Demonstrative pronouns

Pronoun is a part of speech. Pronouns are used in place of and in reference to a noun: the Greek term for “pronoun” is ἀντωνυμία, literally “in place of a noun.” The noun that a pronoun replaces and refers to is called the pronoun’s antecedent.

Consider an example in English:

Teacher: “You shouldn’t make promises you can’t keep.

Peter: “But those are the best kind.”

In the second sentence, “those” is a pronoun that stands for “promises you can’t keep.” The noun “promises” is the antecedent.

Like nouns, pronouns in ancient Greek have grammatical gender, case, and number. The gender and number will agree with the antecedent; the case of a pronoun, like that of a noun, will tell you its function in a clause.

For example, when Euphiletos narrates his story to the jury, and says, “Eratosthenes seduced my wife,” he uses the feminine singular noun γυνή to refer to his wife. Euphiletos continues, “and he [Eratosthenes] destroyed that woman.” He expresses “that woman” with a form of the demonstrative pronoun ἐκεῖνος, ἐκείνη, ἐκεῖνο. γυνή is the antecedent: “that woman” is his wife. Since γυνή is feminine and singular, he uses a feminine singular form of ἐκεῖνος, ἐκείνη, ἐκεῖνο. Euphiletos uses the case ending that indicates “that woman” is the direct object of the verb “destroyed.” (As we’ll see later in this module, that function is shown by the accusative case.)

If the antecedent is implied or understood, rather than expressed, we understand a noun that matches the gender and number of the demonstrative pronoun: ἐκεῖνος “that man” (masculine nominative and singular), ταῦτα “these things” (neuter nominative and plural), τῆσδε “this (here) woman” (feminine, genitive and singular).

English divides demonstratives into two categories, “this” and “that.” Ancient Greek has three demonstrative pronouns. It is important to understand the conceptual meaning of each demonstrative since you cannot simply equate each Greek demonstrative with one English word.

Like adjectives, pronouns will be listed in lexica with the masculine, feminine and neuter of the nominative singular.

Meaning and forms of ὅδε, ἥδε, τόδε

ὅδε, ἥδε, τόδε points to something present and visible or immediate. It can often be translated with “this,” and is similar to the colloquial English phrase “this here” to describe someone or something.

Conceptually, the speaker is always present or involved with what is being pointed at. Within a text or narrative, ὅδε, ἥδε, τόδε points forward to what comes next, similar in such a context to an English phrase like “the following.”

Case		Singular			Plural
	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Nominative	ὅδε	ἥδε	τόδε	οἵδε	αἵδε	τάδε
Genitive	τοῦδε	τῆσδε	τοῦδε	τῶνδε	τῶνδε	τῶνδε

Note on the forms of ὅδε, ἥδε, τόδε You can easily recognize the forms of the article in ὅδε, ἥδε, τόδε. That’s because the forms in fact come from the article plus an enclitic particle -δε. The enclitic nature of -δε accounts for the unexpected accents (e.g., forms like οἵδε, which seem to be “breaking” the rule about circumflex accents on a long penult when the ultima is short).

Meaning and forms of οὗτος, αὕτη, τοῦτο

οὗτος, αὕτη, τοῦτο falls in between the other two demonstratives. It describes a noun as less immediate than ὅδε, ἥδε, τόδε, but less remote than ἐκεῖνος, ἐκείνη, ἐκεῖνο. Conceptually, it points to something closer to the addressee than the speaker. In English translation, it might appear as “this” or “that,” depending on its context.

In contrast to ὅδε, ἥδε, τόδε, when οὗτος, αὕτη, τοῦτο refers to narrative or text, it looks back, and so points to “the preceding.” It points to something closer in text than ἐκεῖνος, ἐκείνη, ἐκεῖνο, and so means “the latter” in contrast to “the former” (for which ἐκεῖνος, ἐκείνη, ἐκεῖνο would be used).

οὗτος, αὕτη, τοῦτο is the pronoun Euphiletos regularly uses when he turns to address the jury directly to comment on the legal process. In phrases like “concerning this case,” “cite the law”, “this crime,” οὗτος, αὕτη, τοῦτο is his choice because he is talking to the jury about something that is close at hand for both of them – not just for him, the speaker, but for them, the addressee, as well.

Case		Singular			Plural
	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Nominative	οὗτος	αὕτη	τοῦτο	οὗτοι	αὗται	ταῦτα
Genitive	τούτου	ταύτης	τούτου	τούτων	τούτων	τούτων

Notes on the forms of οὗτος, αὕτη, τοῦτο. Notice that the stem follows a pattern similar to the article: it starts with tau in most forms, but with a rough breathing instead in the same places that the article does.

The masculine and neuter forms use second-declension endings and have the diphthong ου in the stem, while the feminine forms use first-decelension endings with the diphthong αυ in the stem. The one exception in the feminine is the genitive plural, which is assimilated to the same form as the masculine and neuter genitvie plural, τούτων.

The neuter nominative plural form uses the αυ diphthong in phonetic assimilation with its ending -α.

The neuter singular nominative and accusative are a different kind of second declension ending (-ο instead of -ον).

The accent persists on the penult. Since all the forms have a long diphthong in the penult, the accent will be a circumflex when the ultima is short and an acute when the ultima is long.

Meaning and forms of ἐκεῖνος, ἐκείνη, ἐκεῖνο

ἐκεῖνος, ἐκείνη, ἐκεῖνο points to something further away than the other two demonstratives, conceptually not directly connected to the speaker or addressee. The use of ἐκεῖνος, ἐκείνη, ἐκεῖνο may have an intentionally distancing effect, as “that” can in English (“I would never do that!”)

Case		Singular			Plural
	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Nominative	ἐκεῖνος	ἐκείνη	ἐκεῖνο	ἐκεῖνοι	ἐκεῖναι	ἐκεῖνα
Genitive	ἐκείνου	ἐκείνης	ἐκείνου	ἐκείνων	ἐκείνων	ἐκείνων

Notes on the forms of ἐκεῖνος, ἐκείνη, ἐκεῖνο.

The masculine and neuter forms have second declension endings while the feminine forms have first decelension endings.

The neuter singular nominative uses a different kind of second declension ending (-ο instead of -ον).

The persistent accent pattern is the accent on the penult, which is always long, so the accent will be a circumflex when the ultima is short and an acute when the ultima is long.

Demonstrative adjectives

In addition to standing alone as pronouns, the demonstrative pronouns can be used in a nboun phrase together with the noun they describe, much like the English demonstratives “this” and “that:” “this person,” “that witness,” “those laws.” Because the Greek demonstratives are pronouns, rather than adjectives, however, they do not use the attributive position when they are part of a noun phrase. Since they point to something definite, the noun they agree with normally includes the article. Some examples:

ἥδε ἡ ἡμέρα “this day” (meaning “this very day, this day now, today”)
οὗτος ὁ ἄνθρωπος “this/that person” (e.g., when Euphiletos speaks to the jury, “the person we were just talking about”)
περὶ τούτου τοῦ πράγματος “concerning this case”

Notice that when we use the demonstratives “this” or “that” in English, we do not use an article. An idiomatic translation in English, therefore, will not have an article, even though the Greek does. This is another reminder that translation is not a “one-to-one” substitution of words.