Nouns, Adjectives, Articles & Pronouns

GENDER

In Meσoγeóiκa, there are three genders.  English has biological genders whereas in Meσoγeóiκa has grammatical genders.  The 3 genders are Masculine, Feminine, and Neuter.  Adjectives, articles, pronouns and nouns end in a vowel as the headword in the dictionary.  All adjectives, articles, pronouns and many nouns end in three vowels, which determine the gender.  The endings are as follows

CASE AND NUMBER

Following the vowels above are consonants, which represent the case and number of the word.  All these words, including nouns, take these case endings.  So what are cases?  Each word class mentioned above do perform different functions within the sentence.  This function is determined by the case of the word.  The cases in Meσoγeóiκa are nominative, accusative, dative, genitive, predicative and vocative.  The case and number endings are as follows:

DEFINITION OF CASES

Nominative-This case is used when the noun is the doer or the subject of the action.  Ask yourself "who/what did it?" and the noun will be nominative. For example, "Λa óμoρφa ρóζa Φλóra θe σκóτonengo λen Aγóρi."(The beautiful pink flower killed the boy.) The flower was the cause of the death

Accusative-This case is used when the noun is the receiver or the object of the action.  Here the object is the direct object. Ask yourself "one did whom/what?" and the noun will be accusative. For example, "Θe κaqenéno μóσon úniκъen Τρaγúδin." (I hide my unique song.) My unique song received the action.

Dative-This case is used when the noun is the indirect object.  It translates into the form "to/for the..." in English.  Ask yourself "One did it to/for whom/what?”  For example: "θa gъeβóne λan Κúκλan λam Maρíam," (I give the doll to Maria), "θu φýλe λen Κρaσín λom Κýρiom," (I will save the wine for the gentleman.) The doll was given TO Maria and the wine was saved FOR the gentleman

Genitive (or possessive)-This case tells you to whom does something belong or whose is it.  It also tells one what something is apart of.   For example, "Λo Κigáro λaς Πeρsónaς" (the cigar of the person), "Λa Σeλíδa λeς Βiβλíeς" (the page of the book).  In other words, the cigar belongs to the person and the page is a part of the book.

Predicative-This case is used after the verbs "to be," "to become" and "to remain/stay".  This shows the predicate. For example, "Λa Πeρsóna θa eσσóngo λor Κρiμináλor" (the man is the criminal.)  In natural languages, they use the nominative.  (Compare Modern Greek, Latin and German).

Vocative-This case is used when one is addressed directly, either by speech or writing.  It requires no articles (λo, úno etc).  For example, "Eξáδeλφo, τréχeς τóσam Máμam!" (Cousin, run to your mum!).  It is used for the object of the verb "to be called."  For example, “Mo θa háσσo Μáρκo.” (I am called Mark.).  I am directly talking to my cousin and when one calls me, they must use the vocative case.

SUMMARY OF CASES

NOMINATIVE	subject of verbs
ACCUSATIVE	direct object of verbs
	with expression of definite time
	with prepositions
	with salutations and greetings
	definite time
DATIVE	indirect object of verbs
	with dative verbs (verbs which require the dative case for its object for no apparent reason)
	with prepositions
GENITIVE	to show possession or relationship between to nouns
	indefinite time
PREDICATIVE	The objects of the following verb:  "to be," "to become," "to stay/remain."
VOCATIVE	As a noun of address
	For the object of the verb "to be called."

DECLENSION OF ARTICLES, ADJECTIVES AND PRONOUNS

Articles, adjectives and pronouns have an agreement with nouns for case, number and gender.  This is determined by the ending, in which they haves.  All articles, adjectives and pronouns require these endings and cannot stand without them.  All word classes use the same endings.

DETERMINING GENDER OF PLURAL ADJECTIVES AND PRONOUNS

Male dominance of the world has found its way into many languages.  Meσoγeóiκa is no different.  If you don’t know the gender of a person, the masculine is used.  For inanimate objects, the neuter gender is used.

A group of men, being masculine, would be described with an adjective in the masculine plural.  The feminine gender would be used for a group of women.  For a group of people, with at least one male, the masculine gender is used.  Naturally, if there’s only one man in a group of a thousand women, the man would be insignificant and thus the feminine gender will be used.  For example:

─¿Dónde θa eσσéngo λor Δiδáσκaλo? Where is the teacher? (male)

─Λa Δiδáσκaλa θu τon βidéngo τóρa. The teacher (female) will see you now.

The first person did not know the teacher at all.  He (or she) just knew the teacher’s surname.  How would the first person know the teacher’s gender?

Adjectives modifying inanimate objects will have the same gender as the nouns.  Adjectives modifying inanimate objects with different genders will have be either in the neuter gender or the gender which occurs the most.  For example:

─Λeθ vóneθ Πóρτa, Κρáσi ce Κonτρáκτo The good (neuter) door (feminine), wine (neuter), and contract (masculine).

Since the feminine noun is closest to the adjective, the adjective can be in the feminine gender:

─Λaθ vónaθ Πóρτaθ, Κρáσi ce Κonτρáκτo The good (neuter) door (feminine), wine (neuter), and contract (masculine).

 

 

 

To find out more detail about the word classes discussed here, click on the appropriate link below.

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