Person third

Glossary

Third person is a grammatical feature indicating that the speaker is talking about a person (or thing) other than the speaker or writer or the person being addressed (the reader or listener) (e.g., he ran, she ran, they ran).

Mark 1:8            
αὐτὸς δὲ βαπτίσει ὑμᾶς ἐν Πνεύματι Ἁγίῳ
autos de baptisei hymas en Pneumati Hagiō
he but he will baptize you with Spirit Holy

…but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.

Summary

Third person is used when the narrator or speaker refers to someone besides himself or the listener (or reader).

Article

The third person is used when the person or thing referred to does not include either the speaker(or writer) or the person (or people) being addressed. Pronouns in the third person (he, him, his, she, her, or it or group of people/things they, them, or their) refer to someone or something that is spoken about.

The third person can be used in both direct and indirect speech.

Third person references appear in both Verb forms, and Pronoun_Personal forms.

Form

When a word is in the third person, it can be recognized by a variety of changes to the form. These changes differ greatly from each other and are hard to sum up in a simple, helpful way. These changes can be classified into Verbal Conjugation forms and Personal Pronouns.

The third person of a verb is formed by adding a third person personal ending (or sufformative) to the verb stem. These endings can be divided into eight basic types: primary active, secondary active, primary middle/passive and secondary middle/passive. There are also singular and plural endings. The paradigm below shows a sample of the kinds of changes that indicate a third person verbal form.

Paradigm

Eight common Third Person Verbal Conjugation Forms

Parsing Greek Transliteration Gloss
Third person present active indicative singular λύει lyei He/she/it is loosing
Third person present active indicative plural λύουσι(ν) lyousi(n) They are loosing
Third person present passive indicative singular λύεται lyetai He/she/it is being loosed
Third person present passive indicative plural λύονται lyontai They are being loosed
Third person imperfect active indicative singular ἒλυε(ν) elye(n) He/she/it was loosing
Third person imperfect active indicative plural ἒλυον elyon They were loosing
Third person imperfect passive indicative singular ἐλύετο elyeto He/she/it was being loosed
Third person imperfect passive indicative plural ἐλύοντο elyonto They were being loosed

Personal pronouns also have person and appear in various forms. Greek distinguishes between Number Singular and Number Plural , AND between Gender Masculine , Gender Feminine ,and Gender Neuter in the third person.

Third Person Independent Personal Pronoun Forms

Masculine      
Parsing Greek Transliteration Gloss
Third person nominative singular αὐτός autos he
Third person nominative plural αὐτοί autoi they
Third person genitive singular αὐτοῦ autou his
Third person genitive plural αὐτῶν autōn their
Third person dative singular αὐτῷ auto him
Third person dative plural αὐτοῖς autois them
Third person accusative singular αὐτόν auton him (or it)
Third person accusative plural αὐτούς autous them
       
Feminine      
Parsing Greek Transliteration Gloss
Third person nominative singular αὐτή autē she
Third person nominative plural αὐταί autai they
Third person genitive singular αὐτῆς autēs her
Third person genitive plural αὐτῶν autōn their
Third person dative singular αὐτῇ autē her
Third person dative plural αὐταῖς autais them
Third person accusative singular αὐτήν autēn her (or it)
Third person accusative plural αὐτάς autas them
       
Neuter      
Parsing Greek Transliteration Gloss
Third person nominative singular αὐτό auto it
Third person nominative plural αὐτά autα they
Third person genitive singular αὐτοῦ autou its
Third person genitive plural αὐτῶν autōn their
Third person dative singular αὐτῷ auto it
Third person dative plural αὐτοῖς autois them
Third person accusative singular αὐτό auto it
Third person accusative plural αὐτά autα them

The third person can be found in verb forms, and in Pronoun_Personal forms.

Function

As stated above a suffix is added to the verb stem to indicate the person and number for the subject of the verb. The subject in a sentence is the person or thing that does the action of the verb. However, if the verb is in the passive voice , the subject of the sentence receives the action of the verb.

John 1:14                
καὶ ὁ λόγος σὰρξ ἐγένετο καὶ ἐσκήνωσεν ἐν ἡμῖν
kai ho logos sarx egeneto kai eskēnōsen en hemin
and the word flesh it became and it lived among us

The Word became flesh and lived among us.

The personal ending of the verb is generally sufficient to show the person and number of the subject of the sentence. Therefore, an emphasis is being made when the nominative case of the personal pronoun is used in conjunction with the verb.

Ephesians 4:11            
καὶ αὐτὸς ἔδωκεν τοὺς μὲν   ἀποστόλους
kai autos edōken tous men   apostolous
and he he gave some   (to be) apostles

He gave some to be apostles

The third person Personal Pronoun can be used as a subject, an object, or to indicate possession. Personal pronouns may also be used as the object of a preposition. The number (singular or plural) and the gender (masculine, feminine, or neuter) will agree with its antecedent. However, the case will depend on its function in the sentence.

Prepositions Third person personal pronouns can be the object of a preposition. They therefore can occur in the Genitive, Dative, or Accusative case depending upon the preposition.

Third person personal pronoun - preposition

Romans 1:17                  
δικαιοσύνη γὰρ Θεοῦ ἐν αὐτῷ ἀποκαλύπτεται ἐκ πίστεως εἰς πίστιν
dikaiosynē gar Theou en autō apokalyptetai ek pisteōs eis pistin
righteousness for of God in it it is being revealed from faith into faith

For in it God’s righteousness is revealed from faith to faith

Subject of a sentence or clause (including predicate nominative)
Third person personal pronoun – nominative case αὐτός, αὐτή, αὐτό, αὐτοί, αὐταί, αὐτά

As stated above, the personal ending of the verb is generally sufficient to show the person and number of the subject of the sentence. Therefore, an emphasis is being made when the nominative case of the personal pronoun is used in conjunction with the verb.

Matthew 5:8                    
Μακάριοι   οἱ καθαροὶ τῇ καρδίᾳ ὅτι αὐτοὶ τὸν Θεὸν ὄψονται
Makarioi   hoi katharoi tē kardia hoti autoi ton Theon opsontai
Blessed (are) the pure in the heart because they the God they will see

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

Possession

Third Person personal pronoun – Genitive case αὐτοῦ, αὐτῆς, αὐτοῦ, αὐτῶν, αὐτῶν, αὐτῶν

Example: Matthew 5:2
καὶ ἀνοίξας τὸ στόμα αὐτοῦ ἐδίδασκεν αὐτοὺς
kai anoixas to stoma autou edidasken autous
and he opened the mouth his he was teaching them

He opened his mouth and taught them

Objective Cases

Third person personal pronoun – Dative case αὐτῷ, αὐτῇ, αὐτῷ, αὐτοῖς, αὐταῖς, αὐτοῖς

Matthew 8:20        
καὶ λέγει αὐτῷ ὁ Ἰησοῦς
kai legei autō ho Iēsous
and he says to him the Jesus

Jesus said to him

Third person personal pronoun – Accusative case αὐτόν, αὐτήν, αὐτό, αὐτούς, αὐτάς, αὐτά

Mark 1:37                  
καὶ εὗρον αὐτὸν καὶ λέγουσιν αὐτῷ ὅτι πάντες ζητοῦσίν σε
kai heuron auton kai legousin autō hoti pantes zētousin se
and they found him and they said to him that everyone is seeking you

They found him and they said to him, “Everyone is looking for you.”

Reflexive use of the third person personal pronoun – εἀυτοῦ, εἀυτῆς, εἀυτοῦ The third person reflexive pronoun occurs 317 times in the New Testament. It occurs in the Genitive, Dative, and Accusative forms. αὐτός, αὐτή, and αὐτό are used as a reflexive pronoun 119 times.

Romans 14:7                
οὐδεὶς γὰρ ἡμῶν ἑαυτῷ ζῇ καὶ οὐδεὶς ἑαυτῷ ἀποθνῄσκει
oudeis gar hēmōn heautō zē kai oudeis heautō apothnēskei
no one for of us to himself he lives and no one to himself he dies

For none of us lives for himself, and none dies for* himself.