5.28 Forms and Syntax of the Definite Article

Make sure you read Croy's information about the definite article. Also, take a look at the First-Second Declension Adjectives Paradigm page, which also includes the definite article. It's a good idea to study the definite article together with nouns and adjectives, instead of studying it in isolation. You will never see the definite article alone - it always appears together with a noun or with an adjective.

Article with names. Please pay careful attention to Croy's discussion of the use of the definite article with names. This often seems very strange to English speakers, but it is something entirely normal in Greek!

Monadic nouns. Please do not worry if you do not understand Croy's discussion of what he calls "monadic" nouns. This is a stylistic distinction (you might even call it a philosophical distinction!), but it is not something that actually has to do with grammar. If this is not a concept already familiar to you from previous language classes you have taken, you can just ignore it for now.

Proclitics. As you will see in the First-Second Declension Adjectives Paradigm charts, the nominative forms of the masculine and feminine definite article do not have accent marks! Instead, they "lean" forward onto the noun or adjective that follows them. This makes them "proclitics", or "forward-leaners." When you see the nominative form of the masculine or feminine definite article, singular or plural, it is not really a separate word of its own, but a syllable that you run together with the following word:

ὁ θάνατος οὐ καλός.

πιστοὶ οἱ ἄνθρωποι.

Practice. You can practice the forms of the definite article by using the Accusative with Definite Article Drill.