Lesson 9 The genitive case

Lesson 9 The genitive case

Note that η γυναίκα can mean ‘woman’ or ‘wife’ and ο άντρας can mean

‘man’ or ‘husband’

The genitive indicates possession or ‘belonging’. In the first sentence below,

in a sense, the wife ‘belongs’ to the man and in the second the friend ‘belongs’ to

the woman

singular
η γυναίκα του άντρα	the wife of the man (the man’s wife)
ο φίλος της γυναίκας	the friend of the woman (the woman’s friend)
το χρώμα του τηλεφώνου*	the colour of the telephone (the telephone’s colour)
ο φίλος του αδελφού	the friend of the brother (the brother’s friend)
ο πατέρας του παιδιού	the father of the child (the child's father)

Νote that masculine nouns ending –ας and –ης drop the final –ς, but those ending

in –ος become -ού .

With feminine nouns an -ς is added.

Neutral nouns ending in -ι have -ού added.

Consult the Noun tables to see more patterns.

plural
oι γυναίκες των αντρών*	the wives of the men (the men’s wives)
οι άντρες των γυναικών*	the husbands of the women(the women’s husbands)
τα χρώματα των τηλεφώνων*	the colours of the telephones (the telephones’ colours)

Possession in the plural is ‘των’ in all three genders and the ending is -ων.

(*note the shift of accent, see the Noun tables for other variations)

Some more examples of the use of the genitive case are shown below. 'Think Greek'

translations are in brackets.