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LESSON V

The First Declension

46. Vocabulary

ljqeia, , truth.
basilea, , a kingdom.
graf, , a writing, a Scripture.
dxa, , glory.
ernj, , peace
kkljsa, , a church.
ntol, , a commandment. 		zw, life.
mra, , a day.
karda, a heart.
parabol, a parable.
fwn, , a voice.
yuc, a soul, a life.
ra, an hour

47. All nouns of the first declension ending in a or j are feminine.

48. The declension of ra, , an hour, is as follows:

Sing.
N.V. ra
G. rav
D. r
A. ran 		Plur.
N.V. rai
G. rn
D. raiv
A. rav
49. The stem of ra is ra-, and the first declension is sometimes called the a- declension, because its stems end in a. Since, however, the final vowel of the stem enters

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into various combinations with the endings it is more convenient for the beginner to regard r- as the stem and -a, -av, etc., as the endings. It should be noticed that a is characteristic of this declension as o is of the second declension.

50. It should be observed that the a in the nominative, genitive, and accusative singular, and in the accusative plural is long.

51. The genitive plural shows an exception to the rule of noun accent. The rule of noun accent would require the accent to remain on the same syllable as in the nominative singular. But nouns of the first declension have a circumflex on the ultima in the genitive plural no matter where the accent was in the nominative singular.

52. The declension of basilea a kingdom, is exactly like that of ra, since here also there is a long accented penult in the nominative singular followed by a long a in the ultima.

53. The declension of lqeia, , , truth, is as follows:

Sing.
Plur.

N.V. lqeia
G. ljqeav
D. ljqe
A. lqeian

N.V. lqeiai
G. ljqein
D. ljqeaiv
A. ljqeav

This noun has a short a in the ultima in the nominative singular, and when in the first declension the a is short in the nominative singular it is also short in the accusative singular. In the accusative plural the a is long in all first declension nouns. The accent follows the noun rule every. where except in the genitive plural (see 51).

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54. The declension of dxa, , glory, is as follows:

Sing.
Plur.
N.V.dxa
G. dxjv
D. dx
A. dxan 		N.V. dxai
G. doxn
D. dxaiv
A. dxav

55. The a in the nominative singular of first-declension nouns is changed to j in the genitive and dative singular except after e, i, or r.

56. The declension of graf, , a writing, a Scripture, is as follows:

Sing.
Plur.
N.V. graf
G. grafv
D. graf
A. grafn 		N.V. grafa
G. grafn
D. grafav
A. grafv

57. When a first-declension noun ends in j in the nominative singular, the j is retained throughout the singular. But the plurals of all first-declension nouns are alike.

58. In the first declension (exactly as in the second, see 40), when the ultima is accented at all, it has the circumflex in the genitives and datives of both numbers, elsewhere the acute.

59. Exercises

I. 1. yuc blpei zwn. 2. basilea ginskei lqeian. 3. nqrwpov grfei ntolv ka nmouv. 4. pstoloi lambnousi dolouv ka dra ka kkljsav. 5. pstoloi ka

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kkljsai blpousi zwn ka qnaton. 6. uv dolou lgei paraboln kkljs 7. paraboln lgomen ka ntoln ka nmon. 8. basileav ginskete ka kkljsav. 9. kkljsan didskei pstolov ka basilean dolov. 10. nmon ka paraboln grfei nqrwpov kkljs. 11. kardai nqrpwn cousi zwn ka ernjn. 12. fwn postlwn didskei yucv dolwn 13. ra cei dxan. 14. fwna kkljsin didskousi basileav ka nqrpouv. 15. blpeiv dra ka dxan. 16. grfei kkljs lgon zwv. 17. lgei kardaiv nqrpwn paraboln ka nmon. 18. grfei kkljs uv postlou.

II. 1. A kingdom takes glory. 2. Churches are saying parables to hearts of men. 3. A heart of a man is teaching an apostle, and a voice of an apostle is teaching a servant. 4. We have writings of apostles. 5. Churches have peace and glory. 6. A day sees life and death. 7. Apostles take temples and kingdoms. 8. We see houses and temples and churches. 9. A servant says a parable to hearts of men. 10. We know voices of churches and words of truth. 11. A voice of an apostle says a parable to souls of men.

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