Last updated October 23, 2026

Chapter 3 · Lesson 3.2 · Noun

Noun – Genitive singular

ObjectivesLearning objectives

How a verb can take multiple argument patterns (argument realizations)
The morphology and syntax-semantics of the genitive sg

VocabularyVocabulary

Greek	Gloss	Part of speech	Paradigm
ὁ λίθος, -ου	the stone	noun	B.a.β.i
ἡ φωνή, -ῆς	the voice	noun	B.a.α.i
τὸ σῦκον, -ου	the fig	noun	B.a.β.ii
ἀκούω τήν	(I) hear the (acc)	verb	C.a.α
πίπτω	(I) fall	verb	C.a.α
ὁ Ἰσραήλ	Israel	noun	indecl

VocabularyThe genitive case in vocabulary and indeclinable nouns

The genitive case (abbreviated gen), the topic for this lesson, is ordinarily written after a noun to indicate the paradigm that the noun belongs to, e.g. ὁ λίθος, - ου. Once you know the genitive case, you can determine the other cases if you know the rest of the paradigm. We follow this practice in the vocab tables from now on, so that you can easily see what paradigm the noun belongs in.

The proper noun ὁ Ἰσραήλ ‘Israel’ does not have the genitive case listed after it because it is indeclinable. An indeclinable noun is a noun that does not change form when the case or number changes, e.g. ὁ Ἰσραήλ = τὸν Ἰσραήλ. For these nouns, the case is determined by the case of the preceding article or the context.

NoteVerbs and arguments (argument realizations)

The verb ἀκούω τήν is listed as taking an accusative argument, but both the accusative case and the genitive (this lesson’s topic) may be found:

Example 24ἀκούω with accusative

τὴν φωνὴν …ἀκούεις (John 3:8)

You hear its sound

Example 25ἀκούω with genitive

The sheep τῆς φωνῆς… ἀκούει [hear his voice] (John 10:3)

In both instances, φωνή refers to the thing heard by the subject. This brings up a larger point: when you learn vocabulary, you are only learning one possible argument pattern for a verb. There could be other patterns as well that still have the same meaning. These different patterns are called argument realizations; they are a part of the lexical information of the word and must be learned.

MorphologyMorphology: Noun – Genitive singular

The defining characteristic of the gen is usually an o-vowel of some kind (except the final σ of the fem).
The masc and neut endings are identical for both the gen and dat.
The final vowel of the gen is long, so the accent-shifting rules apply (see 3.1.3).

Morphology: Noun – Genitive singular

	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Nominative	ὁ ἄνθρωπ-ος	ἡ ἀδελφ-ή	τὸ τέκν-ον
Genitive	τοῦἀνθρώπ-ου	τῆςἀδελφ-ῆς	τοῦτέκν-ου
Dative	τῷ ἀνθρώπ-ῳ	τῇ ἀδελφ-ῇ	τῷ τέκν-ῳ
Accusative	τὸν ἄνθρωπ-ον	τὴν ἀδελφ-ήν	τὸ τέκν-ον

SyntaxSyntax-semantics: Noun – Genitive case (1 – Relational; 2 – Argument)

Noun – Genitive: all 5 parts on one page →Also in Lesson 7.2, Lesson 26.3, Lesson 28.4, Lesson 40.2

Like the dative, the genitive case (abbreviated gen) is also notorious for being exceptionally broad in its functions, but the nature of the surrounding nouns and verbs usually disambiguate it. Two main functions of the genitive are introduced here: it can relate two nouns (similar to of and –‘ s) and it can be marked as the argument of some verbs. The relationship between the two nouns can receive various interpretations:

Example 26Familial relation

ὁ υἱὸς τῆς Μαρίας (Mark 6:3)

The son of Mary

Example 27(Immaterial) possession

θεοῦ φωνή (Acts 12:22)

God’s voice

Syntactically, the genitive appears after the noun it modifies in (26), while it appears before the noun in (27). The definiteness of the genitive also matches the noun it modifies. Whereas both ὁ υἱός and τῆς Μαρίας have the article, both θεοῦ and φωνή lack the article. This pattern often, but not always, holds.

The precise interpretation of the genitive relationship is normally determined by the meaning of the two nouns being related. For example, ‘the son of Mary’ has a parent-child relationship because the word ‘son’ has a meaning that specifies that relationship. The genitive then gives the person that stands in that relationship. The same could be said for a word like ‘voice.’ Since animate things have voices, the animate noun in the genitive is the one who “possesses” the voice. These kinds of calculations are normally done automatically by speakers and usually do not need to be spelled out.

Another important function of the genitive is that it sometimes serves as the argument of some types of verbs (as seen above with ἀκούω). For example, verbs of touching take the genitive case in Greek rather than accusative.

Example 28Genitive as argument of a verb

She touched his τοῦ ἱματίου [garment] (Mark 5:27)

Although English’s accusative case is notoriously broad, Greek’s and many other languages’ accusative is often reserved for arguments that are affected by the event. Because ‘touching’ something might not affect it, Greek uses the genitive rather than accusative for touching verbs.

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