αὐτός G0846
He, she, it; self; the same — third-person pronoun with intensive and identity uses
The most frequent word in the Greek New Testament, αὐτός serves as the standard third-person pronoun (he, him, his, she, her, it, they, them) across all cases, genders, and numbers. When paired with the article (ὁ αὐτός), it shifts to mean 'the same' or 'the very one,' as when Jesus prayed a third time 'saying the same words' (Matt 26:44). In its rarest intensive use, it emphasizes the subject's own identity or agency — 'he himself' — a nuance visible in Rom 16:2 and Heb 5:3.
1. third-person pronoun reference — The default and overwhelmingly dominant use: a personal pronoun for the third person in every grammatical case, gender, and number. Across all target languages the translations are simple pronoun forms — 'de él,' 'de lui,' 'seiner' — confirming its purely referential, anaphoric function. It appears over 5,500 times from Matt 1:2 onward, making it the workhorse of Greek narrative and discourse. 5552×
AR["-","-هُ","-هِ","لَهُ","هُ"]·ben["তাঁর","তাঁর,","তাঁর;","তার","তার।"]·DE["seiner"]·EN["of-him"]·FR["de-lui"]·heb["-","עֲבָדִים","שֶׁלּוֹ"]·HI["अपन","अपना","अपने","उनके","उस-का","उस-के","उसका","उसके","उस्क","उस्के"]·ID["-Nya","-nya","Dia","Nya","dia","dia,","dia;","nya"]·IT["di-lui"]·jav["Panjenenganipun","Panjenenganipun,","Panjenenganipun.","Piyambakipun","ipun","nipun","piyambakipun","piyambakipun,","piyambakipun;"]·KO["그-의","그의"]·PT["dele","dele,","seu."]·RU["Его","Свою","Своё","его","его,","его.","своим","своих","свой","свою","своём"]·ES["de-él"]·SW["chake","lake","mmoja","wake","wake,","wake.","waliwadhulumu","yake","zake"]·TR["O'nun","onun"]·urd["اُس-کا","اُس-کے","اپنا","اپنی","اپنے"]
Matt 1:2, Matt 3:4, Matt 3:12, Matt 4:6, Matt 4:18, Matt 5:28, Matt 5:45, Matt 9:11, Matt 9:19, Matt 13:54, Matt 14:2, Matt 14:11 (+38 more)
▼ 2 more senses below
Senses
2. the same identical — With the article prefixed, αὐτός takes on the meaning 'the same, the very same, identical.' This is a well-attested classical Greek usage that persists in the NT: Jesus prayed τὸν αὐτὸν λόγον (Matt 26:44, Mark 14:39), and shepherds were in τῇ χώρᾳ τῇ αὐτῇ (Luke 2:8). Multilingual glosses shift from pronoun forms to adjectives of identity — 'mismo/misma' in Spanish — marking the sense boundary clearly. 57×
AR["-هِ","ذاتَ","ذاتَهُ","ذاتُهُ","ذاتِ","ذاتِهِ","ذَاتِهَا","نَفسَ","نَفسُ","نَفسِ","نَفْسَ","نَفْسِ","هُوَ"]·ben["একই","একই,","তাতে"]·DE["er","es","ihm","ihn","ihr","ihrer","sie"]·EN["same"]·FR["d’eux","elle","il","lui","à-elle","à-lui"]·heb["אוֹתָהּ","אוֹתוֹ","אוֹתוֹ-דָּבָר","הַ-","הוּא"]·HI["उन्हीं","उसी","एक-ही","वही"]·ID["sama","satu","yang-sama"]·IT["a-essa","a-esso","a-lei","di-essi","egli","ella","esso","lei","lui"]·jav["punika,","sami","sami,"]·KO["같은","같은-것이니","그자인"]·PT["a-mesma","mesma","mesma,","mesmo","mesmos"]·RU["Господь","действие","самую","та-же","тех-же","то-же","то-же,","той","том-же","тот-же","ту-же"]·ES["misma","mismo","mismos"]·SW["ile","ile-ile","kile-kile","lile-lile","sawa,","ule-ule","yale-yale","yeye-huyo","yule-yule"]·TR["ama-","aynı","aynı-","dır-","içinde-","o","o-"]·urd["اُسی","اُنہی","ایک-جیسا","ایک-ہی","وہی"]
Matt 26:44, Mark 14:39, Luke 2:8, Luke 6:23, Luke 6:26, Luke 17:30, Luke 23:40, Acts 15:27, Rom 2:1, Rom 9:21, Rom 10:12, Rom 12:4 (+38 more)
3. intensive reflexive self — The rare intensive-reflexive use, where αὐτός emphasizes the agent's own person: 'he himself,' 'she herself.' Only two clear NT instances surface — Rom 16:2 (she herself has been a patron) and Heb 5:3 (he must offer for himself). This maps to the classical Greek emphatic self-reference documented in Homer onward, where αὐτός distinguishes the principal actor from subordinates. 2×
AR["أَنَا-أَيْضًا.","نَفْسِهِ"]·ben["নিজের","নিজের।"]·DE["seiner"]·EN["himself","myself"]·FR["de-lui"]·heb["עַצְמוֹ"]·HI["अपने","स्वयं"]·ID["dirinya-sendiri","sendiri."]·IT["di-essi","di-lui"]·jav["piyambak.","piyambakipun-piyambak"]·KO["그-의","자신을"]·PT["mesmo.","si-mesmo"]·RU["себя"]·ES["mismo","sí-mismo"]·SW["mimi-mwenyewe.","yeye-mwenyewe"]·TR["kendimin","kendisinin"]·urd["اپنے","بھی"]
Related Senses
G3588 1. definite article (18298×)H0853 1. definite direct object marker (10915×)G2532 1. (8312×)H3068 1. YHWH (the divine name) (6522×)H0834a 1. relative pronoun (who/which/that) (4839×)H???? 1. (4670×)H3588a 1. causal: because, for (3498×)G1161 1. and (2806×)H3478 1. Israel (proper name and nation) (2507×)H6213a 1. do, perform, act (2383×)G4771 1. you (plural address) (1853×)H1931 1. personal pronoun he/she/it (1431×)G3739 1. relative pronoun who/which/that (1149×)H1732 1. David (proper name) (1075×)H2088 1. this, this one (demonstrative) (1059×)G1063 1. (1047×)G3778 1. this thing, these things (1003×)H???? 2. (1002×)G2424 1. (924×)G3754 1. that (content clause) (881×)
BDB / Lexicon Reference
αὐτός (Cretan dialect ἀϝτός Refs (also αὐτόνRefs, reflexive pronoun, self:—in oblique cases used for the personal pronoun, him, her, it:—with Article, ὁ αὐτός, ἡ αὐτή, τὸ αὐτό (also ταὐτόν), etc., the very one, the same. __I self, myself, thyself, etc., accusative to the person of the Verb: frequently joined with ἐγώ, σύ, etc. (see. below 10), __I.1 one's true self, the soul, not the body, Refs…