Μάθησις ΣτοιχείωνMathesis Stoicheion
Sign in

Adjectives: agreement and position τὰ 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

ὁἀγαθὸςἄνθρωπος

attributive “the good person”

ὁἄνθρωποςὁἀγαθός

attributive “the good person”

ἡκαλὴχώρα

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. Click 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. Click any word to look it up.

Words from this lesson
  • ἀγαθός …
  • καλός …
  • κακός …
  • δίκαιος …
  • ἀληθινός …

Settings

Appearance

Reading

μῆνιν ἄειδε θεὰ Πηληϊάδεω Ἀχιλῆος
οὐλομένην, ἣ μυρίʼ Ἀχαιοῖς ἄλγεʼ ἔθηκε

Greek text size
20 px
Line spacing
1.8

Animation

Automatic follows your device's “reduce motion” setting.

Short vibrations

A short buzz when you save a word, bookmark a passage or answer right, on phones that allow it (most Android phones; iPhones do not let websites vibrate).

Offline reading

Keep a copy of the text collections on this computer and read without a connection.