§ 25. Names and designations of males, nations, the months, rivers, and winds, are almost invariably masculine; those of females, countries, islands, cities, trees, and plants, are usually feminine; of the neuter gender are most names of fruits and diminutives, and always the names of the letters, infinitives, clauses, indeclinable words, and words used as the symbol of a sound. In the third declension especially the (grammatical) gender in many instances is arbitrary.
§ 26. The singular and plural are used as in English. The dual denotes two or a pair; it is comparatively rare, and never occurs in the New Testament.
§ 27. The cases express the relations of words to each other in a sentence, as follows:--
| Name. | Use. | Equivalent. |
| Nominative. | Subject of a finite verb. | (Simple form.) |
| Genitive. | Origin or ownership. | From, of, etc. |
| Dative. | Position or manner. | In, by, for, to, etc. |
| Accusative. | Direction or object. | Toward, into, etc. |
| Vocative. | Address. | O! |
§ 28. The following are the terminations of the First Declension:--
| Singular. | Cases. | Plural. | |
| Masc. | Fem. | Masc. and Fem. | |
| ας or ης | α or η | Nominative. | αι |
| ον | ας or ης | Genitive. | ῶν |
| ᾳ or η | Dative. | αις | |
| αν or ην | Accusative. | ας | |
| α or η | Vocative. | αι | |
| Dual. Nom., Acc., Voc., α; Gen., Dat., αιν. | |||
§ 29. The α in the terminations of the singular is mostly used when ρ, ε,or ι precedes it; and in the Nom., Acc., and Voc. when λ or σ, and frequently when ν, precedes it. A few nouns have α in the Gen. sing.
LESSON III.
NOUNS--Continued.
§ 30. The following are the terminations of the Second Declension:--