In Ancient Greek, all nouns are classified according to grammatical gender (masculine, feminine, neuter) and are used in a number (singular, dual, or plural). According to their function in a sentence, their form changes to one of the five cases (nominative, vocative, accusative, genitive, or dative). The set of forms that a noun will take for each case and number is determined by the declension that it follows.
The five cases of Ancient Greek each have different functions.
The Ancient Greek nominative, like the Proto-Indo-European nominative, is used for the subject and for things describing the subject (predicate nouns or adjectives):
"For Socrates was wise and just."
The vocative is used for addressing people or things. It is frequently the same as the nominative in the singular and always the same in the plural.
"What you say is true, Socrates."
The accusative is used for the object of a verb, and also after prepositions. After prepositions it is often used for the destination of motion:
"They send messengers to Crete."
The Ancient Greek genitive can often be translated with the preposition "of" or the English possessive case:
"The wife of Caesar."
It is also used after prepositions, especially those which mean "from":
"He went away from the market-place."
The Ancient Greek dative corresponds to the Proto-Indo-European dative, instrumental, or locative. When it corresponds to the dative, it expresses the person or thing that is indirectly affected by an action, and can often be translated with the prepositions "to" or "for":
"He tells the oracle to Socrates."
When the dative corresponds to the Proto-Indo-European instrumental, it expresses the thing with which something is done, and can often be translated by the preposition "with":
"He was hitting me with stones."
When the dative corresponds to the Proto-Indo-European locative case (this is often the case when it is used with prepositions), it expresses location (sometimes figuratively) or time, and can often be translated by "in", "at", or "on":
"In the third year they came to an agreement with the Athenians."
The dative is also frequently used after prepositions, such as Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ἐν "in":
"He died in the battle."
| strong cases: nominative, accusative | weak cases: genitive, dative | ||
| first declension: | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ἀγορᾱ́, ἀγορᾱ́ν | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ἀγορᾶς, ἀγορᾷ | |
| Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ἀγοραί, ἀγορᾱ́ς | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ἀγορῶν, ἀγοραῖς | ||
| second declension: | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: θεός, θεόν | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: θεοῦ, θεῷ | |
| Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: θεοί, θεούς | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: θεῶν, θεοῖς | ||
| third declension: | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: πούς, πόδα | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ποδός, ποδί | |
| Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: πόδες, πόδας | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ποδῶν, ποσί |
For first- and second-declension nouns accented on the ultima and third-declension nouns with a single-syllable stem, the strong cases (nominative and accusative) have one type of accent, and the weak cases (genitive and dative) have another.
Specifically, the first- and second-declension nouns have acute (´) in the strong cases, but circumflex (ˆ) in the weak cases. Third-declension nouns have the accent on the stem in the strong cases, but the ending in the weak cases.
Both of these patterns can be summarized by a single rule suggested by Paul Kiparsky: pre-ending accent in the strong cases and post-stem accent in the weak cases.[10]
For first- and second-declension nouns, Kiparsky's rule is more complex. The thematic vowel (Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ο or Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ᾱ) counts as neither stem nor ending, but alternates between the two depending on which accent is considered. For post-stem accent, it counts as part of the ending; for pre-ending accent, it counts as part of the stem.
"the" | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| singular | dual | plural | |||||||
| nominative | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ὁ | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ἡ | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: τό | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: τώ | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: οἱ | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: αἱ | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: τᾰ́ | ||
| accusative | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: τόν | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: τήν | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: τούς | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: τᾱ́ς | |||||
| genitive | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: τοῦ | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: τῆς | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: τοῦ | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: τοῖν | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: τῶν | ||||
| dative | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: τῷ | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: τῇ | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: τῷ | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: τοῖς | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ταῖς | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: τοῖς | |||
The first declension or alpha declension is considered thematic, with long alpha (Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ᾱ) at the end of the stem, though it is derived from original athematic Indo-European forms. In Attic Greek, this changes to Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: η everywhere except after Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ε, ι or Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ρ. The first declension includes mostly feminine nouns, but also a few masculine nouns, including agent nouns in Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: -της, patronyms in Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: -ίδης, and demonyms.
The first-declension genitive plural always takes a circumflex on the last syllable. In Homeric Greek the ending was Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: -άων (Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ᾱ) or Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: -έων (through shortening from *Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: -ηων). Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: -έων was contracted to Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: -ῶν in Attic.
| feminine: Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ἡ | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ᾱ | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: η | |||||||||||
"country" | "goddess" | "house" | "voice" | |||||||||
| nominative | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: χώρᾱ | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: χώρᾱ | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: χῶραι | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: θεᾱ́ | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: θεᾱ́ | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: θεαί | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: οἰκίᾱ | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: οἰκίᾱ | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: οἰκίαι | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: φωνή | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: φωνᾱ́ | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: φωναί |
| vocative | ||||||||||||
| accusative | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: χώρᾱν | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: χώρᾱς | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: θεᾱ́ν | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: θεᾱ́ς | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: οἰκίᾱν | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: οἰκίᾱς | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: φωνήν | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: φωνᾱ́ς | ||||
| genitive | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: χώρᾱς | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: χώραιν | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: χωρῶν | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: θεᾶς | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: θεαῖν | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: θεῶν | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: οἰκίᾱς | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: οἰκῐ́αιν | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: οἰκιῶν | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: φωνῆς | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: φωναῖν | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: φωνῶν |
| dative | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: χώρᾳ | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: χώραις | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: θεᾷ | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: θεαῖς | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: οἰκίᾳ | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: οἰκίαις | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: φωνῇ | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: φωναῖς | ||||
Some nouns have short Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ᾰ in the nominative, vocative and accusative singular, but are otherwise identical to other feminine first-declension nouns. They are recessively accented.
Most nouns in this category were formed with the suffix (sometimes written). The (representing the semivowel pronounced as /link/) undergoes one of several sound changes with the consonant at the end of the stem:
| feminine: Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ἡ | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ᾱ | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: η | |||||
| (Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ᾰ-) "truth" | (Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ᾰ-) "tongue" | |||||
| nominative | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ἀλήθει'''ᾰ''' | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ᾰ̓ληθείᾱ | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ἀλήθειαι | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: γλῶσσ'''ᾰ''' | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: γλώσσᾱ | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: γλῶσσαι |
| vocative | ||||||
| accusative | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ἀλήθει'''ᾰν''' | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ἀληθείᾱς | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: γλῶσσ'''ᾰν''' | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: γλώσσᾱς | ||
| genitive | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ἀληθείᾱς | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ᾰ̓ληθείαιν | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ἀληθειῶν | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: γλώσσης | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: γλώσσαιν | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: γλωσσῶν |
| dative | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ἀληθείᾳ | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ἀληθείαις | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: γλώσσῃ | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: γλώσσαις | ||
Masculine first-declension nouns end in Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: -ᾱς or Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: -ης in Attic. Homer retains the older masculine ending Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: -ᾱ and uses Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ναύτᾱ "sailor" instead of Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ναύτης: compare Latin nauta.
The masculine genitive singular ending comes from the second declension. Homeric Greek uses Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: -ᾱο or Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: -εω.
| masculine: Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ὁ | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ᾱς | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ης | |||||
"young man" | "creative artist" | |||||
| nominative | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: νεᾱνί'''ᾱς''' | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: νεᾱνῐ́ᾱ | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: νεᾱνίαι | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ποιητ'''ής''' | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ποιητᾱ́ | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ποιηταί |
| vocative | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: νεᾱνί'''ᾱ''' | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ποιητ'''ᾰ́''' | ||||
| accusative | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: νεᾱνίᾱν | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: νεᾱνίᾱς | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ποιητήν | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ποιητᾱ́ς | ||
| genitive | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: νεᾱνί'''ου''' | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: νεᾱνῐ́αιν | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: νεᾱνιῶν | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ποιητ'''οῦ''' | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ποιηταῖν | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ποιητῶν |
| dative | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: νεᾱνίᾳ | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: νεᾱνίαις | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ποιητῇ | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ποιηταῖς | ||
The second or omicron declension is thematic, with an Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: -ο or Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: -ε at the end of the stem. It includes one class of masculine and feminine nouns and one class of neuter nouns.
When a second-declension noun is accented on the ultima, the accent switches between acute for the nominative, accusative, and vocative, and circumflex for the genitive and dative. The only exceptions are Attic-declension and contracted nouns.
Masculine and feminine both end in Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: -ος, and can only be distinguished by an article or adjective.
| masculine: Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ὁ | feminine: Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ἡ | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
"person" | "way" | |||||
| nominative | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ἄνθρωπος | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ἄνθρωπω | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ἄνθρωποι | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ὁδός | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ὁδώ | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ὁδοί |
| vocative | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ἄνθρωπε | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ὁδέ | ||||
| accusative | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ἄνθρωπον | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ἀνθρώπους | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ὁδόν | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ὁδούς | ||
| genitive | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ἀνθρώπου | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ἀνθρώποιν | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ἀνθρώπων | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ὁδοῦ | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ὁδοῖν | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ὁδῶν |
| dative | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ἀνθρώπῳ | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ἀνθρώποις | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ὁδῷ | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ὁδοῖς | ||
In the neuter, the nominative, vocative and accusative are the same, with a singular in Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: -ον and plural in Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: -ᾰ. Other forms are identical to the masculine and feminine second declension.
| neuter: Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: τό | |||
|---|---|---|---|
"gift" | |||
| nominative | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: δῶρ'''ον''' | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: δώρω | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: δῶρ'''ᾰ''' |
| vocative | |||
| accusative | |||
| genitive | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: δώρου | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: δώροιν | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: δώρων |
| dative | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: δώρῳ | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: δώροις | |
In the Attic dialect, some masculine second-declension nouns and some adjectives have endings with lengthened vowels. Some nouns in this category end in Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: -εως, which developed from an original *Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: -ηος by the process of quantitative metathesis (switching of vowel lengths). All second-declension endings containing Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ο were transformed:
The placement of the accent does not change, even when the ultima is long, and all forms take an acute instead of a circumflex.
In these nouns, the nominative singular, vocative singular, and accusative plural are identical, as are the accusative singular and genitive plural, and the dative singular and nominative and vocative plural.
| masculine | |||
|---|---|---|---|
"people" | |||
| nominative | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: λεώς | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: λεώ | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: λεῴ |
| vocative | |||
| accusative | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: λεών | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: λεώς | |
| genitive | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: λεώ | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: λεῴν | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: λεών |
| dative | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: λεῴ | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: λεῴς | |
In Attic, nouns and adjectives ending in Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: -εος or Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: -οος and Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: -εον or Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: -οον are contracted so that they end in Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: -ους and Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: -ουν.
When the ultima is accented, it takes a circumflex in all forms, including the nominative, accusative, and vocative.
| masculine | |||
|---|---|---|---|
"mind" | |||
| nominative | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: νοῦς | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: νώ | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: νοῖ |
| vocative | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: νοῦ | ||
| accusative | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: νοῦν | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: νοῦς | |
| genitive | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: νοῦ | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: νοῖν | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: νῶν |
| dative | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: νῷ | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: νοῖς | |
The third declension group includes masculine, feminine and neuter nouns. It is an athematic declension that lacks the standard thematic vowels of the two thematic declensions above. This results in varied and often complex phonemic interactions between stem and ending, especially so between adjacent consonants, that often make these nouns appear to be highly irregular compared to their straightforward thematic counterparts.
These nouns in the nominative singular end with the vowels Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: α, ι, υ, ω or with the consonants Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ν, ρ, ς (Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ξ, ψ). They form the genitive case with Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: -ος, -ως or Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: -ους.
Third-declension nouns have one, two, or three stems, unlike first- and second-declension nouns, which always have only one stem. Each stem is used in different case-and-number forms. In nouns with two stems, the stem with the long vowel is called the strong stem, while the stem with the short vowel is called the weak stem. The strong stem is found at the nominative singular, and the weak stem in the genitive singular.
Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ἡγεμόνος (short vowel, weak stem: genitive singular)
The masculine and feminine nominative singular ordinarily ends in Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: -ς, but has no ending in some nouns whose stems end in Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: -ν- and Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: -ντ-, and all nouns in Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: -ρ: ἡγεμών, ἀκτίς (from *Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ἀκτίν-ς), Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: γέρων (from *Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: γέρωντ), Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: γίγας (from *Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: γίγαντ-ς), Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ῥήτωρ. The neuter nominative, accusative, and vocative singular always has no ending.
The Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: α of the accusative singular and plural was originally a syllabic ν. The accusative singular ending Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: -α appears after Proto-Greek consonants, and is much more common than Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: -ν, because almost all third-declension stems end in a consonant. When a Proto-Greek consonant was lost (ϝ, Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: [[palatal approximant|ι̯]], Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: σ), Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: -α appears after a vowel, and may be lengthened to Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ᾱ: Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: βασιλέᾱ. The ending Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ν appears after the vowels Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: υ and Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ι: Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ἰσχύν, πόλιν. The ending Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: -νς always changes to Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: -ας, except in the accusative plural of Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ἰχθύς, where it lengthens the preceding Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: υ by compensatory lengthening, yielding Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ἰχθῦς.
A peculiar subset of this declension is used when declining foreign masculine names such as Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: Ἰησοῦς, Ἰούδᾱς, Λευῑ́(ς): the nominative takes a sigma, the genitive and vocative are the bare stem, the dative may receive an iota subscript if possible, the accusative receives a nu. However, other nouns in which the cluster arising with the sigma at nominative would be un-Greek (e.g. Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: Γολιάθ) are instead kept undeclined.
|
|
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
These nouns end in Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: -ν, -ρ, -ς (Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: -ξ, -ψ). Based on the last letter of the stem, they are divided into two categories:
The mute-stem nouns have stems ending in Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: -κ-, -γ-, -χ- (velar-stem nouns), Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: -π-, -β-, -φ- (labial-stem nouns), Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: -τ-, -δ-, -θ- (dental-stem nouns).
The semi mute-stem nouns have stems ending in Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: -ν- (nasal-stem nouns), Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: -λ-, -ρ- (liquid-stem nouns), Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: -σ- (sibilant-stem nouns).
Nominative singular Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: -ς and dative plural Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: -σι cause pronunciation or spelling changes, depending on the consonant at the end of the stem.
| consonant at end of stem | nominative singular, dative plural | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| (dental) | (Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: τ, δ, θ) | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: -ς, -σι | |
| velar | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: κ, γ, χ | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: -ξ, -ξι | |
| labial | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: π, β, φ | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: -ψ, -ψι |
In the nominative singular and dative plural, the velars Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: κ, γ, χ combined with Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: σ are written as Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ξ, and the labials Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: π, β, φ combined with Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: σ are written as Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ψ.
"raven" | "vulture" | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| nominative | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: κόραξ | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: κόρᾰκε | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: κόρακες | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: γύψ | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: γῦπε | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: γῦπες |
| vocative | ||||||
| accusative | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: κόρακα | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: κόρακας | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: γῦπα | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: γῦπας | ||
| genitive | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: κόρακος | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: κορᾰ́κοιν | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: κοράκων | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: γυπός | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: γῡποῖν | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: γυπῶν |
| dative | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: κόρακι | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: κόραξι | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: γυπί | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: γυψί | ||
=In the nominative singular and dative plural, a dental Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: τ, δ, θ before Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: σ is lost: Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: τάπης, not Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: τάπητς.
"rug" | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| nominative | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: τάπης | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: τᾰ́πητε | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: τάπητες |
| vocative | |||
| accusative | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: τάπητα | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: τάπητας | |
| genitive | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: τάπητος | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: τᾰπήτοιν | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ταπήτων |
| dative | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: τάπητι | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: τάπησι | |
If a noun is not accented on the last syllable and ends in Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: -ις, -ης, or Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: -υς, it often has an accusative singular in Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: -ν and a vocative with no ending.
Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: τὴν χάριν, Πάρνην, κόρυν (accusative)
Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ὦ χάρι, Πάρνη, κόρυ (vocative)
=In the nominative singular and dative plural, Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ντ before Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: σ is lost, and the previous vowel is lengthened by compensatory lengthening. In the vocative singular, final Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: -τ is lost, as Ancient Greek words cannot end in stops.
"giant" | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| nominative | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: γίγᾱς | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: γίγαντε | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: γίγαντες |
| vocative | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: γίγαν | ||
| accusative | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: γίγαντα | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: γίγαντας | |
| genitive | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: γίγαντος | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: γιγάντοιν | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: γιγάντων |
| dative | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: γίγαντι | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: γίγᾱσι | |
When a noun is accented on the last syllable, the vocative singular is identical to the nominative:
Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ὦ ἰμάς (vocative)
=These nouns have a weak stem in Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: -οντ- and a strong stem in Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: -ωντ-. The strong stem is used only in the nominative singular. The vocative singular is the weak stem without an ending. In both the nominative and vocative singular, the final Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: τ disappears. In the dative plural, the Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: σ in the ending causes the Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ντ to disappear, and the Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ο is lengthened to Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ου by compensatory lengthening.
"old man" | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| nominative | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: γέρων | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: γέροντε | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: γέροντες |
| vocative | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: γέρον | ||
| accusative | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: γέροντα | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: γέροντας | |
| genitive | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: γέροντος | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: γερόντοιν | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: γερόντων |
| dative | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: γέροντι | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: γέρουσι | |
=In these nouns, the stem originally ended in Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: -ν̥Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: τ- (with syllabic n), which changed to Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: -ατ- in Greek. In the nominative singular, the final Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: -τ disappeared.
"property" | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| nominative | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: κτῆμα | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: κτήμᾰτε | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: κτήματα |
| vocative | |||
| accusative | |||
| genitive | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: κτήματος | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: κτημᾰ́τοιν | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: κτημάτων |
| dative | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: κτήματι | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: κτήμασι | |
=Some nouns have stems ending in Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: -ν-. The nominative singular may end in Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: -ς, causing compensatory lengthening, or have no ending.
beam | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| nominative | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ἀκτίς | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ἀκτῖνε | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ἀκτῖνες |
| vocative | |||
| accusative | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ἀκτῖνα | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ἀκτῖνας | |
| genitive | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ἀκτῖνος | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ἀκτῑ́νοιν | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ἀκτίνων |
| dative | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ἀκτῖνι | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ἀκτῖσι | |
=Some nouns have a strong stem in Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: -ην-, -ων- and a weak stem in Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: -εν-, -ον-. The nominative singular is the only form with the strong stem. Nouns of this class that are not accented on the last syllable use the weak stem without an ending for the vocative singular.
Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ὦ γεῖτον (vocative)
"leader " | "gland" | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| nominative | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ἡγεμών | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ἡγεμόνε | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ἡγεμόνες | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ἀδήν | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ᾰ̓δένε | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ἀδένες |
| vocative | ||||||
| accusative | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ἡγεμόνα | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ἡγεμόνας | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ἀδένα | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ἀδένας | ||
| genitive | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ἡγεμόνος | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ἡγεμόνοιν | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ἡγεμόνων | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ἀδένος | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ᾰ̓δένοιν | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ἀδένων |
| dative | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ἡγεμόνι | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ἡγεμόσι | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ἀδένι | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ἀδέσι | ||
Liquid-stems have stems ending in Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: -λ- or Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: -ρ-. Unlike mute-stems, these nouns do not change in spelling or pronunciation when the dative plural ending Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: -σι is added.
=Some nouns end in Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: -ηρ, -ωρ and take the endings without any sound changes.
"usher" | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| nominative | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: κλητήρ | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: κλητῆρε | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: κλητῆρες |
| vocative | |||
| accusative | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: κλητῆρα | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: κλητῆρας | |
| genitive | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: κλητῆρος | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: κλητήροιν | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: κλητήρων |
| dative | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: κλητῆρι | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: κλητῆρσι | |
=Some nouns have a nominative singular in Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: -ηρ, -ωρ. The stem for the rest of the forms ends in Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: -ερ-, -ορ-.Nouns in this class that are not accented on the last syllable use the weak stem without an ending for the vocative singular.
"orator" | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| nominative | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ῥήτωρ | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ῥήτορε | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ῥήτορες |
| vocative | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ῥῆτορ | ||
| accusative | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ῥήτορα | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ῥήτορας | |
| genitive | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ῥήτορος | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ῥητόροιν | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ῥητόρων |
| dative | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ῥήτορι | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ῥήτορσι | |
=Some nouns have a strong stem in Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: -ηρ in the nominative singular, a middle stem in Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: -ερ- in other forms, and a weak stem in Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: -ρ(α)- in yet other forms. The Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: α in the dative plural was added for ease of pronunciation; the original form ended in Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: -ρσι.
These include Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ὁ πατήρ "father", Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ἡ μήτηρ "mother", Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ἡ θυγάτηρ "daughter", Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ἡ γαστήρ "stomach", Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ἡ Δημήτηρ "Demeter", Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ὁ ἀνήρ "man".
The first three and Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: γαστήρ use the weak stem in the genitive and dative singular and in the dative plural. The rest use the weak stem in the genitive, dative, and accusative singular and in the plural.
The vocative singular is usually the middle stem without an ending and accent on the first syllable.
father | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| nominative | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: πατήρ | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: πατέρε | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: πατέρες |
| vocative | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: πάτερ | ||
| accusative | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: πατέρα | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: πατέρας | |
| genitive | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: πατρός | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: πᾰτέροιν | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: πατέρων |
| dative | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: πατρί | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: πατράσι | |
Nouns in all three genders have stems ending in Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: -εσ- or Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: -οσ-. But in most cases, the Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: σ was lost after being debuccalized to pronounced as //h//, so for the most part the stems appear to actually end in pronounced as /-ε- -ο-/. In Attic, but not Ionic, the Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ε or Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ο is contracted with the vowel of the ending. When Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: σ combines with the Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: -σι of the dative plural, the double Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: σσ is simplified to single Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: σ.
=There are several masculine proper names with nominative singulars in Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: -ης and stems in Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: -εσ-. The vocative singular is the bare stem without an ending.
Socrates | ||
|---|---|---|
| nominative | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: Σωκράτης | |
| vocative | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: Σώκρατες | |
| accusative | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: Σωκράτη/Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: Σωκρᾰ́την | |
| genitive | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: Σωκράτους | |
| dative | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: Σωκράτει |
=There are a few feminines with nominative singulars in Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: -ως and stems in Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: -οσ-.
shame | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| nominative | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: αἰδώς | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: αἰδώε | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: αἰδώες/Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: αἰδοί |
| vocative | |||
| accusative | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: αἰδῶ | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: αἰδώας | |
| genitive | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: αἰδοῦς | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: αἰδώοιν | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: αἰδώων |
| dative | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: αἰδοῖ | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: αἰδώσι | |
=Some neuter nouns have nominative, accusative, and vocative singulars in Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: -ος, and stems in Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: -εσ-.
"missile" | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| nominative | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: βέλος | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: βέλει | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: βέλη |
| vocative | |||
| accusative | |||
| genitive | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: βέλους | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: βελοῖν | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: βελῶν |
| dative | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: βέλει | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: βέλεσι | |
These nouns end with Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ι, υ, ευ, αυ, ου, ω.
These take the endings without sound changes.
"hero" | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| nominative | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ἥρως | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ἥρωε | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ἥρωες |
| vocative | |||
| accusative | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ἥρωα | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ἥρωας | |
| genitive | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ἥρωος | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ἡρώοιν | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ἡρώων |
| dative | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ἥρωι | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ἥρωσι | |
Because these nouns have a stem ending in Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: -υ-, the accusative singular appears as Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: -υν rather than Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: -υα, and the accusative plural changes by compensatory lengthening from Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: -υνς to Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: -ῡς.
| / | |||
|---|---|---|---|
"fish" | |||
| nominative | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ἰχθύς | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ἰχθῠ́ε | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ἰχθύες |
| vocative | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ἰχθύ | ||
| accusative | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ἰχθύν | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ἰχθῦς | |
| genitive | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ἰχθύος | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ἰχθῠ́οιν | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ἰχθύων |
| dative | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ἰχθύϊ | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ἰχθύσι | |
There are many feminine nouns in Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: -ις, and a few masculine nouns in Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: -υς, and one neuter noun: Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ἄστυ "town".
One stem is in Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: -ι- or Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: -υ-, another is in Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: -ει- or Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: -ευ-, and a third is in Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: -ηι- or Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: -ηυ-. But these stems underwent sound changes, so that they are no longer obvious. Before a vowel, the Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ι or Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: υ in the second and third stem became the semivowel Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ι̯ or ϝ, and was lost. The long-vowel stem in the genitive singular was shortened, and the vowel in the ending lengthened (quantitative metathesis). Therefore, there appear to be two stems, ending in Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ι/Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: υ and Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ε.
| feminine | |||
|---|---|---|---|
"city" | |||
| nominative | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: πόλις | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: πόλει | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: πόλεις |
| vocative | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: πόλι | ||
| accusative | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: πόλιν | ||
| genitive | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: πόλεως | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: πολέοιν | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: πόλεων |
| dative | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: πόλει | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: πόλεσι | |
The nouns in Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: -ευς have two stems: one with short Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ε, another with long Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: η. Both originally ended with digamma, which by the time of Classical Greek had either vanished or changed to Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: υ. Thus the stems end in Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: -ε(υ)-, from *Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: -εϝ-, and Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: -η-, from *Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: -ηϝ-. In Attic Greek the Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: η of the stem underwent quantitative metathesis with the vowel of the ending—the switching of their lengths. This is the origin of the Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: -ως, -ᾱ, and Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ᾱς of the forms based on the stem in Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: -η-.
| masculine | |||
|---|---|---|---|
"king" | |||
| nominative | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: βασιλεύς | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: βᾰσῐλῆ | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: βασιλεῖς |
| vocative | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: βασιλεῦ | ||
| accusative | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: βασιλέᾱ | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: βασιλέᾱς | |
| genitive | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: βασιλέως | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: βᾰσῐλέοιν | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: βασιλέων |
| dative | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: βασιλεῖ | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: βασιλεῦσι | |
The nouns with a vowel before the Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: -εύς often contract the final Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ε of the stem (either original or from quantitative metathesis of Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: η), which disappears into the following Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ω and Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ᾱ of the genitive and accusative singular and plural. As is the rule, the vowel resulting from contraction takes a circumflex:
Stems in Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: -οι- end in Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: -ω in the nominative singular. The Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ι becomes the semivowel Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ι̯ and is lost, except in the vocative singular. There are no plural forms; when the plural does appear, it follows the second declension. The rest of the cases are formed by contraction.
| feminine | ||
|---|---|---|
"echo" | ||
| nominative | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ἠχώ | |
| vocative | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ἠχοῖ | |
| accusative | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ἠχώ | |
| genitive | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ἠχοῦς | |
| dative | Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ἠχοῖ |
New nouns may be formed by suffix addition. Sometimes suffixes are added on top of each other:
biblárion, bibliárion, biblarídion, biblidárion