THE DECLENSION OF FEMININES NOUNS

ISOSYLLABIC DECLENSIONS

-α	Singular	Plural
Nominative	α	ες
Genitive	ας	ων
Accusative	α	ες
Vocative	α	ες

• Καρδία, (heart) ώρα (time, hour), πατρίδα (motherland, homeland), θάλασσα (sea) and κοινότητα (community) all use these ending.
• Nouns, which are stressed on the last syllable, like καρδιά, retain the stress on that syllable.
• Nouns, which are stressed on the second to last syllable, like ώρα and πατρίδα, have unpredictable stress and must be learnt individually.
• Ώρα shifts the accent to the last syllable in the genitive plural and becomes ωρών, whereas πατρίδα retains the stress on the second to last syllable and becomes πατρίδων.
• Nouns, which are stressed on the third to last syllable, have unpredictable stress and must be learnt individually.
• In the genitive plural, θάλασσα is stressed on the last syllable and becomes θαλασσών, whereas κοινότητα retains the stress on the same syllable and thus the genitive plural becomes κοινότητα.
• In the genitive singular, nouns, which are stressed on the third to last syllable, shift the stress to the second to last syllable, only when the stem of the noun ends in a vowel or a ρ.

-η	Singular	Plural
Nominative	η	ες
Genitive	ης	ων
Accusative	η	ες
Vocative	η	ες

• Ψυχή (soul), νίκη (win, victory) and κάμαρη (room of a building) take these endings.
• Nouns stressed on the last syllable retain the stress on that syllable: for example, ψυχή.
• Nouns stressed on the second to last syllable, shift the stress to the last syllable in the genitive plural. Νίκη becomes νικών, in the genitive plural.

ANCIENT DECLENSIONS

-η	Singular	Plural
Nominative	η	εις
Genitive	ης	εων
Accusative	η	εις
Vocative	η	εις

• Σκέψη (thought), γνώση (knowledge) and δύναμη (strength) both decline this way.
• Feminine nouns ending in "ψη," "ξη" or "ση" are more than likely to decline this way.
• The exception is πολή (city).
• Nouns, which are accented on the second to last syllable, retain the stress on the same syllable. The ending of the genitive plural is disyllabic and thus the stress of the noun is on the third to last syllable: σκέψη, σκέψεις, and σκέψεων.
• When these nouns are accented on the third to last syllable in the nominative singular, the accent shifts one syllable to the right in the plural. This is true for the genitive plural also; however, the ending of the genitive plural is disyllabic: δύναμη, δυνάμεις and δυνάμεων.
• None of these nouns are stressed on the last syllable.
• The endings above are of the demotic dialects, which is what the standard is based on. Nevertheless, in the dialect called katharevusa, the endings of the singular are -ις, -εως, -ι, and -ι for the nominative, genitive, accusative and vocative cases respectively.

-ω	Singular
Nominative	ω
Genitive	ως
Accusative	ω
Vocative	ω

• Αργυρώ and Φρόσω decline this way. They are both Greek names, which have survived till today from ancient times.
• Some nouns, stressed on the second to last syllable, retain the stress on that syllable in all their cases.
• This declension has no plural. Strictly speaking, proper names have no plural.

-ος	Singular	Plural
Nominative	ος	οι (ες)
Genitive	ου	ων
Accusative	ο	ους
Vocative	ο	οι

• Διάμετρος (diameter) declines the same way as the masculine nouns.
• The accent shifts one syllable to the right in genitive singular and plural.
• In the accusative plural, one has a choice of shifting the accent to the right by one syllable.
• Some modern writers use the endings -ες instead of the plural endings -οι and –ους.

ANISOSYLLABIC DECLENSIONS

-α	Singular	Plural
Nominative	α	αδες
Genitive	ας	αδων
Accusative	α	αδες
Vocative	α	αδες

• Γιαγιά (grandmother) and other nouns declined this way have their accent set on one syllable, despite the disyllabic endings in the plural.
• A few nouns, declined this way, are stress on the last syllable.

-ου	Singular	Plural
Nominative	ου	ουδες
Genitive	ους	ουδων
Accusative	ου	ουδες
Vocative	ου	ουδες

• Γλωσσού (talkative woman) and μαϊμού (monkey) decline this way.
• Feminine nouns in -ου are stressed on the last syllable in the nominative singular.
• These nouns have their accent set on one syllable, despite the disyllabic endings in the plural.
• They mostly indicate a profession, καπελού (miller) or the feminine ending of the masculine in -ας, φαγάς – φαγού (glutton).

GENERAL NOTES ON FEMININE NOUNS

Foreign nouns, which have been assimilated into the Greek language, are decline according to the declension group to which they belong, for example, ντουζίνα (dozen), μπαταρία (battery), and ομπρέλα (umbrela). Foreign nouns, which have not been assimilated into the Greek language, remain uninflected. The feminine article, which is declined, indicated the number and case of the noun with which it stand in construction, for example, η γκαλερί (gallery), η μαντάμ (madam), η σοπράνο (soprano).

Except for the noun ending in -ος, feminine nouns add an -ς to the ending of the nominative singular to form the genitive singular case. Except for the noun ending in -ος, the nominative, accusative and vocative cases of all feminine nouns show the same endings in each number. The genitive plural of all feminine nouns, when it occurs, ends in -ων. Except for the noun ending in -ος, feminine nouns may show endings in -ες, -δες or -εις in their nominative plural. Feminine isosyllabic nouns in -α and -η, show the plural in ες. Feminine anisosyllabic nouns in -ου and -α show the endings -δες in the plural. Some feminine nouns in -η, which may also occur in their original singular endings ις, -εως, -ι, and –ι, sshow their plural endings -εις. Feminine nouns in -ω do not occur in the plural. Except for the feminine nouns in -ος, feminine nouns generally retain the stress on the same syllable as it occurs in the nominative singular. Exceptions are: isosyllabic feminine nouns ending in -α, stressed on the second to last syllable and isosyllabic, shift the stress to the last syllable in their genitive plural.

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