Basic Greek grammar

What does the nominative form represent?

The subject of the sentence

What does the accusative form represent?

The object of the sentence

When is the vocative form used?

To address someone or something

When is the genitive form used?

In the case of possession, separation and origin.

When is the dative case used?

For the indirect object, used as ‘to’ or ‘for’

What does a rough breathing look like?

‘ — a little c above the letter

What does a smooth breathing look like?

‘ — a backwards c above the letter

Where do prepositions fall with regard to word order?

Directly before the accusative.

How do you use the verb ‘to be’?

it gives information about the nominative.

What is the infinitive?

The conceptual mood in Greek

How do you write the infinitive?

Take the present indicative, remove the omega and add -ειν to the stem.

What is the imperative?

The commanding mood in Greek.

How do you write the imperative?

Take the stem of the present indicative and add -ε for 2nd person sing. and -ετε for 2nd person plur.

What is ‘embedding’ (sandwiching)?

when you ‘embed’ a descriptor/adjective between the article and the noun, for example ‘the good man’ (´ο 'αγαθος ´ανθροπος)

What is the difference between the attributive and predicative positions?

attributive — when the adjective directly precedes the noun or comes after the noun with its own article.

predicative — when the adjective appears in conjunction with the verb ‘to be’

e.g. ‘the good man’ vs ‘the man is good’

How do you write the imperfect indicative tense?

prefix + stem + endings