Week 13: Second Declension part II: Neuter

 

Last week you were introduced to the Second Declension. This is a way of determining additional information about words, such as whether they are the subject or direct object of a sentence, or whether they tell something about the subject or direct object. You also covered the masculine form of Second Declension. This week you will look at the neuter form of Second Declension.

Day 1: The definite article: Neuter

Case	Singular	Plural	Translation
Nominative N	τό	τά	the
Genitive/Ablative G/A	τοῦ(same as masculine)	τῶν(same as masculine)	of/from the
Dative/Locative/Instrumental D/L/I	τῷ(same as masculine)	τοῖς(same as masculine)	to/in/with the
Accusative A	τό(same as nominative)	τά(same as nominative)	the

Day 2: The endings of the Second Declension: Neuter: ἱερόν, τό as an example

• Neuter Second Declension: note: these endings are the same as the neuter definite article except for the nominative singular and accusative singular.

Case	Singular	Translation	Plural	Translation
N	ἱερόν	temple (different than the definite article)	ἱερά	temples (same)
G/A	ἱεροῦ	of/from temple	ἱερῶν	of/from temples (same)
D/L/I	ἱερῷ	to/in/with temple	ἱεροῖς	to/in/with temples (same)
A	ἱερόν	temple (different than the definite article)	ἱερά	temples (same)

Day 3: New word: I see

• βλέπω
• Pronounced like this: ble (short e)-po (long o)
• This uses the Present Active Indicative endings that you can find in #7 below.

Day 4: New word: child

• τέκνον, τό
• Pronounced like this: tek (short e)(like the tech in technical)-non (short o)(like the non in nonsense)
• It uses the same endings as in Day 2: Neuter endings above.

Day 5: New word: gift

• δῶρον, τό
• Pronounced like this do (long o)(like in doe (a female deer))-ron (short o)(the ron rhymes with the non in nonsense)
• It uses the same endings as in Day 2: Neuter endings above.

Day 6: Weekly Exercises

1. τό τέκνον καί ὁ ἰχθύς καί τό ἱερόν καί ἀδελφός καί ὁ καρπός

2a. Βλέπω τό τέκνον.

2b. Βλέπω τέκνον.

2c. Βλέπω τά τέκνα.

2d. Βλέπω τέκνα.

2e. Τό τέκνον βλέπει τό τέκνον.

2f. Τά τέκνα βλεπούσι τό τέκνον.

2g. Τά τέκνα βλεπούσι τέκνον.

3a. Θεός βλέπει τό δῶρον τοῦ δοῦλου.

3b. Θεός βλέπει τό δῶρον τῶν δοῦλων.

3c. Θεός βλέπει τά δῶρα τοῦ δοῦλου.

4a. Τό τέκνον ἀκούει Θεος τῳ ἱερῳ.

4b. Τό τέκνον ἀκούει Θεος ἱερῳ.

5. Ὁ πατήρ λαμβάνει καρπός τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ.

6. Χριστός κρίνει τόν ἂνθρωπον.

7a. ‘Ο ἂγγελος ἒχει λόγος.

7b. ‘Οι ἂγγελοι ἒχουσι λόγοι.

8. Λαμβάνομεν ἰχθον.

9. Spell: λαμβανομεν

10. Spell: ιχθον

Answers

1. The child and the fish and the temple and a brother and the fruit.

Note: since "brother" does not have a definite article, it is translated as "a brother" instead of "the brother."

2a. I see the child.

2b. I see a child.

Note: since "child" does not have a definite article, it is translated as "a child" instead of "the child."

2c. I see the children.

2d. I see children.

2e. The child sees the child.

Note: the nominative (subject) and the accusative (direct object) have the same endings.

2f. The children see the child.

2g. The children see a child.

3a. God sees the gift of the servant. (or "the servant's gift)

Note: The ending of the definite article of "servant" and of "servant" are the same. That usually happens with definite articles and nouns.

3b. God sees the gift of the servants. (or "the servants' gift)

It could also be: God sees the gift from the servants.

3c. God sees the gifts of the servant. (or "the servant's gifts)

It could also be: God sees the gifts from the servant.

4a. The child hears God in the temple.

Note: Look at the chart for the neuter definite article in #9 below. You will see that τῳ is D/L/I and so you can translate it with "to/in/with". In this case "in" makes the most sense.

4b. The child hears God in a temple.

5. This one is tricky. It can have multiple meanings:

1. The father takes fruit from the brother.
2. The father receives fruit from the brother.
3. The father takes the brother's fruit (the fruit of the brother).
4. The father receives the brother's fruit (the fruit of the brother).

6. Christ judges the person.

7a. The messenger (or angel) has a word.

7b. The messengers (or angels) has words.

8. We take (or receive) a fish.

9. lambda-alpha-mu-beta-alpha-nu-omicron-mu-epsilon-nu

10. iota-chi-theta-omicron-nu

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: The endings of nouns will be similar

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. Neuter definite article: The endings of nouns will be similar

Case	Singular	Plural	Translation
Nominative N	τό	τά	the
Genitive/Ablative G/A	τοῦ(same as masculine)	τῶν(same as masculine)	of/from the
Dative/Locative/Instrumental D/L/I	τῷ(same as masculine)	τοῖς(same as masculine)	to/in/with the
Accusative A	τό(same as nominative)	τά(same as nominative)	the

11. Second Declension Endings: Masculine

Case	Singular	Plural
N	ἂνθρωπος	ἂνθροποι(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)

12. Second Declension Endings: Neuter

Case	Singular	Plural
N	ἱερόν	ἱερά
G/A	ἱεροῦ	ἱερῶν
D/L/I	ἱερῷ	ἱεροῖς
A	ἱερόν	ἱερά

Vocabulary (this will always be in alphabetical order)

ἀδελφός, ὁ	brother
ἂγγελος, ὁ	messenger, angel
ἀκούω	I hear
ἂνθρωπος, ὁ	man/human/person/human being
βλέπω	I see
δοῦλος, ὁ	servant/slave
δῶρον, τό	gift
εἰμί	I am
ἒχω	I have
ἢ	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
τέκνον, τό	child
υἱός, ὁ	son
Χριστός, ὁ	Christ