Feminine nouns ending in -α are one of the first things you learn in Greek and one of the most useful, because the class is enormous and everyday: η γυναίκα (woman), η ώρα (hour, time), η μέρα (day), η θάλασσα (sea), η γλώσσα (language, tongue). If you can decline one of them, you can decline hundreds. This page gives the full paradigm, the small set of forms that actually change, and the one cell that genuinely trips people up — the genitive plural.
The good news first: in the singular, only the article and the genitive carry the grammatical work. The noun itself barely moves. That makes -α feminines an ideal place to see how Greek marks case with very little effort on the noun.
The basic paradigm
Take η ώρα ("hour," also "the time"). Learn this grid and you have the pattern.
| Singular | Plural | |
|---|---|---|
| Nominative | η ώρα | οι ώρες |
| Genitive | της ώρας | των ωρών |
| Accusative | την ώρα | τις ώρες |
| Vocative | ώρα | ώρες |
Two things to lock in immediately.
The nominative and the accusative singular are identical — both η/την ώρα. Only the article changes (η → την). This is unlike English, where "I" and "me" are different words; in Greek the -α noun keeps its shape and lets the article do the pointing. So "the hour is late" and "I know the hour" use the same word ώρα, only η ώρα vs την ώρα.
The genitive singular ends in -ας: της ώρας, της μέρας, της θάλασσας. This -ας is how you say "of the …": το χρώμα της θάλασσας ("the colour of the sea"). Don't confuse it with the plural — it is singular.
Τι ώρα είναι; Δεν έχω ρολόι.
Ti óra íne; Dhen ého rolói.
What time is it? I don't have a watch.
Η γυναίκα δίπλα μου διαβάζει μια εφημερίδα.
I yinéka dhípla mu dhiavázi mia efimerídha.
The woman next to me is reading a newspaper.
Το καλοκαίρι κολυμπάμε στη θάλασσα κάθε μέρα.
To kalokéri kolimbáme sti thálasa káthe méra.
In summer we swim in the sea every day.
The plural: everything becomes -ες
In the plural, the nominative, accusative and vocative all end in -ες: οι/τις ώρες, οι/τις γυναίκες, οι/τις θάλασσες. There is no separate accusative form — "the hours are long" and "I waited two hours" both use ώρες, with the article (οι → τις) doing the case work, exactly as in the singular.
Πέρασαν κιόλας τρεις ώρες και δεν τελείωσα.
Pérasan kiólas tris óres ke dhen telíosa.
Three hours have already gone by and I haven't finished.
Μιλάει τρεις γλώσσες: ελληνικά, αγγλικά και ιταλικά.
Milái tris ghlóses: eliniká, angliká ke italiká.
She speaks three languages: Greek, English and Italian.
Οι μέρες μικραίνουν τώρα που ήρθε το φθινόπωρο.
I méres mikrénun tóra pu írthe to fthinóporo.
The days are getting shorter now that autumn's here.
The tricky cell: the genitive plural
Here is the one form worth slowing down for. The genitive plural ends in -ων, and for a large group of these nouns the stress jumps to that final -ών:
- η θάλασσα → των θαλασσών (of the seas)
- η ώρα → των ωρών (of the hours)
- η γλώσσα → των γλωσσών (of the languages)
- η γυναίκα → των γυναικών (of the women)
Look at what happens inside η θάλασσα: everywhere else the stress sits on θά- (θάλασσα, θάλασσας, θάλασσες), but in the genitive plural alone it leaps to the end — θαλασσών. That shift is not decoration; putting the accent in the wrong place is a spelling-and-pronunciation error to a Greek ear.
Not every -α feminine shifts, though. A few keep their stress where it is: η μητέρα → των μητέρων (of the mothers), not ×των μητερών. Because the genitive plural is (a) irregular in its stress and (b) genuinely uncommon in everyday speech — you can go a long time before needing "of the women" — most learners are right to meet the paradigm now and drill the accent later. The full logic of which nouns shift and which don't lives on the genitive plural page.
Η προστασία των θαλασσών είναι πρόβλημα όλων μας.
I prostasía ton thalasón íne próvlima ólon mas.
Protecting the seas is a problem for us all.
Contrast: feminines in -η
Greek has a second big feminine class, the one ending in -η: η νίκη (victory), η αγάπη (love), η τέχνη (art). In the plural the two classes look identical — both end in -ες (οι ώρες, οι νίκες). The difference shows only in the singular, and specifically in the genitive:
| -α type (η ώρα) | -η type (η νίκη) | |
|---|---|---|
| Nom. sg | η ώρα | η νίκη |
| Gen. sg | της ώρας | της νίκης |
| Nom. pl | οι ώρες | οι νίκες |
So the whole practical difference between the two classes is -ας vs -ης in the genitive singular. Everything else lines up. The -η class gets its own treatment on feminine nouns in -η.
Η φωνή της μητέρας μου με ηρεμεί πάντα.
I foní tis mitéras mu me iremí pánda.
My mother's voice always calms me down.
Common Mistakes
1. Using the plural -ες as a singular. The ending -ες is plural, full stop. "One beer" is μία μπίρα, never ×μία μπίρες.
❌ Θέλω μία μπίρες, παρακαλώ.
—
Wrong — -ες is plural; for one, use μία μπίρα.
✅ Θέλω μία μπίρα, παρακαλώ.
Thélo mía bíra, parakaló.
I'd like one beer, please.
2. Dropping the -ς in the genitive singular. "Of the …" needs -ας: της θάλασσας, not ×της θάλασσα.
❌ το χρώμα της θάλασσα
—
Wrong — the genitive singular is της θάλασσας.
✅ το χρώμα της θάλασσας
to chróma tis thálasas
the colour of the sea
3. Building an accusative singular with -ες. The accusative singular of an -α noun is still -α; only the article changes.
❌ Ξέρω εκείνη τη γυναίκες.
—
Wrong — accusative singular is γυναίκα: εκείνη τη γυναίκα.
✅ Ξέρω εκείνη τη γυναίκα.
Kséro ekíni ti yinéka.
I know that woman.
4. Not shifting the accent in the genitive plural. For nouns that shift, the accent moves to -ών.
❌ ο βυθός των θάλασσων
—
Wrong — the accent jumps to the end: των θαλασσών.
✅ ο βυθός των θαλασσών
o vithós ton thalasón
the depths of the seas
Key Takeaways
- Feminine -α nouns are the biggest, most everyday feminine class: η γυναίκα, η ώρα, η μέρα, η θάλασσα.
- In the singular, nominative = accusative (η ώρα / την ώρα); the genitive singular is -ας (της ώρας).
- The whole plural is -ες (οι ώρες, τις ώρες) — and -ες is never a singular.
- The genitive plural is -ων, and for many nouns the accent shifts to -ών (η θάλασσα → των θαλασσών); a few keep their stress (η μητέρα → των μητέρων).
- The sister class in -η is identical in the plural; the only real difference is the genitive singular, -ας vs -ης.
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Start learning Greek→Related Topics
- Feminine Nouns in -ηA1 — The second great feminine class — η αγάπη, η νίκη, η τέχνη, η ζάχαρη — declined in full, with its -ης genitive singular, its plain -ες plural, and the warning that a big learned subgroup (η πόλη → οι πόλεις) breaks the pattern.
- The Genitive Plural (-ων)B1 — The plural 'of the…' form ends in -ων for almost every Greek noun (των ανθρώπων, των παιδιών, των πόλεων→-εων), and the article is always των — but the stress is the trickiest in the language, so natives often sidestep the awkward ones with από + accusative.