lesson 6

Question 1

What is usually the English translation of the genitive case?

Answer 1

The genitive case has a wide range of functioning and is very often equivalent to the english ‘of’

Question 2

What important rule to remember about -ων

Answer 2

All nouns and adjectives end in -ων in the genitive plural, although not all words that end in -ων are genitive plural.

Question 3

Sandwich and repeated article construction

Answer 3

The normal order when using the genitive is -

τὸ τῶν ἀνθρώπων πλοῖον

with the genitive coming BETWEEN article and noun. This is called the sandwich construction.

Question 4

Repeated article

Answer 4

The repetition of the article in the neuter to agree with ‘ship’ uses the article to emphasise which ship is being seen. If the question had been, ‘what ship do you see’ the order would have been as follows

τὸ πλοῖον ὁρῶ τὸ τῶν ἀνθρώπων, ‘It is the men’s ship I see.’ (lit. ‘The ship I see the [one] of the men.’)

The def. art. is repeated here (in the neuter to agree with πλοῖον, to specify which ship it is that is being seen).

Question 5

What are other uses for the repeated article construction?

Answer 5

This use of the def. art. is seen with other phrases which do not involve the gen., e.g.

τὰ πράγματα τὰ περὶ Σαλαμίνα, ‘the events around Salamis’ (lit. ‘the events the [ones] around Salamis’)

Here again, the article is repeated to specify which events are being referred to. But it is also possible to extend phrases without repeating the def. art., e.g. by using the ‘sandwich’-construction we saw above (where a gen. came BETWEEN article and noun):

Question 6

Article + preposition constructions

Answer 6

In Greek the def. art. can be used to extend phrases in a way similar to its use with adjectives to make nouns (49). Examine the following phrases:

τὰ περὶ Σαλαμῖνα, ‘the [n. pl., i.e.] things/events around Salamis’

οἱ ἐν Σαλαμῖνι, ‘the [m. pl., i.e.] men in Salamis/those in Salamis’

αἱ ἐν τῷ Πειραιεῖ, ‘the [f. pl., i.e.] women in the Piraeus’

In these phrases the def. art. + prepositional phrase is being used as an equivalent of a noun.

Question 7

If a definitive article is not linked to a noun

Answer 7

The genitive article can appear separately from the noun, especially when you have a sandwich construction where the genitive phrase goes between the article and the noun.