In the Beginning ARCHE

In John's Gospel in the beginning was the word.

This simple passage may be Post Classical but still is a classic in several ways.

And a useful teaching example and aid?

In Latin the Gospel of John begins with

In principio verbum erat

Here's Verses 1 – 5 which include a good variety of simple verb and noun forms.

1. Ἐν ἀρχῇ ἦν ὁ λόγος, καὶ ὁ λόγος ἦν πρὸς τὸν θεόν, καὶ θεὸς ἦν ὁ λόγος.

2. οὗτος ἦν ἐν ἀρχῇ πρὸς τὸν θεόν.

3. πάντα δι᾿ αὐτοῦ ἐγένετο, καὶ χωρὶς αὐτοῦ ἐγένετο οὐδὲ ἕν. ὃ γέγονεν.

4. ἐν αὐτῷ ζωὴ ἦν, καὶ ἡ ζωὴ ἦν τὸ φῶς τῶν ἀνθρώπων.

5. καὶ τὸ φῶς ἐν τῇ σκοτίᾳ φαίνει, καὶ ἡ σκοτία αὐτὸ οὐ κατέλαβεν.

Here's a list of some of the words used and some questions to use for further study and revision.

ἐν Note how this is used with the dative ἀρχῇ.

ἦν equals erat and both mean ...

ὁ λόγος the word is a Second Declension noun along with which other words?

καὶ the most common conjunction and the others are …?

πρὸς is used with the object τὸν θεόν why accusative? how does this change the meaning?

ἐγένετο and γέγονεν are both forms of which verb?

ὁ and ὃ that one different accent changes the meaning ho and hò mean ?

ἡ ζωὴ is a First Declension Feminine Noun. Name the other two nouns of this type used.

My next post will about about ARKHEE arche