Basics of Biblical Greek Grammar

I like the size of the book and the pages are clean, without marks inside. This will be helpful when using for Greek class.

Dr. Mounce really has thoroughly thought through what an individual would need and has arranged the material so that you systematically learn grammar and vocabulary together. If you haven't studied Greek and want to go over the first and second declensions, you might want to add the 2nd year of Koine Greek for Beginners textbook, workbook and audio. You don't need the flashcards to benefit from the audio as it goes through the text. This is just to get used to the declensions and beginning material prior to the third declensions, i.e. just to have exercises. Dr. Mounce supposes you are taking classes somewhere. The back of the book has all the paradigms and the rules so you don't have to memorize all of them. There are some that absolutely must be memorized. It is a great manual if you are taking classes and want the material organized and taught in a more in-depth manner. He gives the material on accents and other more advanced material that the Koine Greek for Beginners does not give. The text has an audio version on-line that you can download for about $80.00. I listen to it on my IPod when I am too tired to read so I have more input. Hearing it also adds a learning dimension that reading alone does not.

I learned Greek using Machen's grammar from the 1920's. This beginning Greek grammar is a breath of fresh air. Instead of learning endless paradigms, Mounce has you learn a few rules of morphology, and then you can figure out the paradigms. It has an excellent workbook that you must purchase in order to get the most out of this book. There is also a free website which includes all the workbook answers, a vocabulary drill program that works well, and assorted other helps. (I found the website unnecessary except for the workbook answers, but you might find it helpful.)The text is filled with examples from the New Testament, with occasional early Church Fathers and Septuagint. A very few of the examples are made-up.For anyone who is trying to learn New Testament Greek, or wanting to brush up after several years of disuse.

On the strength of reviews, I bought Black's Learn to Read New Testament Greek and Mounce's Basics of Biblical Greek Grammar and tried to read them together. But I quickly gave up on that as both books follow a very different course and studying them together is just not possible. Because Mounce's book has a separate workbook, which I did not buy, I decided to start with Black as it comes with exercises. This review compares both books and is written primarily for people studying Greek on their own.These are the advantages Black has over Mounce:1) It's much cheaper. Not only is the book much cheaper than Mounce's but when you add in Mounce's workbook, the difference in price is very significant. Please note that there are no exercises at all in Mounce apart from the workbook.2) Black's book is very nicely sized and lightweight. During the months I studied it, I carried it around with me everywhere and every time I had to wait for something, like in line at the supermarket cashier or while waiting for my wife as she performed her perennial shopping rites, out came the book. This would not have been possible with Mounce. The book is just too unwieldy; in fact, the postal service even refused to deliver the book from Amazon and I had to go pick it up! Reason given: "Large package".3) The most important advantage Black has over Mounce is that his book is perfectly suited to the beginner. I cannot imagine how a book on Greek grammar can be simplified further without sacrificing vital content. I think Mounce is just way too difficult for the beginner. This is especially true in the second half of the book, on verbs. Verbs are the most difficult thing to learn in basic Greek and I'm afraid many beginners will drown if they try to take on Mounce.4) Closely related to 3) is Black's organizational genius. His book is not just easy to study but it's made easier by the way he organizes his material. I cannot understand it but Mounce is very much inclined to tell you about something and then ask you to wait for further explanation later. Look at the way he deals with the middle voice. He tells you the form of the middle/passive voice and then tells you to wait for later chapters where he will explain what the middle voice is! If I had used Mounce as my first book, I would have torn my hair out or more likely, given up on Greek altogether. The same goes for vocabulary lists. Black's vocabulary follows closely the chapter content. For example, if he has just taught you second declension nouns, he will then give you a list of second declension nouns to memorize, arranged nicely in their sub-categories. Mounce's vocabulary lists have no order at all. You may think this is a small thing to bring up but my memory seems to associate words I learn together and learning words from the same type really helps my recall.5) Again, related to 3), is the way Black writes. If you want to know what concise means, read his book. He does not waste a single word. This makes his book ideal for reviewing your lessons. In comparison, Mounce's book feels overwritten and bloated. There's quite a bit of repetition. He has a sectional overview, a chapter overview, a mid-lesson review and a final review! This, especially when added to the lack of organization, makes finding a piece of information very hard.6) I really don't like the cartoon professor in Mounce. I just don't see the point of having it. I know he's trying to add some light-hearted humor but it's hard enough trying to memorize hundreds of Greek words without being taught modern Greek words as well. Some of you may adore the professor though.7) The most difficult thing in basic Greek grammar is the participle. Black's chapter on participles is a model of concise clarity. He gives many examples of the use of participles in simple sentences he creates himself that allow the student to try translating them. Mounce's examples come form the New Testament and are much harder to work on.These are the advantages Mounce has over Black:1) There's a great deal more Greek in Mounce than in Black, a lot more details.2) Mounce is very concerned with his readers. He makes a lot of effort to encourage his students. His warmth is very touching.3) Even though I think Black's vocabulary lists make memory work easier, Mounce's vocabulary has some weighty, secret weapons. For one thing, Mounce teaches you all the words that occur 50 times or more in the New Testament. Black cares less about the frequently recurring words. Because I use the Reader's Edition of the UBS Greek New Testament which gives, at the bottom of the page, definitions of words that occur less than 30 times in the New Testament, I am sometimes surprised to find that I know words that are explained. Not that knowing less frequently occurring words is a disadvantage of course but it's better for beginners to learn the high-frequency words first and Mounce concentrates on those.Another thing about Mounce's vocabulary that I like is the care he lavishes in explaining details pertaining to the words he asks you to memorize. Some of this information is valuable.4) Even though Black's conciseness is much appreciated, at times he can be a bit too concise. For example, after spending months almost killing myself learning the different paradigms for the various tenses of verbs, I was totally dismayed when I reached the last chapter and found a new type of verbs, the -mi verbs, with a whole new set of paradigms to memorize. In this last chapter, Black just pretty much gives the various paradigms in table form and then asks you to memorize some of them. Mounce, as usual gives more details, details which are much needed to encourage the distressed student. He says (on Page 319),"There is good news and bad news about these verbs. The bad news is that their forms change so drastically that they can become almost unrecognizable. The good news is that there are very few of them. The bad news is that these few mi verbs are common. The good news is that most of the changes occur only in the present tense."A few paragraphs later he adds, "But even those people who use Greek regularly have trouble in reproducing the mi verb paradigms from rote memory." This was sufficient to lift my spirits and made me continue studying!Throughout his book, Black came across as a master-teacher making the path as easy as possible for his students to travel. Mounce is more of the scholar with a passion that he wishes to share with his students. My advice to you, if, like me, you do not enjoy the benefits of the classroom, is to study Black thoroughly, master it and then let Mounce add to your knowledge.

I just finished working through this book. This book, and the workbook which you can get separately gets you to the point where have foundation knowledge of how the language works, and can perform translations from Biblical Greek into English. Throughout the course you learn all vocabulary words used in the New Testament 50 times or more, which comes to about 300 words.This book, all its exercises go from Greek to English. I do not remember any exercise going from English to Greek. This can be a strength or a weakness. It is a weakness because you will miss out on an effective type of exercise. However, This is actually a strength for self study because going from English to Greek would make it this course unfeasible. I experienced this when I attempted to use Luschings "An Introduction to Ancient Greek," which seems more ambitious and more effective, if you can get through it. Which you probably won't if you are attempting it through self study precisely because of the English to Greek exercises. Of course, having gone through Mounce's book, Luschning's book now looks much easier.If you want to have a foundation on Biblical Greek, this book, along with the Workbook, you cannot go wrong with this Book, especially if you are doing this on your own.

I have only just started reading this textbook, but so far it is really well written, has lots of margin space to write notes, and it has high build quality. What more could you ask for?

The book is fine as far as my limited study of languages go. The frequency lists are golden. I dislike his adaptation of the American pronunciation of the Greek but I think I am fairly alone here.

This is the standard book for Koine Greek Learners. Book quality is great.

As that famous Greek scholar Tina Turner once said, this is "..simply the best, better than all the rest"!Learning Koine Greek is never going to be easy, but Dr Mounce's BBG system is the easiest way to learn Biblical Greek. My advice, go the whole hog and get the flash cards, text book, work book and DVD, it will be an investment you and your family will never regret.

分かりやすさと、学術的レベルの高さの両方が組み合わさった、驚くべき新約聖書ギリシア語の入門書。これは第３版ですが、現在は新しい第４版が出版されています。