The Vocative Case (Direct Address)
The vocative is the case you use to ADDRESS or call someone directly - “Hello, teacher!”, “Maria!”. It completes the four-case system (nominative, accusative, genitive, vocative). The surprise is only in the masculine: -ος nouns take a distinct vocative singular in -ε (άνθρωπος → άνθρωπε, δάσκαλος → δάσκαλε), and -ας nouns drop the -ς (πατέρας → πατέρα). Feminine and neuter nouns keep the nominative form (μητέρα → μητέρα, παιδί → παιδί), and the vocative plural always equals the nominative plural.
The rule
The vocative is the case of direct address - what you call someone or something to its face. The one form to learn is the masculine -ος singular, which is distinct: it drops -ος → -ε (δάσκαλος → δάσκαλε, άνθρωπος → άνθρωπε). Everywhere else the vocative simply equals the nominative: the feminine (μητέρα → μητέρα), the neuter (παιδί → παιδί), and all plurals. So the only active rule is don't address a man by his dictionary form - use the -ε ending.
Paradigm
| Case | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| Nominative | άνθρωπος | άνθρωποι |
| Accusative | άνθρωπο | ανθρώπους† |
| Genitive | ανθρώπου† | ανθρώπων† |
| Vocative | άνθρωπε† | άνθρωποι† |
- Stress shifts to the penult (-ώπους) in the accusative plural.
- Stress shifts to the penult (-ώπου) in the genitive singular.
- Stress shifts to the penult (-ώπων) in the genitive plural - the classic gen-pl shift.
- Masculine -ος nouns take a distinct vocative singular in -ε (άνθρωπος → άνθρωπε).
- The vocative plural equals the nominative plural.
| Case | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| Nominative | μητέρα | μητέρες |
| Accusative | μητέρα | μητέρες |
| Genitive | μητέρας | μητέρων† |
| Vocative | μητέρα† | μητέρες† |
- Stress shifts to the ending (-έρων) in the genitive plural.
- The feminine vocative equals the nominative.
| Case | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| Nominative | παιδί | παιδιά |
| Accusative | παιδί | παιδιά |
| Genitive | παιδιού† | παιδιών† |
| Vocative | παιδί† | παιδιά† |
- Stress shifts to the ending (-ιού) in the genitive singular.
- Stress shifts to the ending (-ιών) in the genitive plural.
- The neuter vocative equals the nominative.