Gender in Greek is a grammatical category and is not identical with sex. Usually, however, words that refer to living beings of the male sex are of masculine gender, and those which refer to living beings of female sex are of feminine gender. Nouns, which in English are neuter, i.e., those referring to non-living things without regard to biological sex, are in Greek of the masculine, feminine or neuter grammatical gender.
Thus, γύρος (=gyro) is of masculine gender, πατάτα (=potato) is of feminine gender and σουβλάκι (=souvlaki) is of neuter gender. In the vocabulary lists the gender is indicated by the appropriate form of the definite article: ο for masculine nouns, η for feminine nouns and το for neuter nouns. While memorizing the vocabulary, it helps to learn each word’s gender and article. Can we guess the gender of a Greek noun?
USEFUL TIPIn most cases we can guess the gender from the ending of the noun. Each Greek noun is divided into two parts: a stem, which shows the dictionary meaning of the word, and an ending, which shows the noun’s number and case. i.e., ο γύρ-ος, η πατάτ-α, το σουβλάκ-ι. The table below will help you guess the gender and the correct article from the ending of the word. These are the most common endings of the masculine, feminine, and neuter nouns.
GENDER ARTICLE ENDING
Masculine gender ο -ος, -ης, -ας, -ες
Feminine gender η -α, -η, -ω
Neuter gender το -ι, -ο
Let’s apply the above rule in the names of the twelve Ancient Greek gods. You probably know their names in English. This is how they are written in Greek.
ARTICLE GREEK NAME PRONUNCIATION ENGLISH NAME
o Δί-ας or Ζεύς DEEas or ZEfs Zeus
o Ποσειδών-ας posiDOnas Poseidon
o Απόλλων-ας aPOlonas Apollo
o Ερμ-ής erMEES Hermes
o Άρ-ης Aris Ares
o Ήφαιστ-ος EEfestos Hephaestus
η Ήρ-α EEra Hera
η Αθην-ά athiNA Athena
η Δήμητρ-α DEEmitra Dimitra
η Εστί-α eSTEEa Hestia
η Άρτεμ-η Artemis Artemis
η Αφροδίτ-η afroDEEti Aphrodite
The gender of the Ancient Greek god names can be easily guessed by their sex. Yet, the endings rule in defining the gender still applies. You can always refer to an example of a god name, if you want to remember which are the appropriate endings that define the masculine or the feminine gender. Thus words ending in –ας like: Δί-ας, Ποσειδών-ας, Απόλλων-ας, in –ης like: Ερμ-ής, Άρ-ης, and in –ος like: Ήφαιστος are of masculine gender and take the article ο. Words ending in –α like: Ήρ-α, Αθην-ά, Δήμητρ-α and in –η like: Άρτεμ-η, Αφροδίτ-η are of feminine gender and take the article η.
Let’s add some more well known ancient Greek names. Remember that Greek feminine names can end in –ω.
ARTICLE GREEK NAME PRONUNCIATION ENGLISH NAME
o Αχιλλέ-ας ahiLEas Achilles
ο Οδυσσέ-ας odiSEas Odysseus
ο Πλάτων-ας PLAtonas Plato
ο Όμηρ-ος Omiros Homer
ο Σωκράτ-ης soCRAtis Socrates
ο Αριστοτέλ-ης aristoTElis Aristotle
ο Περικλ-ής periKLEES Pericles
η Πανδώρ-α panDOra Pandora
η Κλυταιμνήστρ-α kliteMNEEstra Clytemnestra
η Αντιγόν-η antiYOni Antigone
η Πηνελόπ-η pineLOpi Penelope
η Σαπφ-ώ sapFO Sappho
η Καλυψ-ώ kaliPSO Calypso
EXERCISE
Separate the stem from the ending in the below Greek names and add the correct article.
ARTICLE NAME PRONUNCIATION STEM-ENDING
Μαρία maREEa
Ελένη eLEni
Δημήτρης diMEEtris
Γιώργος yiOrgos
Πέτρος PEtros
Κατερίνα kateREEna
Χρήστος HREEstos
Βασίλης vaSEElis
Σταύρος STAvros
Νίκη NEEki
Σπύρος SPEEros
Αντώνης aNTOnis
Κώστας KOstas
Γιάννης yiAnis
Αγγελική ageliKEE
Βάσω VAso
Βασιλική vasiliKEE
PRONUNCIATION KEY
i (idiom), ee (needle), e (energy), o (organism), oo (boot), y (yes), h (helium), th (theory), d (the). The capitalized syllables are accented.