Lesson 3. Nouns.—Introductory.
Cases
29. There are five CASES in Greek, the nominative, genitive, dative, accusative, and vocative.
In English, readers rely on the order in which words appear in a sentence to indicate the grammatical function of each word. In Ancient Greek, their case tells the reader the grammatical function of each word in the sentence.
- The nominative is used as the subject of the sentence and also as the object of sentences with the verb 'to be'.
- The genitive expresses the relationships between nouns and can usually be translated along with the English word 'of' or 'from'.
- The dative is is used for three purposes:
- as the indirect object of a verb
- how or with what something is done.
- relationships of place where and time when
- These relationships can be expressed by the English prepositions to or for, with or by, and in or at.
- The accusative is the direct object of a transitive verb
- The vocative is for exclamations and emphatic address.
30. The nominative and vocative plural are always alike. In neuters, the nominative, accusative, and vocative are alike in all numbers; in the plural these end in α.
Numbers
31. There are three NUMBERS, the singular, the dual (which denotes two objects), and the plural.
Genders
32. There are three GENDERS, the masculine, the feminine, and the neuter.
33. As in Latin, names of males and of rivers, winds and months are masculine; names of females and of countries, towns, trees, and islands, and most nouns denoting qualities or conditions are feminine.
Declensions
34. There are three DECLENSIONS, the First or A-Declension, the Second or O-Declension, and the Third or Consonant Declension. The first two together are sometimes called the Vowel Declension, as opposed to the Third.
35. The place of accent in the nominative singular of a noun or adjective must generally be learned by observation. The other forms accent the same syllable as the nominative, if the last syllable permits (21); otherwise the following syllable.
36. In the genitive and dative of all numbers a long ultima, if accented, takes the circumflex.
A-Declension.—Feminines in ᾱ.
37. Nouns of the A-Declension end in ᾱ, η, or α (feminine), or in ᾱς or ης (masculine). Feminines generally end in ᾱ, if ε, ι, or ρ precedes the ending.
38.Learn the declension of the following A-declension nouns:
χώρᾶ (Country) | ||
---|---|---|
Nominative Singular | χώρᾱ | country |
Genitive Singular | χώρᾱς | of country |
Dative Singular | χώρᾳ | to or for country |
Accusative Singular | χώρᾱν | country |
Vocative Singular | χώρᾱ | O country |
Dual Nominative, Accusative, & Vocative | χώρᾱ | |
Dual Genitive & Dative | χώραιν | |
Nominative Plural | χῶραι | countries |
Genitive Plural | χωρῶν | of countries |
Dative Plural | χώραις | to or for countires |
Accusative Plural | χώρᾱς | countries |
Vocative Plural | χῶραι | O countries |
στρατιά (Army) | |
---|---|
Nominative Singular | στρατιά |
Genitive Singular | στρατιᾶς |
Dative Singular | στρατιᾷ |
Accusative Singular | στρατιάν |
Vocative Singular | στρατιά |
Dual Nominative, Accusative, & Vocative | στρατιά |
Dual Genitive & Dative | στρατιαῖν |
Nominative Plural | στρατιαί |
Genitive Plural | στρατιῶν |
Dative Plural | στρατιαῖς |
Accusative Plural | στρατιάς |
Vocative Plural | στρατιαί |
ἡ μῑκρὰ θύρᾱ (The Small Door) | |
---|---|
Nominative Singular | ἡ μῑκρὰ θύρᾱ |
Genitive Singular | τῆς μῖκρᾶς θύρᾱς |
Dative Singular | τῇ μῑκρᾷ θύρᾳ |
Accusative Singular | τὴν μῑκρὰν θύρᾱν |
Vocative Singular | μῑκρὰ θύρᾱ |
Dual Nominative, Accusative, & Vocative | τὼ μῑκρὰ θύρᾱ |
Dual Genitive & Dative | τοῖν μῑκραῖν θύραιν |
Nominative Plural | αἱ μῑκραὶ θύραι |
Genitive Plural | τῶν μῑκρῶν θυρῶν |
Dative Plural | ταῑς μῑκραῑς θύραις |
Accusative Plural | τὰς μῑκρὰς θύρᾱς |
Vocative Plural | μῑκραὶ θύραι |
39. The genitive plural of nouns of this declension always has the circumflex on the last syllable.
a. For the accent of the other forms, see (35, 22) final αι is short, (23, 36). The forms ἡ, αἱ of the article are proclitic (26). The vocative of the article does not occur.
b. The nominative and vocative of these nouns, both singular and plural, are alike (30).
40. Vocabulary
ἀγορά, ᾶς, ἡ | market-place. |
ἡμέρᾱ, ᾱς, ἡ | day. |
θύρᾱ, ᾱς, ἡ | door. |
οἰκίᾱ, ᾱς, ἡ | house. |
στρατιά, ᾶς, ἡ | army. |
χώρᾱ, ᾱς, ἡ | place, land, country. |
μακρά | adj., long. |
μῑκρά | adj., small, little. |
ἐν | prep. with dat., in (a proclitic). |
ἦν | he (she, it) was; |
ἦσαν | they were. |
ἔχει | he (she, it) has; |
ἔχουσι | they have. |
a. The gender of a noun is indicated by placing after it the corresponding form of the definite article, as ἀγορά, ᾶς, ἡ, where ἡ singnifies that ἀγορά is feminine.
41. READ ALOUD AND TRANSLATE:
1. οἰκίαι μῑκραί. |
2. ἐν ταῖς ἀγοραῖς. |
3. ἐν οἰκίᾳ μῑκρᾷ. |
4. ἡ οἰκίᾱ θύρᾶν ἔχει. |
5. ἡ ἡμέρᾱ μακρὰ ἦν. |
6. στρατιὰς μῑκρὰς ἔχουσι. |
7. αἱ οἰκίαι θύρᾱς ἔχουσι. |
8. ἐν τῇ χώρᾳ οἰκίαι ἦσαν. |
9. αἱ οἰκίαι μῑκραὶ ἦσαν. |
10. μῑκραὶ ἦσαν αἱ θύραι τῶν οἰκιῶν. |