A Question about case ending

[Abraham Gao]

I am a very beginner of biblical greek, and I am very confused about the meaning of "case" and "case endings". Are case endings varying with different case only, or they are varying with the number and gender also? If case endings vary with number and gender, then why are they called case endings?
I am confused because of the following sentences in Mounce's textbook.


Number. Instead of adding an “s” to a word, Greek indicates singular or plural by using different case endings. The difference between the singular and plural is indicated by the case endings ς and ι.

Basics of Biblical Greek Grammar Mounce, William D.P 36

[Ken M. Penner]

I thought I'd see what Bing Chat would do with this question. Here's its reply:

Hello, this is Bing. I can help you with your question about Greek case endings.

A case is a grammatical category that indicates the function of a noun, pronoun, or adjective in a sentence. For example, the nominative case is used for the subject of a verb, the genitive case is used for possession, the dative case is used for the indirect object, and the accusative case is used for the direct object. The vocative case is used for direct address, such as when you call someone by name.

Case endings are the suffixes that are added to the stem of a word to show its case. For example, in Greek, the word for "God" is θεός (theos) in the nominative case, but θεοῦ (theou) in the genitive case, θεῷ (theōi) in the dative case, and θεόν (theon) in the accusative case. The case endings vary not only with the case, but also with the number and gender of the word. For example, in Greek, the word for "word" is λόγος (logos) in the nominative singular masculine, but λόγου (logou) in the genitive singular masculine, λόγῳ (logōi) in the dative singular masculine, λόγον (logon) in the accusative singular masculine, λόγοι (logoi) in the nominative plural masculine, λόγων (logōn) in the genitive plural masculine, λόγοις (logois) in the dative plural masculine, and λόγους (logous) in the accusative plural masculine.

The reason why they are called case endings is because they indicate the case of the word. The number and gender are additional features that are also marked by the endings. In other words, the endings show more than just the case, but they are still called case endings because case is their primary function.

I hope this helps you understand Greek case endings better. You can find more information about them from these sources: [The Five Cases in the Greek Language](^1^), [5. The cases / Οι](^2^), [Hellenistic Greek: Lesson 4: Second Declension Nouns](^3^), and [​Greek Grammar - The Greek Case System](^4^). Have a nice day!

Source: Conversation with Bing, 2023-08-22
(1) The Five Cases in the Greek Language - Greek Boston. https://www.greekboston.com/learn-speak/five-cases/.
(2) 5. The cases / Οι - Greek Grammar. https://www.greekgrammar.eu/pdffiles/cases.pdf.
(3) Hellenistic Greek: Lesson 4: Second Declension Nouns. https://hellenisticgreek.com/04.html.
(4) Greek Grammar - The Greek Case System - Blue Letter Bible. https://www.blueletterbible.org/resourc ... system.cfm.

[Brian Gould]

Briefly, yes, the endings do vary with gender and number as well as with case. Why does Mounce call them “case endings”? I don't know, but they can also be called "noun endings", to distinguish them from verb endings.

https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dl ... 5/mode/2up

[Abraham Gao]

Thank you for your answers and references. I think I am more clear about this.