LESSON 3

 

Today we'll talk about nouns. In previous lessons we saw that nouns in Greek are of 3 genders: masculine, feminine and neuter. We will now see the most common endings for nouns according to their gender.

 

Feminine nouns

 

Neuter nouns

The endings of nouns and of the definite and indefinite articles change according to the use of the noun within the sentence. In Greek there are four distinct cases in the singular and plural. Here we shall deal with 3 of the 4 cases, both in the singular and the plural. These cases will be the nominative, the accusative and the vocative. The fourth case, the genitive, will be dealt with later.

 

Cases of the definite article

Singular: Masculine Feminine Neuter

Nominative: ο         η        το

Accusative: το(ν)*   τη(ν)*   το

Vocative:      -          -        -

Plural: Masculine Feminine Neuter

Nominative: οι         οι          τα

Accusative: τους      τις        τα

Vocative:       -         -           -

*Whether the final ν is present or not is determined by the particular vowel/consonant beginning the word that follows. This need not concern us at this stage but if the following word starts with a vowel we always put an ν at the end of το/τη.

 

Feminine and neuter nouns

In feminine and neuter nouns all three cases maintain the same ending. The only visible change, where it occurs, is in the definite article which precedes the noun.

Feminine

Nom. η αδερφή     η θάλασσα

Acc. την αδερφή   τη θάλασσα

Voc. αδερφή       θάλασσα

Neuter

Nom. το δέντρο   το πουλί

Acc. το δέντρο    το πουλί

Voc. δέντρο        πουλί

You will have observed that while the definite article changes in the feminine nouns, it remains the same in the neuter. It also changes from case to case in the masculine nouns.

 

Masculine nouns

Here the final -ς of the nominative disappears in the other 2 cases.

Nom. ο χειμώνας    ο μαθητής

Acc. το χειμώνα     το μαθητή

Voc. χειμώνα         μαθητή

In the masculine nouns ending in -ος there is an additional change, in that the ending of the vocative also changes.

Nom. ο άνθρωπος

Acc. τον άνθρωπο

Voc. άνθρωπε

 

Use of cases

The different cases of the nouns are used as follows:

The nominative is used when the noun is the subject of the verb. For example:

Ο Γιώργος είναι άντρας (George is a man)

Η Ελένη είναι γυναίκα (Helen is a woman)

The accusative is used when the noun is the direct object of the verb. For example:

Έχει* το ψωμί (He/she has the bread)

*Note the absence of “he, she, it”, as would be necessary in English (i.e. you cannot say “Has bread”; the person must be specified by he, she or it). In Greek however, this is perfectly possible and occurs frequently.

The vocative is used to call or address a person.

Πώς είσαι φίλε; (How are you friend?) (Ο φίλος/Η φίλη = friend)

In the next lesson we will deal with the form of cases in the plural.