THE FIRST GREEK BOOK
BY JOHN WILLIAMS WHITE, PH.D, LL.D., LITT.D.
Professor Of Ancient Greek At Harvard University
This Revision Copyright ©2012 by Shawn Irwin



Lesson III - Nouns, Introductory

S29. There are five cases in Greek, the nominative, genitive, dative, accusative, and vocative.

S30. 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.

S31. There are three numbers, the singular, the dual (which denotes two objects), and the plural.

S32. There are three genders, masculine, feminine, and neuter.

S33. 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.

S34. 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.

S35. 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.

S36. In the genitive and dative of all numbers, a long ultima, if accented, takes the circumflex.


A-Declension - Feminines in ᾱ.

S37. Nouns of the a-declension end in ᾱ, η, or α (feminine), or in long ᾱς or ης (masculine). Feminines generally end in ᾱ if ε, ι, or ρ precedes the ending.

S38. Paradigms
Note: The abbreviations N, G, D, A, V will be used throughout this text for Nominative, Genitive, Dative, Accusative and Vocative, respectively.

χώρᾱ country
SINGULAR PLURAL
N χώρᾱ country χῶραι countries
G χώρᾱς of country χώρῶν of countries
D χώρᾳ to country, or, for country χώραις to counties of for countries
A χώρᾱν country (as the object) χώρᾱς countries (as the object)
V χώρᾱ oh, country χῶραι oh, countries
DUAL
NAV χώρᾱ two countries, oh, two countries
GD χώραιν of two countries, to two countries, for two countries


στρατιά soldier
SINGULAR PLURAL
N στρατιά soldier στρατιαί soldiers
G στρατιᾶς of soldier στρατιῶν of soldiers
D στρατιᾷ to soldier or for soldier στρατιαῖς to soldiers, for soldiers
A στρατιάν soldier (as the object) στρατιάς soldiers (as the object)
V στρατιά oh, soldier στρατιαί oh, soldiers
DUAL
NAV στρατιά two soldiers, oh, two soldiers
GD στρατιαῖν of two soldiers, to two soldiers, for two soldiers


ἡ μῑκρὰ θύρᾱ the small door
SINGULAR PLURAL
N ἡ μῑκρὰ θύρᾱ the small door αἱ μῑκραὶ θύραι small doors
G τῆς μῑκρᾶς θύρᾱς of a small door τῶν μῑκρῶν θύρῶν of small doors
D τῇ μῑκρᾷ θύρᾳ to a small door, for a small door ταῖς μῑκραῖς θύραις to small doors, for small doors
A τὴν μῑκρὰν θύρᾱν small door (as the object) τὰς μῑκρὰς θύρᾱς small doors
V μῑκρὰ θύρᾱ oh, small door μῑκραὶ θύραι oh, small doors
DUAL
NAV τὼ μῑκρὰ θύρᾱ two small doors, oh, two small doors
GD τοῖν μῑκραῖν θύραιν of two small doors, to two small doors, for two small doors


S39. The genitive plural of nouns of this declension always has a 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).


S40. VOCABULARY
ἀγορα, ας, ἡ, market-place
ἡμερα, ας, ἡ, day
θυρα, ας, ἡ, door
οἰκια, ας, ἡ, house
στρατια, ας, ἡ, army
χωρα, ας, ἡ, place, land, country
μακρα, adjective, long
μῑκρα, adjective, small
ἐν, preposition with dative, 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 signifies that ἀγορα is feminine.

See Color key below this exersize.
S41. Read and Translate
1. οἰκίαι μῑκραί.
2. ἐν ταῖς ἀγραῖς.
3. ἐν οἰκίᾳ μῑκρᾷ.
4. ἡ οἰκίᾱ θύρᾱν 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 οἰκῶν.

Answers:
1. The small houses. 2. Into the marketplaces. 3. (In or for) a small house. 4. The house a door it has. 5. The day lengthy it was. 6. A small army they have. 7. The houses doors they have. 8. In the country houses there were. 9. The houses small they were. 10. Small they were, the doors of the houses.

ᾱ|ά -------» A-Decl Nom, Voc, Fem Sing
ᾱς|ᾶς|ὰς --» A-Decl Gen Fem Sing
ᾳ|ᾷ -------» A-Decl Dat Sing
ᾱν|άν -----» A-Decl Acc Fem Sing
αι|αί -----» A-Decl Nom, Voc, Fem Pl
ῶν --------» A-Decl Gen Fem Pl
ις|ῖς -----» A-Decl Dat Fem Pl
ᾱς|άς -----» A-Decl Acc Fem Pl

*** About the above color key - This color key was made using Tachufind, which is available on this website; after you have built a color search, you can place your cursor in the file position where you want the color key to be, and press the "Paste Into" button, and the color key will be pasted into the text at that point.


S42.Translate:
1. Of a long day.
2. For small armies.
3. In the market place.
4. The country was small.
5. He has a small house.

Answers:
1. μακρας ἡμέρᾱς. 2. μῑκριαις στρατιαις. 3. ἐν ἀγορᾳ. 4. ἡ χωρᾱ μῑκρᾱ ἦν. 5. ἐχιε οἰκιας μῑκριας.

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This Revision Copyright ©2012 by Shawn Irwin