Confused about basics of Greek

[theinfiniteweird]

I'm teaching myself Greek. I'm using William Mounce's "Basicsof Biblical Greek". He saysit'simperative (and I agree) to learn the stem of each word (Logos, stem is logo).

My problem: how do you get the stem? I mean, if the word Logo is the stem, that's cool, because there's no nominative, genetive, dative, or accusative case ending of omicron. But what about a word like kardia? Is the stem kardi? Or anthropos. Is the stem anthropo? The vocab in the book has anthropos, but that's nominative singular masculine, and accusative plural feminine? So to get to the stem, do I just take off all the leters until I get to a letter that's not a case ending? The book also has pro-phey-teys as the vocab. eta-sigma is not a case ending, but sigma is. And when I take sigma off, it leaves me with eta, which is also a case ending. Is doxa simply dox, since a is the nominative and accusative nueter plural ending? If I'mworng, and doxa is the stem, than how would I show it in the nominative/accusative nueter plural?

Can you tell I'm confused?

And here, actually, is were it gets me really stuck-
the book says that the stem for logos is logo, but for parsing it says the lexical form is the nominative singular, which would be logos. So is the lexical form ALWAYS the nominative singular and not the stem? If so, then how do I get to the stem (first paragraph question)? And why would the lecial form not be the stem?

I guess my main question is this- how do I find the stem. I am only on chp 7 out of like 35, and have learned so far only the alphabet and syllabification(sp?), and the nominative, geniitive, dative, and accusative case endings, and the article (first and second declension for these, not third yet). I can't just ignore learning how to get the stem as the book says you must learn the stems of words.

 

[Jerrell]

All i can suggest is buying rossetta stone or some other software to teach it to you.

 

[oldsage]

I'm teaching myself Greek. I'm using William Mounce's "Basicsof Biblical Greek". He saysit'simperative (and I agree) to learn the stem of each word (Logos, stem is logo).

Stems become easy when you go through the vocabulary. As you memorize it you will learn the declension of the word and then will understand the stem. you should learn the stem with the genitive form, this will help you know what declension a word is.

My problem: how do you get the stem? I mean, if the word Logo is the stem, that's cool, because there's no nominative, genetive, dative, or accusative case ending of omicron. But what about a word like kardia? Is the stem kardi? Or anthropos. Is the stem anthropo? The vocab in the book has anthropos, but that's nominative singular masculine, and accusative plural feminine? So to get to the stem, do I just take off all the leters until I get to a letter that's not a case ending?

You need to look at the section of the book which talks about declensions of nouns. kardia is a first declension noun and has no case ending. First declension nouns are words which end in and alpha or eta, second declension nouns end in omicron, and third declension nouns end in a consonant. These are the general rules that apply most of the time, there are some which do not follow this but they are few and you will learn them on the way.
So, when you look at the lexical form of the word and want to know the case ending, the lexical form is always the nominative singluar form. Anthropos ends with omicron sigma which can only be nominative singular 2nd declension. because if it was accusative plural fem. then it would end in an alpha sigma. But anthropos is a masculine noun so it will follow after the 2nd declension.

The book also has pro-phey-teys as the vocab. eta-sigma is not a case ending, but sigma is. And when I take sigma off, it leaves me with eta, which is also a case ending. Is doxa simply dox, since a is the nominative and accusative nueter plural ending? If I'mworng, and doxa is the stem, than how would I show it in the nominative/accusative nueter plural?

prophetes is a first declension masculine word it's stem is propheta. This is one of those words which don't follow general rules of masculine nouns. Now one thing to keep in mind, sometimes alpha's and eta's can change between themselves, so keep that in mind. doxa is 1st declension fem n.s. It has no case ending and the stem is just as it is, doxa. Also learning the article in a must because that will help you identify the nouns gender and form since the there are only 24 forms of the article and they are consistent this will be a big help. Something I forgot to comment on, doxa is fem. and a 1st declension noun, so it follows the paradigm for 1st declension nouns. The nominative singular for doxa is doxa. But you mentioned how do you show it neuter. You can't. There are three types of nouns, masculine, feminine, and neuter. They do not cross those lines, they always stay one or the other.

Can you tell I'm confused?

Keep reading, it gets easier. don't give up, you are learning a whole new way to do grammar.

And here, actually, is were it gets me really stuck-
the book says that the stem for logos is logo, but for parsing it says the lexical form is the nominative singular, which would be logos. So is the lexical form ALWAYS the nominative singular and not the stem? If so, then how do I get to the stem (first paragraph question)? And why would the lecial form not be the stem?

I have never asked the question on why the lexical form is the nominative singluar. My guess would be it is easier to memorize or it is because the word never appears just as a stem. But if you were to use the word as a subject it would appear in the nominative singular form. When you do vocabulary you will learn the article and the genitive form of the word, this way you will know what declension a word follows and how to parse it. I personally never put much into memorizing stems but understanding the rules and being able to recognize the stem.

I guess my main question is this- how do I find the stem. I am only on chp 7 out of like 35, and have learned so far only the alphabet and syllabification(sp?), and the nominative, geniitive, dative, and accusative case endings, and the article (first and second declension for these, not third yet). I can't just ignore learning how to get the stem as the book says you must learn the stems of words.

I would first understand the rules and how to recognized words which use the different declensions. Go back and re-read on what the different genders are and how to recognize them and how declensions work. When you understand how forms work then it will help you in understanding how to find the stem.

Good luck on you journey in understanding the fascinating language.

Chris