Lesson 7 – Relative Pronouns: Paradigm, Gender and Number, Case, Attraction, Inverse Attraction
The words who, which, and what are relative pronouns when they are used to introduce a relative clause. Consider the following sentence:
The man who lives next to me has a goat.
The simple sentence consists of the main clause, The man has a goat. But there is a relative clause specifying which man. That’s the part that is highlighted. The relative pronoun who has an antecedent. Man is the antecedent of who.
Paradigm
The relative pronoun is declined for number, case and gender as follows:
Relative Pronoun
| masculine | masculine | feminine | feminine | neuter | neuter | |
| sing. | plur. | sing. | plur. | sing. | plur. | |
| nom. | >ὅς | >οἵ | >ἥ | >αἵ | >ὅ | >ἅ |
| gen. | >οὗ | >ὧν | >ἧς | >ὧν | >οὗ | >ὧν |
| dat. | >ᾧ | >οἷς | >ᾗ | >αἷς | >ᾧ | >οἷς |
| acc. | >ὅν | >οὕς | >ἥν | >ἅς | >ὅ | >ἅ |
- Notice that it is very regular. The masculine follows the 2nd declension without exception. Even the nominative singular retains the ς that is lost in the definite article. The feminine follows the 1st declension without exception.Only in the neuter do we encounter what might be considered an anomaly, and that is the missing ν in the nom. and acc. singular. But we have seen that already in the definite article and in the adjective ἄλλος, and we will see it again in the next lesson when we introduce demonstrative pronouns.
- Also notice that there are rough breathings throughout.
- And finally, notice that all forms are accented, including both masculine and feminine in the nominative case. This will distinguish these forms visually from the definite article.
Gender and Number
As is the case with other pronouns, a relative pronoun usually agrees with its antecedent in gender and number. Consider the following examples:
ὥρᾳ ᾗ οὐ γινώσκει (Lk. 12:46)
an hour which he does not know
The antecedent is ὥρᾳ (hour fem. sing.). Accordingly, the fem. sing. relative pronoun ᾗ is used.
Τιμόθεον, ὅς ἐστίν μου τέκνον (1 Co. 4:17)
Timothy, who is my child
The antecedent is Τιμόθεον (Timothy, masc. sing.). Accordingly, the masc. sing. relative pronoun ὅς is used.
In the exercises, you should be sure that your relative pronouns agree with their antecedents in gender and number. However, in the New Testament, you will find examples where this rule is not followed. Rather, there is a construction according to sense.
ἐκλεκτῇ κυρίᾳ καὶ τοῖς τέκνοις αὐτῆς, οὓς ἐγὼ ἀγαπῶ (2 Jn. 1)
to [the] elect lady and to the children of her, whom I love
The relative pronoun is οὕς (whom). Its most obvious antecedent is τέκνοις (children, neuter plural). But the relative pronoun οὕς is masculine plural. This may be because there is actually a double antecedent, one feminine, κυρίᾳ, and one neuter. John therefore uses the default masculine.
Case
Look again at this sentence:
The man who lives next to me has a goat.
In its own clause, who functions as the subject. who is the subject of the verb lives. For this reason, who is in the nominative case. But the relative pronoun does not always function as the subject. Consider the following sentence:
He is the man whom you saw.
In this example, whom is not the subject in its own clause. you is the subject of the verb saw. whom is the direct object. For this reason, the objective case, whom, is used rather than the nominative case, who.
So also in Greek, as a rule, the case of the relative pronoun is determined by its function in its own clause. Consider two of the examples we have already cited:
Τιμόθεον, ὅς ἐστίν μου τέκνον (1 Co. 4:17)
Timothy, who is my child
The relative pronoun ὅς is nominative because it functions as the subject in its own clause. It is the subject of the verb ἐστίν. The fact that it does not agree in case with its antecedent is inconsequential.
ἐκλεκτῇ κυρίᾳ καὶ τοῖς τέκνοις αὐτῆς, οὓς ἐγὼ ἀγαπῶ (2 Jn. 1)
to [the] elect lady and to the children of her, whom I love
In this example, the relative pronoun οὕς is accusative because in its own clause it functions as the direct object of the verb ἀγαπῶ – I love whom.
Attraction
Having established the rule that the case of the relative pronoun is determined by its function in its own clause, we now must acknowledge that there are exceptions to this rule also. Often, the case of the relative pronoun will be attracted to the case of its antecedent. This is especially true when the function of the relative pronoun in its own clause would call for it to be accusative, and its antecedent is genitive or dative. In such cases, the relative pronoun will often conform to the case of the antecedent. Consider the very first example we saw:
ὥρᾳ ᾗ οὐ γινώσκει (Lk. 12:46)
an hour which he does not know
The relative pronoun is ᾗ, which. Its antecedent is ὥρᾳ (hour – dative case). In its own clause, ᾗ is the direct object. It is the thing that someone doesn’t know. One would expect the accusative case. But here, the relative pronoun is dative, having been attracted to the case of the antecedent ὥρᾳ.
Inverse Attraction
More rarely in the New Testament, the case of the antecedent is attracted to the relative pronoun.
Summary
- As a rule, a relative pronoun will agree with its antecedent in gender and number.
- There are exceptions to this rule.
- Look first for the case of the relative pronoun to be determined by its function in its own clause.
- There are numerous exceptions to this rule.