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Declension of some cardinal numbers

Some of these cardinal numbers (1, 2, 3, 4 and 0 = none) are declined. So what? Not difficult really, once you've got used to the idea.

  • 1 one
  • 2 two
  • 3 three
  • 4 four
  • 0 none
1
Let us take εἷς genitive ἑνός
A straightforward 3rd declension word:    gen sg    ος  
   dat sg    ι
 acc sg    α
So here we have one man and one tree

     εἷς ἀνὴρ     καὶ     ἕν δένδρον  
gen a picture of        ἑνὸς ἀνδρὸς     καὶ     ἑνὸς δένδρου  
dat προσχωρῶ     ἑνὶ ἀνδρὶ     καὶ    ἑνὶ δένδρῳ  
acc ὁρῶ     ἕνα ἄνδρα     καὶ     ἕν δένδρον

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2
Next: the declension of 2 δύο

nom    δύο ἄνδρες, δύο γυναῖκες καὶ δύο δένδρα
acc ὁρῶ δύο ἄνδρας, δύο γυναῖκας καὶ δύο δένδρα
gen and dat    δυοῖν ἀνδροῖν, δυοῖν γυναικοῖν καὶ δυοῖν δένδροιν

There is a little problem here:
The ancient Greeks had a special form for 2 (of something).
We have    singular (one man, one word, a coin, an artifact)
or   plural (men, the Greeks, weapons, trees..)
That is 1 or many.
The ancient Greeks counted differently: 1, 2, many.
This 2-form is called the dual.
In the dual genitive (whose?) and dative (to whom?) case forms are the same and end in
αιν (1st declension)
οιν (all others)
The definite article (the) is always τοῖν , even for feminine gender words.

Examples

I have two sisters (I really do)
οἱ τοῖν ἀδελφαῖν παῖδες are all grownup
τοῖν ἀδελφαῖν γράμματα πέμπω letters, to both
I have 2 trees standing in front of my house
ἡ σκιὰ τοῖν δένδροιν is very pleasant in summer
τοῖν δένδροιν ὕδωρ παρέχω otherwise they both die
Don't worry too much about this form, just note it exists and is used to stress the fact that we talk about TWO of something or other.
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Three
3 is easy:
The neuter form tri/a gives us the stem tri.
And since 3rd declension endings are always the same, no matter what happens to the stem, we have:
3 men, 3 women and 3 trees in a field under the midday sun:

εἰσὶν ἐνταύθα τρεῖς ἄνδρες, τρεῖς γυναῖκες, τρία δένδρα
ορῶ τρεῖς ἄνδρας, τρεῖς γυναῖκας, τρία δένδρα
ἡ σκιὰ the shade of   τριῶν ἀνδρῶν, τριῶν γυναίκων, τριῶν δένδρων
προσχωρῶ τρισὶ ἀνδράσι, τρισὶ γυναιξί, τρισὶ δένδροις.

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Four
4 is even easier than 3, the stem is always tettar , we have only got to add the normal 3rd declension endings:
In lesson 6 we had young boys, maidens and 1 beast, so now let's consider the following: a fight going on between 4 boys, 4 girls and 4 beasts.
Nominative: They are there
Genitive: We hear them making a terrible noise
Dative: We go up to them to see what is going on?
Accusative: We admire all of them for the brave fight they are putting up.

εἰσὶν ἐκεῖ τέτταρες νεανίαι, τέτταρες κόραι, τέτταρα θηρία
ἀκούομεν τῶν τεττάρων νεανιῶν, τεττάρων κορῶν, τεττάρων θηρίων
προσχωροῦμεν τοῖς τέτταρσι νεανίαις, τέτταρσι κόραις, τέτταρσι θηρίοις
θαυμάζομεν τοὺς τέτταρας νεανίας, τέτταρας κόρας, τέτταρα θηρία

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None
None, no man, woman nor child, no tree, no football stadium, no noise:
οὐδεῖς ἀνήρ, οὐδεμία γυνή, οὐδὲν θέατρον
Declined exactly like cardinal number 1: one master, one slave-girl, one museum
εἷς δεσπότης, μία δούλη, ἕν μουσεῖον

Examples:
οὐδεῖς φίλος ἥκει
οὐχ ὁρῶ οὐδένα φίλον
τὴν οὐδενός φίλου βοήθειαν δέχομαι receive the help of no friend
οὐδενὶ πείθομαι I obey no one but myself

There's been an earthquake:
οὐδεμία οἰκία is left standing
οὐδεμίαν οἰκίαν ὁρῶ only rubble
τὰ οὐδεμιᾶς οἰκίας τείχη walls are left standing
οὐδεμιᾷ γυναικὶ οἰκία ἐστίν
Remember: She has a house (in English)
Remember: There is a house to her (in Greek)
That's why we say:
No woman has a house.
Whereas the Greeks said:
There is a house to no woman. οὐκ ἔστιν οἰκία οὐδεμιᾷ γυναικί