Nouns and adjectives

Nouns (τὸ ὄνομα) and adjectives (τὸ ἐπίθετον)

In this module, we’ll learn first about another part of speech, nouns (ancient Greek ὀνόματα, the names for people and things) and their functions. We then will also learn other parts of speech that work with nouns in sentences: words that describe nouns like the article and adjectives (Greek ἐπίθετα, literally “add ons”), words that stand in for nouns, like pronouns and substantive adjectives, and how to create phrases with nouns using prepositions (προθέσεις, words that are “placed in front”). We will also learn about types of clauses, with details about both nouns and verbs.

In English sentences, word order indicates the function of nouns. There is the old story illustrating the contrast between “Dog bites man” as commonplace but “Man bites dog” as newsworthy. The meaning of the sentence changes when the nouns are put in different positions. Ancient Greek would show us who is biting whom by the case of each noun: the form of the noun changes depending on whether it is acting as the subject (the one biting) or the object (the one being bitten). We will learn these functions for nouns, as well as others, and the changes in form that indicate these functions. Adjectives, we will see, also indicate their function through case endings.

Nouns (τὸ ὄνομα) and adjectives (τὸ ἐπίθετον)

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