Greek Grammar

Below you will find endings for the three declensions, excluding the vocative, which does not really
count. To keep things simple, we have left out the variations, such as alpha-pure endings in the first
declension, and the many slight oddities in the third declension. What you see here are the really
crucial endings. And remember that the definite article starts o q to in the singular and oi oi to in
the plural (no breathings on Word Symbol sorry!) but after that has regular first declension (feminine)
and second declension (masculine and neuter) endings. Notice, incidentally, that we have had to type
iota subscript as a separate letter in qi and ei.


1
st
decl 2
nd
decl 3
rd
decl
singular nom q o or ov
acc qv ov o (unless neuter)
gen q ou o
dat qi ei i

plural nom oi oi or o c or o
acc o ou or o o or o
gen ev ev ev
dat oi oi oi(v)


The first and second declension endings are used for adjectives of the oo|o oo|q oo|ov type.
Admittedly there are some tricky adjective types, like oquq, but a lot follow the oo|o pattern, and if
you observe carefully which other words an adjective agrees with (noun and maybe article as well), then
you should be able to deal with anything the examiners throw at you.

Remember that comparatives and superlatives come in two varieties, as illustrated by:

- oo|o oo|e tco oo|e toto
- c_uo c_ui ev c_ui oto


The endings set out above are also the basis for participles. The following tables give you the
essential information:


PRESENT / FUTURE/ STRONG AORIST
active middle or passive
singular nom ev ouoo ov cvo cvq cvov
acc ovto ouoov ov cvov cvqv cvov
gen ovto ouoq ovto cvou cvq cvou
dat ovti ouoqi ovti cvei cvqi cvei

plural nom ovtc ouooi ovto cvoi cvoi cvo
acc ovto ouoo ovto cvou cvo cvo
gen ovtev ouoev ovtev cvev cvev cvev
dat ouoi(v) ouooi ouoi(v) cvoi cvoi cvoi


The trick is to look at the STEM. So: oiekev is present active, oieev is future active,
oie_uqoocvo is future passive, and so on. Remember that the weak aorist participle has an easily
spotted o and that the aorist passive participle has an equally easily spotted cvt or cio . So:


weak aorist active weak aorist middle aorist passive
nom o ooo ov ocvo ocvq ocvov ci cioo cv
acc ovto ooov ov ocvov ocvqv ocvov cvto cioov cv


And remember that the participle of to be is simply the basic endings i.e. ev ouoo ov and so on.

To deal with verbs, once again you need to know a set of basic endings:


ACTIVE
present/future imperfect/strong aorist weak aorist
I e ov o
you (s.) ci c o
he or she or it ci c(v) c(v)
we ocv ocv ocv
you (pl.) ctc ctc otc
they ouoi(v) ov ov

MIDDLE
present/future imperfect/strong aorist weak aorist
I ooi oqv oqv
you (s.) qi or ci ou e
he or she or it ctoi cto oto
we ocuo ocuo ocuo
you (pl.) couc couc oouc
they ovtoi ovto ovto



PASSIVE
present/future imperfect aorist
I ooi oqv qv
you (s.) qi or ci ou q
he or she or it ctoi cto q
we ocuo ocuo qcv
you (pl.) couc couc qtc
they ovtoi ovto qoov


As with participles, the stem is the key to working out the tense of a verb. So: co|ovc is imperfect
active, co|ocuo is aorist middle and cq|uqoov is aorist passive.


The infinitives look like this:


active middle passive
present civ couoi couoi
future civ couoi couoi
aorist oi (strong civ) oouoi (strong couoi) qvoi

And the imperatives look like this:


active middle passive
present c / ctc ou / couc ou / couc
aorist ov / otc (strong c / ctc) oi / oouc (strong ou / couc) qti / qtc




As you know, Greek is blessed with a number of nasty verbs. Dont get too hung up on these. But do
make sure you know the following present tenses:


I am I shall go I say I give I place I know
I cii cii |qi oioei tiuqi oioo
you (s.) ci ci |qi oioe tiuq oiouo
he or she or it coti(v) cioi(v) |qoi(v) oioeoi(v) tiuqoi(v) oioc(v)
we cocv icv |ocv oioocv tiuccv iocv
you (pl.) cotc itc |otc oiootc tiuctc iotc
they cioi(v) iooi(v) |ooi(v) oiooooi(v) tiucooi(v) ioooi(v)



Other important bits and pieces of these verbs that you need to know are:


I am I shall go I say I give I place I know
past (3rd sing.) qv c|q coekc cuqkc qioci
present infinitive civoi icvoi |ovoi oioovoi tiucvoi ciocvoi
aorist infinitive oouvoi ucivoi


Other nasties:
- the aorist of iveoke is cvev cve cve and so on.
- the aorist of |oive is c|qv c|q c|q and so on.

The subjunctive and optative are used in certain constructions. As long as you recognise the verb,
and can work out whether it is singular or plural, you should be OK. As a rule, the tense of a
subjunctive or optative does not affect the way you translate it at least not in GCSE Greek!