Adjectives

Adjectives are describing words. They give more information about a noun or about another adjective.

Usage

 * When used, adjectives have gender, case and number. The lexical form is the nominative masculine singuler. Which case, forms are chosen depends on the function of the adjective in a sentence.

Functions of adjective
In Greek, adjectives can have three functions:


 * attributive - the adjective directly modifies or adds meaning to a word it is attached to, e.g. "the red dog".
 * The head term is the word the adjective modifies. In "the red dog", "dog" is the head term.
 * In attributive usage, the adjective agrees in case, number and gender with the head term.
 * Attributive positions in a sentence:
 * 1st position: ὁ ἀγαθὸς λόγος - the natural "English" position.
 * 2nd position: ὁ λόγος ὁ ἀγαθὸς
 * 3rd position: εἰρήνην τὴν ἐμὴν (my peace) - less common but it does exist. Recognisable from translations like "Jerusalem the golden".
 * predicative - the adjective asserts something i.e. gives more information about the word in the form of a predicate, usually with the verb "to be". E.g. "the dog is red".
 * In Greek the verb "to be" may be implied and not supplied.
 * In this case, like a predicate nominative, the adjective is in the nominative case.
 * substantival - the adjective functions like a noun, for example, "I like the good". In translation, sometimes a noun has to be supplied.
 * In such cases the case is determined by the function of the substantive in the sentence, as though it were a noun
 * The number and gender is determined by what the substantive stands for.

Spotting the function of the adjective
The position of the article is usually decisive: