Most Greek nouns keep the same number of syllables in the singular and the plural: ο δρόμος → οι δρόμοι (both two syllables). But a big, everyday group does something English speakers find genuinely strange — it grows an extra syllable when it goes plural: ο ψαράς → οι ψαράδες, ο καφές → οι καφέδες, ο παππούς → οι παππούδες. Grammar books call these ανισοσύλλαβα ("unequal-syllable") nouns, or in English imparisyllabic. This page teaches the four classes, how to build their forms, and how to tell them apart from the "normal" (parisyllabic) masculines — that is, everything the plural does. What the singular of the end-stressed members does (the stripped-down του καφέ, του παππού, του νου) has its own page: the oxytone contracted masculines.
The label is worth unpacking. Parisyllabic = equal syllable count across singular and plural (ο μαθητής → οι μαθητές). Imparisyllabic = unequal, because a whole syllable — built on an inserted -δ- — appears in the plural. English does this in only a couple of fossils (child → children, ox → oxen); Greek does it to a productive, high-frequency class you meet on day one.
Class 1: -ας → -άδες (ο ψαράς → οι ψαράδες)
End-stressed (oxytone) masculines in -ας take the plural -άδες. These are overwhelmingly people — occupations and family words: ο ψαράς (fisherman), ο ψωμάς (baker), ο γαλατάς (milkman), ο παπάς (priest), ο μπαμπάς (dad, informal), ο νερουλάς (water-seller).
| Singular | Plural | |
|---|---|---|
| Nominative | ο ψαράς | οι ψαράδες |
| Genitive | του ψαρά | των ψαράδων |
| Accusative | τον ψαρά | τους ψαράδες |
| Vocative | ψαρά | ψαράδες |
Notice the stress never moves — it stays on the same vowel (ψαράς → ψαράδες → ψαράδων). The word simply gets longer at the tail.
Ο ψαράς πουλάει φρέσκο ψάρι κάθε πρωί στο λιμάνι.
o psarás pulái frésko psári káthe proí sto limáni
The fisherman sells fresh fish every morning at the harbour.
Οι ψαράδες γύρισαν αργά χθες το βράδυ.
i psarádhes yírisan arghá chthes to vrádhi
The fishermen came back late last night.
Ο μπαμπάς γύρισε από τη δουλειά κουρασμένος.
o babás yírise apó ti dhuliá kurazménos
Dad got home from work tired.
Class 2: -ές → -έδες (ο καφές → οι καφέδες)
End-stressed masculines in -ές take the plural -έδες. Many are food and drink borrowed from Turkish: ο καφές (coffee), ο κεφτές (meatball), ο μεζές (small dish / appetiser), ο τενεκές (tin can). This Turkish layer is exactly why the class exists — it never assimilated to the native -ος pattern.
The plural behaves like every other class on this page: καφές → καφέδες / καφέδων / καφέδες, stress fixed on the -έ-. Their singular is the interesting part (του καφέ, τον καφέ — a bare stressed vowel with nothing added), and it gets its own treatment on the contracted singular of ο καφές, ο παππούς, ο νους.
Παραγγείλαμε δύο καφέδες και μία τυρόπιτα.
parangílame dhío kafédhes ke mía tirópita
We ordered two coffees and a cheese pie.
Η γιαγιά έφτιαξε κεφτέδες με πατάτες στον φούρνο.
i yayá éftiakse keftédhes me patátes ston fúrno
Grandma made meatballs with potatoes in the oven.
Παραγγείλαμε διάφορους μεζέδες για την παρέα.
parangílame dhiáforus mezédhes ya tin paréa
We ordered various small dishes for the group.
Class 3: -ούς → -ούδες (ο παππούς → οι παππούδες)
A small but essential class of masculines in -ούς takes the plural -ούδες. The word you cannot avoid is ο παππούς (grandfather). It is tiny — for practical purposes, learn παππούς and you have the class.
| Singular | Plural | |
|---|---|---|
| Nominative | ο παππούς | οι παππούδες |
| Genitive | του παππού | των παππούδων |
| Accusative | τον παππού | τους παππούδες |
| Vocative | παππού | παππούδες |
Ο παππούς μου με έμαθε να ψαρεύω.
o papús mu me émathe na psarévo
My grandfather taught me to fish.
Οι παππούδες κάθονται στην πλατεία και παίζουν τάβλι.
i papúdhes káthonde stin platía ke pézun távli
The old men sit in the square and play backgammon.
Class 4: -ης → -ηδες (ο μπακάλης → οι μπακάληδες)
Many masculines in -ης — again mostly colloquial occupations and family words — take the plural -ηδες: ο μπακάλης (grocer), ο μανάβης (greengrocer), ο νοικοκύρης (householder), ο χασάπης (butcher), ο καφετζής (café owner), ο ταξιτζής (taxi driver).
| Singular | Plural | |
|---|---|---|
| Nominative | ο μπακάλης | οι μπακάληδες |
| Genitive | του μπακάλη | των μπακάληδων |
| Accusative | τον μπακάλη | τους μπακάληδες |
| Vocative | μπακάλη | μπακάληδες |
One subtlety about stress. Where the word falls in the plural depends on where it was stressed in the singular. A word stressed on the last syllable in the singular (ο καφετζής) keeps that stress on the ending: οι καφετζήδες. A word stressed earlier (ο μπακάλης) keeps its stress: οι μπακάληδες — the added -δ- syllable simply rides along at the end. So the written ending is -ηδες, but the accent lands on -ή- only when the singular was end-stressed.
Πήγα στον μπακάλη να πάρω γάλα και ψωμί.
pígha ston bakáli na páro ghála ke psomí
I went to the grocer to get milk and bread.
Οι μανάβηδες της γειτονιάς κλείνουν ένας ένας.
i manávidhes tis yitoniás klínun énas énas
The neighbourhood greengrocers are closing one by one.
The genitive plural: always -ων on the long stem
Whichever class you are in, the genitive plural is built on the long (-δ-) stem and keeps the singular's stress: των ψαράδων, των καφέδων, των παππούδων, των μπακάληδων. There is no shift to the ending here — and that is precisely what sets these nouns apart from the parisyllabic masculines, where the genitive plural does move the accent: onto the ending in ο άντρας → των αντρών and ο ναύτης → των ναυτών, or simply one syllable forward in ο άνθρωπος → των ανθρώπων (that last one is the antepenult law of accent shift, a different mechanism from end-stress). So the reflex you build on ο άντρας and ο ναύτης must be switched off here: do not "correct" των καφέδων to a shorter ×των καφών, and do not move the accent to ×των ψαραδών.
The reason is historical rather than phonological — and it is worth getting right, because the tempting explanation ("-ων is a heavy ending, so it pulls the accent to the end") cannot be the answer. The genitive singular -ου and the accusative plural -ους are exactly as heavy as -ων, and where they move an accent at all they nudge it forward by a single syllable and no further (ανθρώπου, ανθρώπους) — ending weight never drags an accent onto the ending. What actually differs is the age of the paradigm. In the parisyllabic classes the accent is inherited from the ancient paradigm, where the genitive plural was end-stressed (ἀνδρῶν, ναυτῶν); the imparisyllabic -δ- plurals are a later, demotic formation that never inherited that accent, so they simply keep the rhythm of their own nominative plural (καφέδες → καφέδων, ψαράδες → ψαράδων, exactly parallel). Same ending, different history.
Η ποιότητα των καφέδων εδώ είναι εξαιρετική.
i piótita ton kafédhon edhó íne ekseretikí
The quality of the coffees here is excellent.
Ο σύλλογος των ψαράδων έκανε παράπονα στον δήμο.
o síloghos ton psarádhon ékane parápona ston dhímo
The fishermen's association complained to the town council.
How to tell them apart from the "normal" masculines
This is the real skill: not every -ας or -ης noun is imparisyllabic. Plenty are parisyllabic — same syllable count, plain -ες plural, no -δ-:
| Parisyllabic (no extra syllable) | Imparisyllabic (extra -δ- syllable) |
|---|---|
| ο άντρας → οι άντρες (man) | ο ψαράς → οι ψαράδες (fisherman) |
| ο πατέρας → οι πατέρες (father) | ο μπαμπάς → οι μπαμπάδες (dad) |
| ο μαθητής → οι μαθητές (student) | ο καφετζής → οι καφετζήδες (café owner) |
| ο ναύτης → οι ναύτες (sailor) | ο μπακάλης → οι μπακάληδες (grocer) |
There is no single sound rule, but two strong tendencies help. First, end-stressed -άς and -ές and -ούς nouns are almost all imparisyllabic (ψαράς, καφές, παππούς), whereas the learned agent nouns in -της (μαθητής, ναύτης, πολίτης, εργάτης) are parisyllabic. Second, everyday, colloquial, or borrowed occupation words tend to be imparisyllabic (μπακάλης, μανάβης, καφετζής), while their more formal cousins in -της behave normally. When you meet a new one, listening for the plural a native uses is the safest guide — and it is worth learning the plural together with the singular, as one pair. The parisyllabic paradigms in full are on masculine nouns in -ας and masculine nouns in -ης; the contracted singular of καφές, παππούς and νους is on the oxytone contracted masculines.
Common Mistakes
1. Treating the plural as a simple ending swap. These nouns don't just change their last letters — they gain a syllable.
❌ Ήρθαν οι ψαρές.
Wrong — the plural of ο ψαράς gains a syllable: οι ψαράδες.
✅ Ήρθαν οι ψαράδες.
írthan i psarádhes
The fishermen came.
2. Picking the wrong vowel before the -δ-. The -δ- syllable does not have a vowel of its own: it copies the vowel the singular already ends on. καφές → καφέδες, ψαράς → ψαράδες, παππούς → παππούδες.
❌ Ήπιαμε τρεις καφάδες στο μπαλκόνι.
Incorrect — the vowel comes from the singular καφές: οι καφέδες.
✅ Ήπιαμε τρεις καφέδες στο μπαλκόνι.
ípiame tris kafédhes sto balkóni
We drank three coffees on the balcony.
3. Making a parisyllabic -ης noun imparisyllabic. ο μαθητής is not in this class; its plural is οι μαθητές, never ×μαθητήδες.
❌ Οι μαθητήδες έγραψαν το τεστ.
Wrong — μαθητής is parisyllabic: οι μαθητές.
✅ Οι μαθητές έγραψαν το τεστ.
i mathités éghrapsan to test
The students took the test.
4. Shortening the genitive plural. The genitive plural keeps the long -δ- stem: των παππούδων, not ×των παππών.
❌ το σπίτι των παππών
Wrong — the genitive plural keeps the -δ- stem: των παππούδων.
✅ το σπίτι των παππούδων
to spíti ton papúdhon
the grandparents' house
Key Takeaways
- Imparisyllabic (ανισοσύλλαβα) masculines grow an extra -δ- syllable in the plural — the plural is a longer word, not a different ending.
- Four classes by singular ending: -ας → -άδες (ψαράς → ψαράδες), -ές → -έδες (καφές → καφέδες), -ούς → -ούδες (παππούς → παππούδες), -ης → -ηδες (μπακάλης → μπακάληδες).
- The genitive plural is -ων on the long stem with no accent shift: των ψαράδων, των καφέδων, των μπακάληδων — unlike the parisyllabic masculines, which do shift (των αντρών, των ναυτών).
- Not every -ας/-ης noun does this: contrast parisyllabic ο μαθητής → οι μαθητές, ο άντρας → οι άντρες. Learn the plural together with the singular.
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Start learning Greek →Related Topics
- Masculine Nouns in -αςA2 — The two -ας masculine types: parisyllabic nouns like ο άντρας and ο πατέρας (plural -ες) versus imparisyllabic occupational nouns like ο ψαράς and ο παπάς (plural -άδες), with the genitive singular in bare -α that trips up learners.
- Contracted Masculines: ο καφές, ο παππούς, ο νουςB1 — The contracted singular of ο καφές, ο παππούς, ο μπαμπάς and ο νους — nouns whose genitive, accusative and vocative are nothing but a bare stressed vowel (του καφέ, του παππού, του νου), so the article alone carries the case.
- Masculine Nouns in -ης and -εςA2 — Masculine agent and family nouns like ο μαθητής, ο ναύτης and ο πολίτης — singular in -ης, plural in -ες, with an oxytone genitive plural in -ών, the -η vocative, the rival -ηδες plural of surnames and trade words, and a warning not to confuse this noun ending with the -ης two-termination adjective.
- 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.
- Imparisyllabic Feminines (-άδες, -ούδες)B1 — Oxytone feminine nouns that grow a syllable in the plural — η γιαγιά → οι γιαγιάδες, η αλεπού → οι αλεπούδες — versus the look-alike η αγελάδα that stays the same length. Home of grandmothers, mums and loan words.