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The AcademyThe grammar courseLesson 11 of 18

Adjectives: agreement and positionτὰ ἐπίθετα

ἀγαθός, ἀγαθή, ἀγαθόν, and why "the good man" and "the man is good" differ only in word order. · about 20 minutes

An adjective describes a noun, and it agrees with it: it takes the same gender, number and case. So an adjective has a full set of forms for each gender.

Good news: you know these endings already. The commonest adjectives use the second declension for the masculine and neuter (like λόγος and δῶρον) and the first declension for the feminine (like ψυχή). Dictionaries list all three: ἀγαθός, ἀγαθή, ἀγαθόν.

Adjective: ἀγαθός, ἀγαθή, ἀγαθόν

masc. sgfem. sgneut. sgmasc. plfem. plneut. pl
nominativeἀγαθός1kἀγαθή376ἀγαθόν2kἀγαθοί602ἀγαθαί94ἀγαθά487
genitiveἀγαθοῦ323ἀγαθῆς241ἀγαθοῦ729ἀγαθῶν370ἀγαθῶν39ἀγαθῶν2k
dativeἀγαθῷ155ἀγαθῇ117ἀγαθῷ275ἀγαθοῖς214ἀγαθαῖς40ἀγαθοῖς382
accusativeἀγαθόν584ἀγαθήν390ἀγαθόν2kἀγαθούς622ἀγαθάς123ἀγαθά1k
vocativeἀγαθέ30ἀγαθή3ἀγαθόν2ἀγαθοί10ἀγαθαί·ἀγαθά·

Position. With the article, where the adjective stands matters. Inside the article's phrase (between the article and the noun, or after the noun with the article repeated) it simply describes: this is the attributive position, "the good man". Outside it, the adjective makes a statement: this is the predicate position, "the man is good". Greek can leave out ἐστί "is" in a statement like this.

Move the adjective and watch the meaning change

ὁ ἀγαθὸς ἄνθρωπος

attributive “the good person”

ὁ ἄνθρωπος ὁ ἀγαθός

attributive “the good person”

ἡ καλὴ χώρα

attributive “the beautiful land”

Check yourself
ὁ ποιμὴν ὁ καλός means…
ἀγαθὸς ὁ πατήρ means…
Which form agrees with τὴν ψυχήν?
Read it yourself
Gospel of John 10.11Open in the reader →

Unrolling the passage…

Noun, then the article repeated with the adjective: attributive, "the good shepherd". καλός means "beautiful" and also "good, noble". In τὴν ψυχὴν αὐτοῦ, ψυχή means "life".

Greek shown exactly as the source file gives it. ClickTap any word to look it up.

Xenophon, Anabasis 1.1.1Open in the reader →

Unrolling the passage…

The opening of the Anabasis. Darius and Parysatis have two sons: "the elder (was) Artaxerxes, the younger Cyrus". There is no article and no verb: the context shows that the adjectives πρεσβύτερος "older" and νεώτερος "younger" say something about each son. μέν… δέ… sets them side by side: "on the one hand… on the other…".

Greek shown exactly as the source file gives it. ClickTap any word to look it up.

Words from this lesson
  • ἀγαθός …
  • καλός …
  • κακός …
  • δίκαιος …
  • ἀληθινός …
ἄσκησιςPractiseAbout twelve questions, with earlier lessons mixed in. What you miss comes back until you have it.δοκιμασίαTake the test8 of 10 to pass. Passing completes the lesson.

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μῆνιν ἄειδε θεὰ Πηληϊάδεω Ἀχιλῆοςοὐλομένην, ἣ μυρίʼ Ἀχαιοῖς ἄλγεʼ ἔθηκε

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