Biblangbeta

Learn Biblang

A course for complete beginners. It assumes you know no Greek and no grammar, starts at the letters, and teaches one thing per lesson until you can read the Bible in the language it was written in. Where the original Greek does something differently, that is tucked into a note you can open if you are curious — and skip if you are not.

Start with lesson 1.1Open the reader

  1. Part 1Getting started

    1. 1.1What Biblang isThe language, why it is learnable, and how to use this course.
    2. 1.2The alphabetNothing to memorise: you can already read every letter on the page.
    3. 1.3Diphthongs and digraphsLetter pairs that make a single sound, as English writes sh and ch.
    4. 1.4Stems and markersA stem carries the meaning; the markers after it carry the grammar.

  2. Part 2Nouns

    1. 2.1InflectionThe ending of a word, not its place in the sentence, tells you its job.
    2. 2.2GenderMasculine, feminine and neuter — a property of the word, not of the thing.
    3. 2.3The nominativeThe case for the one doing the action.
    4. 2.4The accusativeThe case for the one it is done to.
    5. 2.5The genitiveThe case that says “of”: possession, source, belonging.
    6. 2.6The dativeThe case that says “to”, “for” and “with”.
    7. 2.7The vocativeThe case for addressing someone directly.
    8. 2.8NumberSingular and plural, marked by one letter slipped into the ending.
    9. 2.9Neuter nounsWhy neuter words use one form for doing it, done to and spoken to.
    10. 2.10The noun paradigmEvery case, gender and number in one table, with nothing left out.

  3. Part 3Words that go with nouns

    1. 3.1The definite articleThe word “the” — and why there is no word for “a”.
    2. 3.2AdjectivesDescribing words, and how they agree with the noun they describe.
    3. 3.3Comparative and superlativeBig, bigger, biggest — degree marked on the ending like everything else.
    4. 3.4Personal pronounsI, you, we — including the plural “ye” that English lost.
    5. 3.5DemonstrativesThis and that, and the words for he, she and it.
    6. 3.6PossessivesMy, your, his: saying whose something is.
    7. 3.7Relative and indefinite pronounsWho and which, and the words for “someone” and “anything”.

  4. Part 4Verbs

    1. 4.1Verb structureStem, voice, person, mood, tense — one slot each, always in that order.
    2. 4.2Person and numberWho is acting: I, you, he, we, ye, they.
    3. 4.3The presentAction going on now, or going on as a rule.
    4. 4.4The imperfectPast action seen as going on, not as finished.
    5. 4.5The aoristThe plain past: it happened, taken as a single whole event.
    6. 4.6AspectThe difference between the two past tenses is not when, but how.
    7. 4.7The futureAction still to come.
    8. 4.8The perfectA past action whose result still stands.
    9. 4.9The copulaThe verb “to be”: pure ending, with no stem in front of it.

  5. Part 5Voice

    1. 5.1The active voiceThe subject does the action.
    2. 5.2The passive voiceThe action is done to the subject.
    3. 5.3The middle voiceThe subject acts on itself, or in its own interest.

  6. Part 6Mood

    1. 6.1The indicativePlain statements and questions of fact.
    2. 6.2The subjunctiveWhat may, might or should happen.
    3. 6.3The imperativeCommands and requests.
    4. 6.4The optativeWishes and remote possibilities — rare, but worth recognising.

  7. Part 7Infinitives and participles

    1. 7.1The infinitiveThe verb used as a noun: “to loose”, “to believe”.
    2. 7.2The participleThe verb used as an adjective: “loosing”, “the one who looses”.

  8. Part 8The rest of the sentence

    1. 8.1PrepositionsIn, into, from, with — and the ending the noun after them takes.
    2. 8.2Particles and conjunctionsIndeclinable words: and, but, for, therefore.
    3. 8.3NegationSaying “not”, and the two different words for it.
    4. 8.4Word orderWhy the order is free, and what it still tells you when it moves.

  9. Part 9Reading

    1. 9.1Reading a whole verseA first whole verse, taken one marker at a time.
    2. 9.2A harder verseJohn 3:16, which puts most of the course to work at once.
    3. 9.3How to studyA daily habit, what to expect, and how fast the reading comes.
    4. 9.4The critical apparatusWhy a few words carry a small mark, and what the note at the foot of the chapter says.
    5. 9.5The limits of BiblangWhere Biblang and the Greek do not line up exactly, and what to do about it.