The vocative: how to call out to someone
The fourth case is the vocative, and it is alive: it calls rather than describes. Names in -ος change their ending: Νίκος → Νίκο! Γιώργος → Γιώργο! For example: “Νίκο, τι κάνεις;” — Nikos, how are you?. A rule from the Greek course: worked out on examples, not memorized as a wording.
How it works
The fourth case is the vocative, and it is alive: it calls rather than describes. Names in -ος change their ending: Νίκος (Níkos) → Νίκο (Níko)! Γιώργος → Γιώργο!
English manages the same job with tone and a comma — "John!" — Greek gives it a shape of the word, and the shape is obligatory, not optional. Calling a person in the nominative sounds like reading a name off a list.
The article never appears in the vocative: not "ο Νίκο (o Níko)" but simply Νίκο. With female names and with most other words the form equals the nominative, so the only thing to remember is the masculine -ος → -ε/-ο (-o).
By example
- Νίκο, τι κάνεις;Níko, ti kánis?Nikos, how are you?
- Γιατρέ, με ακούτε;yatré, me akúte?Doctor, can you hear me?
- Άννα, έλα εδώÁna, éla edóAnna, come here
How the rule settles in your head
A rule is not memorized from an explanation. It is memorized from an attempt to use it and a mistake — that is why the app delivers it mixed in with words, not as a separate lesson: it resurfaces exactly where you forgot it.
Frequently asked
The vocative: how does it work in Greek?
The fourth case is the vocative, and it is alive: it calls rather than describes. Names in -ος change their ending: Νίκος → Νίκο! Γιώργος → Γιώργο!
What does it look like in an example sentence Greek?
“Νίκο, τι κάνεις;” (Níko, ti kánis?) — Nikos, how are you?. A rule is easier to test on sentences like this than to memorize as a wording: what surfaces in conversation is the sentence.