Week 12: Second Declension part I: Masculine

 

Day 1

The sentence structure I have used so far isn't quite right, and I will correct that now. I had to write sentences the way I did because we had not covered declensions yet, but we will cover that over the next several weeks.

• Greek sentence structure is different than English sentence structure. In English the place where a noun is located is very important. If a noun comes at the beginning of a statement that means it does the action: "I saw a cat." "I" is doing the action of "seeing a cat": the cat doesn't see me, but I see the cat. In this sentence "I" is the subject and "a cat" is the direct object.
• Greek is different in that the place of a noun in a sentence does not tell you if it is the subject, direct object, etc., instead the ending of the noun does.
• This makes Greek more difficult to understand because you have to learn the different endings.
• These different word endings (suffixes) are known as "declensions."
• Declensions are divided into three groups: First, Second, and Third Declension. We will discuss the First and Second Declensions now because they are simpler and save Third Declension for later since it is more difficult.
• For the most part First Declension is built around feminine words and Second Declension is built around masculine and neuter words. We will start with Second Declension because it is a bit easier.
• (Note: I will use the word "declension" a number of times, and it may not be clear now, but as we go along it will make more sense.)

Day 2: Description of Second Declension and the 8 cases

• For the most part, masculine and neuter nouns will use second declension endings.
• Each declension is built around 8 cases.
• That is the bad news, that there are 8 cases. The good news is that you only have to learn four new endings because some of the cases have the same endings.

1. The subject of a sentence is known as the "nominative" case.
2. The direct object of a sentence is known as the "accusative" case.

• A sentence can also have different phrases, such as "I saw the cat on the table." "I" is the subject or nominative case and "the cat" is the direct object or accusative case. But this sentence also has an indirect object or phrase: "on the table."
• Greek takes care of these extra phrases with different cases.

3. Genitive case: shows possession: "the cat's toy"
   Often uses the word "of": "the toy of the cat"
4. Ablative case: shows separation: I tell the cat to go away "from the door."
   Often uses the word "from"
5. Dative case: shows direction: "The cat walks to the owner."
   Often uses the word "to"
6. Locative case: shows location: "The cat is in the house."
   Often uses the word "in"
7. Instrumental case: shows how something is done: "The cat scratches with his leg."
   Often uses the word "with"
8. Vocative case: this shows a command: "Cat, I said to stop doing that."
   No additional word is used with this case. When you see this case you will know it is a command.
   No definite article is used with the vocative case. For example, you don't say, "The cat, I said to stop doing that."

Case	Extra word to use
Nominative	no extra word: this is the subject of a sentence
Genitive	of
Ablative	from
Dative	to
Locative	in
Instrumental	with
Accusative	no extra word: this is the direct object of a sentence
Vocative	no extra word: this is a command Note: we will cover this in a later chapter because it is not used often.

• Please note: later you will learn that you can add other words as well, but for now these five extra words are enough.

Day 3: The masculine definite article: Second Declension

• English only has one indefinite article ("a") and one definite article ("the").
• Greek has different articles to show if a word is the subject, direct object, etc.
• The definite article will also have singular and plural forms to match whether a noun is singular or plural.
• Good news: The Genitive and Ablative cases use the same endings and the Dative, Locative, and Instrumental cases use the same endings.

Case	Singular	Plural	Translation
Nominative	ὁ	οἱ	the
Genitive/Ablative	τοῦ	τῶν	of/from the
Dative/Locative/Instrumental	τῷ	τοῖς	to/in/with the
Accusative	τόν	τούς	the

Day 4: Masculine endings of the Second Declension

• Good news: the ends are exactly the same as for the definite articles.
• The only changes are in the accent marks.
• My advice: do not worry about learning the accent marks since they do change often. As long as you remember the vowels and consonants you will not have any trouble.
• For example, look at the word for man/human/person/human being: ἂνθρωπος
• This is the chart for masculine nouns:

Case	Singular	Translation	Plural	Translation
N	ἂνθρωπος	man	ἂνθρωποι(same ending as the definite article)	men
G/A	ἀνθρώπου	of/from a man (same ending as the definite article)	ἀνθρώπων(same ending as the definite article)	of/from men
D/L/I	ἀνθρώπῳ	to/in/with a man (same ending as the definite article)	ἀνθρώποις(same ending as the definite article)	to/in/with men
A	ἂνθρωπον	man (same ending as the definite article)	ἀνθρώπους(same ending as the definite article)	men

• You recognize the root word: ἀνθρωπ-
• You can see the second declension endings as well.
• The breathing mark at the front does not change.
• But the accent marks frequently change.
• My advice is not to worry about the accent marks when reading. Just learn the root word and the declension endings, and you will be fine.

Day 5: New Word: temple

• ἱερόν, τό
• ιε do not form a diphthong and so you will pronounce them separately.
• Pronounced like this: hi (short i)-e (short e)-ron (short o)(rhymes with the non in nonsense).
• Notice that it is a neuter noun

Day 6: Weekly Exercises

1a. Λέγω τῳ ἀνθρώπῳ. Note: the first letter is a capital letter.

1b. Λέγω τοις ἀνθρώποις.

1c. Λέγομεν τοις ἀνθρώποις.

2a. Χριστός κρίνει ὁ πατηρ καί ὁ ὑιός.

2b. Χριστός κρίνει ὁ πατήρ καί ὁ ὑιός λόγῳ.

2c. Χριστός κρίνει ὁ πατήρ καί ὁ ὑιός λόγοις.

2d. Χριστός κρίνει ὁ πατήρ καί οἱ ὑιοί λόγοις.

Remember, whenever you see γγ you pronounce it like "ng"

3. Ἁκούω τόν ἂγγελος. Note: the first letter is a capital letter.

4. Ἁκούω τόν ἂγγελος Θεοῦ.

5. ὁ καρπός ἀδελφού

6. Οὐ λέγω τῳ δοῦλῳ.

7. Εἰμί δοῦλῳ Θεοῦ.

8. Ὁ ἂγγελος ἀδελφῳ λέγει τῳ δοῦλῳ ἂνθρωπου.

9. Spell: ανθρωπου

10. Spell: πατηρ

Answers

1a. I say to the man. Or it could be "I speak to/with the man." "Man" is in dative/locative/instrumental, which means you use either to, in, or with. Only "to" and "with" make sense.

1b. I say to the men. Or it could be "I speak to/with the men."

1c. We say to the men. Or it could be "We speak to/with the men."

2a. Christ judges the father and the son.

2b. Christ judges the father and the son with a word.

2c. Christ judges the father and the son with words.

2d. Christ judges the father and the sons with words.

3a. I hear the messenger/angel.

4. I hear the messenger/angel of God.

5. The fruit of the brother. A better translation would be: "the brother's fruit."

6. I do not speak to the servant/slave.

7. I am a servant/slave of God.

8. The messenger of the brother speaks to the servant of the man.

9. alpha-nu-theta-rho-omega-pi-omicron-upsilon

10. pi-alpha-tau-eta-rho

What you have learned so far

1. Alphabet

Greek small	Greek capital	English
α	Α	alpha	short a
β	Β	beta	b
γ	Γ	gamma	g
δ	Δ	delta	d
ε	Ε	epsilon	short e
ζ	Ζ	zeta	z
η	Η	eta	ay
θ	Θ	theta	th
ι	Ι	iota	i/ee
κ	Κ	kappa	k
λ	Λ	lambda	l
μ	Μ	mu	m
ν	Ν	nu	n
ξ	Ξ	xi	x
ο	Ο	omicron	o
π	Π	pi	p
ρ	Ρ	rho	r
σ ς	Σ	sigma	s
τ	Τ	tau	t
υ	Υ	upsilon	u
φ	Φ	phi	ph
χ	Χ	chi	ch
ψ	Ψ	psi	ps
ω	Ω	omega	long o

2. Breathing marks and "h" sound: week 2

3. Accents: week 2

4. Diphthongs from letters we have covered so far:

• ει οι ου υι
• You can memorize them if you want. Or you can wait and I will tell you if each new word has a diphthong or not.

5. Definite article

• ὁ This is the masculine definite article and will be in front of masculine nouns.
• ἡ This is the feminine definite article and will be in front of feminine nouns.
• τό This is the neuter definite article and will be in front of neuter nouns.

6. "A"

• Greek does not have a word for "a."

7. Present Active Indicative endings

PIA	singular	plural
first person	ἔχωI have I am having	ἔχομενwe have we are having
second person	ἔχειςyou (singular) have you are having	ἔχετεyou (plural) have you are having
third person	ἔχειhe/she/it has he/she/it is having	ἔχουσι(ν)they have they are having
	infinitive =>	ἔχεινto have

8. Present active indicative of εἰμί.

PIA	singular	plural
first person	εἰμίI am	ἐσμένwe are
second person	εἶyou (singular) are	ἐστέyou (plural) are
third person	ἐστί(ν)he/she/it is	εἰσί(ν)they are
	infinitive =>	εἶναιto be

9. Masculine definite article

Case	Singular	Plural	Translation
Nominative	ὁ	οἱ	the
Genitive/Ablative	τοῦ	τῶν	of/from the
Dative/Locative/Instrumental	τῷ	τοῖς	to/in/with the
Accusative	τόν	τούς	the

10. Second Declension: masculine endings

Case	Singular	Plural
N	ἂνθρωπος	ἂνθρωποι(same ending as the definite article)
G/A	ἀνθρώπου	ἀνθρώπων(same ending as the definite article)
D/L/I	ἀνθρώπῳ	ἀνθρώποις(same ending as the definite article)
A	ἂνθρωπον	ἀνθρώπους(same ending as the definite article)

Vocabulary (this will always be in alphabetical order)

ἀδελφός, ὁ	brother
ἄγγελος, ὁ	messenger, angel
ἀκούω	I hear
ἄνθρωπος, ὁ	man/human/person/human being
δοῦλος, ὁ	servant/slave
εἰμί	I am
ἔχω	I have
ἤ	or
ἡμέρα, ἡ	day
θεός, ὁ	God
ἱερόν, τό	temple
Ἰησοῦς	Jesus
ἰχθύς, ὁ	fish
καί	and
καρπός, ὁ	fruit
κρίνω	I judge
λαμβάνω	I take, receive
λέγω	I say or I speak
λόγος, ὁ	word
οὐ, οὐκ, οὐχ	not before a consonant, before smooth breathing, before rough breathing
πατήρ, ὁ	father
σωτήρ, ὁ	savior
υἱός, ὁ	son
Χριστός, ὁ	Christ