Basics of Biblical Greek Grammar

by William D. Mounce

Clear. Understandable. Carefully organized. Basics of Biblical Greek Grammar by William D. Mounce is the standard textbook for colleges and seminaries. Since its initial publication in 1993 its integrated approach has helped more than 250,000 students learn New Testament Greek.

The fourth edition of Basics of Biblical Greek Grammar has been updated throughout based on continuing feedback from professors, students, self-learners, and homeschoolers, making it even more effective for today's students. Other improvements have been made based on recent developments in scholarship.

The key to the effectiveness of Basics of Biblical Greek Grammar in helping students learn is in how it introduces them to the language. Students learn about the features of the Greek language in a logical order, with each lesson building upon the one before it. Unnecessary obstacles that discourage students and hinder progress are removed, such as rote memorization of endless verbal paradigms. Instead, students receive encouragement along the way to assure them they are making the necessary progress. Detailed discussions are also included at key junctures to help students grasp important concepts.

By the time students have worked their way through Basics of Biblical Greek Grammar they will have

The Greek AlphabetVocabulary for words occurring 50 times or more in the Greek New TestamentThe Greek noun systemThe Greek verbal system, including indicative and nonindicative verbs, and participlesA robust suite of learning aids is available for purchase to be used alongside the textbook to help students excel in their studies. These include a workbook, video lectures for each chapter featuring the author, flashcards keyed to vocabulary in each chapter, a laminated quick study sheet with key concepts, and audio of the vocabulary for each chapter to aid in acquisition.

Genres: Reference, Language, Theology, Christian, Nonfiction, New Testament, Textbooks

545 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1993

About the author

William D. Mounce (PhD, Aberdeen University) lives as a writer in Camas, Washington. He is the Vice President of Educational Development at BibleGateway.com and the president of Biblical Training, a nonprofit organization offering the finest in evangelical teaching to the world. See BillMounce.com for more information. Formerly he was the preaching pastor at a church in Spokane, a professor of New Testament and director of the Greek program at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, and a professor of New Testament at Azusa Pacific University. He is the author of the bestselling New Testament Greek resources, Basics of Biblical Greek, and served as the New Testament chair of the English Standard Version translation of the Bible.

Reviews

[Brent · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mounce really has created a fantastic resource, as I worked through this textbook in two of my Greek courses in my masters degree program (M.Div), which took about half a year to complete. Having a good working knowledge of basic New Testament biblical Greek has strengthened my understanding of exegesis immeasurably. Not only am I able to interact exegetically with critical commentaries, but being able to open up my Greek New Testament and read and translate the text myself is invaluable. Truly grateful.


*EDIT* I have just finished going through this text a second time, and have not only brushed up on things I missed the first time around, but have absorbed a lot of the advanced information either footnooted or elsewhere which has added immensely to my understanding of Koine Greek grammar. My wife and I have been doing our devotionals nightly by me reading, parsing, translating, then exegeting it from my Greek New Testament. We are going through 1 John. I plan on making it a habit to do my devotionals in Greek the rest of my life. I am also planning on going through Wallace's more advanced Grammar book later this year. 3/13/15

[Christian Barrett · Rating 5 out of 5]

This has been one of the most helpful aids in my study of Greek. I am thankful for this book, the accompanying workbook, the lectures, the flash cards, and the audio files for the vocabulary. I must recommend this resource over all others for those seeking to learn Greek. While I was in a course during the reading of this book, I was not for the first few weeks of it and was able to grasp some key things while just reading this book.

[Corey Decker · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is, in my humble opinion, the best Greek Grammar for first year students. Unlike many other grammars, Mounce does not give information without explaining its purpose. Instead of listing all of the exceptions to a rule, he gives a simple, concise summary of the rule and seeks to explain the irregularities. You will not feel as though you are reading a bunch of paradigms chapter after chapter. It is well organized and has a very encouraging practical example of the new material being proposed for each chapter.

The accompanying workbook is a must if you are doing this on your own rather than with a class. The great thing about this book is that it affords the Greek neophyte to study on his own without the need for a formal course. (However, if you are serious about pursuing New Testament Greek, I would highly recommend going through a reputable college or University. The correction and insight gleaned from a knowledgeable professor is priceless.)

One of my only gripes is that Mounce does not make good use of the on-going developments in linguistics and verbal aspect theory. Granted, the issue is still being worked through, but many things, such as the nature of aspect in contrast with tense and tense-form and the difference between semantic encoding and pragmatic effect, would greatly help the new student. Without taking advantage of these modern insights, Mounce puts the reader at a disadvantage and into the dangerous place of oversimplifying matters.

However, having said this, it is still the best Greek Grammar available today. Buy it and learn Greek!

[Rick Davis · Rating 5 out of 5]

I feel like I deserve a medal for finishing Mounce, but I think that will have to wait to see if I pass the final exam in a couple of weeks.

[Gavin Huse · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great introduction to NT Greek. I wish I wouldn’t have had to read it at such an accelerated pace, but even so it was great in giving enough syntax, vocabulary, and translation skills to be able to adequately interact with biblical Greek. It would definitely be a tougher read without any background in basic English grammar. Looking forward to keeping it part of the library to use in future papers, sermons, writing, etc. 4 stars because, let’s be honest, no language book is going to ever be rated above 4.

[Alex Kearney · Rating 4 out of 5]

τετελεσται!

[Will Stanard · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great textbook, difficult subject lol

[Robert Schut · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was not able to learn NT Greek though the traditional manner of teacher-led classes so I had to resort to self-help. This book is the best on the market for the student w/o a teacher. Mounce provided excellent descriptions of what he is doing and why he does it. He also provides many helps such his workbook "Basics of Biblical Greek." I really love workbooks. My thinking process works better when my hands are doing something so I think it was great. The only problem that I have with Mounce's technique is that he doesn't recommend learning the verb forms by memorizing paradigms, but by memorizing tables and Master Verb Charts. I'm sure that this is a better method for some people, but I did not find it very useful. I originally learned Greek the old-fashioned way from New Testament Greek for Beginners by J. Gresham Machen. In this method you simply memorize the paradigm for each tense using the word luw (loose). It's a lot of work, but once you get the rhythm of the paradigm it sticks with you. I still forget Mounce's tables and return to the paradigm whenever I get stuck. This is not a criticism of the book, but something that you might consider if you can't learn it his way.

[Félise · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a really stellar introduction to koine Greek. I like the way Mounce breaks down the rules to how words conjugate, so you can figure things out instead of memorizing a million forms. I didn't find out until Greek 3 that there's an answer key online! That's helpful. I got to the point where I didn't exactly agree with all his translations, but I would never have gotten to that stage if it weren't for the building blocks in this textbook. It's so approachable too; unlike textbooks which also require a teacher to decode things for you, Mounce writes out explanations in such a way that I think a really motivated reader could go through and learn Greek without enrolling in a class. Don't even worry about the fog- all will come to light eventually.

[Parker · Rating 4 out of 5]

We have Mounce to thank for the current wealth of accessible resources on the biblical languages. This textbook is clearly laid out, easy to follow, and full of helpful tips. There is something here for students of any learning style -- for me, the most helpful thing is that there's plenty of morphological footnotes explaining why the weirder forms are the way they are. The book is designed to be flexible to the needs of teachers and students, and very effectively so. Mounce finds every way he can to cut back on rote memorization, making it easier to read NT Greek intuitively (a method arguably perfected in Miles' Basics of Biblical Hebrew). The accompanying workbook and vocabulary cards are excellent as well.

[Wade · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m not rating this “5-stars” because I just LOVED taking Greek that much… working all the way through this book was extremely difficult and very frustrating at times. But, what I am saying is that this Grammar was excellent to work through. It was extremely clear and extremely helpful. The “Exegetical Insights” at the start of each chapter are very encouraging and are kind of this warm hug before you start each chapter… they help you see how each new tool you are learning really will make you a better teacher and preacher of the Word of God. Mounce writes very clearly and all of his tools online are very helpful as well. I can’t imagine a better Greek Grammar than Mounce’s.

[Nile · Rating 5 out of 5]

I spent three years going through this book on my own. I am no expert in Biblical Greek and cannot just released the Bible in Greek, but I am able to effectively use tools to understand the original language if I take the time to study a short passage. I am very thankful for this resource and feel like it was a great help to me in my studies.

I have not looked at any other books, but I would recommend this for someone that is not a seminary student and has no prior exposure to Greek. There are also some resources on the authors website in the form of recorded lectures, answer keys, summary sheets, etc. that will be very helpful if you are trying to do this on your own.

[Jeff · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hard to review a textbook. Years ago I used Machen's grammar for a greek course and found it much simpler and easier to work with. But Mounce's book has it's strengths and was helpful in many areas as well. When all was said and done, though, I found myself reverting back to Machen's methodology for learning and memorization more often than not.

[Travis Johnston · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hopefully, the fourth time through is the charm!

[Johannes Minge · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bill Mounce is amazing 👌🏻👌🏻👌🏻

[Grant Van Brimmer · Rating 4 out of 5]

For Greek I & II. Mounce was usually quite helpful and easy to understand.

[Jonathan Ammon · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am not a fan of the grammar-translation pedagogy—even for dead languages—and there are better textbooks that use that pedagogy than this one. That said, this Greek grammar is by far the most popular, and as a result there are an enormous wealth of resources keyed to and for it. There are free audio lectures and classes, free worksheets and flash cards, free parsing exercises and quizzes, and much much more. There are so many free resources attached to Mounce’s text that you don’t even need the text itself. I would recommend this grammar for this reason alone. I am still working through flash cards, exercises, and paradigm memorisation in conjunction with pursuing other language learning methodologies, but am finished with this text even if I will continue to use the resources attached to it.

[Cameron Malott · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not having known an inch of Greek before opening this book, I'm not really in a place to objectively evaluate this grammar. But I can say that it made the process of beginning Greek doable and enjoyable, and it left me hungry to keep learning. Bill Mounce's nerdy love of Greek and his love God's Word in general make this a fantastic resource. His little sympathetic anecdotes about the difficulties of learning the language are just icing on the cake.

[Finn Erickson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well if a numbskull like me could make it through an entire grammar book, it must be that good. Mounce you absolute legend, you made learning Greek easy and enjoyable and I am indebted to your labors.

[Kevin Godinho · Rating 5 out of 5]

It has taken just about one year, but I am finally finished with beginner Greek. I had the luxury of being mentored by two brothers (an Anglican and Episcopalian) along the way. If it weren't for them, I wouldn't have been able to do it.

If you are interested in learning Biblical Greek, this book is terrific. Mounce lays everything out in a digestible manner and walks you through the material in a way that helps you actually stick with it. If you are going to embark on this, I'd encourage you not do it alone. I greatly benefited from having a Greek community that I could fall back on, ask questions to, and be encouraged and exhorted by. And I'm sure this goes without saying, but the workbook companion is a must. Don't try to do this without it.

Learning a new language is not easy, but if it will get you closer to the original meaning of the text, bring out rich truths, and cause you to see Scripture in ways you haven't before, I'd say the work and time spent is worth the reward.

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[Matthew Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mounce's Basics of Biblical Greek Grammar was a passion project for me! During the beginning of the Covid pandemic, I decided to invest in learning Biblical Greek. It is a decision that I have not been disappointed with! I did not begin with this book, but with Biblical Greek Book 1 and 2 of James and Lisa Cummings series (they have since in 2022 produced book 3). After book 2, having learnt nouns and the beginnings of verb forms, I felt confident to turn my attention to Mounce.

This book was a great, detailed teaching guide on getting me from my basic knowledge of vocabulary, verbs and nouns to being able to read whole verses of Greek independently. However, I do believe it can be overcomplicated for the reader at times. The book features lots of additional rules, or advanced concepts, or exegetical examples of Greek skills, but these things can be daunting when you are as the book suggests, simply trying to get your head around the basics. I found myself more often than not, skipping over these sections and just focusing on the basics, which I would recommend you do also on your first run through. The book does have a series of workbook questions to accompany each section, with answers that can be found freely online, thus providing plenty of practice with the original texts. Each section also has a list of vocabulary to learn, and by the end of the book, if I remember correctly, the learner had accomplished a 50x frequency of NT Greek (which is about 312 words).

Ultimately, it is a great book. I would not recommend jumping straight into it if you are unfamiliar with grammatical concepts or foreign languages. Instead, I'd recommend using this book to take you from a place of familiarity to a more competent understanding.

[Mark Popovitch · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ll give this textbook 5 stars if for no other reason than I have nothing by which to compare it (it’s the only Greek textbook I’ve used, and it is similar in style to the Hebrew textbook I used which I also liked). I’m not very good at learning languages, so the subject matter itself was overwhelming for me at times, but visually the plethora of section breaks made learning feel more doable in smaller bite sizes. I found the explanations to be thorough even when I felt like I was drowning (a concern the book often took into account itself). I really liked the exegetical insights to start each chapter; they helped with perspective and purpose. One bit I didn’t care for was the cartoon “professor” in the margins that had tidbits of tangental information that I found distracting, but that’s just me. I used this book as part of a kit that came with vocabulary flash cards (very helpful), DVDs (eh, not much added from just reading the book; the sections were long but maybe for some hearing another voice might help), vocabulary audio CD (nice for the car), workbook (good practice—A LOT of practice), and a laminated quick reference guide (also very helpful). I recommend getting the kit if this is the way someone plans to start in on learning Biblical Greek.

[Matt Pelto · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book has made self-teaching Greek a joy and a pleasure. It was recommended by a friend who is a seminary professor, and it really has seemed to live up to the promise that it will teach you Greek. Now, this being my first and only exposure to Koine Greek, I cannot vouch for how thorough the content is, but I can say that it gave me enough to be able to approach a Greek New Testament with confidence. I would highly recommend (insist) that one use the companion workbook as I would not have near the understanding without it.

[Timothy Carter · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book. William D. Mounce makes learning Greek easier than any other text I tried. Granted, learning Greek is changing. But Mounce brings a fresh approach to the study method. I believe that anyone willing to take the process given in this text seriously can learn to translate the Biblical Greek with clarity.

[Cliff Dailey · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is for one wanting to master the basics of biblical Greek. The mastering is done best with accountability and a mentor.

Greek 1 and Greek 2 at Reformed Baptist Seminary use this as their textbook and rightly so. I will continue to refer back to this as a resource and quick guide to Biblical Greek.

[Jeremy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a clearly written grammar which has been refined over multiple editions. I enjoyed the exegetical insights and the examples were straightforward. Mounce's heart for writing it is clear—helping us to learn so that we can exegete well and feast on the treasures of the Greek New Testament. So glad I went through this in face-to-face instruction.

[Simon Wartanian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Finally decided to finish what I started toward the end of 2013 and have put out for so long and it was very satisfying to finish it so that I can move to other grammars and more advanced stuff. Dr. Mounce is an excellent teacher and knows how to bring difficult concepts by explaining them in English and also in Greek. This is probably the best beginning Greek grammar.

[Lori L. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome for the study of Biblical Greek, particularly when studying the New Testament. Great resource - I learned a lot! W. D. Mounce is definitely an authority on this topic, and he makes it VERY easy to comprehend if you are willing to put in the study time. Loved it!

[Bfleegs · Rating 5 out of 5]

While at times Mounce nay oversimplify linguistic matters, this book is very helpful for the average student of Greek who has not studied much grammar in general. Mounce does a very good job of tying Greek grammar two known English grammar, which he also explains.

[Wayne · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am a geek. Mounce presented the best textbook for learning New Testament Greek. If you want to dig deeper as you learn, you can read his notes on the bottom if his pages. If you just want to survive, you can skip the notes.

Wayne