ὅτῐ G3754
Conjunction: that (introducing content clauses); because, for (causal); rarely a relative: what, whatever.
The Greek conjunction hoti is one of the most frequent words in the New Testament, appearing over 1,300 times and serving two principal functions that context alone must distinguish. After verbs of saying, knowing, or perceiving, it introduces a content clause meaning 'that' — Jesus said that, they knew that, he perceived that. But hoti also introduces causal clauses meaning 'because' or 'for,' as in the Beatitudes: 'Blessed are the pure in heart, because they shall see God' (Matt 5:8). Spanish que and French que mirror this ambiguity beautifully, while German dass (content) versus weil/denn (causal) forces the translator to decide. A tiny handful of occurrences preserve the older relative construction ho ti, meaning 'what' or 'whatever' (Mark 6:23; John 14:13).
1. that (content clause) — The declarative complementizer 'that,' introducing content clauses after verbs of perception, cognition, and communication. This overwhelmingly dominant sense (880+ occurrences) appears in sentences like 'when Herod saw that he had been tricked' (Matt 2:16) and 'do not think that I came to abolish the Law' (Matt 5:17). Spanish que, French que, and German dass all converge on a dedicated complementizer, while Korean uses the clause-final marker -는 것을, confirming the cross-linguistic naturalness of this grammatical function. 881×
AR["-","أَنَّ","أَنَّهُ","أَنَّي","أَنِّي","إِنَّ"]·ben["যে"]·DE["dass"]·EN["-","that","that-"]·FR["que"]·heb["-","כִּי","שֶׁ-"]·HI["कि"]·ID["bahwa"]·IT["che"]·jav["bilih"]·KO["-라고","-을","~하기를","곧"]·PT["que"]·RU["что"]·ES["que"]·SW["kwamba"]·TR["-","ki"]·urd["کہ"]
Matt 2:16, Matt 2:22, Matt 3:9, Matt 4:12, Matt 5:17, Matt 5:21, Matt 5:23, Matt 5:28, Matt 5:33, Matt 5:43, Matt 6:29, Matt 7:23 (+38 more)
▼ 2 more senses below
Senses
2. because, for (causal) — The causal conjunction 'because, for, since,' introducing a reason or explanation for what precedes. With 425 occurrences, this is the second most frequent use, prominent in the Beatitudes (Matt 5:4-10) where each blessing is followed by hoti + reason: 'Blessed are those who mourn, because they shall be comforted.' Spanish porque, French parce que/car, and German denn/weil all deploy distinct causal vocabulary here, whereas Greek relies on the same particle as sense 1 — a persistent challenge for translators and exegetes who must determine from context whether hoti means 'that' or 'because.' 425×
AR["لِأَنَّ","لِأَنَّ-","لِأَنَّكَ","لِأَنَّهَا","لِأَنَّهُ","لِأَنَّهُم","لِأَنَّهُمْ"]·ben["কারণ"]·DE["dass"]·EN["because","because-","for","for-"]·FR["que"]·heb["כִּי","שֶׁ-"]·HI["कि","क्योंकि","क्योनकि"]·ID["Karena","karena"]·IT["che"]·jav["Amargi","amargi","bilih"]·KO["-때문에","~하기를","왜냐하면"]·PT["porque"]·RU["ибо","потому-что","что"]·ES["porque"]·SW["kiongozi","kwa-maana","kwa-sababu","mimi"]·TR["çünkü"]·urd["کہ","کیونکہ"]
Matt 5:4, Matt 5:6, Matt 5:8, Matt 5:10, Matt 5:35, Matt 5:36, Matt 6:5, Matt 7:13, Matt 9:36, Matt 11:21, Matt 11:26, Matt 12:42 (+38 more)
3. what, whatever (relative) — A rare relative pronoun construction ho ti (neuter relative ho + indefinite ti), meaning 'what' or 'whatever,' sometimes written as two words in critical editions. Only about 5 clear occurrences survive, including Herod's oath 'whatever you ask' (Mark 6:23), Jesus' cryptic 'what I said from the beginning' (John 8:25), and the promise 'whatever you ask in my name' (John 14:13; 15:16). Spanish lo que, French ce que, and German was all render this with dedicated relative constructions, confirming it as a genuinely distinct syntactic pattern from the conjunction. 5×
AR["كُلُّ-مَا","ما","مهْما","مَا","مَهْمَا"]·ben["যা","যা-কিছু"]·DE["dass-"]·EN["Whatever","what","whatever"]·FR["que","que-"]·heb["מַה־שֶׁ-","מָה","מָה-שֶׁ-"]·HI["जो","जो-कुछ"]·ID["Apa-pun","apa-pun","yang"]·IT["che","che-"]·jav["Punapa-kémawon","punapa","punapa-ingkang","punapa-kémawon"]·KO["-것을","-것이든지","무-엇이든","무엇이든지"]·PT["o-que"]·RU["Чего","то-что","что"]·ES["Lo-que","lo-que"]·SW["Lolote","chochote","hilo","kile"]·TR["Ne","muhtemelen-","ne"]·urd["جو","جو-کچھ"]
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×)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×)H2009 1. presentative particle: behold, look (881×)H0589 1. I (first person singular pronoun) (874×)H0518a 1. conditional particle: if (827×)
BDB / Lexicon Reference
ὅτῐ, Epic dialect ὅττῐ (both in Refs 8th c.BC+: conjunction, to introduce an objective clause, that, after Verbs of seeing or knowing, thinking or saying; in Refs 8th c.BC+ —Usage: __I when ὅτι introduces a statement of fact: __I.a in Refs 8th c.BC+ always with indicative, the tense following the same rules as in English, ἤγγειλ᾽ ὅττι ῥά οἱ πόσις ἔκτοθι μίμνε πυλάων Refs 8th c.BC+ __I.b in Attic…