Chapter 5 Flashcards
Inflection refers to
When a word changes its form
In English, a word can change its form (inflection) when:
1 it performs different functions (ex. she/he) or 2 when meaning changes (ex. prince/princess)
True or False: English is highly inflected
false
True or False: Greek is highly inflected
true (almost every word is altered depending on use and meaning in a sentence)
English review: These 5 grammatical concepts affect the form of a word
case, number, gender, natural gender, declension
*Case
formed when words perform a different function in a sentence
The 3 English cases
subjective, possessive, objective
Subjective case
refers to subject in a sentence structure - who is doing the action
possessive case
shows possession (ex. my ball - answers question of ‘who’s ball is it?’)
objective case
direct object - affected by action of the verb
*Number
singular or plural
*Gender
changes form of word depending on the reference to masculine, feminine, or neuter (ex. he vs her or it, prince or princess)
*Natural gender
word takes on gender of object it represents (ex. she for woman)
Do Greek pronouns and nouns follow natural gender?
Greek pronouns follow natural gender but most nouns do not
*Declension
pattern of inflection (English doesn’t use this much anymore, but Greek has 3 basic patterns of inflection to indicate things like case and number)
6 parts of speech in English
noun, adjective, preposition, subject and predicate, definite article, indefinite article
Greek: What does the ending of a Greek verb indicate
person and number
Person and number in Greek
- I and we are 1st person, 2. You is second person, 3 everything else is 3rd person (including he, she, it)
True or False: A Greek sentence does not have to include a subject since it can be contained in the verb
True
Greek: What is crucial in determining the correct gender when looking at the verb?
context
