Chapter XIV. Syntax

§298. The Sentence. Two types of sentence occur in Coptic: the Non-Verbal and the Verbal Sentence. The Verbal Sentence can be further subdivided into Durative Verbal and Limitative Verbal Sentences. The Durative Verbal Sentence may be said to form a kind of bridge between the Non-Verbal and the Limitative Verbal Sentence, for it shows features of both types of sentence. For example, the Imperfect tense often shows the Existential Particle pe after the Verbal Form, which in the Non-Verbal Sentence stands for the logical subject. A satisfactory theory of the Sentence in Coptic remains to be worked out. In the following pages no attempt is made to present any new explanation. Notes with the introductory ‘Observation’ must be regarded as suggestions on my part; cf for example the observations below (§329.Obs) on the Direct and Oblique Object.
§299. The Non-Verbal Sentence. The Non-Verbal Sentence is a sentence which has no proper verb in the predicate, the Copula (‘Am, is, are, was, etc.’) being understood. It consists of two parts:
(1) The Subject, noun or pronoun.
(2) The Predicate: noun, pronoun, adverb (or adverbial phrase). The Adjectival Predicate had ceased to exist; such adjectives as did survive from the older stage of the language were treated as substantives (§104) and therefore appear as Nominal Predicates.
§300. The Non-Verbal Sentence can be divided into two groups:
(1) The Subject stands first.
(2) The Predicate stands first.
§301. Group I: The Subject Stands First: (1) When the Subject is the 1^st or 2^nd Person. To express the Subject, use is made of the Independent Pronouns (§45). The Predicate Noun must be defined by the Article or Possessive Adjective; e.g. anok  ou.rwme  n.re3.r.nobe ‘I (am) a sinful man’ (Z 321.26). The Construct Form of the Independent Pronoun is more usual than the Absolute Form— compare the foregoing example with the form giving the same meaning in Lk 5:8: ang.ou.rwme  n.re3.r.nobe; further examples which might be quoted are: nte.ou.s6ime ‘Thou (art) a woman’ (Ruth 3:11), nte.tn  6en.makarios  para  n.rwme  thr.ou ‘You (are) more blessed than all men’ (Pistis Sophia 15).
§302. The Subject is often strengthened by using the Absolute Form and following it with the Construct Form; e.g. ntw.tn   nte.tn.na.4beer ‘You (are) my friends’ (Jn 15:14), anok  de  ang.ou.3nt  ang.ou.rwme  an ‘I (am) a worm; I (am) not a man’ (Ps 21:6).
§303. The equivalent of an Adjectival Predicate is effected by means of the Compound Preposition  ebol.6n- ‘out of’ placed before a defined Substantive, the whole phrase being prefaced by the Indefinite Article; e.g. nte.tn  6en  ebol.6m.pei.kosmos ‘You (are) worldly’ (lit. You [are] some out of this world) (Jn 8:23).
§304. The Subject stands first: (2) When the Predicate is an adverb or its equivalent: (a) With Nominal Subject; e.g. pa.eiwt  n.6ht ‘My Father (is) in me’ (Jn 14:11), pe.pna  m.p.`oeis  e.6rai  e`w.i ‘The Spirit of the Lord (is) upon me’ (Lk 4:18).
§305. (b) When the Subject is pronominal, 1^st, 2^nd or 3^rd person, the Pronominal forms of I Present (§188) are used; e.g. 5.6m.pa.eiwt ‘I (am) in my Father’ (Jn 14:10), nai  se.6m.p.kosmos ‘These, they (are) in the world’ (Jn 17:10). Observation: The Independent Pronouns can be used before an Adverbial Predicate, especially when the Pronominal form of I Present has been used at the beginning of the sentence. The subsequent Pronouns show Absolute forms; e.g. anok  5.6m.pa.eiwt  auw  ntw.tn  n.6ht  auw  anok  n.6ht.thutn  ‘I (am) in my Father, and you (are) in me, and I (am) in you’ (Jn 14:20).
§306. Group II: Predicate Stands First. When the Subject is the Third Person, and the Predicate contains a defined noun or Independent Pronoun but not an adverb or its equivalent, the Subject is represented by  the Existential Particles  pe, te, ne, which agree in number and gender with the Predicate. These particles, representing the Logical Subject, can be compared with the English ‘It is’ and French ‘C'est’; e.g. pai  pe ‘It is this’ (lit. This, it is), ou.no2  pe ‘He is great’ (lit. A great one, he is; Z 313.b.6), ten.sarc  te ‘He is our flesh’ (Gen 37:27), ne3.eiote  ne ‘They are his parents’ (Jn 9:2).
§307. When the Subject is expressed by a noun, it stands in apposition after the Existential Particle representing the Logical Subject; e.g. pe.2ro2  pe  p.4a`e  m.p.noute ‘The Logos of God is the seed’ (lit. The seed, the Logos of God it is; Lk 8:11). This construction Predicate-Particle-Subject is also used when the Predicate is a Pronoun, whether Independent, Possessive, Demonstrative or Interrogative; e.g. anok  pe  p.ro ‘I Am the door’ (Jn 10:9), nai  de  ne  penta.u.6e  6atn  te.6ih ‘These are the ones which fell by the way’ (Mk 4:15), ou  pe  pei.6wb ‘What is this work?’ (Z 323.a.1). For Possessive Pronoun, cf §248.2. Note: Coptic expresses the conjunction  ‘so, thus’  by the Non-Verbal Sentence: tai  te  q.e  (for t.6e) ‘This is the way (or manner)’; e.g. tai  te  q.e  4hn  nim  et.nanou.3  4a.3.taue  karpos  ebol  e.nanou.3 ‘So every good tree is wont to produce good fruit’ (Mt 7:17).
§308. Concord. When the Predicate is an Independent Pronoun, 1<sup>st</sup> or 2<sup>nd</sup> Person, singular or plural, the Existential Particle representing the Logical Subject generally appears as  pe ; e.g. anok  pe  p.4ws  et.nanou.3 ‘I Am the good shepherd’ (Jn 10:11), ntw.tn  pe  p.ouein  m.p.kosmos ‘You are the light of the world’ (Mt 5:14). However, when the Subject and Predicate are nouns of the same number and gender, the Existential Particle is in accord; e.g. ta.nai  gar  n.tei.mine  te  t.mnt.ero  n.m.phue ‘For of such a kind is the kingdom of the heavens’ (Mt 19:14), neu.tafos  ne  neu.hi  4a.ene6 ‘Their graves are their houses forever’ (Ps 48:11). But when the Predicate and the Subject differ in number and gender, the Existential Particle is generally pe, no attempt at concord being made; e.g. pek.4a`e  pe  t.me ‘Thy word is the truth’ (Jn 17:7), t.pe  pe  pa.qronos ‘Heaven is my throne’ (Acts 7:49), ou.swma  n.ouwt  pe  anon  thr.n ‘One body are we all’ (I-Cor 10:17).
§309. Emphasis. When special emphasis is laid on the Subject of Non-Verbal Sentences containing the Existential Particle representing the Logical Subject, the order of the sentence undergoes a change: the Subject is placed at the beginning of the sentence, with the Predicate and Existential Particle following; e.g. t.s6ime  de  pe.oou  m.pes.6ai  te ‘The woman is the glory of her husband’ (I-Cor 11:7), nto.ou  thr.ou  6en.agrios  ne ‘They all are wild beasts’ (Z 318.a.5). As a rule in this construction, the Existential Particle is in accord with the subject in both number and gender. Exceptions are found; e.g. peu.las  ou.sh3e  te  e.sthm ‘Their tongue is a sharp sword’ (Ps 56:5). Note: The preceding example shows a tendency which is fairly common in Coptic: the desire to keep the Existential Particle representing the Logical Subject as near as possible to the Predicate Substantive; and, when this substantive is enlarged by a genitive or relative clause, to place the enlargement after the Existential Particle ; e.g. ou.rwme  pe  nte.p.noute ‘He is a man of God’ (Z 348.b.16).
§310. The Past Tense of the Non-Verbal Sentence is formed by prefixing the Existential Particle  ne- immediately before the Predicate or before the Subject, when the sentence is of the type under Group I; e.g. ne.ou.grafeus  pe ‘He was a scribe’ (Z 351.12), barabbas  de  ne ou.soone  pe ‘But Barabbas, he was a robber’ (Jn 18:40), ne.ang.ou.koui ‘I was a little one’ (Ps 151:1 LXX).
§311. For the Circumstantial use of the Non-Verbal Sentence, cf §197a.n.
§312. Negation of the Non-Verbal Sentence is effected by means of the particles  n ... an ; e.g. n.ou.re3.`i6o  an  pe  p.noute ‘God is not a trifler’ (Acts 10:34), p.4a`e  ete.tn.swtm  ero.3  m.pwi  an  pe ‘The Logos which you hear is not mine’ (Jn 14:24), pei.rwme  n.ou.ebol  6m  p.noute  an  pe ‘This man is not from God’ (Jn 9:16), n.anok  m.mate  an  pe ‘It is not I only’ (Jn 8:16). Frequently the particle n  is omitted; e.g. ang.ou.rwme  an ‘I (am) not a man’ (Ps 21:7).
§313. Note that it is only the Predicate which is negated, and for this reason the particle n  is usually omitted before the subject of Non-Verbal Sentences of the type Group I; cf §301.
§314. Remarks on the Subject of Non-Verbal Sentences. As a general rule the Subject, if it is a noun, must be defined with the Definite Article or Possessive Adjective. There are exceptions to this rule; cf the examples quoted in §248. When the subject has the Indefinite Article, or no Article, the Impersonal Existential Verbs oun- and (m)mn- (§233) are used. Strictly speaking, when these verbs are used, the sentence is not in fact Non-Verbal, as it contains a verb of the Old Conjugation type.
§315. The Verbal Sentence. In contrast to the Non-Verbal Sentence, the Verbal Sentence contains a finite verb—which may be either transitive or intransitive, as well as either Infinitive (expressing action) or Qualitative (expressing state). As has already been noted, the Verbal Sentence should itself be divided into Sentences containing Durative Tenses (§188-98) and Sentence containing Limitative Tenses (§199ff).
§316. (A) The Durative Verbal Sentence. Sentences containing the Present, Imperfect, and Circumstantial Tenses are called Durative. They are distinguished from all other Verbal Sentences in two ways: they alone can take the Qualitative form of the verb, and they cannot take a direct object; i.e. they must use the Absolute form of the verb, and cannot use the Construct or Pronominal forms (§328; exception in §329n); e.g. (a) Present: pei.laos  t.maeio  mmo.i  6n.ne3.spotou ‘This people praise me with their lips’ (Mk 7:6), 5.`w  mmo.s  nh.tn ‘I say it to you’; (b) Imperfect: nere.is  de  me  m.marqa ‘Jesus was loving Martha’ (Jn 11:5), ne.u.4oop  gar  6n.ou.mnt.`a`e  mn.neu.erhu ‘For they were being in enmity with one another’ (Lk 23:12); (c) Circumstantial: ere.n.ro  4otm ‘The doors being shut’ (Jn 20:19), n.4hre  4hm  e.u.`i4kak  ebol  6m.pe.rpe  e.u.`w  mmo.s  `e  wsanna  p.4hre  n.daueid ‘The children crying out in the temple saying, Hosanna, O Son of David!’ (Mt 21:15).
§317. (B) The Limitative Verbal Sentence. In contrast to the Durative Verbal Sentence, the Limitative Tenses employed in a sentence cannot take the Qualitative Form; but they can take a direct object, i.e. they can use the Construct and Pronominal Forms of the Infinitive (see further §327-29 for qualifications of this general rule); e.g. a.3.`e.nai ‘He said these (things)’ (Lk 18:11), eis.6hhte  5.na.`eu pa.aggelos ‘Lo, I shall send my messenger’ (Mk 1:2), a.p.koui  n.4hre  seu6.n.ka  nim  et.nta.3 ‘The younger son gathered everything which he had’ (Lk 15:13).
§318. Word Order in the Verbal Sentence.
 The normal word order in the Verbal Sentence is:
 (1) The Auxiliary with Subject (Noun or Pronoun)
 (2) The Verbal Form
 (3) The Object (Noun or Pronoun)
 (4) The Dative (Noun)
 (5) The Adverb
E.g. a.p.`oeis  tamio  n.6en.4thn  n.4aar  n.adam ‘The Lord prepared coats of skin for Adam’ (Gen 3:21), a.u.nt.3  4a.annas  n.4orp ‘They brought him to Annas at first’ (Jn 18:13).
§319. When the Dative is Pronominal, it takes precedence over the Object of the verb. The Object then follows the Dative and is introduced by the particle n-; e.g. 5.na.`oou  na.u  n.6en.profhths  mn  6en.apostolos ‘I shall send to them prophets and apostles’ (Lk 11:49), 3.na.eire  na.k  n.ouna ‘He will show to thee mercy’ (Z 309.a.6). Note: The pronoun may not precede the noun to which it refers; e.g. a.3.5  n.ne.skeuh  n.n.rwme  na.u ‘He gave the implements of the men to them’ (Acts Andreas and Paulus, Steindorff, Grammar, *35.l.18).
§320. When however the Object is Pronominal, it retains its normal position after the verb; e.g. (a) Durative: 5.`w  mmo.s  nh.tn ‘I say it to you’; (b) Limitative: 3.na.taa.3  nh.tn  6m.pa.ran ‘He will give it to you in my name’ (Jn 16:23).
§321. The Subject. The normal position of the Subject is at the beginning of the Sentence; e.g. p.rwme  swtm  e.p.4a`e ‘The man hears the Logos’, 3.swtm  e.p.4a`e ‘He hears the Logos’. With the exception of the I Present Durative and I Future Limitative, the auxiliary verb precedes the subject; e.g. a.p.rwme  swtm  e.p.4a`e ‘The man heard the Logos’, a.3.swtm e.p.4a`e ‘He heard the Logos’, etc.
§322. However, it should be noted that Coptic shows a preference for the use of the Pronominal Forms of the auxiliaries, even when the Subject is Nominal; e.g. mwushs  pa.6m6al  a.3.mou ‘Moses my servant is dead’ (lit. Moses my servant did he die; Josh 1:2), auw  noemin  pe`a.s  n.6rouq ‘And Naomi, she says to Ruth’ (Ruth 1:15). This construction is particularly common when the Sentence is connected to a preceding sentence by one of the Conjunctions (§287), which must stand second in word order: 2e, de, gar, etc.; e.g. is  de  pe`a.3  n.ne3.maqhths ‘But Jesus, he says to his disciples’. Similarly, when the Subject is Pronominal, the Independent Pronoun is used and followed by the Conjunction; e.g. nto3  de  pe`a.3  na.3 ‘But he says to him’ (Mt 19:17). Note: Sometimes when emphasis is laid on the Pronoun, the Independent form is used directly before the Pronominal forms of the Auxiliary; e.g. anok  a.i.bwk  eime6  p.`oeis  de  a.3.kto.i  e.i.4oueit ‘I, I went away full; but the Lord, he has made me return empty’ (Ruth 1:21).
§323. Generally speaking, emphasis on the Subject is effected by means of the Interjections  eis   and  eis.6hhte  (§296); e.g. eis  p.aggelos  m.p.`oeis  a.3.ouwn6  na.3  ebol  6n.ou.rasou ‘Lo, the angel of the Lord, he appeared to him in a dream’ (Mt 1:20).
§324. Frequently, especially in Coptic translations of Greek works, the Nominal Subject is represented by the Pronominal Form of the Auxiliary, and is restated more precisely at the end of the sentence. In such cases the Subject is indicated by the prefix  n2i-, ‘i.e., that is’ ; e.g. pe`a.u 2e  na.3  n2i.m.maqhths ‘Therefore they say to him, i.e. the disciples’ (Jn 11:12), a.3.bwk  n.ouei4  n2i.pe.presbuteros  n.4iht  4a.p.arxh.episkopos  n.rakote ‘He went once, i.e. the priest of Shiêt, to the Archbishop of Alexandria’ (Z 292.c.1).
§325. n2i- is also found after the Causative Infinitive to define more exactly the Pronominal form; e.g. 6m.p.tre.3  `wk  de  ebol  n2i.pe.6oou  n.t.penthkosth ‘When the Day of Pentecost was being fulfilled’ (lit. When it was being fulfilled, i.e. the Day of Pentecost; Acts 2:1).
§326. The Object. The Object normally follows the verbal form, except when the Dative is Pronominal and thus takes precedence (§319). In the case of Limitative Tenses, the Object may be added directly to the verbal stem. Thus with a Nominal Object, the Construct form is used; e.g. a.3.6etb  p.rwme ‘He killed the man’. When the Object is a pronoun, the Pronominal form is used; e.g. a.3.6otb.3 ‘He killed him’. (1) In the case of a Nominal Object, the addition of the Object directly to the Verb causes the Tone to pass from the Verb to the Object; e.g.  a.3.6etb.p.rwme (§20-21). We might call this Object the ‘Tonal Object’. (2) However, when the Object is a Pronoun, it does not itself receive the Tone, but rather follows the stressed syllable in the Pronominal form of the Verb; e.g. a.3.kotb.3. It might be described as the ‘Post-Tonal Object’, but in view of the fact that some verbs, owing to the loss of original consonants, do show a Tonal stress on some suffix endings (e.g. mestw.k ‘To hate thee’, sa6w.3 ‘To set him up’, etc.), a better name would be ‘Direct Suffix Object’. E.g. (a) Perfect: a.n.rwme  mere.p.kake  n.6ouo  e.p.ouoein ‘Men loved darkness more than light’ (Jn 3:19), a.3.no`.3  e.pe.4teko ‘He cast him into prison’ (Mt 18:30); (b) Future: 3.na.`ek.6wb  nim  ebol ‘He will fulfill everything’ (Mk 9:12), 5.na.tnnou.3  4arw.tn ‘I shall send him to you’ (Jn 16:7); (c) Habitude: me.u.`ere ou.6hbs ‘They are not wont to light a lamp’ (Mt 5:15), 4a.u.kaa.3  6i`n  t.luxnia ‘They are wont to put it on the lamp stand’ (ibid.).
§327. It must be noted here that with some verbs (§331-2), even if one of the Limitative Tenses is used, the Object cannot be the Tonal or Direct Suffix Object, but rather must be prefaced by the preposition e-, ero=, the verbal form of course being the Absolute Form.
§328. The older forms of the language show that, apart from some verbs mentioned above, originally the Direct Object— either Tonal Object or Direct Suffix Object— was the normal usage with all tenses. However, during the Persian Period a new usage appears in Demotic. With certain tenses, represented in Coptic by the Durative Tenses and including the Relative Present (§358), the Object— whether it be Nominal or Pronominal— can no longer be attached directly to the verbal stem, but must be prefaced by the old preposition m ‘in’, Coptic  n-, mmo= . The Verbal Form is the Absolute Form.
§329. This form of the Object is here named  the Oblique Object . The old term ‘Indirect Object’ is very confusing to the student, as it is a term also applied to the Dative as well as the Adverbial Phrase; e.g. ouon  gar  nim  et.eire  n.m.pe.qoou  3.moste  m.p.ouoein ‘For everyone who does what is evil, he hates the light’ (Jn 3:20), 5.`w  mmo.s ‘I say it’, ei.`w  mmo.s  na.k ‘To thee I say it’, ne.3.tan6out  mmo.3  an  nmma.u  etbe  `e  ne.3.sooun  n.ouon  nim ‘He was not trusting himself to them, because he was knowing everyone’ (Jn 2:24); cf also the examples quoted in §189, 194, 316. Note: An exception of this rule of Oblique Object with the Durative Tenses is found in the case of the verb  ouw4 ‘To desire, wish’ ; e.g. 5.oue4 ou.na  n.6ouo  euqusia ‘I desire mercy more than sacrifice’ (Mt 12:7) = ei.oue4 ou.na  e.6oue  ouqusia (Mt 9:13), e.u.oue4 n.aspasmos ‘Desiring the salutations’ (Mk 12:38). With Relative Present; cf 6wb  2e  nim  e.tetn.oua4.ou ‘Everything therefore which you wish (them)’ (Mt 7:12), n.q.e  e.t.e.oua4.s ‘In the way which thou (fem) wishest (it)’ (Mt 26:39), ou  pet.e.k.oua4.3 ‘What is it which thou desirest (it)?’ (Lk 18:41).
§329a. Observation: The reason for the use of the Oblique Object with the Durative Tenses is not yet clear. It may be that the imperfective aspect of the Durative Tenses led to the stress being laid on the verbal action. The fact that the verb must appear in the Absolute Form may have been due to the feeling that the verbal action so expressed was a process still in the state of being achieved and that the full result of the action was not yet realized in the object, the destined recipient of the action. On the other hand, the Limitative Tenses could use the Construct and Pronominal Forms where these existed, because it was felt that the verbal action had been or would be realized in the object. Thus the Object received the Tonal Stress, because it was considered as having received or destined to receive the full effect of the verbal action. However, the numerous instances of the use of the Oblique Object after the Limitative Tenses of verbs possessing both Construct and Pronominal Forms, suggest that the explanation advanced above is only a partial explanation. It is not impossible that when the Absolute Form was used after the Limitative Tenses, there was some feeling of emphasis on the verbal action which had been or would be effected.
§330. The majority of Greek and other loan verbs take the Oblique Object (§27n).  A smaller number follow the rule set out in the next section (§331).
§331. After some verbs, e.g. of sentient perception and mental action, the object is introduced by the preposition  e-,  ero=  (§261.7). However, many of these verbs also take the Oblique Object.

E.g. a.3.`w6  e.pe.2lo2 ‘He touched the bed’ (Lk 7:14), a.n.nau  e.pe3.eoou ‘We saw his glory’ (Jn 1:14).
§332.  e-,  ero=  are also found after some verbs classified as Intransitives:

E.g. ntok  de  a.k.6are6  e.p.hrp  ‘Thou hast kept the wine’ (Jn 2:10), a6ro.k  k.6ioue  ero.i ‘Why dost thou strike me?’ (Jn 18:23), ntoou  de  n.se.ouw4  an  ekim  ero.ou  n.oua  n.neu.thhbe ‘They, they do not wish to move them with one of their fingers’ (Mt 23:4).

Note: Compound Verbs (§177) used in Durative Tenses generally preserve the Construct Form of the verb; e.g. ne.u.r.6ote  gar  6ht.3  m.p.laos ‘For they were fearing the people’ (Lk 22:2), tetn.r.p.meeue  gar  ne.snhu  m.pen.6ise  mn pen.m.ka6  e.n.r.6wb  m.pe.6oou  mn te.u4h ‘For you remember, brethren, our suffering and our affliction while we worked (at our trade) day and night’ (I-Thes 2:9). As a rule the Object must be determined either outwardly or in itself. Compound Verbs, however, do not as a rule show the article before the noun following the Construct Form of the verb (§90). Exceptions to this rule are:

§333. Emphasis of the Object can be effected by placing it at the beginning of the sentence. Its normal position after the verb is referred to by means of a Resumptive Pronoun agreeing in number and gender; e.g. nai  de  nte.re.3.meeue  ero.ou ‘These things when he had thought on them’ (Mt 1:20), nai  ere.p.`oeis aa.u  na.i  auw  nai  e.3.e.oua6.ou  e`w.i ‘These things may the Lord do to me, and these things may he add to me’ (Ruth 1:17). When the object thus emphasized is a Pronoun, the Independent Pronoun is used at the beginning of the sentence; e.g. anok  de  a.u.kaqista  mmo.i  n.rro  ebol  6i.toot.3 ‘I have been set as king by him’ (lit. I, did they set me as king through him; Ps 2:6). Occasionally the Object is emphasized by placing the Interjection eis  before it; e.g. eis  nai  ounta.i.sou ‘Lo, these things, I have them’ (Z 310.b.4).
§334. The Adverb. The normal position of the Adverb or Adverbial Phrase is at the end of the sentence; e.g. a.p.soeit  de  moo4e  etbhht.3  6m.ma  nim  n.t.perixwros ‘The report proceeded concerning him in every place of the surrounding country’ (Lk 4:37), e.mpat.ou.ka  laau  n.6oun  n.6ht.3 ‘They had not yet laid anyone in it’ (Jn 19:41), ne3.maqhths  mp.ou.eime  e.nai  n.4orp ‘His disciples did not perceive these things at first’ (Jn 12:16). Emphasis on the Adverb can always be effected by means of the Second Tenses (§186).
§335. However, there are many instances where the Adverb does in fact stand at the beginning of the sentence. Usually the Adverb or Adverbial Phrase is one denoting time. In the older stages of the language the Adverb of Time, especially if it were a date, could stand in this position; e.g. mn.n.sw.s  de  on  5.na.nau  erw.tn ‘Yet afterwards again I shall see you’ (Jn 16:22), 6n.te.unou  de  et.mmau  a.3.telhl ‘Yet in that hour he rejoiced’ (Lk 10:21). When the Adverb refers to location, e.g. mmau, emau, twn, etwn, etc., it does not stand at the beginning of the sentence, but rather must be preceded by a verbal form at least. Emphasis on an Adverb of Location can always be effected by means of the Second Tense; e.g. nta.p.`oeis  6wn  mmau  m.pe3.smou ‘There the Lord commanded his blessing’ (Ps 133:3), ere.ne3.snte  6n.n.toou  et.ouaab ‘Upon the holy hills are his foundations’ (Ps 87:1). Adverbial Phrases indicating agent or instrument, which normally stand at the end of the sentence and can be stressed by means of Second Tenses, sometimes appear at the beginning of the sentence. The reason for this position is not so much a desire for emphasis, which could be obtained by the use of a Second Tense, as an attempt to imitate the word order of Greek originals; e.g.:

§336. Some verbs and their adverbs are so closely connected as to be almost compound verbal forms. This is particularly the case with many verbs qualified by the adverbs ebol, e6oun, e6rai, e.pe.sht, erat3, etc. In such cases the Oblique Object must be used after the adverb; e.g. n.se.na.swou6  e6oun  n.ne3.swtp  ebol 6m pe.3tou  thu ‘They will gather in his chosen ones from the four winds’ (Mt 24:31), oun  4.2om  mmo.i  ebwl  ebol  m.pe.rpe  m.p.noute ‘It is possible for me to destroy the temple of God’ (Mt 26:61). But Note: when the dative is pronominal it precedes the adverb; e.g. a.p.noute  ouwna6  na.3  ebol ‘God appeared to him’ (Z 303.d.3), e.3.ekw  nh.tn  ebol  n.netn.nobe ‘He may forgive (to) you your sins’ (Mk 11:26).