Understand the Indefinite Article for Different Cases in Greek

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There are two different types of articles in the Greek language – definite articles, which we discussed in a previous article, and definite articles. According to Webster’s Dictionary, an article is, “used to show that the following noun refers to one or more specific persons or things.” In the English language, the word for the definite article is “the” and the indefinite article is “a” or “an” depending if the word starts with a vowel or not.

In the Greek language, it isn’t as straightforward because the article could change depending on the cases. Here’s a look at what the article looks like in the Greek language:

Understand the Indefinite Article

According to Webster’s Dictionary, the Indefinite Article is, “the word a or an used in English to refer to a person or thing that is not identified or specified.” In the sentence, “I gave a book to the teacher,” the word “a” is the indefinite article and “the” is the definite article.

As mentioned above, it isn’t as straightforward a concept in the Greek language. While the general idea is the same, the indefinite article could change according to the case of the word.

Indefinite Articles in the Greek Language

The indefinite article changes according to the gender and case of the noun. Your best bet is to memorize vocabulary words with both their definite and indefinite articles. This will make it much easier to remember to use them properly in a sentence! In each of the examples below, the indefinite article will always be boldfaced.

Nominative Case

• Masculine – ένα σκυλί – ena skili – a dog
• Feminine – μια μητέρα – mia mitera – a mother
• Neuter – ένα κορίτσι – ena koritsi – a girl

Genitive Case

• Masculine – το οστό ενός σκύλου – to osto enos skilou – a dog’s bone
• Feminine – το παιδί της μητέρας – to pethi tis miteras – a mother’s child
• Neuter – ένα βιβλίο κοριτσιού – ena biblio kiritsiou – a girl’s book

Accusative Case

• Masculine – Τρέχω με ένα σκυλί – Treho me ena skili – I run with a dog
• Feminine – Πάω στο κατάστημα με μια μητέρα – Pow sto katastima me Mia mitera – I go to the store with a mom.
• Neuter – Διάβασα με ένα κορίτσι – thiavasa me ena koritsi – I read with a girl.

This is one of those grammatical concepts that you really should learn about. However, you will start to realize that as you begin to experience the language, it will become a lot easier to get it right. This is also a basic grammatical concept, which means that you will encounter it all the time, which will also make it much simpler to get comfortable with.

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