article

NOUN MORPHOLOGY.

When using this page for the first time, read nu-ephelkustikon beforehand.

article

1^st declension

2^nd decl.

3^rd declension

>Μ

>Ne

M/F

Μ Νe

Μ/F

s
i
n
g

ὁ

τὸ

ἡ

-α

-η

-α

-ας

-ης

-ος

-ον

-ις

-εύς

-ης/-ες/-ος

-υς/-υ

-κλῆς

-ηρ

Ζεύς

ναῦς

τοῦ

τῆς

-ας

-ης

-ου

-ος

-εως

-έως

-ους

-εος

-κλέους

-(ε)ρος

Διός

νεώς

τῷ

τῇ

-ᾳ

-ῃ

-ᾳ

-ῃ

-ῳ

-ι

-ει

-εῖ

-ει

-κλεῖ

-(ε)ρι

Διί

νηί

τὸν

τὸ

τὴν

-αν

-ην

-αν

-ην

-ον

-α

=Ν

-ιν

-έα

-η/-ες/-ος

-εα/-υ

-κλεᾶ

-ερα

Δία

ναῦν

-α

-η

-α

-ε

-ον

-ι

-εῦ

-ες/-ες/-ος

-υ

-κλεις

-ερ

Ζεῦ

p
l
u
r

οἱ

τὰ

αἱ

-αι

-οι

-α

-ες

-α

-εις

-ῆς

-εις/-η

-εις/-εα

-ερες

νήες

τῶν

-ῶν

-ων

-εων

-έων

-ων

-εων

-ερων

νεῶν

τοῖς

ταῖς

-αις

-οις

-σιν

-εσιν

-εῦσιν

-εσιν

-ρασιν

ναῦσιν

τοὺς

τὰ

τὰς

-ας

-ους

-α

-ας

-α

-εις

-έας

-εις/-η

-εις/-εα

-ερας

ναῦς

d
l

N+Ac

τὼ

-α

-ω

-ε

G+D

τοῖν

-αιν

-οιν

11)

12)

Explanations:

"article": a word comparable to English "the".

"declension": a group of sets of case endings. The case endings per word type are arranged vertically, sg in the 3^rd – 7^th row, plural in the 8^th -11^th row and the dual in the 12^th -13^th row. The numbers in the bottom row refer to footnotes that are included in the explanations. Every sbs takes one of these sets (this rule admits very few exceptions, mainly in personal names). The sets are formed into groups because of internal relationships, as a study of the exact shapes will reveal.

>M means: "when agreeing with a M sbs", >Ne "when agreeing with a Ne sbs", >F "when agreeing with a F sbs"; >M sg N means "when agreeing with the N sg of a M sbs" etc.

M, F, or Ne in the second row means that the majority, or all, of sbs’s that take this set are M, F or Ne.

The bold type in the third row signifies that this form is the one listed in the lexicon, the lexical source form.

The first declension shows no variations in the plural or in the dual.

*"sbs’s in –α" means "sbs’s that have a N sg ending in –α" etc. "adj’s in –ος" means "adj’s that have a >M sg N ending in –ος"

1^st& 2^nd decl., D pl: in Attic poetry –αις is often replaced by
–αισιν or -ῃσιν, -οις by -οισιν.

These endings are taken by 1) sbs’s in –α, the –α being preceded by –ρ- or by a vowel; 2) also adj’s in -ος, >F, the ending –ος being preceded by –ρ- or by a vowel; 3) also by the >F forms in –εια (etc.) of the adj’s in –υς (v. Š)

‚ These endings are taken by 1) sbs’s in –η; 2) also adj’s in -ος, >F, the ending -ος being preceded by a consonant (except –ρ-).

ƒ These endings are taken by 1) sbs in –α, the –α being preceded by a consonant (but not –ρ- or –μ-); 2) also by adj’s of the 3^rd decl., >F, if these have separate forms >F. [an important category of these are the participles, q.v.]

„ These endings are taken by 1) sbs’s in –ος (excepting a minority that follow ‰); 2) also by adj’s in –ος, >M. [N.B. There is a category of these adj’s that also take these endings, >F; the main dictionary, that of Liddell, Scott, Jones, marks this category by e.g. ἥσυχος, ον as against φίλος, η, ον for normal adj’s; other dictionaries print (2) as an indication of this deficiency, meaning that there are only two sets of gender endings; composite adj’s such as ἅβατος, ἐπίσημος are a major part of this category.
In Attic Poetry –οις may be replaced by -οισιν

… These endings are taken 1) by sbs’s in –ον; 2) also by adj’s in –ος, >N.
In Attic poetry –οις may be replaced by -οισιν.

There are a few variants in the 2nd declension, of insufficient importance to include in the main synopsis, click here

† For ** see stem,nominative &D pl. R indicates that the V has the form of the word’s stem, but with loss of final occlusive (β,γ,δ,θ,κ,π,τ,φ,χ) e.g. stem φυγάδ-, V ὦ φυγά.

‡ Here the N sg has the form of the word’s stem with loss of final occlusive, e.g. D sg κύματι, stem κυματ-, N sg κῦμα. "=N" for the Ac sg means that the form of the Ac sg is the same as that of the N sg, as applies for all Neuter sbs’s and agreeing adjectives.

ˆ In later (3^rd century B.C. and further ) Greek the endings -ῆς & -έας may both be replaced by –εῖς.

‰ Three types of noun share these endings: a) personal names in –ης, such as Σωκράτης, b) adjectives in –ης, such as ἀληθής, and c) Ne sbs’s in –ος, such as τὸ γένος [marked in dictionaries by τό]; 1^st or only of these endings: adj’s in –ης, >Μ & >F, names in –ης; 2^nd or only of these endings: adj’s in –ης, >Ne; 3^rd or only of these endings: sbs’s in –ος; these sbs’s take the second ending in N-Ac pl.

Š Adj’s of this type have, >F, endings in –εια (etc.) (see ). >M/F sg N forms in -υς & >Ac sg M forms in –υν may also stem from sbs’s in –υς, which follow type 1 of the 3^rd decl. Forms in –υς may also be Ac pl of these sbs’s in –υς.

11) This column for names in –κλῆς (such as ῾Ηρακλῆς), of which there are not a few.

12) This declension is followed by πατήρ, μήτηρ, θυγάτηρ, γάστηρ.

The columns that have no numbers show the declension of a few individual, but highly frequent, words: meaning 'Zeus' & 'ship'.

N.B. Only about 98 % of what one will encounter will be covered by the foregoing. The remaining will be left to your own initiative; as nouns present no initial changes, the link to your dictionary shouldn't be too difficult to make and declensional singularities are mostly given in the dictionaries.

Pitfalls: a study of the endings immediately reveals that identical endings occur in different sets, and not always for the same case! Be very careful when determining forms.

The declension of sbs’s and adj’s shows considerable differences in Epic (or epicizing) and Ionic prose.

N.B. The forms of the article with addition of the suffix –δε constitute the demonstrative pronoun ὅδε (= "this").

abbreviations    cases: nominative, genitive, dative, accusative    voices: active, middle, passive    adjectives    adjuncts    adverbs    amathesin anomalous nouns

article    assimilation    augment    canonical conjugation    composite verbs    contracted verbs    eimi be    eimi go    exercises

grammatical introduction    grammatical terms    keystoexercise    moods: indicative, subjunctive , optative, imperative, infinitive, participle

morphemes oida phases: durative, aorist future, perfect reading Greek: 1 2 reduplication script stem synopsis noun synopsis verb