **John 11:50:** **συμφέρει ἡμῖν** ('it is advantageous for us'), a dative of advantage. These illustrate different constructions relevant to benefit; neither establishes a universal ranking of their frequency.
Instrument
An **instrument** is prototypically a tool used in an action; **means** is a broader descriptive category. Greek can express these through a bare dative, ἐν + dative, διά + genitive, or other constructions, depending on the predicate. Not every dative is instrumental, and using 'means' does not classify its referent as impersonal.
**Acts 12:2**, **μαχαίρᾳ** ('with a sword'), is a concrete instrumental example. **Romans 8:13**, **Πνεύματι**, can be analyzed as means or enabling agency; the grammar does not declare the Spirit an inanimate tool. **Ephesians 2:8**, **τῇ χάριτί**, is commonly read as means/basis. These semantic labels are analyses of constructions, not facts established solely by the spelling of a case ending.
**HBS BYZ04:** **Acts 12:2:** **ἀνεῖλε δὲ Ἰάκωβον τὸν ἀδελφὸν Ἰωάννου μαχαίρᾳ** ('he killed James, John’s brother, with a sword'). **Ephesians 2:8:** **τῇ γὰρ χάριτί ἐστε σεσωσμένοι** ('for by grace you have been saved'). **Romans 8:13:** **εἰ δὲ Πνεύματι τὰς πράξεις τοῦ σώματος θανατοῦτε, ζήσεσθε** ('but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live'). The concrete instrument and broader means/agency analyses must be distinguished.
Source
A **source** is an origin or point of departure in a movement, transfer, or derivation. **ἀπό**, **ἐκ**, and **παρά** with genitive can express source in suitable constructions, with overlapping ranges. Do not impose a rigid 'external source versus internal source' distinction on every occurrence.
**John 13:3** in the checked teaching edition has **ἀπὸ Θεοῦ ἐξῆλθε**, 'he came from God'. **Mark 1:9** gives a geographical source with **ἀπὸ Ναζαρὲτ**. Source differs from agent: origin is not necessarily an intentional doer. The actual predicate and complement determine the relation.
**HBS BYZ04:** **John 13:3:** **ἀπὸ Θεοῦ ἐξῆλθε** ('he came from God'). **Mark 1:9:** **ἦλθεν ὁ Ἰησοῦς ἀπὸ Ναζαρὲτ τῆς Γαλιλαίας** ('Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee'). Both source phrases are interpreted with motion predicates.
Goal
A **goal** is a destination or endpoint in the described movement or transfer. In **John 14:6**, **πρὸς τὸν πατέρα** expresses the goal with ἔρχεται. A goal can be intended rather than reached. **εἰς** and **πρός** with accusative have other uses as well; neither automatically adds entry, face-to-face communion, or a particular degree of personal commitment.
Do not turn **πιστεύω εἰς** into a compulsory spatial translation 'entrust oneself into', or derive an entire baptismal relationship from **εἰς τὸ ὄνομα**. **Matthew 28:19** supplies that construction, but its full interpretation needs the baptismal predicate and passage. The semantic role and the argument/adjunct classification are separate questions.
**HBS BYZ04:** **John 14:6:** **πρὸς τὸν πατέρα** ('to the Father'), a destination with ἔρχεται. **Matthew 28:19:** **βαπτίζοντες αὐτοὺς εἰς τὸ ὄνομα τοῦ Πατρὸς καὶ τοῦ Υἱοῦ καὶ τοῦ Ἁγίου Πνεύματος** ('baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit'). The latter’s full relation is not derived from a spatial gloss alone.
Location
A **location** describes where an event or state holds. **ἐν + dative** is a common locative pattern, but many prepositions express position and not every ἐν phrase is literal place. In **Acts 2:46**, **ἐν τῷ ἱερῷ** supplies the temple setting. In **John 7:14**, **εἰς τὸ ἱερόν** is an explicit destination; the verse does not repeat an ἐν locative after 'was teaching'.
Whether a locative is a selected complement or freer adjunct depends on the predicate and analysis, not simply on whether it can be omitted. **τῇ καρδίᾳ** in **Matthew 5:8** is naturally analyzed as dative of respect ('pure with respect to the heart'), rather than proof that a bare place-dative survived in a fixed expression. Figurative sphere, respect, means, and literal location should not be collapsed into one category.
**HBS BYZ04:** **Acts 2:46:** **ἐν τῷ ἱερῷ** ('in the temple'), an explicit location. **Matthew 5:8:** **μακάριοι οἱ καθαροὶ τῇ καρδίᾳ** ('blessed are the pure in heart'), naturally a respect relation. **John 7:14:** **ἀνέβη ὁ Ἰησοῦς εἰς τὸ ἱερὸν καὶ ἐδίδασκε** ('Jesus went up into the temple and was teaching'), with an explicit goal and no repeated locative after the second verb.
Valency Alternations
**Valency alternations** relate different argument frames or grammatical mappings. In a common active/passive correspondence, an active object corresponds to the passive subject while an agent is omitted or expressed obliquely. The participants’ event roles do not thereby reverse. Different predicates permit different passive patterns.
Middle morphology does not automatically reduce valency: a middle can retain an object while expressing a different relation to its subject. For a causative/intransitive contrast, compare the **constructed paradigm forms** **ἔστησα τὸν παῖδα** ('I made the child stand') and **ὁ παῖς ἔστη** ('the child stood'). Their morphological formation and construction both matter. Alternations can involve meaning differences as well as remapping. Leaving a recoverable argument unexpressed is not by itself evidence of a different lexical frame.
**Galatians 2:7 — HBS BYZ04:** **πεπίστευμαι τὸ εὐαγγέλιον** ('I have been entrusted with the gospel'). **πεπίστευμαι** is perfect middle/passive indicative, first singular, interpreted passively. Its retained accusative illustrates why passive behavior must be checked for the particular predicate.
Ellipsis of Arguments
Greek is a **null-subject language**: an overt subject pronoun is often unnecessary. **λέγω** identifies first singular; **λέγει** identifies third singular but requires context for the referent. Explicit pronouns can signal contrast or a discourse transition, or clarify reference; they are not automatically emphatic. A full noun subject can introduce or reidentify a participant without special emphasis.
Objects and other selected arguments can also remain unexpressed when licensed by context or by a generic use. In **John 7:14**, Jesus is named with the first verb and remains the understood subject of the coordinated **ἐδίδασκε**. No object of teaching is expressed there. Analyze the actual construction rather than counting missing words or treating every omission as a change of lexical valency.
**John 7:14 — HBS BYZ04:** **ἀνέβη ὁ Ἰησοῦς εἰς τὸ ἱερὸν καὶ ἐδίδασκε** ('Jesus went up into the temple and was teaching'). The second finite verb shares the understood subject Jesus, and no object of teaching is expressed.
Paradigms
Verbal Valency Patterns
These are constructional patterns, not fixed counts for every use of a lexeme. Valency can include selected obliques and unexpressed arguments. Record case, grammatical relation, and semantic role separately; terminology for genitive/dative complements varies by framework.
| Valency | Pattern | Example |
| Intransitive | No direct object; a simple frame has one subject argument | ἐδάκρυσεν ὁ Ἰησοῦς 'Jesus wept' (John 11:35) |
|---|---|---|
| Monotransitive | Subject and one object in the frame | ἠγάπησεν ὁ Θεὸς τὸν κόσμον 'God loved the world' (John 3:16) |
| Ditransitive | Prototypical giving: giver, theme, recipient | ἔδωκεν ἄν σοι ὕδωρ ζῶν 'he would have given you living water' (John 4:10) |
| Copular | Subject and predicative complement | ὁ Θεὸς ἀγάπη ἐστίν 'God is love' (1 John 4:8); ἀγάπη is a noun |
The Principal Semantic Roles
Semantic roles differ from grammatical relations and case. An active/passive correspondence can remap the same event participants while preserving their roles; it does not turn an agent into a patient. Labels and boundaries vary by framework.
| Semantic role | Definition | NT example |
| Agent | Prototypical initiator/controller | John as baptizer in Mark 1:9, expressed by ὑπὸ Ἰωάννου |
|---|---|---|
| Patient (theme) | Patient: affected participant; theme: transferred/moving/located entity in many frameworks | Jesus as participant baptized (Mark 1:9); water as theme (John 4:10) |
| Experiencer | Sentient participant in perception, feeling, or cognition | 'they' in 'they will see God' (Matt 5:8) |
| Recipient | Participant to whom transfer/communication is directed, even hypothetically | σοι in the hypothetical gift in John 4:10 |
| Beneficiary | Participant for whose benefit an action is performed or intended | ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν in Romans 5:8 |
| Instrument | Concrete tool; broader means/agency relations require context | μαχαίρᾳ 'with a sword' (Acts 12:2) |
| Source | Origin or point of departure | ἀπὸ Θεοῦ (John 13:3, HBS BYZ04) |
| Goal | Destination or endpoint, including an intended goal | πρὸς τὸν πατέρα with ἔρχεται (John 14:6) |
| Location | Spatial setting of an event or state | ἐν τῷ ἱερῷ (Acts 2:46) |
Chapter glossary
- — valency
syntax
The number and kinds of arguments selected by a predicate in a particular sense and construction. Frames can vary across uses of a lexeme; selected arguments may be unexpressed, so valency is not an overt word count.- ἔρχομαι — I come or go
erchomai
syntax
A motion verb used without a direct object, but able to occur with goal or source expressions. Its present has lexical-middle morphology; this does not require a reflexive gloss or establish a fixed one-argument frame for every use.- — intransitive
syntax
A use without a direct object. A simple intransitive frame has a subject alone, but other selected complements may occur; transitivity and total valency are not identical.- — monotransitive
syntax
A frame with a subject and one object. Record the actual case and construction; semantic roles are not fixed by the label. Terminology for genitive/dative complements varies by framework.- — ditransitive
syntax
A prototypical giving/communication frame with subject, theme, and recipient. John 4:10 has indicative ἔδωκεν with ἄν, dative σοι, and accusative ὕδωρ ζῶν. Not every use of a transfer verb has the same overt complements.- εἰμί — I am (copula)
eimi
syntax
In its copular use, links a subject with a predicative complement, as ὁ Θεὸς ἀγάπη ἐστίν (1 John 4:8). εἰμί also has existential, locative, and auxiliary-like uses that require separate analysis.- — copular (linking) verb
syntax
A verb used to link a subject and predicative complement. εἰμί, γίνομαι, and ὑπάρχω can occur in related patterns, but retain distinct contributions and are not copular in every use.- — predicative complement
syntax
An expression predicated of a subject or object. Nominal/adjectival complements commonly show case agreement in standard patterns, but agreement is not an exceptionless definition; construction and expression type matter.- — oblique complement
syntax
An argument selected in a particular predicate frame and expressed through a prepositional or other oblique case construction. Distinguish it from a freer adjunct; omission alone does not settle the distinction.- — semantic roles (θ-roles)
syntax
Relations of participants to an event or state, such as agent, patient, theme, experiencer, or recipient. Distinguish them from case and grammatical relation; role inventories and boundaries vary by framework.- — agent
syntax
Prototypically the initiator or controller of an action. It is not synonymous with active subject; an agent can be expressed obliquely in a passive, and active subjects can have other roles.- — patient (theme)
syntax
Patient denotes an affected participant or undergoer; theme is often distinguished for an entity moved, transferred, or located. The labels are framework-dependent and do not automatically identify subject or object.- — experiencer
syntax
A sentient participant in perception, feeling, or cognition. Often a subject in particular predicates, but grammatical position depends on the construction; experience can overlap with deliberate activity.- — recipient
syntax
The participant to whom something is transferred or communicated in the described event. It can be hypothetical or negated. Often dative in giving constructions, but the actual grammatical mapping depends on the predicate.- — beneficiary (benefactive)
syntax
A participant for whose benefit an action is performed or intended, without necessarily receiving a transferred theme. Bare dative and several prepositional constructions can express the relation; context decides.- — instrument (means)
syntax
Instrument prototypically denotes a tool; means is broader. Bare dative, ἐν with dative, διά with genitive, and other constructions can express means in context. The label does not make every referent impersonal.- — source
syntax
Origin or point of departure in a movement, transfer, or derivation. ἀπό, ἐκ, and παρά with genitive can express it in context; their meanings overlap and none is an invariant source label.- — goal
syntax
Destination or endpoint in a described movement or transfer, including an intended destination. εἰς and πρός with accusative can express it, but have other uses; the predicate and context determine the relation.- — location
syntax
The spatial setting of an event or state, often expressed by a prepositional phrase. Distinguish literal location from respect, figurative sphere, and means. Complement versus adjunct is a separate constructional analysis.- — valency alternation
syntax
A relation between different predicate frames or participant-to-grammar mappings. Active/passive correspondences often preserve event roles; middle forms do not automatically reduce argument number. Omission alone need not change lexical valency.- — pro-drop (null subject)
syntax
Greek permits unexpressed subjects, with person/number identified by finite morphology and reference supplied by context. Overt pronouns have several discourse functions and are not automatically emphatic.- — unaccusative
syntax
A theoretical class of intransitive constructions commonly associated with an internal-argument analysis and an undergoer/theme subject. Language- and construction-specific diagnostics are needed; the label does not mean morphological passive.- — unergative
syntax
A theoretical class of intransitive constructions commonly associated with an external-argument analysis and activity/agent-like subjects. The classification is not determined by an English gloss or a guarantee of deliberate action.