Biblical Greek Nouns Second Declension

 Nouns of the Second Declension as well as other Greek nouns have three grammatical categories: gender, number and case.

Gender

There are three genders in Greek: masculine (M), feminine (F) and neuter (N). There is no specific rule that determines why a particular noun has a particular gender. The gender is grammatical and often corresponds with certain word endings.

Number

There are two numbers in Greek: Singular and Plural. Verbs agree with their subject in number. In other words, if the subject is singular, then the main verb must be singular as well. Consequently, if the subject is plural, then the main verb must be plural as well.
 
For example:
ἀπόστολος βλέπει       an apostle sees
ἀπόστολοι βλέπουσι   apostles see

Case

Cases reveal the roles of words in a Greek sentence. They show how the words function. It could be said that what the word order does in English, the cases do in Greek. There are five cases in Greek:

Nominative represents the subject (People see the apostles).
Genitive represents the possessor (The word of God).
Dative represents the indirect object (Jesus gave food to people).
Accusatives represents the object (The apostles see people).
Vocative represents the addressee (O people, listen to God).

We will continue speaking about cases later when discussing the rules of translation.

Declension

In Greek, the inflection of nouns is called declension. The Greek language has three declensions. The second one is simpler and has more words (595 in NT); thus, it is often studied first.
Most of the nouns in the second declension are:

1. Masculine nouns ending in –ος.
2. Neuter nouns ending in –ον.

Declension of the Masculine Noun ἄνθρωπος “man”

	Singular			Plural
N.	ἄνθρωπος	a man	N.	ἄνθρωποι	men
G.	ἀνθρώπου	of a man	G.	ἀνθρώπων	of men
D.	ἀνθρώπῳ	to a man	D.	ἀνθρώποις	to men
A.	ἀνθρώπον	a man	A.	ἀνθρώπους	men
V.	ὦ ἄνθρωπε	O man	V.	ὦ ἄνθρωποι	O men

The nominative and vocative cases often share the same forms (compare N. and V. plural)
The part of a noun that doesn’t change is called stem.
To find the stem of nouns the ending –ου is dropped from the Gen. singular: ἀνθρώπ–

The nominative singular is a lexical form, that is the form which you find in the dictionary/lexicon. Thus, ἄνθρωπος is the lexical form which you see in the lexicon.

Masculine Case Endings of the Second Declension

	Singular		Plural
N.	–ος	N.	–οι
G.	–ου	G.	–ων
D.	–ῳ	D.	–οις
A.	–ον	A.	–ους
V.	–ε	V.	–οι

These endings must be memorized.
The Vocative case is very rare in theNT (less than 1% of all nouns). For this reason, it is not crucial for memorization. Often it appears with the interjectionὦ = O!
Declension of the Masculine Noun with an Accent on the Last Syllable: υἱός “son”

	Singular			Plural
N.	υἱός	a son	N.	υἱοί	sons
G.	υἱοῦ	of a son	G.	υἱῶν	of sons
D.	υἱῳ	to a son	D.	υἱοῖς	to sons
A.	υἱόν	a son	A.	υἱούς	sons
V.	ὦ υἱέ	O son	V.	ὦ υἱοί	O sons

Note how precisely the case endings follow their paradigm.

Neuter Nouns Second Declension

The declension of the neuter nouns is somewhat similar with minor modifications.
Declension of the Neuter Noun δῶρον “gift”

	Singular			Plural
N.	δῶρον	a gift	N.	δῶρα	gifts
G.	δώρου	of a gift	G.	δώρων	of gifts
D.	δώρῳ	to a gift	D.	δώροις	to gifts
A.	δῶρον	a gift	A.	δῶρα	gifts
V.	ὦ δῶρον	O gift	V.	ὦ δῶρα	O gifts

Note that in neuter nouns of the second declension N.=A.=V. in both numbers.

Neuter Case Endings of the Second Declension

	Singular		Plural
N.	–ον	N.	–α
G.	–ου	G.	–ων
D.	–ῳ	D.	–οις
A.	–ον	A.	–α
V.	–ον	V.	–α

Note that both Masculine and Neuter nouns have the same endings in G. and D. in both numbers.

Greek word order

In Greek the word order is a freestyle! It changes depending on emphasis in a phrase.

1. ἀπόστολος λέγει λόγον
2. λόγον ἀπόστολος λέγει
3. λέγει ἀπόστολος λόγον

These three sentences mean the same: An apostle speaks a word.
Translate into English by observing the endings, not by observing the order.

When translating, you need to find: a) the subject (nominative case), b) its verb, c) the direct object (accusative case) and d) the indirect object. Due to the fact that the pronoun is often implied in a verb, it can be your only subject.

1. Find a verb in each clause of a sentence.
2. Find nouns in relation to the verb: nominative (your subject) and accusative (object).
3. Finally try to construct the overall meaning of each clause and the entire sentence.

Vocabulary:

ὁ, ἡ, τό are the masculine, feminine and neuter articles respectively. In the vocabulary, they are placed after the noun and indicate its gender. (Articles will be studied in the lesson 5.)

Masculine nouns second declension

ἄγγελος, ὁ	175	angel, messenger
ἁμαρτωλός, ὁ	47	sinner
ἀπόστολος, ὁ	80	apostle
διάκονος, ὁ	29	minister, servant, deacon
δοῦλος, ὁ	124	slave, servant
θάνατος, ὁ	120	death
Ἰησοῦς, ὁ	917	Jesus
κόσμος, ὁ	186	world, universe (cosmic)
νόμος, ὁ	708	law
οἶκος, ὁ	114	house
οὐρανός, ὁ	273	heaven
υἱός, ὁ	377	son

 Neuter nouns second declension

δῶρον, τό	19	gift
ἱερόν, τό	71	temple (hierarchy)
εὐαγγέλιον, τό	76	gospel (evangelist)
ἔργον, τό	169	work (energy)
τέκνον, τό	99	child

 Feminine nouns second declension

ἔρημος, ἡ	48	desert, wilderness (hermit)
ὁδός, ἡ	101	road, way (odometer)

 Conjunctions

ἀλλά	638	but, to the contrary
καί… καί		both…and, as…as

Exercises:

Translate from the Greek NT:

1. νόμον ἔχομεν (John 19:7)
2. ἔχει ὁ υἱὸς ἀνθρώπου authority (Mark 2:10)
3. καὶ ἁμαρτωλοὶ ἁμαρτωλοῖς lend money (Luke 6:34)
4. καὶ οἶκος falls on οἶκον (Luke 11:17)
5. The ἀπόστολοι of the κυρίου Ἰησοῦ (Acts 4:33)
6. λέγει Ἰησοῦς, If you were τέκνα of Ἀβραάμ, you would do ἔργα of Ἀβραὰμ. (Jn 8:39)