Module 21

First Declension Short Alpha Nouns

Nouns

Nouns in Greek are defined just like nouns are in English; but the way they create meaning is different. As in English, Greek nouns (ὀνόματα) refer to people, places, things, and ideas. Greek nouns have endings. English nouns can change form when they show possession as in Jada’s book, where the ’s is added as a suffix and indicates that the book belongs to Jada. English nouns also change form when expressing the plural: two suns, three oxen, four mice. The endings on Greek nouns, as we have seen previously, create the same meanings that English does through form change, word order, and the use of prepositional phrases.

First Declension Short Alpha Nouns in –α, –ης and –α, –ᾱς

These nouns are feminine in gender. In the Attic dialect, nouns whose stem ends in -ε, -ι, or -ρ take the short alpha -α, -ᾱς endings. Memorize these endings, know how to obtain the stem, and know how to decline the nouns. As you learn new ending sets, look at the similarities and differences each has when compared to those endings you have already memorized.

Declining First Declension Short Alpha Nouns –α, –ης and –α, –ᾱς

To decline first declension nouns ending in -α, -ης and -α, -ᾱς, first get the stem by removing the genitive singular ending -ης or -ᾱς. What remains is the stem. To the stem add the following endings:

1. The alpha of the nominative singular, accusative singular, and vocative singular is short.
2. The accent shifts to the ultima in the genitive plural.
3. Use the -α, -ᾱς endings when the stem ends in -ε, -ι, -ρ.
4. Remember that final -αι and -οι are short for purposes of accentuation except in the optative, a mood learned in Part II of the 21st-Century series.
5. If the nominative has an acute accent on the ultima, it changes to a circumflex in the genitive and dative, singular and plural.

First Declension Nouns in –ης, –ου and –ᾱς, –ου

These nouns are masculine in gender. In the Attic dialect, endings from the -ᾱς, -ου declension are found only in nouns whose stem ends in -ε, -ι, or -ρ. Memorize these endings, know how to obtain the stem, and know how to decline the nouns. As you learn new ending sets, look at the similarities and differences each has when compared to those endings you have already memorized.

Declining First Declension Masculine Nouns in –ης, –ου and –ᾱς, –ου

To decline first declension nouns ending in -ης, -ου and -ᾱς, -ου, first remove the genitive singular ending -ου. What remains is the stem. To the stem add the following endings:

1. Some nouns with nominatives ending with -ης, have the vocative singular ending -η instead of -α.
2. The accent shifts to the ultima in the genitive plural.
3. Use the -ᾱς -ου endings when the stem ends in -ε, -ι, -ρ.
4. Remember that final -αι and -οι count as short for purposes of accentuation except in the optative, a mood learned in Part II of the 21st-Century series.
5. If the nominative singular has an acute accent on the ultima, it changes to a circumflex in the genitive and dative, singular and plural.

Noun Identification

You now know ten sets of endings for nouns:

For the nouns below, take note of what set of endings each noun takes.

Practice Declining Nouns. Decline these nouns with the article (answers are in the Answer Key): μοῦσα, μούσης ἡ muse and ποιητής, ποιητοῦ ὁ poet.

As you write out the forms, note the similarities and differences with the endings you have already memorized. Writing out the forms helps you to process this new information.

Practice Translating. Translate the sentences below, which have been adapted from Euripides’ Medea (Μήδεια). Remember the meanings and functions of the cases presented in Module 7. Use your memory to identify endings and their functions. If you forget an ending or a function, consult the Adjective, Adverb, Noun, and Pronoun Chart in Appendix VIII and the Case and Function Chart in Appendix I. Check your understanding with the translations in the Answer Key, making sure that you understand why each word translates as it does. Now go back and read each sentence two or three times, noticing with each rereading how much better your understanding of the sentence becomes. Make this a habit and you will improve quickly.

Adverbs and Verbs

Adjectives, Nouns, Pronouns

1. The asterisk indicates the top 250 most frequently occurring vocabulary, which you are to memorize.

Practice Parsing Greek Sentences. Parse each word of the sentence found below. For nouns and pronouns, give case and function. For verbs, give person, number, tense, mood, and voice. For adverbs and conjunctions, identify them. For prepositional phrases, give the preposition and the preposition’s object. For adjectives, specify the noun they agree with in gender, number, and case.

πόθῳ γὰρ τῆς νεοδμήτου κόρης σπουδάζεις χρονίζειν δωμάτων ἐξώπιος;

Check your answers with those in the Answer Key.

History

History begins with Herodotos. Though influenced by epic, travelogues, medical treatises, and other intellectual writings, Herodotos and his Histories are discontinuous. They represent a distinct break with the past in their creation of a new genre intent on explaining what happened in the fighting between the Greeks and the barbarians and on preserving other items of interest, including customs, fauna, flora, great works, sexual mores, and religious beliefs. Thoukydides continued Herodotos’ novel approach, writing a contemporary history of the Peloponnesian Wars, which he called an objective presentation of what really happened and a κτῆμα ἐς αἰεί, possession for all time. Xenophon then picked up where Thoukydides left off, starting his Hellenika in 411 BCE and ending in 362 BCE. Our fascination with histories, myths, and stories of all sorts continues today as we seek to understand the present and predict the future through our study of the past.

Module 21 Top 250 Vocabulary to be Memorized. Like learning the alphabet and endings, memorizing vocabulary is essential to acquiring language. The better you memorize the top 250 most frequently occurring vocabulary words, the greater mastery of the language you will have.

Nouns and Adjectives

ἀγαθός, ἀγαθή, ἀγαθόν good, noble

δόξα, δόξης ἡ expectation, notion, opinion; reputation

θάλασσα (θάλαττα), θαλάσσης ἡ sea

μόνος, μόνη, μόνον only, sole, alone, solitary; one

πολέμιος, πολεμίᾱ, πολέμιον hostile

πρότερος, προτέρᾱ, πρότερον prior, before, sooner

πρῶτος, πρώτη, πρῶτον first, for the present, just now

σός, σή, σόν your

φίλος, φίλη, φίλον friendly, kind, well-disposed + dat.; (n.) friend