Matthew 1:18, continued almost (!) to the end

Mνηστευθείσης της μητρός αυτού Μαρίας τῳ Ιωσήφ,
πριν ή συνελθείν αυτούς ευρέθη εν γαστρί έχουσα
εκ πνεύματος αγίου.

Now that one difficulty - the genitive absolute - is out of the way, we can continue with the rest of the verse. The first phrase told us that Mary was betrothed to Joseph. The rest of the verse explains what else happened while she was betrothed.

Let's start with:

πριν ή συνελθείν αυτούς
before got married they

The two words 'πριν ή' mean 'before.' Then we are faced with a second tricky piece of Greek grammar: the use of the accusative case as the subject of an infinitive. The verb 'συνελθείν' is the aorist infinitive of the verb 'συνέρχομαι' and the word 'αυτούς' is a pronoun in the accusative plural.

Although normally the subject of a verb is put in the nominative, when the verb is an infinitive, the subject is put into the accusative case. Here, 'αυτούς' refers to Mary and Joseph, and 'συνελθείν', which has a basic meaning of 'come together' or 'gather, assemble' can be translated 'got married'. Or (more directly, and in case anyone is still unclear as to the meaning) - 'slept together.'

So - before Mary and Joseph got married . . . what?

On Wednesday we will finish the verse, I promise.

Χαίρετε!