Get to Know the Accusative Case in the Greek Language

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The Greek language has several different cases and each has their own properties to consider when forming sentences. Visit this article for more information about the different cases. One of the cases in the Greek language is referred to as the “accusative case” or αιτιατική in Greek. Here’s a look at what the accusative case is, as well as some examples:

What is the Accusative Case?

According to Webster’s Dictionary, the accusative case is:

• of, relating to, or being the grammatical case that marks the direct object of a verb or the object of any of several prepositions

Although the accusative case exists in English, it isn’t obvious because for the most part, the endings of the words don’t change. In the Greek language, the accusative case is more obvious because it affects the endings of the words.

In other words, the accusative case may as well be meaningless in English since it doesn’t have a direct impact on the words themselves. This can cause people some issues when trying to understand what it is in Greek.

How to Use the Accusative Case (αιτιατική) in Greek

There are some predictable rules in Greek with how the accusative case is used. Here’s an overview:

• The accusative is always used after certain prepositions, such as σε – se – in, into, με – me – with, από – apo – from, για – gia – for, to, about

The prepositions and accusative forms are boldfaced in the following examples:

• Το κορίτσι μιλάει με το αγόρι. To koritsi milaei me to agora. The girl is speaking with the boy.
• Οι μαθητές πηγαίνουν στο σχολείο. I mathites piyenoon sto skoleio. The students go to school.
• Το δώρο είναι από τη φίλη μου. To thoro eenai apo ti fili mou. The gift is from my girlfriend. 
• Το τυρί είναι για τη γάτα. To tiri eenai ya ti gata. The cheese is for the cat. 

Keep in mind that the accusative case also represents the part of the sentence that answers the question what, who, or to whom. So in a sentence like this, the accusative is boldfaced:

• Ο άντρας βλέπει τη γυναίκα. O anthras vlepee ti yineka. The man sees the woman. 

Notice how the accusative answers the question “who”. The man sees (who?) – The man sees the woman. In this sentence “the woman” would be in the accusative case.

If you need additional help understanding the accusative case, contact a qualified Greek teacher. You can also read more about it in your Greek language book of choice. This is only intended to give you an overview.

The Learn Greek section on GreekBoston.com was written by Greeks to help people understand the conversational basics of the Greek language. This article is not a substitute for a professional Greek learning program, but a helpful resource for people wanting to learn simple communication in Greek.

Categorized in: Learn How to Speak Basic Greek

This post was written by Greek Boston