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* Like the famous "La Pinta, La Niña y La Santa María", the 3 ships in which Christopher Columbus set out from Spain to find a shorter route to India. And ended up discovering America.
These forms look worse than they actually are:
- nom sg, voc sg, acc sg and pl, as well as dat pl all have αυ
- ἡ ναῦς
- ὦ ναῦ
- τὴν ναῦν
- τὰς ναῦς
- ταῖς ναυσί
- the genitive should have have been τῆς νηός that is why we have, quite regularly
- τῇ νηί (doesn't need a diaeresis. Why not?)
- αἱ νῆες
- ὦ νῆες
- So what about the genitive case? For the sake of easier pronunciation there has been an inversion of long and short sounds: long η has become short ε. To compensate short ο has turned into long ω. And genitive plural follows suit.
Understanding how forms work is one thing, remembering and applying them automatically is quite a different proposition alltogether. It's only through practicing these forms in meaningful situations that they will soon become familiar and automatic. |