Feminine and Masculine Accusative Singular

---

Introduction

The feminine and masculine accusative singular marker is /Ṇ. This becomes α after a consonant and ν after a vowel, as depicted visually on this simple chart:

This is the default formation of the feminine and masculine accusative singular:

	1st declension (-α/)	2nd declension (-ο/)	3rd declension
Nominative singular	κεφαλά/Lø > κεφαλή	ἄνθρωπο/ς > ἄνθρωπος	πόλι/ς > πόλις νύκτ/ς > νύξ
Accusative singular	κεφαλά/Ṇ > κεφαλήν	ἄνθρωπο/Ṇ > ἄνθρωπον	πόλι/Ṇ > πόλιν νύκτ/Ṇ > νύκτα

---

Intermediate

The consonants ϝ and σ drop when intervocalic. As a result:

     βασιλέϝ/Ṇ > βασιλέϝα > βασιλέα (Ionic)
     ἀληθέσ/Ṇ > ἀληθέσα > ἀληθέα (Ionic)

This is relevant only in the 3rd declension, where bases end in letters other than -α/ and -ο/.

In Attic, -εα regularly contracts to -η. As a result, we find:

     βασιλέϝ/Ṇ > βασιλέϝα > βασιλέα > βασιλῆ (Attic)
     ἀληθέσ/Ṇ > ἀληθέσα > ἀληθέα > ἀληθῆ (Attic)

---

Advanced

Some masculine accusative singular forms, after the dropping of σ, might not look correct. Consider the name Socrates (Σωκράτεσ/):

     ὁ Σωκράτης (nominative singular)
     τὸν Σωρκάτη (accusative singular)

Of course, there are other masculine nouns (of the 1st declension) with nominative singular forms in -ης. In the accusative singular, these nouns end in -ην, with the clear accusative singular marker -ν present:

     ὁ ποιητής (nominative singular)
     τὸν ποιητήν (accusative singular)

Although Σωκράτεσ/ belongs to the 3rd declension, to some speakers of Greek the accusative singular Σωκράτη didn’t quite feel right, so they hypercorrected it:

     τὸν Σωκράτην (accusative singular)

“Hypercorrection” is when we produce the incorrect form of a word by false analogy or because we think erroneously that the word should actually look like another word. For instance, because of words like hesitation : hesitate we erroneously say conversation : conversate, when the correct word is converse. THIS SHOULD BE IN THE GLOSSARY (and also hover over?)

In the particular case of τὸν Σωκράτην, this is the form that Xenophon uses. Xenophon was an associate of Socrates. Plato, however, who was also an associate of Socrates and a contemporary of Xenophon, said τὸν Σωκράτη.

---

Vocabulary for this lesson (click here for the full lexicon)

---

Related

Nominative singular

Accusative plural