Lesson 8 This & that and the genitive pronouns

Lesson 8 ‘This’ and ‘That’ and the genitive Pronouns

Genitive pronouns indicate ‘possession’ or ‘belonging’. Note the word order; the first sentence below literally says ‘ This is the book my (of mine)’. When dealing with genitive pronouns it is very important to ‘think Greek’!

singular

Greek	English	‘Think Greek’
αυτό είναι το βιβλίο μου	This is my book	This is the book my (of mine)
αυτή είναι η καρέκλα σου	This is your chair	This is the chair your (of yours)
αυτός είναι ο φίλος της	This is her friend	This is the friend hers (of hers)
αυτό είναι το αυτοκίνητό του	This is his car	This is the car his (of his)
αυτό είναι το όνομά του	this is it’s name	This is the name it’s (of it)

Τhree important points here:

1 The word ‘the’ always precedes the noun.

2 The nouns are subjects – in the first sentence the book is ‘doing the being’.

3 Nouns such as το αυτο-κίν-η-το and το ό-νομ-α which are accented on the third syllable from the end have an extra accent added to their final syllable and become

το αυτοκίνητό του and το όνομά του.

Other examples are:

το διαβατήριό μου - my passport

το εστιατόριό του - his restaurant

το δωμάτιό της - her room

Note that in written form the first accent remains but it is not pronounced when spoken.

Now the words for 'that'.

εκείνο το βιβλίο είναι δικό μου	that book is mine (my own)	That the book is mine
εκείνη η καρέκλα είναι δική σου	that chair is yours ( your own)	This the chair is yours
εκείνος ο φίλος είναι δικός της	that friend is hers (her own)	That the friend is hers
εκείνο το αυτοκίνητο είναι δικό του	that car is his (his own)	That the car is his

Notice that δικός, δική etc agree with the gender of the noun.

Now the plurals

αυτά είναι τα βιβλία μας	these are our books	these are the books ours
αυτές είναι οι καρέκλες σας	these are your chairs	these are the chairs your
αυτοί είναι οι φίλοι τους	these are their friends	these are the friends their
αυτά είναι τα αυτοκίνητά τους	these are their cars	these are the cars their
αυτά είναι το ονόματά τους	these are their names	these are the names their

εκείνα τα βιβλία είναι δικά μας	those books are ours (our own)	those the books are ours
εκείνες οι καρέκλες είναι δικές σας	those chairs are yours (your own)	those the chairs are yours
εκείνοι οι φίλοι είναι δικοί τους	those friends are theirs (their own)	those the friends are theirs
εκείνα τα αυτοκίνητα είναι δικά τους	those cars are theirs (their own)	those the cars are theirs

The following table is a summary of the genitive pronouns

singular		plural
μου	my	μας	ours
σου	your	σας	your
του	his	τους	their
της	her	τους	their
του	its	τους	their

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