Noun cases

There are five noun cases in koine Greek: the nominative, genitive, dative, accusative, and vocative cases.

1) The nominative case: The nominative case is used for the subject of a sentence. In the sentence

The dog sees the cat.

'dog' or 'the dog' is the subject of the sentence, and in Greek it would be in the nominative.

2) The accusative case: The accusative case is used for - among other things - the direct object of a sentence. In the sentence above, 'the cat' is the direct object, the object which the dogs sees. In Greek it would be in the accusative.

3) The genitive case: This case has a variety of uses, but one basic use is to indicate possession. In the sentence

The dog ate the cat's food.

'cat's' or 'the cat's' is in the genitive case.

4) The dative case: The dative case (which is no longer used in modern Greek) also has a number of uses. It is used after some prepositions, and it also indicates the indirect object. In the sentence

Paul sent a letter to the Corinthians.

'Corinthians' or 'the Corinthians' would be expressed using the dative.

5) The vocative case: This case is used for direct address. In the sentence

Fido, leave the cat's food alone.

Fido would be in the vocative case.