What to study and do
A- Declension Nouns I; The Article
A-Declension Nouns I; The Article 35
feminine noun such as actress, whereas the neuter it is used to refer to a neuter noun like car. This type of concord is also evident in Greek.
There may be agreement in case as well, although this is rarely evident in English.
(Compare, however, I expect the winner to be him.) In a highly inflected language like Greek, agreement in case is widespread. The most common type is the agreement of an article or an adjective with its noun in gender, number, and case.
1. Nouns whose stems end in alpha belong to the a-declension (or alpha-declension), also known as the first declension. The vowel alpha appears in some form in almost all the cases of the dual and plural: ᾱ, αι, or ᾳ. In the singular, however, because of the vowel shift from long alpha to eta in the Ionic and Attic dialects (see Introd. §6), long alpha has been replaced by eta in the Attic case endings except after ε, ι, or ρ.
2. The nouns of the a-declension may be divided into three groups, each of which has two subgroups because of the alpha-eta vowel shift. The three groups differ in declension only in the singular. The dual and plural of all a-declension nouns have the same endings. The first and largest group consists of the long-vowel feminine nouns: in these the vowel of the nominative, accusative, and vocative singular is long.
a. Alpha subgroup: When the noun stem ends in ε, ι, or ρ, the vowel alpha appears throughout the singular and in most of the plural.
Ex. “goddess” ( f.) “education” ( f.) “land” ( f.) endings
sing. nom. θεά παιδεία χώρα -ᾱ
gen. θεᾶς παιδείας χώρας -ᾱς
dat. θεᾷ παιδείᾳ χώρᾳ -ᾳ
acc. θεάν παιδείαν χώραν -ᾱν
voc. θεά παιδεία χώρα -ᾱ
dual n. a. v. θεά παιδεία χώρα -ᾱ
g. d. θεαῖν παιδείαιν χώραιν -αιν
plur. nom. voc. θεαί παιδεῖαι χῶραι -αι
gen. θεῶν παιδειῶν χωρῶν -ῶν
dat. θεαῖς παιδείαις χώραις -αις
acc. θεάς παιδείας χώρας -ᾱς
b. Eta subgroup: When the noun stem ends in any letter other than ε, ι, or ρ, eta appears in the singular endings, but alpha in most of the plural.
“opinion” ( f.) “flight” ( f.) endings
sing. nom. γνώμη φυγή -η
gen. γνώμης φυγῆς -ης
dat. γνώμῃ φυγῇ -ῃ
acc. γνώμην φυγήν -ην
voc. γνώμη φυγή -η
dual n. a. v. γνώμα φυγά -ᾱ
g. d. γνώμαιν φυγαῖν -αιν
plur. nom. voc. γνῶμαι φυγαί -αι
gen. γνωμῶν φυγῶν -ῶν
dat. γνώμαις φυγαῖς -αις
acc. γνώμας φυγάς -ᾱς
3. Accentuation. There are two special rules for all nouns of the a-declension.
All a-declension nouns have a circumflex accent on the omega of the genitive plural. (The form was originally -άων and has been contracted to -ῶν.) Any noun of the a-declension with an accented U (acute on U in the nom. sing.)
has the circumflex on U in the gen. and dat. of all numbers. (Examples: θεά, φυγή.)
4. The long alpha that appears in the accusative plural has not shifted to eta in the second subgroup because the long alpha there is not original but is rather a product of compensatory lengthening, which took place when ν was dropped from the original ending, -ᾰνς. (The long alpha in the nom. voc. and acc. dual is a relatively recent ana-logical formation based on the o-declension and so did not undergo the vowel shift.) 5. Note the general similarities of case formation in the o- and a-declensions:
a. Nom. pl. has an iota-diphthong, counted as short: -οι, -αι.
b. Gen. pl. has -ων.
c. Dat. sing. has a long stem-vowel with iota subscript: -ῳ, -ᾳ, -ῃ.
d. Dat. pl. has an iota-diphthong with sigma: -οις, -αις.
e. Acc. sing. has stem vowel plus nu: -ον, -ᾱν, -ην.
f. Acc. pl. is derived from stem vowel plus -νς: -ονς
→
-ους; -ᾰνς→
-ᾱς.g. If accented on U, these nouns have a circumflex in the gen. and dat. of all numbers.
A-Declension Nouns I; The Article 37
6. The definite article (English the) in Attic has masculine, feminine, and neuter forms whose endings are basically those of the o- and a-declensions.
masc. fem. neut.
sing. nom. ὁ ἡ τό
gen. τοῦ τῆς τοῦ
dat. τῷ τῇ τῷ
acc. τόν τήν τό
dual n. a. τώ τώ τώ
g. d. τοῖν τοῖν τοῖν
plur. nom. οἱ αἱ τά
gen. τῶν τῶν τῶν
dat. τοῖς ταῖς τοῖς
acc. τούς τάς τά
Note the following features:
The stem of the article varies between τ- (found in almost all forms) and the h-sound, written as a rough breathing (found in the masc. and fem. nom.
sing. and pl.).
There is no voc. form of the article.
The masc. nom. sing. and neut. nom. sing. have pronominal endings that differ from the -ος and -ον of o-declension nouns.
The masc. and fem. nom. sing. and pl. forms are treated as proclitics (Unit 2.11):
they have no accent of their own (unless followed by an enclitic).
Differentiated feminine dual forms in alpha (τ, ταῖν) also existed in the fourth century b.c.e. and perhaps earlier.
7. Concord. The article agrees with its noun in gender, number, and case. It does not necessarily agree with its noun in ending. (Examples: τὴν γνώμην, τῷ λόγῳ, but also τοὺς ναύτας [“the sailors,” a masc. noun, Unit 6], ταῖς ὁδοῖς.)
8. Some Uses of the Article.
a. The Greek article may individualize or make definite the noun it modifies, just as the English article the often does. This is the particular article. In Greek the particu-lar article is often used with proper names.
ποιητής poet, a poet ὁ ποιητής the poet ὁ Σόλων Solon
b. The Greek article, in the context of a sentence, often has the force of an English possessive adjective (my, our, your, his, her, its, their). The proper English translation is obvious from the context. (Normally the subject of the sentence is the possessor.)
ὁ στρατιώτης τὸν ἵππον ἄγει.
The soldier is leading his horse.
c. Abstract nouns and abstract substantives are often accompanied by the definite article in Greek, a use found in other languages, but not in English. (Compare French la beauté, German die Schönheit, English beauty.)
ἡ ὑγίεια health ἡ ἀλήθεια truthfulness
τὸ καλόν beauty, the beautiful
d. Substantives that refer to an entire class and make a general statement usually are accompanied by the definite article in Greek. This generic article is found in other languages as well, but rarely in English except with proper names. (Compare Italian l’uomo, Spanish la mujer; in English, the Scots.)
ὁ ἄνθρωπος or οἱ ἄνθρωποι man, mankind, men in general
Note that in English a noun with the indefinite article, a (or an), sometimes refers to a class and is equivalent to the generic definite article in Greek: contrast (indefinite) A poet visited our class with (generic) A poet ought to speak piously of the gods.
9. The nominative singular forms of the article are often used in Greek dictionaries and vocabulary lists instead of the abbreviations “m.,” “f.,” and “n.” to indicate the gender of a noun: for instance, ὁδός, ὁδοῦ, ἡ, is the same as ὁδός, ὁδοῦ, f.
10. Some Simple Sentences. In order to allow for more interesting exercises and begin practice with sentences, the exercises of this unit make use of a few verb forms in the present tense, all in the third person singular with the ending -ει. (More details about persons and other variables of the verb will be presented in Unit 5.) These forms can be used with a nominative singular noun as subject, or when no nominative noun is expressed, they are to be translated with a pronoun subject (he, she , it), which would be easily supplied in a continuous text or in conversation. If the verb has a direct object (see Unit 5.9 for more details), it will be in the accusative case. If the verb takes not only a direct object but also an indirect one (typically, the person who receives something; see Unit 5.9), it will be in the dative case.
ὁ ἄγγελος τὰ παιδία πείθει. The messenger persuades the children.
ὁ πόλεμος τὸν θάνατον τοῖς ἀνθρώποις φέρει.
War brings death to human beings.
τὰ δῶρα ἐκ τοῦ οἴκου φέρει. He (or she) brings the gifts out of the house.
A-Declension Nouns I; The Article 39
Note an important peculiarity of concord in Greek: a neuter plural subject regularly takes a third person singular verb.
τὰ παιδία δῶρα ταῖς θεαῖς φέρει. The children bring gifts to the goddesses.
Ancient Greek word order is more variable than in English (or in Modern Greek), and some discussion of it will be provided in the next unit. For the moment, the word order in the above sentences reflects some typical patterns: the subject, if expressed, is often placed first, and the object often precedes the verb that governs it.
11. Historical Note. When used as an article, ὁ ἡ τό was presumably a proclitic, hav-ing no accent of its own but becomhav-ing the first syllable of a continuous word unit. The practice of treating most forms as accented words (with grave or circumflex before the following noun) is too firmly established by convention to abandon. The different treatment of the masculine and feminine nominative singular and plural as proclit-ics is a postclassical graphic convention designed to distinguish these forms from similar forms of the relative pronoun, which do have the accent. (See also Unit 8.5.)
What to study and do
1. Learn the patterns of the long-vowel feminine a-declension nouns.
2. Learn the declension and uses of the article.
3. Learn the vocabulary of this unit.
4. Do the exercises of this unit.
Vocabulary
A note about vowel length in the vocabulary. The vowels α, ι, and υ may be long or short, but by convention the length is not indicated in normal texts. Nevertheless, students need to familiarize themselves with or memorize the quantity of these vow-els, as this makes a difference to correct pronunciation, to scansion of Greek poetry, and sometimes to correct accentuation. The long quantity of the final alpha in the nominative singular of the long-vowel feminine nouns is unmarked but is to be inferred from the heading of the vocabulary list. Apart from such inflectional end-ings, the default assumption should be that unmarked α, ι, υ are short (as already in all the vocabulary in Unit 3): so here, the first two syllables of στρατιά contain short vowels (unmarked), but the third vowel is , as the vocabulary heading indicates.
When there is a reason to mark a nonfinal vowel, that is done in the dictionary form in the Unit Vocabulary: so here, θρα and δκη have the first vowel marked short in order that you will know that the nominative plural is accented θύραι or δίκαι (if the vowel were long, the accent would have to be a circumflex); similarly, the entry νκη lets you know that the nominative plural will be νῖκαι, whereas τῑμή has its iota
marked to assist in pronunciation and scansion. (But there is no effect on the accent on U.)
a-declension: long-vowel feminine nouns in -ᾱ
ἀγορά, ἀγορᾶς, f. assembly, place of assembly; marketplace [agoraphobia]
Ἀσπασία, Ἀσπασίας, f. Aspasia (female proper name) δημοκρατία, δημοκρατίας, f. democracy
ἡμέρα, ἡμέρας, f. day [ephemeral]
θεά, θεᾶς, f. goddess
θρα, θύρας, f. door; (freq. pl.) double doors, folding doors παιδεία, παιδείας, f. education, training, culture [propaedeutic]
στρατιά, στρατιᾶς, f. army [strategy]
συμφορά, συμφορᾶς, f. event, happening, circumstance; unlucky event, misfortune
φιλία, φιλίας, f. friendship [bibliophily]
χώρα, χώρας, f. land, country; space, room, place [chorology]
a-declension: long-vowel feminine nouns in -η ἀδελφή, ἀδελφῆς, f. sister
ἀρετή, ἀρετῆς, f. excellence; valor; virtue [aretalogy]
ἀρχή, ἀρχῆς, f. beginning; rule, office; realm, province [monarchy]
γνώμη, γνώμης, f. faculty of judgment; opinion, decision, verdict [gnomic]
δκη, δίκης, f. justice, right; lawsuit; punishment (levied in a suit) [syndic]
ἡδονή, ἡδονῆς, f. pleasure [hedonist]
νκη, νίκης, f. victory [epinician]
Ξανθίππη, Ξανθίππης, f. Xanthippe (female proper name)
σκηνή, σκηνῆς, f. tent, booth; stage building; stage [scene]
τῑμή, τιμῆς, f. honor; esteem; price [timocratic]
φυγή, φυγῆς, f. running away, flight; exile φωνή, φωνῆς, f. sound; voice [phonetic]
ψῡχή, ψυχῆς, f. breath of life; life; soul [psyche]
Exercises
I. Give the requested form of the Greek noun with the article (except with vocatives).
1. acc. sing. of (the) friendship 2. nom. pl. of the pleasure 3. gen. sing. of (the) education
4. gen. pl. of the flight 5. gen. sing. of the honor 6. acc. pl. of the opinion
A-Declension Nouns I; The Article 41
II. Write out the declension of the sickness in the singular only, of the gift in the plural only, and of the victory in both singular and plural.
III. Identify the following noun forms and give at least one meaning.
1. ψυχῇ
IV. Translate the following into English. The underlined forms are verbs in the third person singular of the present tense, with the meaning given in brackets.
1. ὁ στρατηγὸς καὶ τὰ βιβλία τῇ Ἀσπασίᾳ φέρει [“brings”].
V. Translate the following into Greek. When needed, the verb form is supplied in brackets.
Ex. The god does not receive [λαμβάνει] the gifts.
The god is subject of the sentence and so will be nominative singular (ὁ θεός).
The verb does receive is third person present, as given, preceded by a negative adverb (οὐ λαμβάνει). The direct object of receive is the gifts, which will thus be in the accusative case (τὰ δῶρα). Therefore, a correct answer is:
ὁ θεὸς τὰ δῶρα οὐ λαμβάνει. (Other word orders are possible.) 1. with pleasure
2. not of education but of friendship
3. He writes [γράφει] laws and brings [φέρει] justice into the land.
4. even with respect to the soul
5. The general persuades [πείθει] the gods and the goddesses.
6. Aspasia entrusts [ἐπιτρέπει] the gifts to the messenger.
7. The army does not have [ἔχει] fear and remains [μένει] in the marketplace.
VI. In the following list, the first of each pair of forms is the nominative singular of an a-declension noun. Following the principle of persistent accentuation and the special rules applying to such nouns, place the correct accent on the second form in each pair.
1. ἀνάγκη ἀναγκην 2, μάχη μαχαις 3. ἐπιθυμία ἐπιθυμιᾳ 4. εἰρήνη εἰρηνων 5. εὐχή εὐχης 6. σοφία σοφιαν
7. πληγή πληγαι 8. ἐλευθερία ἐλευθεριας 9. ἡσυχία ἡσυχιᾳ 10. κεφαλή κεφαλῃ 11. δικαιοσύνη δικαιοσυνην 12. σπουδή σπουδων
43
Preliminaries
A. Verbs. A verb (Greek ῥῆμα, Latin verbum, “what is said,” “predicate”) is the part of speech that affirms or predicates (see below under D) by expressing an action or a state of being.
The inflection of a verb is called conjugation. The finite forms of a verb are those whose inflectional ending defines precisely the person and number of the subject, or, in an uninflected or slightly inflected language like English, those that combine with a subject to form a clause: for example, we see; they saw; the man is walking. There are also two important nonfinite forms of a verb: verbal nouns (infinitives [e.g., to see]
and gerunds [e.g., seeing]) and verbal adjectives (participles [e.g., seeing, seen]). Finite and nonfinite forms share such features as tense and voice and the ability to govern objects and to be modified by adverbs. Nonfinite forms, however, cannot serve as the predicate of a clause, and they carry no distinction of person.
B. Finite verb forms have five important variable features:
1. Person expresses the relation of the verb’s subject to the speaker and the addressee of the utterance.
First person: The subject is the speaker or a group including the speaker (I, we).
Second person: The subject is the addressee or addressees (you).
Third person: The subject is a person or thing other than the speaker or the addressee (he, she, it, they).
Unit FIVE