Abarim Publications' online Biblical Greek Dictionary
εγω συ
Personal pronouns (I, me, mine, yours, etcetera) in Greek work the same as in English, and apart perhaps from there being slightly more forms in Greek, there is no real mystery involved. The third person personal pronouns are forms of the familiar word αυτος (autos). The first person personal pronoun nominative single is the equally familiar word εγω (ego).
As in English, there are no genders to the first and second person personal pronouns. Also note that the obvious declinations of verbal forms often make personal pronouns superfluous.
First person pronouns
The many forms of the first person personal pronoun occur 2668 times in the New Testament. The first person singular may come prefixed with an ε (e) for added stress or emphasis (Matthew 5:11: they persecute you because of Me.) In post-Biblical times, the second person personal pronouns became augmented with accents to achieve the same.
The nominative, dative and accusative forms of the first person personal pronoun may be welded together with the particle of conjunction και (kai) to make a so-called crasis form that means "I too", or "to me too". This particular form is used 70 times in the New Testament; see full concordance
| Koine Greek first person personal pronouns see full concordance (2668) | ||||||
| case and number | regular form | English | emphatic form | English | crasis form | English |
| nominative single | εγω | I | καγω | I too | ||
| genitive single | μου | of me, my | εμου | of me | ||
| dative single | μοι | to me | εμοι | to me | καμοι | to me too |
| accusative single | με | me | εμε | me | καμε | me too |
| nominative plural | ημεις | we | ||||
| genitive plural | ημων | of us, our, ours | ||||
| dative plural | ημιν | to us | ||||
| accusative plural | ημας | us | ||||
First person possessive pronouns
The genitive form of the personal pronoun can be used to express possession. But for added emphasis an author may turn to the possessive pronouns. These pronouns behave like adjectives and assume therefore double number, one for the subject and one for the object:
| singular | plural | |
| singular | my (thing) | my (things) |
| plural | our (thing) | our (things) |
The nominative masculine single form of the first person single possessive pronoun (my thing) is εμος (emos, from the emphatic εμου, emou, meaning "of me"), but it comes in many varieties of cases and number (singular: my thing, and plural: my things). It can usually be translated with "mine" or "my own" and it occurs 78 times; see full concordance.
The nominative masculine single form of the first person plural possessive pronoun (our thing) is ημετερος (hemeteros, from ημεις, emeis, meaning "we"). It can usually be translated with "our" or "our own" and follows case and number (singular: our thing, and plural: our things). Curiously, this pronoun only occurs 8 times in the New Testament; see full concordance
Second person pronouns
Slightly less elaborate are the personal pronouns of the second person. When the New Testament was written, these second person pronouns couldn't be emphasized, and emphases were later added (along with all the other accents). Modern English is rather unusual in that it makes no distinction between the singular and plural forms of the second person personal pronouns, but in the olden days people would speak of "thou/thee/thy" for the single forms and "ye/you" for the plural.
| Koine Greek second person personal pronouns see full concordance (2970) | ||
| case and number | forms | English |
| nominative single | συ | you |
| genitive single | σου | of you, your |
| dative single | σοι | to you |
| accusative single | σε | you |
| nominative plural | υμεις | you |
| genitive plural | υμων | of you, your |
| dative plural | υμιν | to you |
| accusative plural | υμας | you |
τοι
From the dative of the second person personal pronoun derives the particle τοι (toi), literally meaning "to you" and used as an exclamation or attention getter: "let me tell you." In the classics it is used independently but in the New Testament it only occurs as part of words like καιτοι (kaitoi) or μεντοι (mentoi), both meaning something like "indeed, I tell you." Also:
- Together with the particle γαρ (gar), because or for, and the conjunction ουν (oun), hence, the conjunction τοιγαρουν (toigaroun), meaning something like "consequently therefore, let me tell you...". This curious word occurs in the New Testament in 1 Thessalonians 4:8 and Hebrews 12:1 only.
- Together with the adverb νυν (nun), now, the inferential particle τοινυν (toinun), which often introduces a logical conclusion: "therefore". Literally it means something like "well then" or "there now", in the sense of "moreover" or "as I was saying". It occurs 4 times; see full concordance.
Second person possessive pronouns
The nominative masculine single form of the second person single possessive pronoun (thy thing) is σος (sos, from συ, su, meaning "you" singular). It can usually be translated with "your(s)" or "your own" and follows case and number (singular: thy thing, plural: thy things). This pronoun occurs 27 times; see full concordance.
The nominative masculine single form of the second person plural possessive pronoun (your thing) is υμετερος (humeteros, from υμεις, humeis, meaning "you" plural). It can usually be translated with "your" or "your own" and follows case and number (singular: your thing, plural: your things). It occurs 10 times; see full concordance.