The Definite Article in Modern and Ancient Greek


The definite article in Modern and Ancient Greek is given in the tables below. Read the notes on punctuation, following the tables.

Modern Greek Ancient Greek
Singular      
case Masculine Feminine Neuter
Nominative ï ç ôï
Genitive ôïõ ôçò ôïõ
Accusative ôïí ôçí ôï
Vocative      
Plural      
case Masculine Feminine Neuter
Nominative ïé ïé ôá
Genitive ôùí ôùí ôùí
Accusative ôïõò ôéò ôá
Vocative      
Singular      
case Masculine Feminine Neuter
Nominative cï cç ôü
Genitive ôïõ~ ôç~ò ôïõ~
Dative ôùé~ ôçé~ ôùé~
Accusative ôüí ôÞí ôü
Vocative ù~ ù~ ù~
Plural      
case Masculine Feminine Neuter
Nominative ïcé ácé ôÜ
Genitive ôù~í ôù~í ôù~í
Dative ôïé~ò ôáé~ò ôïé~ò
Accusative ôïýò ôÜò ôÜ
Vocative ù~ ù~ ù~

Notes on punctuation:

In the column for Modern Greek there is no punctuation, as all forms of the definite article are monosyllabic, hence the single accent mark should not be placed over the word (by the modern Greek punctuation rules).

In the column for Ancient Greek, since the modern Greek character set does not include accents and breathing marks, I adopted the following scheme: rough breathing marks are shown with this symbol: [c] before the vowel over which they should be placed. Where a breathing mark is not provided, a smooth one is assumed over the vowel. The circumflex is shown with this symbol: [~] after the vowel over which it should be placed. Acute accents are shown normally, over the vowel (there are no grave accents here).

Note also that, strictly speaking, the definite article does not have a vocative case even in Ancient Greek. I included ù~ in the table above simply for compatibility with several grammar books which do the same thing. ù~ is an expletive, similar to "hey!" in English (but less rude than that). The corresponding expletive in Modern Greek is "å!", or "Ýé" (and it is as informal/impolite, as "hey!").


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