Nouns
Nouns are declinable words
and hence change according to case and number.
The gender of nouns is inherited. Usually, nouns only have one gender, but
sometimes, they have two genders, masculine and feminine, because these nouns
refer to professions etc. Other nouns have any two genders, with unrelated
meanings.
Grammatical gender may be
determined by he endings of the nouns in the
nominative singular, but also the article, adjectives, pronouns etc. On the
other hand, the natural distinction of sex in persons and certain animals may
be indicated: (1) through the use of different nouns (e.g. παππούς/γιαγιά);
(2) through the use of modifiers when no specification of sex is expressed by
the noun (e.g. ο/η ηθοποιός)
and (3) by the formation of feminine form from the masculine stem (e.g. λύκος/λυκαινα). The distinction of sex in animals is
sometimes indicated by placing the adjective αρσενικός
or θηλυκός
before the names of the animal if no specification of sex is expressed by the
noun (e.g. η αρσενική καμήλα).
FORMING THE FEMININE GENDER FROM THE MASCULINE
The feminine gender of a
noun is created using eight endings. You have to know which one to use. These
endings are: -ισσα, -τρα, -αινα,
-ινα, -ού,
-α, and -η. Examples are below
βασιλιάς-βασίλισσα (king, queen)
ράφτης-ράφτρα (tail, dressmaker)
διευθυντής-διευθυντρία (headmaster,
headmistress)
δράκος-δράκαινα (male dragon,
female dragon)
αράπης-αραπίνα (negro, negress)
μυλωνάς-μυλωνού (male miller, female miller)
θείος-θεία (uncle, auntie)
αδελφός-αδελφή (brother, sister)
PROPER
NOUNS
Proper Nouns are nouns
which are names. Examples are names of
people, cities, rivers, works of art, news papers etc. All proper nouns are capitalised in Greek but
not their derivatives, for example, Γαλλία:(
Ο Νίκος έρχεται
αύριο. Nikos is coming tomorrow.
The article does not
usually occur before proper nouns:
a) When they are used as predicates,
primarily after verbs of expression of names:
Ονομάζεται Χρήστος
Δάντης. He is named Christos Dantis.
Το όνομά του είναι
Αναστάση. His name is Anastasis.
Την λένε Πόπη. Her name is Popi.
b) When they are modified by a descriptive phrase or a lining modifier with an article:
Ο Κύριος
Χαραλάμπος. Mr Charalambos
Το νήσι Κύπρος. The
c) When they occur in titles, headings, notices, (door signs, visiting cards etc):
Μάρκος Χαραλάμπου, Χημικός. Mark Charalambou, Chemist
d) When they are used to designate name of streets, square, avenues, parks etc.
Ο Λεωφόρος Ελευθερίας.
DECLENSION OF NOUNS
The declensions of nouns
are based on the endings as well as on the gender. Greek nouns are also further classified
whether the nouns have a constant number of syllables: isosyllabic and anisosyllabic nouns.
The isosyllabic nouns are the nouns which retain the same number of
syllables in all numbers and cases, whereas the anisolyllabic
nouns gain a syllable in the plural number and typically in the genitive
singular also. There are also anisosyllabic declensions which loose a syllable in the
plural number. Below are the declensions
of all noun endings, which are categorised by gender.
Masculine Declensions Feminine Declensions Neuter Declensions Irregular
Declensions
Numbers in Greek can be
adjectives as well as nouns. Here are the numbers which are nouns.