λέγει αὐτῇ Ἰησοῦς γύναι τί κλαίεις; τίνα ζητεῖς (John 19:15)

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Title:  Jesus Said to Her, “Woman, Why are You Crying?  Whom Do You Seek?”

The text is, “λέγει αὐτῇ Ἰησοῦς γύναι τί κλαίεις; τίνα ζητεῖς ἐκείνη δοκοῦσα ὅτι ὁ κηπουρός ἐστιν λέγει αὐτῷ· κύριε εἰ σὺ ἐβάστασας αὐτόν εἰπέ μοι ποῦ ἔθηκας αὐτόν κἀγὼ αὐτὸν ἀρῶ”.

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

αὐτῇ -> third person, personal, feminine, singular, dative pronoun -> to her

Ἰησοῦς -> masculine, singular, nominative, proper noun -> Jesus

γύναι -> feminine, singular, vocative noun -> woman

τί -> masculine, singular, accusative, interrogative pronoun -> why

κλαίεις -> second person, singular, present, active, indicative verb -> you are crying

τίνα -> masculine, singular, accusative, interrogative pronoun -> whom

ζητεῖς -> second person, singular, present, active, indicative verb -> you do seek

ἐκείνη -> feminine, singular, nominative, demonstrative pronoun -> she

δοκοῦσα -> present, active, participial, feminine, singular,nominative verb -> supposing CER* having supposed

ὅτι -> subordinating complementary conjunction -> that

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

κηπουρός -> masculine, singular, nominative noun -> gardener

ἐστιν -> third person, singular, present, indicative verb -> is CER* he was

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

αὐτῷ -> third person, personal, masculine, singular, dative pronoun -> to him

κύριε -> masculine, singular, vocative noun -> sir

εἰ -> subordinating conditional conjunction -> if

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

ἐβάστασας -> second person, singular, aorist, active, indicative verb -> took away

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

εἰπέ -> second person, singular, aorist, active, imperative verb -> you tell

μοι -> first person, personal, singular, dative pronoun -> me

ποῦ -> interrogative particle -> where

ἔθηκας -> second person, singular, aorist, active, indicative verb -> you laid

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

κἀγὼ -> crasis of “καὶ” (coordinating conjunction)  and “‘έγω” (first person, personal, singular, nominative pronoun) -> and I

αὐτὸν -> third person, personal, masculine, singular, accusative pronoun -. him

ἀρῶ -> first person, singular, future, active, indicative verb -> will take away

The meaning of this verse is,

Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you crying?  Whom do you seek?”  She, having supposed that he was the gardener, said to him, “Sir, if you took him away, you tell me where you laid him, and I will take him away.”

*CER:  indicates a non-literal, but good translation.  In the first and fourth examples 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”.

λέγει αὐτῇ Ἰησοῦς γύναι τί κλαίεις; τίνα ζητεῖς (John 19:15) by Dennis Glover is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.