Lesson 2 | Greek Nouns: The First Noun Pattern
Grammar Point 3: The First Noun Pattern
What have we learned so far in this lesson?
- Greek nouns have four parts: stem, case, gender, and number.
- A noun’s case–not word order–tells us its role in the sentence.
- There are five Greek cases that communicate particular roles.
- Nominative: The verb’s subject
- Genitive: A noun’s possessor (key word: “of”)
- Dative: The verb’s indirect object (key words: “to” or “for”)
- Accusative: The verb’s direct object
- Vocative: Direct address (when the author is speaking directly to someone or something)
There is one more thing that we need to learn in this lesson: noun patterns. We learned earlier that the noun endings change to communicate case and number. Remember ἀγάπη?
Well, I have good news! Nouns follow a certain pattern when they change. Can you imagine if we had to memorize all the forms of each Greek noun? Thankfully, we do not have to! We just have to learn three different noun patterns, and then we can parse the nouns that follow those patterns. There are three main noun patterns. During this step, we will learn the First Noun Pattern (also called the First Declension).
3 Quick Facts about First Pattern Nouns
- Most first pattern nouns end in η or α in the nominative, singular form
- Most first pattern nouns are feminine
- A few important first pattern nouns are masculine and end in ης (like μαθητής and προφήτης)
The First Pattern Nouns
Look at the chart below. You do not need to memorize it. I will give you one chart at the end of this step to memorize. Can you figure out the pattern these nouns follow as they change? Hint: Compare the red-letter case endings.
Do you see how the endings match? These words follow the first noun pattern. Now nouns that end in α sometimes look a bit different than those that end in η. But they follow the same pattern.
However, if a stem’s second to last letter is anything other than ε, ι, or ρ, then the α will change to an η in the genitive and dative singular. This sounds complicated but it is not too bad. You can see this in the chart below by comparing καρδία and δόξα.
It is good to be aware that this happens with α-stems, but you do not need to memorize it. For most first pattern nouns, you just need to memorize the pattern in the chart below. Use this chart to help you memorize the First Noun Pattern. As you memorize, make sure that you emphasize the ending of each word. If you know how the endings of ἀγάπη change, then you should be able to parse most other first pattern nouns.
There are a few masculine first pattern nouns like μαθητής and προφήτης that change the pattern a bit. But for now, just focus on memorizing the normal pattern. Review the above chart, and then go through the quiz to practice. When you are given a card with the parsing (like ἀγάπη dative, feminine, plural), take the time to write out the answer before flipping the card (ἀγάπαις).
Cheat Sheet: Noun Patterns, The Article, 1st/2nd Pronouns, Participle Key FeaturespdfPrint this out for quick reference as you progress in this course. You will notice that it includes the First Noun Pattern which you just learned.