καὶ ἠρώτησαν αὐτόν· τί οὖν; σὺ Ἠλίας εἶ (John 1:21)

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Title:  And They Asked Him, “What then?  Are You Elijah?”

The text is, “καὶ ἠρώτησαν αὐτόν· τί οὖν; σὺ Ἠλίας εἶ; καὶ λέγει· οὐκ εἰμί. ὁ προφήτης εἶ σύ; καὶ ἀπεκρίθη· οὔ”.

καὶ -> coordinating conjunction -> and

ἠρώτησαν -> third person, plural, aorist, active, indicative verb -> asked

αὐτόν -> third person, personal, masculine, singular, accusative pronoun -> him

τί -> interrogative, singular, neuter, nominative pronoun -> what

οὖν -> coordinating conjunction of inference -> then

σὺ -> second person, singular, nominative pronoun -> you

Ἠλίας -> masculine, singular, nominative, proper noun -> Elijah

εἶ -> second person, present, singular verb -> are

καὶ -> coordinating conjunction -> and

λέγει -> third person, singular, present, active, indicative verb -> he says CER* he said

οὐκ -> negative particle -> not

εἰμί -> first person, singular, indicative verb -> I am

ὁ -> masculine, singular, nominative article -> the

προφήτης -> masculine, singular, nominative noun -> prophet

εἶ -> second person, singular, present, indicative verb -> are

σύ -> second person, personal, singular, nominative pronoun -> you

καὶ -> coordinating conjunction -> and

ἀπεκρίθη -> third person, singular, aorist, passive, indicative verb -> he answered

οὔ -> negative particle -> no

The meaning of this verse is,

And they asked him, “What then?  Are you Elijah?”  And he said, “I am not.”  “Are you the prophet?”  And he answered, “No.”

*CER:  indicates a non-literal, but good translation.  In the example here, the verb “λέγει” is present tense, which in the indicative mood often can be rendered in the aorist tense, since it expresses linear action not in the present but at some point in the past.  The designation CER is equivalent to “Contextual English Rendering”.

CC BY 4.0 καὶ ἠρώτησαν αὐτόν· τί οὖν; σὺ Ἠλίας εἶ (John 1:21) by Dennis Glover is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

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