ὅς G3739
Relative pronoun: who, which, that, whom; also indefinite-relative whoever/whatever; correlative one...another; rarely 'where.'
The Greek relative pronoun hos (with its full paradigm of case, gender, and number forms) is the workhorse of subordination in the New Testament, introducing relative clauses that identify, describe, and specify their antecedents. It appears over 1,400 times and in most of those occurrences functions as a straightforward definite relative — 'the one who,' 'the thing which,' 'the place that.' But two secondary uses are linguistically noteworthy: combined with an (or ean), it generalizes into an indefinite relative meaning 'whoever, whatever' (Matt 10:27), and in the paired construction hos men...hos de it becomes a correlative-distributive pronoun meaning 'one...another' or 'some...others' — a usage visible in the Parable of the Sower (Matt 13:4-8). A handful of occurrences shade into locative 'where,' showing how the relative paradigm can absorb spatial reference.
1. relative pronoun who/which/that — The standard definite relative pronoun introducing a clause with a specific antecedent: 'who,' 'which,' 'that,' 'whom,' 'whose,' 'to whom,' 'of which' — by far the dominant sense at approximately 1,149 occurrences. This covers all case, gender, and number inflections and spans every genre of the New Testament. In Matt 2:16 Herod inquires about the time 'which' the star appeared; in Matt 12:4 David eats the bread 'which' was not lawful. Spanish que/cual, French qui/que, German der/die/das, and Korean (relative clause markers using -는/-은) all render this with their standard relative pronoun apparatus. The sheer frequency makes this the grammatical backbone of Greek hypotaxis. 1149×
AR["الَّتي","الَّتِي","الَّذي","الَّذِي"]·ben["যা","যাকে"]·DE["das","den","die"]·EN["which"]·FR["que","qui"]·heb["אֲשֶׁר"]·HI["एफ्फता","गरजन-के","जिसे","जो","जो-है","थामे-हुए-रखते-हैं"]·ID["yang"]·IT["che","i-quali"]·jav["ingkang","ingkang,","kang"]·KO["-것이","-그것-은","-그것-이","~것을","것-을","그","그것-은","그것-을","그것은","이것을","이것이","있다"]·PT["a-qual","com-que","o-qual","que"]·RU["которое","которую","который","которым","что"]·ES["con-que","la-cual","lo-que","que"]·SW["-","ambacho","ambalo","ambalo-","ambao","ambapo","ambayo","mkiniambia","ninabatizwa","yaani"]·TR["hangi","ki","onu"]·urd["جس-کا","جس-کو","جسے","جو"]
Matt 2:16, Matt 10:26, Matt 12:4, Matt 12:36, Matt 13:31, Matt 13:33, Matt 13:44, Matt 15:13, Matt 20:22, Matt 21:24, Matt 21:42, Matt 27:33 (+38 more)
▼ 3 more senses below
Senses
2. whoever/whatever (indefinite relative) — The indefinite or generalizing relative pronoun meaning 'whoever, whatever, whichever, whomever' — approximately 232 occurrences, typically appearing with the particles an or ean to signal universal or conditional scope. In Matt 10:27 'what I tell you in darkness, speak in the light'; in Matt 16:19 'whatever you bind on earth.' Spanish lo que and French quiconque shift toward indefinite vocabulary, while Korean 무엇이든지 ('whatever it may be') and German was auch immer mark the generalization explicitly. This sense is syntactically distinguished from sense 1 by the modal particle and by the lack of a specific referential antecedent. 232×
AR["الَّذِي","بِما","ما","مَا"]·ben["কী","যা"]·DE["das","die"]·EN["what","whatever"]·FR["que","qui"]·heb["אֲשֶׁר","אֵת-אֲשֶׁר","מַה","מָה"]·HI["जो","रखता-है","शुद्धिकरण"]·ID["Apa","apa","apa-pun","apa-yang"]·IT["che","i-quali"]·jav["ingkang","kang","menapa","punapa","punapa-ingkang","punapa-kemawon-ingkang","punapa-kémawon"]·KO["-것을","-그것-을","-그것을","~것을","것-을","것들-을","것을","그-것을","그것-을","그것-이","그것을","이것들을","이것을"]·PT["o-que"]·RU["чем","что"]·ES["lo-que"]·SW["alicho-nacho","ambacho","basi","chochote","kile","kile-","lile","lolote","mambo-ambayo","mnacho-","nataka","ninacho-waambia","waliyoyaona","yale","yale-"]·TR["-","-ki","ki","ne"]·urd["جو","کیا"]
Matt 10:27, Matt 11:4, Matt 13:17, Matt 14:7, Matt 16:19, Matt 20:4, Matt 20:15, Matt 25:29, Mark 1:44, Mark 2:24, Mark 4:25, Mark 7:11 (+38 more)
3. one/another, some/others (correlative-distributive) — The correlative-distributive use in the pattern hos men...hos de, meaning 'one...another' or 'some...others' — approximately 30 occurrences. This construction effectively repurposes the relative pronoun as an indefinite, partitioning a group into subsets. The Parable of the Sower illustrates it vividly: 'some [seed] fell on the path...other on rocky ground...other among thorns...other on good soil' (Matt 13:4-8). Spanish distinguishes with uno...otro, French with l'un...l'autre, and German with der eine...der andere — all using dedicated correlative pairs rather than relative pronouns, confirming that this is a functionally distinct construction in Greek even though it reuses the relative morphology. 30×
AR["الَّذي","بَعضٌ","بَعْضُها","بَعْضُهُ","بَعْضُهُمْ","واحِدًا","واحِدٌ"]·ben["কাউকে","কিছু","কেউ","কোনটি","যা","যাহাদেরকে","যে"]·DE["das","den","der","die"]·EN["one","some","which"]·FR["que","qui"]·heb["אֲשֶׁר","אֵלֶּה","אֶת־זֶה","הָ-פְּרָטִי","הָלְכוּ","וְ-זֶה-שֶׁ-","זֶה","זֶה-שֶׁ-"]·HI["कुछ","कोई","कोएए","जिन्हें","जिसे","जो","जो-तो"]·ID["beberapa","sebagian","yang","yang-lain","yang-satu"]·IT["che","i-quali","il-quale"]·jav["ingkang","sawatawis","sawetara","sawetawis","setunggal"]·KO["-는","-를","그것은","그들을","어떤-것들은","어떤-것은"]·PT["a-outro","a-um","outro","outros","um","uma","umas","uns"]·RU["другие","иное","кого","которое","которые","которых","кто","одни","одно"]·ES["a-uno","otro","otros","una","unas","uno","uno-","unos"]·SW["baadhi","baadhi-","huyu","kwa-kweli","lakini","mengine","vingine","wengine"]·TR["-","-ki","aç","bir-kısmı","biri","biri-","birini","bu","bunlardan","kimilerini"]·urd["بعض","جس-کو","جو","کوئی","کچھ"]
Matt 13:4, Matt 13:8, Matt 13:8, Matt 13:8, Matt 13:23, Matt 13:23, Matt 13:23, Matt 21:35, Matt 21:35, Matt 21:35, Matt 22:5, Matt 22:5 (+18 more)
4. sense 4 — A locative or quasi-adverbial use meaning 'where' — only 4 occurrences, representing a spatial extension of the relative paradigm. In Luke 4:17 Jesus opens the scroll 'where' (hou) it was written about him; in Luke 23:53 the tomb 'where' no one had yet been laid; in Rom 9:26 'in the place where' it was said to them. Spanish donde, French duquel/lequel, and German wo all deploy spatial adverbs rather than relative pronouns, showing that these target languages treat the locative function as categorically distinct. This sense sits at the boundary between pronoun and adverb, preserving an older demonstrative-spatial function of the hos paradigm attested in Classical Greek. 4×
AR["حَيثُ","حَيْثُ"]·ben["οὗ-যেখানে","যেখানে"]·DE["den","der","dessen"]·EN["where"]·FR["duquel","lequel","qui"]·heb["אֲשֶׁר","שֶׁבּוֹ"]·HI["जहाँ","जहां"]·ID["di-mana"]·IT["che","del-quale","ou"]·jav["ing-pundi","ingkang","pundi"]·KO["거기-에","거기서","거기에","그곳에"]·PT["onde"]·RU["было-сказано","где","куда"]·ES["donde"]·SW["ambapo","kaburi"]·TR["nerede","nereye"]·urd["جہاں"]
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×)H3588a 1. causal: because, for (3498×)G1161 1. and (2806×)H3478 1. Israel (proper name and nation) (2507×)H0776 1. land, country, territory (2323×)G4771 1. you (plural address) (1853×)H1931 1. personal pronoun he/she/it (1431×)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×)H2009 1. presentative particle: behold, look (881×)H0589 1. I (first person singular pronoun) (874×)
BDB / Lexicon Reference
ὅς, ἥ, ὅ, genitive οὗ, ἧς, οὗ, etc.; dative plural οἷς, αἷς, οἷς, etc.: Epic dialect forms, genitive ὅου (probably replacing Οο) in the phrases ὅου κλέος οὔ ποτ᾽ ὀλεῖται Refs 8th c.BC+; feminine ἕης Refs 8th c.BC+; elsewhere only ἧς Refs; dative plural οἷς, οἷσι, ᾗς, ᾗσι (never αἷς or αἷσι in Refs 8th c.BC+ — _pronoun_ used, __A as demonstrative by the side of οὗτος, ὅδε, and the Article ὁ, ἡ,…