Learning Vocabulary

We've discussed various tools for learning vocabulary - e.g., flashcards and Greek vocabulary books, software programs (we haven't really discussed this one yet), etc. Choose and use whatever helps you best or most efficiently learn the words.

Most vocabulary flashcards and books, as well as lexicons, list nouns as:

nominative singular, genitive singular ending, article (to indicate the noun's gender)

E.g.:

λογος, -ου, ο and αδελφη, -ης, η

While this is the way words are listed, it might be better to memorize the words with the article first, e.g.:

ο λογος, -ου and η αδελφη, -ης

This way you will always associate the gender (ο masculine, η feminine, το neuter) with the noun, which comes in handy when dealing with 1st-declension masculine nouns like ο μαθητης or 2nd-declension feminine nouns like η οδος, since most 1st-declension nouns are feminine, and most 2nd-declension nouns are masculine or neuter.

At a minimum one should learn (memorize) the word with the article, e.g.:

ο λογος = "(the) word" and η αδελφη = "(the) sister"

and not simply as:

λογος = "word" and αδελφη = "sister"

When it comes to 3rd-declension nouns, though (Lesson 17, Section 116ff.; Lesson 25, Section 175ff.), you need to know the genitive form, too, because that contains the noun's lexical stem. (This is actually true for all declensions, but in 1st- and 2nd-declension nouns the nominative and genitive use the same stem.)

Ideally one should learn a noun (with the article, of course) in both its nominative form and its genitive form, not just the genitive ending, because even though the genitive form is regular for 1st- and 2nd-declension nouns, sometimes the accent changes.