Greek grammar
The genitive
γενικὴ πτῶσις
The genitive says “of” and “from”. It belongs to another noun, or follows a preposition or a verb that asks for it.
What it does
- Possession and belonging: τὸ φῶς τῶν ἀνθρώπων, “the light of humankind”.
- The whole a part belongs to: μέρει τινὶ τῶν βαρβάρων, “a part of the barbarians”.
- After many prepositions: ἀπό and ἐκ (from), διά (through), περί (about), χωρίς (without): περὶ δυνάμεως, “about power”.
- With verbs of touching, holding, hearing and ruling: ἀντεχομένου τῆς ἐσθῆτος, “holding on to his cloak”.
- The genitive absolute: a noun and a participle in the genitive, set apart from the sentence, give its time or cause: τοῦ δὲ ἀνθρώπου ἀντεχομένου, “as the man held on”.
Endings
| Masculine | Feminine | Neuter | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Singular | τοῦ | τῆς | τοῦ |
| Plural | τῶν | τῶν | τῶν |
Nouns: -ου (2nd declension), -ης, -ας, -ου (1st), -ος, -ως (3rd). Every genitive plural ends in -ων. Homer also has -οιο: Ἠελίοιο.
In the texts
Real lines from the graded passages, as the reader shows them: the genitive stands out in its colour, and an arc joins the word to what it goes with.
ὃ γέγονεν ἐν αὐτῷ ζωὴ ἦν, καὶ ἡ ζωὴ ἦν τὸ φῶς τῶν ἀνθρώπων·
What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of humanity.
Τῶν ἀνθρώπων belongs to φῶς: the light of humankind.
Βορέας καὶ Ἥλιος περὶ δυνάμεως ἤριζον·
Boreas and Helios contended concerning their power.
Περί with the genitive gives the subject of the quarrel: about power.
πάντα δι’ αὐτοῦ ἐγένετο, καὶ χωρὶς αὐτοῦ ἐγένετο οὐδὲ ἕν.
All things came into being through him, and without him not even one thing came into being.
Διά with the genitive means through: δι’ αὐτοῦ, through him. Χωρὶς αὐτοῦ, without him, is genitive too.
Words read in the genitive
Words from the library’s analysed texts, with the forms they took in the genitive.