| First
Declension Plural Endings |
All first declension nouns (both feminine and masculine) take the
identical set of plural endings.
| |
Masculine
and
Feminine
pl |
| Nom |
ai |
| Gen |
wn |
| Dat |
aij |
| Acc |
aj |
- Notice the general similarity
between these plural endings and the masculine plural endings of
the second declension (the chief difference being the
predominance of a
instead of o).
- Recall that the genitive plural
will always be wn,
no matter what declension.
- Observe the presence of i
in all dative forms in all declensions.
- The difference between the
accusative plural form aj
and the genitive singular of the feminine h`me,ra
type or the nominative singular of the masculine neani,aj
type can be determined in one (or both) of two ways:
(1) by observing an accompanying definite article;
(2) by observing the co-text.
|
|
| Demonic
Mnemonic? |
When
I first studied Greek in college, a good friend of mine came up with
a clever mnemonic to remember the plural endings for the first
declension... He imagined
possessing an idol of the Egyptian goddess, Isis. His ownership of
the pagan talisman was expressed by intoning the following
incantation (i.e., reciting the plural endings of
the first declension): 
ai
wn aij aj 
=
"I own Isis" |
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