Alongside the -α feminines sits the other great feminine class: nouns ending in -η, pronounced /i/ ("ee"). These are some of the warmest, most-used words in the language — η αγάπη (love), η ζωή (life), η φωνή (voice), η νίκη (victory), η τέχνη (art), η ζάχαρη (sugar). This page declines them in full, shows how they differ from the -α class by a single letter, and flags an important trap: a large learned subgroup that looks the same in the singular but pluralises completely differently.
Before the grammar, a spelling point that matters here more than almost anywhere. The sound /i/ can be written five ways in Greek (η, ι, υ, ει, οι), and you cannot hear which one a word takes. But -η is the default spelling for a feminine noun ending in /i/. If you learn a new feminine word that ends in that sound, reach for η first — it will usually be right. The full picture is on spelling the /i/ sound.
The basic paradigm
Take η αγάπη ("love"). This is the model for the whole regular class.
| Singular | Plural | |
|---|---|---|
| Nominative | η αγάπη | οι αγάπες |
| Genitive | της αγάπης | των αγαπών |
| Accusative | την αγάπη | τις αγάπες |
| Vocative | αγάπη | αγάπες |
The shape is a near-twin of the -α class. Nominative and accusative singular are identical (η αγάπη / την αγάπη); the noun keeps its form and the article does the case-marking. The genitive singular ends in -ης (της αγάπης, "of love") — this is the one letter that separates the class from the -α feminines, whose genitive is -ας.
The vocative is worth a special mention, because for this class it is genuinely everyday: αγάπη μου ("my love") is one of the commonest terms of endearment in Greek, and it is simply the vocative of η αγάπη.
Η αγάπη μιας μητέρας δεν τελειώνει ποτέ.
I aghápi mias mitéras dhen telióni poté.
A mother's love never ends.
Σ' αγαπώ, αγάπη μου.
S' aghapó, aghápi mu.
I love you, my love.
Θέλεις ζάχαρη στον καφέ σου;
Thélis záchari ston kafé su;
Do you want sugar in your coffee?
The plural: -ες, exactly like the -α class
In the plural these behave just like the -α feminines: the nominative, accusative and vocative all end in -ες — οι/τις αγάπες, οι/τις τέχνες, οι/τις φωνές. The consequence is neat and worth memorising: in the plural, -α and -η feminines are indistinguishable (οι ώρες and οι νίκες share the same ending). The two classes part ways only in the genitive singular.
Άκουσα φωνές από το διπλανό διαμέρισμα.
Ákusa fonés apó to dhiplanó dhiamérizma.
I heard voices from the flat next door.
Η μαγειρική κι αυτή είναι μια τέχνη.
I mayirikí ki aftí íne mia téchni.
Cooking, too, is an art.
Η ομάδα μας πανηγύρισε τη νίκη μέχρι τα ξημερώματα.
I omádha mas paniyírise ti níki méchri ta ksimerómata.
Our team celebrated the victory until dawn.
Like the -α class, the genitive plural is -ων with the accent on the ending: των αγαπών, των τεχνών, των φωνών. Watch the classic institution name η Σχολή Καλών Τεχνών ("the School of Fine Arts") — καλών τεχνών is just the genitive plural of οι καλές τέχνες, accent duly shifted. (Like all Greek genitive plurals, this cell is far more common in writing and set phrases than in casual speech.)
Σπουδάζει ζωγραφική στη Σχολή Καλών Τεχνών.
Spudházi zoghrafikí sti Scholí Kalón Technón.
She studies painting at the School of Fine Arts.
Warning: not every -η noun makes its plural in -ες
Here is the trap. A large, high-frequency group of feminine nouns also ends in -η in the singular — η πόλη (city), η δύναμη (strength), η τάξη (class), η λέξη (word), η σκέψη (thought) — but takes a completely different plural in -εις: οι πόλεις, οι δυνάμεις, οι τάξεις. These are learned words inherited more directly from Ancient Greek, and they are far too common to skip.
You cannot always tell from the singular which group a word is in, but a strong clue helps: nouns ending in -ση, -ξη, -ψη (η σκέψη, η τάξη, η λέξη, η απόφαση, η αίσθηση) almost always belong to the -εις group, as do a cluster of everyday abstractions like η πόλη and η δύναμη. Most other -η nouns (αγάπη, νίκη, τέχνη, φωνή, ζωή, βροχή, τιμή) are regular and take -ες. Because the -εις class is so important, it gets a page to itself: learned feminines η πόλη → οι πόλεις.
Ξέρω μόνο λίγες λέξεις στα ελληνικά ακόμα.
Kséro móno líyes léksis sta eliniká akóma.
I only know a few words in Greek so far.
Common Mistakes
1. Spelling the /i/ ending with -ι instead of -η. A feminine noun in /i/ almost always takes -η.
❌ η αγάπι
—
Wrong spelling — a feminine noun ends -η: η αγάπη.
✅ η αγάπη
i aghápi
love
2. Dropping the -ς in the genitive singular. "Of life," "of love" need -ης.
❌ το νόημα της ζωή
—
Wrong — the genitive singular is της ζωής.
✅ το νόημα της ζωής
to nóima tis zoís
the meaning of life
3. Giving a regular -η noun the learned -εις plural. αγάπη, νίκη and τέχνη take plain -ες.
❌ οι αγάπεις
—
Wrong — αγάπη is regular: οι αγάπες. Only the learned class (πόλη) takes -εις.
✅ οι αγάπες
i aghápes
the loves / love affairs
4. Failing to shift the accent in the genitive plural. For this class the accent moves to -ών.
❌ η Σχολή Καλών Τέχνων
—
Wrong — the accent jumps to the end: Καλών Τεχνών.
✅ η Σχολή Καλών Τεχνών
i Scholí Kalón Technón
the School of Fine Arts
Key Takeaways
- Feminine -η nouns (η αγάπη, η νίκη, η τέχνη, η ζωή) are the second big feminine class; -η is the default spelling for a feminine noun ending in /i/.
- Singular: nominative = accusative (η/την αγάπη), genitive -ης (της αγάπης) — the one letter that distinguishes them from the -α class.
- The plural is -ες — identical to the -α feminines (οι αγάπες, τις αγάπες); the genitive plural is -ών with the accent shifted (των τεχνών).
- Beware the learned subgroup: η πόλη, η δύναμη, η τάξη, η λέξη look the same in the singular but pluralise in -εις — covered on its own page.
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Start learning Greek→Related Topics
- Learned Feminines: η πόλη → οι πόλειςB1 — The Ancient-derived feminine class — η πόλη, η δύναμη, η τάξη, η λέξη — that ends in -η like an ordinary feminine but takes the plural -εις and the distinctive genitive plural -εων (των πόλεων). Ultra-common words you cannot avoid.
- Spelling the /i/ Sound: η ι υ ει οιA2 — The single hardest thing about writing Greek: five different spellings — η, ι, υ, ει, οι (plus archaic υι) — all sound identical, /i/. You can't hear which one a word takes, but you can predict most of them from grammatical endings and word families. This is the page to master.