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Genitive (Part 1)

Learn how to describe objects that belong to another object, or are part of another object.

Introducing the -ου ending.

We have already looked at how words can end in -ος, and -ον. Today we will begin to learn about the -ου ending.

Read each of these sentences out loud several times. Check that you can understand the meaning of each sentence.

When you see the -ου ending, generally it indicates “of”. For example:

  • The dog of the man…
  • The house of Peter…
  1. ὁ κύων τοῦ ἀνθρώπου τρέχει.
  2. ἡ παῖς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου ἔχει ἰχθύν.
  3. ὁ κύων ἀνθρώπου καὶ ὁ ἄνθρωπος περιπατοῦσιν.
  4. ὁ παῖς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου ἔχει ἄρτον.
  5. ὁ παῖς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου βλέπει ἄρτον.
  6. ὁ οἶκος τοῦ Πέτρου ἔχει θύραν.
  7. ὁ οἶκος τοῦ ἀνθρώπου ἔχει τράπεζαν.
  8. ὁ οἶκος τοῦ Παύλου ἔχει καθέδραν.

Remember word order is flexible in Biblical Greek. Some of the sentences above have been adjusted to use a different word order. Practice reading each of these sentences out loud as well.

  1. ἔχει καθέδραν ὁ οἶκος τοῦ ἀνθρώπου.
  2. ἔχει ἰχθύν ἡ παῖς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου.
  3. βλέπει ἄρτον ὁ παῖς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου.

Self Evaluation

The key point of this lesson is to notice that two words (nouns) can be joined together, by adjusting the ending of the second word to the -ου. When two words are joined together in this way, the second word is adding more information about the first word.

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