Ancient Greek for Everyone:A New Digital Resource for Beginning Greek

Unit 3 part 3: Neuter Nouns

2013 editionWilfred E. Majorwmajor@lsu.edu

Ancient Greek for Everyone

This class AGE Unit 3: Neuter Nouns• You have learned the basics of masculine and

feminine nouns in Greek. • Now we add neuter nouns, the final gender.

Ancient Greek for Everyone• A NOUN indicates a person, place or thing. • A Greek noun, however, normally communicates

THREE pieces of information: – Gender – Number – Case

Ancient Greek for Everyone

Building a Greek Noun• All the nouns in this unit have been either masculine or

feminine in gender and have used the same endings to indicate number and case.

• This part of the unit adds nouns that are neuter in gender. • Grammatically, neuter means that the noun is “neither”

masculine nor feminine.

Ancient Greek for Everyone

Building a Greek Noun• The Neuter Law: two rules apply to all neuter words in

Greek. • (1) The nominative singular and the accusative singular

must be identical. • (2) The nominative plural and the accusative plural must

both end in a short -α.

Ancient Greek for Everyone

Building a Greek Noun• The Neuter Law: two rules apply to all neuter words in

Greek. The nouns in this unit meet the requirements as follows:

• (1) The nominative singular and the accusative singular add no ending to the stem.

• (2) The nominative plural and the accusative plural add short –α to the stem.

Ancient Greek for Everyone

Singular

• Nominative – • Genitive –ος • Dative –ι • Accusative –

Plural

• Nominative –α • Genitive –ων • Dative –σι • Accusative –α

Building a Greek NounThird Declension Endings for neuter nouns

Ancient Greek for Everyone

Building a Greek Noun• The stem ending –ματ is very common for neuter nouns. • Recall that one of the noun endings involves adding a

sigma to the stem (dat. plu. -σι) and that τ + σ = σ. • Also recall that only a limited number of sounds may end a

Greek word (vowel, -ν/-ρ/-ς), so the final –τ must drop off in the nominative singular and accusative singular, since now there is no additional ending.

σωματ = “body”

Ancient Greek for Everyone

Singular

• Nom. (σωματ ) σῶμα • Gen. σώματος

• Dat. σώματι • Acc. (σωματ )

σῶμα

Plural

• Nom. σώματα • Gen. σωμάτων • Dat. σώμασι • Acc. σώματα

Building a Greek Noundeclension of σῶμα -ατος τό body

Ancient Greek for Everyone• VOCABULARY: Since the nominative singular displays

variations in response to the sigma, nouns are listed in three parts: – The nominative singular: so you always see exactly

how this form appears. – The genitive singular: so you can see the stem

(everything before the ending -ος) – The gender: the word τό indicates that these nouns

are neuter.

Ancient Greek for Everyone

Examples of Vocabulary entries • αἷμα -ατος τό blood• ὄνομα -ατος τό name • πνεῦμα -ατος τό wind, breath, spirit• στόμα -ατος τό mouth• σῶμα -ατος τό body

Ancient Greek for Everyone

Building a Greek Noun• The word τό indicates the noun is neuter in gender. • This is the neuter form of the definite article in Greek. As with

masculine and feminine nouns, the article must match its noun in gender, number and case.

• The neuter definite article is the same as the masculine definite article, but with the Neuter Law applied.

Ancient Greek for Everyone

Singular

• Nom. τό • Gen. τοῦ• Dat. τῷ• Acc. τό

Plural

• Nom. τά• Gen. τῶν • Dat. τοῖς • Acc. τά

Building a Greek NounThe neuter definite article

Ancient Greek for Everyone

Singular

• Nom. τὸ σῶμα • Gen. τοῦ σώματος • Dat. τῷ σώματι • Acc. τὸ σῶμα

Plural

• Nom. τὰ σώματα • Gen. τῶν σωμάτων • Dat. τοῖς σώμασι • Acc. τὰ σώματα

Building a Greek Noundeclension + article of σῶμα -ατος τό body

Ancient Greek for Everyone• Next– practice with ἄρχων, ἐλπίς, νύξ, σῶμα • Be able to pronounce and parse a random form. • Be able to link the noun form with the appropriate form

of the definite article and vice versa. • Be able to link the case of the form to its function in a

sentence.

Ancient Greek for Everyone

Building a Greek Sentence• Neuter nouns derive from collective feminine nouns, and so

originally they were always singular. • This habit persists in ancient Greek in a strange way. Whenever

a neuter noun is the subject of a sentence, the verb is 3rd person singular (even if the neuter subject is plural): – τὸ σῶμα δείκνυσι.... “The body shows…” – τὰ σώματα δείκνυσι....“The bodies show…”

Ancient Greek for Everyone

Unit 3 part 3 Vocabulary: DCC Classical• αἷμα -ατος τό blood• γράμμα -ατος τό letter • ὄνομα -ατος τό name • πνεῦμα -ατος τό wind, breath, spirit• πρᾶγμα -ατος τό thing; (pl.) circumstances, affairs,

business• στόμα -ατος τό mouth• σχῆμα -ατος τό form, appearance • σῶμα -ατος τό body• χρῆμα -ατος τό thing, (pl.) money

Ancient Greek for Everyone

Unit 3 part 3 Vocabulary: NT (New Testament) • αἷμα -ατος τό blood• θέλημα -ατος τό will, wish, desire • ὄνομα -ατος τό name • πνεῦμα -ατος τό wind, breath, spirit• ῥῆμα -ατος τό word, saying • σπέρμα -ατος τό seed, offspring • στόμα -ατος τό mouth• σῶμα -ατος τό body

Ancient Greek for Everyone

Unit 3 part 3 Vocabulary: Core• αἷμα -ατος τό blood• ὄνομα -ατος τό name • πνεῦμα -ατος τό wind, breath, spirit• στόμα -ατος τό mouth• σῶμα -ατος τό body

Ancient Greek for Everyone

• Next class – Unit 3 Classical reading. – Be able to: • read the sentences aloud • parse each verb and noun (with article where it appears)• translate the sentences into English.

Ancient Greek for Everyone

• Next class – Unit 3 Biblical reading. – Be able to: • read the sentences aloud • parse each verb and noun (with article where it appears)• translate the sentences into English.