interrogative or indefinite pronoun
posos
Strong’sG4214
how much, how great, how many
stem pos-27 times in the New Testamentin 8 of 27 books10 of 26 forms occur
What it means
A plain-English reading of the word, with the lexicons it draws on — Abbott-Smith, Strong's, and Liddell-Scott-Jones — right below it, in full.
AI Summary
πόσος is an interrogative adjective meaning how much, how great, or how many 124. It is used to ask about number or amount, about the extent of time, and about degree or intensity 13. In the dative case it also functions adverbially, meaning "by how much" — often paired with "more" to mean "how much more" 1.
Sources: 1 Abbott-Smith 2 Strong's 3 LSJ 4 Dodson. Condensed by anthropic/claude-sonnet-5 on 2026-09-23 — it may still misstate what these say; check them yourself if it matters to you.
The lexicons it was drawn from, in full:
Abbott-Smith — the 1922 lexicon entry, in full
πόσος, -η, -ον,
adj. of number, magnitude, degree, etc.,G. Abbott-Smith, A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament, 1922 — public domain. References open in the reader.
Strong’s G4214 — the 1890 definition, and where the word comes from
Saidpos'-os
interrogative pronoun (of amount) how much (large, long or (plural) many)
Fromfrom an absolute πός (who, what) and G3739;
King Jameshow great (long, many), what.
James Strong, Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, 1890 — public domain. The numbers in it link to the entries here.
Liddell-Scott-Jones — the classical dictionary this word appears in
Ionic dialect κόσος, η, ον, interrogative adjective of what quantity?
1 of Number, how many? κόσοι τινές εἰσι οἱ Αακεδαιμόνιοι Refs 5th c.BC+: with singular Nouns, how great? how much? π. πλῆθος νεῶ; Refs 5th c.BC+
2 of Distance, how far? πόσον ἄπεστιν ἐνθένδε τὸ στράτευμ; Refs; π. τις ὁδὸς εἴηRefs 5th c.BC+
3 of Time, how long? π. τινὰ χρόνο; Refs 5th c.BC+
4 of Value, how much? πόσον δίδω; Refsat what price? Refs 5th c.BC+; ἐπὶ πόσ;Refs 5th c.BC+; ἐκ πόσου is falsa lectio for{ὁπόσου} in Refs 4th c.BC+
5 of Degree, how great? πόθο; πόσος τι; Refs 5th c.BC+: neuter adverb πόσο; πόσ; to what amount? Refs 5th c.BC+
8
II ποσός, ή, όν, indefinite adjective of a certain quantity or magnitude, Refs 5th c.BC+, etc.; ποσὰ τῶν περιφερῶν a certain number of.., Refs 4th c.BC+; ἐπὶ ποσόν for a certain time, Refs 2nd c.BC+; κατὰ ποσόν to a certain extent, Refs 2nd c.AD+
II.2 ποσόν, τό, ={ποσότης}, Refs 5th c.BC+; κατὰ ποσόν in point of quantity, Refs
III adverb ποσῶς Refs 5th c.BC+ q[uglide]oty-os, compareLatin quot, Sanskrit káti 'how many?')
H. G. Liddell, R. Scott, H. S. Jones, A Greek-English Lexicon (9th ed., 1925–1940) — digitised by the Perseus Digital Library and corrected and expanded by Tyndale House, Cambridge, via STEPBible-Data's TFLSJ table, CC BY 4.0. Covers all of Greek literature, not just the Bible.
Translated as
Every occurrence, sorted by the English it was actually given — the evidence for what the word means, not a gloss of it.
Berean Standard Bible (BSB), dedicated to the public domain — berean.bible.
Biblang forms
Every form this word takes in Biblang, with the Greek it corresponds to and how often the New Testament uses it.
| Job in the sentence case | masculine singular | feminine singular | neuter singular | masculine plural | feminine plural | neuter plural |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| subject nominative | posos1×Πόσος | posas | posem3×Πόσον | posois1×Πόσοι | posais1×πόσαι | poseim2×πόσα |
| object accusative | poson | posan1×πόσην | posoin5×Πόσους | posain1×πόσας | ||
| direct address vocative | posor | posar | posoir | posair | ||
| of, belonging to genitive | posou | posau | poseu | posoiu | posaiu1×πόσων | poseiu |
| to, for dative | poso | posa | pose11×πόσῳ | posoi | posai | posei |
Tinted cells are forms the New Testament never uses, so there is no Greek to show against them — but they are still correct Biblang, built from the slots below like any other.
Why these forms, and no others — the slots that make them
pos is this word in every one of its forms. The slots after it make all the rest.
same in every form varies — every value shown
Where it appears
Every verse the word appears in, filed under the form it takes there.
27 occurrences, every one of them listed
posos“how long”subjectnominative singular1×
Mark 9:21kai eperōtata ton patron autou; Posos chronos atō hōs houtem genatē auto? …Jesus asked the boy’s father, “How long has this been with him?” “From …
posan“what”objectaccusative singular1×
2 Corinthians 7:11… autem houtem tem kata theon lupira posan katergazeta vi spoudan, alla apologian, alla …Consider what this godly sorrow has produced in …
posem“how much”subject or objectdirect singular3×
Matthew 6:23… en si skotem atō, tem skotem posem.… the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!
Luke 16:5… tou kuriou heautou legate to prōto; Posem ofeilasō to kurio mu?… each one of his master’s debtors. ‘How much do you owe my master?’ he …
Luke 16:7epeita hetero legata; Sis de posem ofeilasō? tos de legata; Hekaton koroin …Then he asked another, ‘And how much do you owe?’ ‘A hundred measures …
pose“how much”to, fordative singular11×
Matthew 7:11… domeim agatheim dōarō tei teknei vu, pose mallon tos patros vu tos en …… give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven …
Matthew 10:25… autou. ei ton oikodespoton Beelzeboul epikalala, pose mallon toin oikiakoin autou.… the house has been called Beelzebul, how much more the members of his household!
Matthew 12:12pose oun diaferatō anthrōpos probateu. hōste exestinatō …How much more valuable is a man than …
Luke 11:13… domeim agatheim dōarō tei teknei vu, pose mallon tos patros tos ek ouranou …… give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven …
Luke 12:24… apothēkas, kai tos theos trefatō autoin; pose mallon vis diaferavō teiu peteineiu.… or barn; yet God feeds them. How much more valuable you are than the …
Luke 12:28… klibanon balorōnton tos theos houtōs amfiazatō, pose mallon vin, oligopistoir.… tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, how much more will He clothe you, O …
Romans 11:12… kai tem hēttēmem autoiu ploutos ethneiu, pose mallon tem plērōmem autoiu.… failure means riches for the Gentiles, how much greater riches will their fullness bring!
Romans 11:24… kai para fusian enkentrizisa eis kallielaian, pose mallon houtois tois kata fusian enkentrizili …… grafted into one that is cultivated, how much more readily will these, the natural …
Philemon 1:16“how much”… huper doulon, adelfon agapēton, malista mi, pose de mallon si kai en sarka …… than a slave, as a beloved brother. He is especially beloved to me, but even more so to you, both in person and …
Hebrews 9:14pose mallon tem haimem tou Christou, hos …how much more will the blood of Christ …
Hebrews 10:29pose dokavō cheirōnau axiiti timōriau tos ton …How much more severely do you think one …
posois“how many”subjectnominative plural1×
Luke 15:17eis heauton de ercharantos fēate; Posois misthiois tou patrou mu perisseuolō artoiu, …… came to his senses and said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have …
posoin“how many”objectaccusative plural5×
Matthew 15:34kai legatō autoi tos Iēsus; Posoin artoin echavō? tois de legala; Hepta, …“How many loaves do you have?” Jesus asked …
Matthew 16:9… toin pente artoin toiu pentakischilioi kai posoin kofinoin labava?… loaves for the five thousand, and how many basketfuls you gathered?
Mark 6:38tos de legatō autoi; Posoin echavō artoin? hupagavōr horavar. kai gnōskarantois …“Go and see how many loaves you have,” He told them …
Mark 8:5kai erōtate autoin; Posoin echavō artoin? tois de legala; Hepta.“How many loaves do you have?” Jesus asked …
Mark 8:19… pente artoin klama eis toin pentakischilioi, posoin kofinoin klasmeiu plēroin airava? legalō auto; …… five loaves for the five thousand, how many basketfuls of broken pieces did you …
posais“how many”subjectnominative plural1×
Acts 21:20… theon, legala tē auto; Theōrasō, adelfor, posais muriadais alō en toi Ioudaioi toiu …… said to Paul, “You see, brother, how many thousands of Jews have believed, and …
posain“how many”objectaccusative plural1×
Matthew 16:10… toin hepta artoin toiu tetrakischilioi kai posain spuridain labava?… loaves for the four thousand, and how many basketfuls you gathered?
posaiu“how many”of, belonging togenitive plural1×
Mark 8:20… kai toin hepta eis toin tetrakischilioi, posaiu spuridaiu plērōmeim klasmeiu airava? kai legalō …… seven loaves for the four thousand, how many basketfuls of broken pieces did you …
poseim“how many”subject or objectdirect plural2×
Matthew 27:13… legatō auto tos Pilatos; Ouk akouasō poseim su katamarturalō?… asked Him, “Do You not hear how many charges they are bringing against You?”
Mark 15:4… auton legarōntos; Ouk apokrinosō oudenem? ide poseim su katēgoralō.… again, “Have You no answer? Look how many charges they are bringing against You!”