Επίθετα (adjectives) describe things. Remember the meanings of these επίθετα?
- καλός – κακός
- όμορφος – άσκημος
- μεγάλος – μικρός
- ψηλός – κοντός
Consonant-stem -ος/-η/-ο adjectives
Note that all of the adjectives we’ve learned so far have a stem ending with a consonant. That is, the sound before the -ος ending is not a vowel: καλός, κακός etc.
To make the neuter version of these adjectives, simply remove the final -ς: καλό, κακό etc.
To make the feminine version, simply change the -ος to -η: καλή, κακή etc.
| καλός | καλή | καλό |
| όμορφος | όμορφη | όμορφο |
| μεγάλος | μεγάλη | μεγάλο |
| ψηλός | ψηλή | ψηλό |
But not all adjectives have a stem ending with a consonant!
Black and blue
Remember the words for black and light blue in Greek?
Μαύρος και γαλάζιος
How about when they are in the feminine?
Μαύρη και γαλάζια
| μαύρος | μαύρη | μαύρο |
| κόκκινος | κόκκινη | κόκκινο |
| κίτρινος | κίτρινη | κίτρινο |
| γαλάζιος | γαλάζια | γαλάζιο |
You might recall that γαλάζιος was the only one of the colours we encountered that ends with –α rather than –η in its feminine version. That’s because its stem (γαλάζι) ends with a vowel sound.
Vowel-stem -ος/-α/-ο adjectives
Many other adjectives have stems ending with vowel sounds:
- ωραίος
- πλούσιος
- νέος
- κρύος
| ωραίος | ωραία | ωραίο |
| πλούσιος | πλούσια | πλούσιο |
| νέος | νέα | νέο |
| κρύος | κρύα | κρύο |
The neuter version of these adjectives is the same as for those with stems ending in consonants. Simply remove the –ς.
To make the feminine version, however, you need to change the –ος to –α: ωραία, πλούσια etc.
Agreement
Adjectives must agree with the nouns they describe. That is, if you have a masculine noun (like ο Κώστας), the adjective must also be masculine (είναι αστείος, not αστεία or αστείο).
You can practice matching adjectives to nouns based on their gender with Sara, who is also learning Greek:
Turn to page 64 of Ελληνικά Τώρα 1+1 and underline the subject of each sentence. Then, paying attention to the gender of that noun, write in the correct ending for each adjective.
Now, take a look at the list of επίθετα in part B. Underline the -ος endings, then circle the final letter of their stems. Can you predict which ones will change to –α and which will change to -η? Write the feminine and neuter versions of each word on the lines provided, paying careful attention to the feminine endings. Look up the meanings of any unfamiliar words in the glossary.
Finally, complete exercise K on page 30 of the Ελληνικά Τώρα 1 workbook.
If you haven’t already, watch the rest of Rita’s greek2go video. It’s an excellent summary of adjectives at the A1 level in Modern Greek:
greek_ciwm2e