Questions: Ποιον/Τι;

Remember the Greek word for ‘who’?

Who is ποιος, and whom is ποιον.

The word for what is τι.

Today, we’ll look at how these questions can help you decide which case to use in Greek.

Nominative vs. Accusative

In Greek, we use different cases for the subject (nominative/ονομαστική) and the object (accusative/αιτιατική) of a sentence.

Remember:

Ο Νίκος περιμένει τον Ανδρέα. (Nikos waits for Andreas)

vs

Ο Ανδρέας περιμένει τον Νίκο. (Andreas waits for Nikos)

For a little bit of revision, watch the Easy Greek video below, and complete exercises Γ and Δ on page 27 of the Ελληνικά Τώρα 1 workbook.

Cases in English

You should have a pretty good idea of the difference between the ονομαστική and the αιτιατική now, but it can be difficult to figure out when to use which. Fortunately, we can take some lessons from English here.

It may surprise you to know that English also has cases! Old English used cases extensively, and a handful remain in the language we use today.

The easiest place to find traces of the old English case system is in pronouns. Let’s return to our example sentences about Nikos and Andreas:

Nikos waits for Andreas.

Andreas waits for Nikos

Now, let’s replace Nikos with a pronoun:

He waits for Andreas.

Andreas waits for him.

Depending on the role Nikos is playing in the sentence, we use either the accusative ‘he‘, or the nominative ‘him‘.

Now, let’s try asking questions:

Who waits for Andreas?

Andreas waits for whom?

Again, we can see that we use a different case in English for the subject vs. the object.

When to use them?

If you find it tricky to determine whether something is the subject or the object (and as a result, whether to use the nominative or accusative case), all you need do is try replacing the word in doubt with a question word.

If the relevant question word is who, then it’s probably the subject (the one who does the action).

If the relevant question word is whom or what, then it’s probably the object (the one to whom the action is done).

Who, whom, what

Let’s try replacing some words with questions:

Maria sees her friend. (Who sees whom?)

The girl pays for the ice cream. (Who pays for what?)

We can immediately tell that Maria is the subject in the first sentence, and should be in the nominative case, while her friend is the object and should be in the accusative.

Likewise, the girl should be in the nominative case in the second sentence, and the ice cream should be in the accusative.

Keeping this in mind, go back to page 58 of Ελληνικά Τώρα 1+1, and complete the exercises on this page.

Questions

Recall that the word for ‘who‘ changes slightly depending on the gender of who you are asking about:

While ποιο is neuter, as in many languages, the masculine ποιος tends to be used by default when asking about someone of unknown gender.

The Greek word for ‘whom‘ also depends on gender:

Just like in English, the words for ‘who‘ and ‘whom‘ are very similar in Greek.

In fact, the neuter ποιο means both ‘who’ and ‘whom’. As does the feminine ποια (though when it appears before a word starting with a vowel or the consonants: κ, ξ, π, τ, ψ, γκ, ντ, μπ, the word for ‘whom’ takes a final -ν to form ποιαν).

Even the masculine ποιος (who) and ποιον (whom) are extremely similar. So similar, in fact, that you might consider them the ‘same word’. And essentially, that’s true!

Ποιος, ποια, ποιο are the nominative forms used in the subject position, and ποιον, ποια(ν), ποιο are the accusative forms of the same word, used in the object position.

Likewise, ‘whom’ is simply the accusative (αιτιατική) form of the nominative (ονομαστική) ‘who’ in English!

How to use these words

While grammatical terms like nominative or ονομαστική and accusative or αιτιατική can be intimidating, the great thing is, the words for who and whom work just the same as in English:

Who wants Yianni? → Kostas wants Yianni.

Ποιος θέλει τον Γιάννη; → Ο Κώστας θέλει τον Γιάννη.

Whom does Kostas want? → Kostas wants Yianni.

Ποιον θέλει ο Κώστας; → Ο Κώστας θέλει τον Γιάννη.

Note that it is not the position in the sentence, but the role that is important. Both who/whom and ποιος/ποιον occur at the beginning of these particular sentences, but ποιος refers to the subject (the one who is doing the wanting), and ποιον refers to the object (the one whom is being wanted).

Now, let’s take a closer look at those answers.

Ποιος

Let’s look at the first question, which uses the nominative (ονομαστική) ποιος to ask ‘Who wants Yianni?’:

Ποιος θέλει τον Γιάννη;

A full answer to this question could be Ο Κώστας θέλει τον Γιάννη. But the second part of that answer is just a repetition of the question. The important information here is ο Κώστας:

Ποιος θέλει τον Γιάννη; → Ο Κώστας (θέλει τον Γιάννη).

Notice how the vital part of the answer ο Κώστας is in the same case as the interrogative ποιος. This is especially clear in the masculine, since masculine nouns and pronouns end with –ς in the ονομαστική case. Kostas is the subject, he is the one who is doing the wanting, and so, his name (and any pronouns substituted for his name) must be nominative.

Ποιον

What about the second question, which uses the accusative (αιτιατική) ποιον to ask ‘Whom does Kostas want?’:

Ποιον θέλει ο Κώστας;

A full answer to this question could be Ο Κώστας θέλει τον Γιάννη. But this time, the second part of that answer is repetitious. The most important information here is τον Γιάννη:

Ποιον θέλει ο Κώστας; → (Ο Κώστας θέλει) τον Γιάννη.

Notice again how the vital part of the answer τον Γιάννη is in the same αιτιατική case as the interrogative ποιον. The final –ς of both words is removed (and in the case of ποιον, replaced with -ν). Yiannis is the object, he is the one whom is being wanted, and so, his name (and any pronouns substituted for his name) must be accusative.

Gender and case

In the two examples above, we used male names for several reasons:

1. masculine nouns and pronouns are more complicated than feminine or neuter ones, so more practice is needed
2. the differences between the nominative and accusative cases are more obvious in the case of masculine nouns and pronounce, and hence are easier to understand
3. masculine pronouns are used as the default in settings where gender is unknown

What would those questions and answers look like for different females? Let’s compare our examples using Kostas and Yiannis to examples using Eleni and Maria in their places:

Ποιος θέλει τον Γιάννη; → Ο Κώστας (θέλει τον Γιάννη).

Ποιος θέλει την Ελένη; → Η Μαρία (θέλει την Ελένη).

Ποιον θέλει ο Κώστας; → (Ο Κώστας θέλει) τον Γιάννη.

Ποιον θέλει η Μαρία; → (Η Μαρία θέλει) την Ελένη.

Notice that the pronouns in the questions do not change. Because we don’t know who is looking for Yiannis or Eleni, we do not know their gender, and so, default to the masculine ποιος. The same is true in the second example – because we don’t know who Kostas and Maria are looking for, or their gender, we use, by default, the masculine ποιον. (Only in very few circumstances, where it was made clear that it was a woman, would ποια(ν) be used instead).

Now look at the answers. The answers to the first question use different articles, ο and η, because the person answering obviously knows the gender of the person being asked about. But even though the genders of these articles are different, they are the same ονομαστική case.

Likewise, the answers to the second question use different articles, τον and την, because, the person answering knows the gender of the person being asked about. But once again, they are the same αιτιατική case.

Τι;

Unlike ποιος/ποια/ποιο and ποιον/ποια(ν)/ποιο, τι is indeclinable – that is, it doesn’t change according to gender or case. So, you can use it in the subject position or the object position, for masculine, feminine, or neuter objects, without modification.

The accusative

Questions using ποιον, and most questions using τι, are asking about an object. So, they should be answered using the αιτιατική.

Ποιον θέλετε; → Τον Κώστα.

Τι θέλετε; → Τον λογαριασμό.

Look at the verb θέλετε. In both of these questions, ‘you’ (the one doing the wanting) are the subject. The object is what is being asked about.

Now, complete the exercises on page 59.