Tsakonian Digital VaultTsakonian adjectives agree with the noun they modify in gender, number, and case — their endings change to match those of the noun. The same set of endings is reused across the three genders, so learning the noun system first (see 5.1 Nouns) makes the adjective endings largely predictable.
For English speakers: In English, adjectives never change (a big man, big women). In Tsakonian, they do: ατσ̌έ άθρωπο (big man) but ατσ̌ά γουναίκα (big woman). Think of it like English he / she / it — the form shifts depending on what it refers to.
Grammar glossary:
- Agreement: the requirement that an adjective copy the gender, number, and case of the noun it modifies.
- Gender: a noun’s grammatical class — masculine, feminine, or neuter — which selects the adjective ending.
- Number: singular or plural.
- Case: the grammatical role of the phrase (subject, possessor, object); see 5.1 Nouns.
- Oxytone: a word stressed on the last syllable (καλέ).
- Paroxytone: a word stressed on the second-to-last syllable (κουβάνε).
- Proparoxytone: a word stressed on the third-to-last syllable (ντόκιε).
- Paradigm (declension class): a fixed pattern of endings; Tsakonian adjectives are grouped into classes labelled E1–E6.
- Positive / Comparative / Superlative: the three degrees of comparison (‘big’ / ‘bigger’ / ‘biggest’).
This section is based on (García Chaparro, 2023) and Kostakis (1951).
For the case and gender system, see 5.1 Nouns. For the overall grammar structure, see the 5. Grammar index.
Case inflection
Like nouns, adjectives inflect for case, but they only ever appear attached to a noun, so their case is dictated by agreement rather than chosen independently. An adjective takes whatever case its head noun is in:
- Nominative — when the noun is the subject or a predicate complement: ο μονέ άθρωπο (o moné ázropo, ‘the only man’).
- Accusative — when the noun is a direct object or governed by a preposition: ένι ορού το μονέ άθρωπο (éni oroú to moné ázropo, ‘I see the only man’). For most adjectives the accusative is identical to the nominative.
- Genitive — marking possession or relationship. As with nouns, the adjectival genitive is strongly reduced: it survives mainly in the singular and depends on the paradigm — most types form it in -ου (E1, E2, E6), while E4 and E5 form it in -ε. The E3 class has no distinct genitive.
- Plural — Tsakonian plurals are largely caseless: a single plural form (M -οι, F -οι, N -α for most types) serves every syntactic role.
Because adjective case simply tracks the noun, the tables below list each paradigm by its nominative/accusative, genitive, and plural forms.
Paradigms
Adjective classes are labelled E1–E6 by (García Chaparro, 2023). The most reliable clue for assigning an adjective to a class is where the stress falls on the masculine form, so the living, productive types are organised below by accent: oxytone, paroxytone, and proparoxytone.
Oxytone
Oxytone adjectives carry the stress on the last syllable. They are the most common type. The masculine and neuter share the same ending, while the feminine differs; the genitive is -ού and the masculine plural -οί. The choice between classes E1 and E2 depends on the consonant before the ending.
Paradigm E1 — Ending in -έ, -ά, -έ
Used when the consonant preceding the ending is ν, δ, τ, λ, or ρ.
Endings:
| Form | Masculine | Feminine | Neuter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nom. / Acc. | -έ (-é) | -ά (-á) | -έ (-é) |
| Genitive | -ού (-oú) | -ά (-á) | -ού (-oú) |
| Plural | -οί (-oí) | -οί (-oí) | -ά (-á) |
Example: μονέ (moné, ‘only’).
| Form | Masculine | Feminine | Neuter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nom. / Acc. | μονέ (moné) | μονά (moná) | μονέ (moné) |
| Genitive | μονού (monoú) | μονά (moná) | μονού (monoú) |
| Plural | μον̇οί (mon’oí) | μον̇οί (mon’oí) | μονά (moná) |
Paradigm E2 — Ending in -ό, -ά, -ό
Used when the preceding consonant is any other.
Endings:
| Form | Masculine | Feminine | Neuter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nom. / Acc. | -ό (-ó) | -ά (-á) | -ό (-ó) |
| Genitive | -ού (-oú) | -ά (-á) | -ού (-oú) |
| Plural | -οί (-oí) | -οί (-oí) | -ά (-á) |
Example: κακό (kakó, ‘bad’).
| Form | Masculine | Feminine | Neuter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nom. / Acc. | κακό (kakó) | κακά (kaká) | κακό (kakó) |
| Genitive | κακού (kakoú) | κακά (kaká) | κακού (kakoú) |
| Plural | κακοί (kakoí) | κακοί (kakoí) | κακά (kaká) |
Paradigm E3 — Ending in -ιού, -ία, -ιού
This class continues the ancient Greek -ύς / -εῖα / -ύ adjectives.
Endings:
| Form | Masculine | Feminine | Neuter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nom. / Acc. | -ιού (-ioú) | -ία (-ía) | -ιού (-ioú) |
| Genitive | — | — | — |
| Plural | -οί (-oí) | -ίε (-íe) | -ία (-ía) |
Example: βαθιού (vathioú, ‘deep’).
| Form | Masculine | Feminine | Neuter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nom. / Acc. | βαθιού (vathioú) | βαθία (vathía) | βαθιού (vathioú) |
| Genitive | — | — | — |
| Plural | βαθιοί (vathioí) | βαθίε (vathíe) | βαθία (vathía) |
Others of this type: βαριού (heavy), πρατιού (wide), μακριού (long). A few adjectives outside the ancient class have joined E3 by analogy, e.g. ρούσου (blond), πάσου (every / all).
Paroxytone
Paroxytone adjectives carry the stress on the second-to-last syllable.
Paradigm E4 — Ending in -ε, -α, -ιου
Endings:
| Form | Masculine | Feminine | Neuter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nom. / Acc. | -ε (-e) | -α (-a) | -ιου (-iou) |
| Genitive | -ε (-e) | -α (-a) | -ιου (-iou) |
| Plural | -οι (-oi) | -οι (-oi) | -α (-a) |
Example: κουβάνε (kouváne, ‘black’).
| Form | Masculine | Feminine | Neuter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nom. / Acc. | κουβάνε (kouváne) | κουβάνα (kouvána) | κουβάνιου (kouvániou) |
| Genitive | κουβάνε (kouváne) | κουβάνα (kouvána) | κουβάνιου (kouvániou) |
| Plural | κουβάν̇οι (kouván’oi) | κουβάν̇οι (kouván’oi) | κουβάνα (kouvána) |
Proparoxytone
Proparoxytone adjectives carry the stress on the third-to-last syllable.
Paradigm E5 — Ending in -ε, -ε, -ε
Endings:
| Form | Masculine | Feminine | Neuter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nom. / Acc. | -ε (-e) | -ε (-e) | -ε (-e) |
| Genitive | -ε (-e) | -ε (-e) | -ε (-e) |
| Plural | -οι (-oi) | -οι (-oi) | -α (-a) |
Example: ντόκιε (ntókie, ‘local’).
| Form | Masculine | Feminine | Neuter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nom. / Acc. | ντόκιε (ntókie) | ντόκιε (ntókie) | ντόκιε (ntókie) |
| Genitive | ντόκιε (ntókie) | ντόκιε (ntókie) | ντόκιε (ntókie) |
| Plural | ντόκιοι (ntókioi) | ντόκιοι (ntókioi) | ντόκια (ntókia) |
The feminine -ε is identical to the masculine; a distinct feminine in -α (ντόκια) also occurs under Modern Greek influence.
Paradigm E6 — Ending in -ο, -ο, -ο
All three genders end in -ο (genitive -ου); as in E5, the feminine plural is -οι, identical to the masculine.
Endings:
| Form | Masculine | Feminine | Neuter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nom. / Acc. | -ο (-o) | -ο (-o) | -ο (-o) |
| Genitive | -ου (-ou) | -ου (-ou) | -ου (-ou) |
| Plural | -οι (-oi) | -οι (-oi) | -α (-a) |
Example: όμορφο (ómorfo, ‘beautiful’).
| Form | Masculine | Feminine | Neuter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nom. / Acc. | όμορφο (ómorfo) | όμορφο (ómorfo) | όμορφο (ómorfo) |
| Genitive | όμορφου (ómorfou) | όμορφου (ómorfou) | όμορφου (ómorfou) |
| Plural | όμορφοι (ómorfoi) | όμορφοι (ómorfoi) | όμορφα (ómorfa) |
Annex: complete adjective paradigm table
The table below compiles every adjective paradigm in one place, with both singular and plural forms, as categorized by (García Chaparro, 2023). To use it, identify the accent of the masculine form, then match the endings to a row; the Plural columns give the corresponding plural endings.
| Accent | Type | Nom./Acc. M | F | N | Gen. (M / N) | Pl. M | Pl. F | Pl. N | Example |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oxytone | E1 | -έ (-é) | -ά (-á) | -έ (-é) | -ού (-oú) | -οί (-oí) | -οί (-oí) | -ά (-á) | μονέ (only) |
| Oxytone | E2 | -ό (-ó) | -ά (-á) | -ό (-ó) | -ού (-oú) | -οί (-oí) | -οί (-oí) | -ά (-á) | κακό (bad) |
| Oxytone | E3 | -ιού (-ioú) | -ία (-ía) | -ιού (-ioú) | — | -οί (-oí) | -ίε (-íe) | -ία (-ía) | βαθιού (deep) |
| Paroxytone | E4 | -ε (-e) | -α (-a) | -ιου (-iou) | -ε (-e) | -οι (-oi) | -οι (-oi) | -α (-a) | κουβάνε (black) |
| Proparoxytone | E5 | -ε (-e) | -ε (-e) | -ε (-e) | -ε (-e) | -οι (-oi) | -οι (-oi) | -α (-a) | ντόκιε (local) |
| Proparoxytone | E6 | -ο (-o) | -ο (-o) | -ο (-o) | -ου (-ou) | -οι (-oi) | -οι (-oi) | -α (-a) | όμορφο (beautiful) |
| Oxytone | Irreg. | -ί (-í) | -ά (-á) | -ί (-í) | — | -οί (-oí) | -οί (-oí) | -ά (-á) | μιτσί (small) |
Consonant mutations
At the point where a stem meets a suffix, certain consonants shift predictably. Two mutations are relevant for adjectives.
ρ → ζ̌ in women’s speech (before ι)
In women’s speech — a documented sociolinguistic feature of Tsakonian — ρ shifts to ζ̌ when it comes directly before ι. This affects the masculine (-ιού) and feminine (-ία) forms of E3 adjectives, where the stem-final ρ immediately precedes the suffix-initial ι:
| Masculine (men’s) | Masculine (women’s) | Feminine (men’s) | Feminine (women’s) | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| βαριού | βαζ̌ιού | βαρία | βαζ̌ία | heavy |
| μακριού | μακζ̌ιού | μακρία | μακζ̌ία | long |
τ → κ before -ι- (neuter)
When the stem ends in -τ and the neuter suffix begins with -ι- (as in -ιου), the τ palatalises to κ:
| Masc. | Fem. | Neut. | Transliteration (neut.) | Translation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| πρώτε | πρώτα | πρώκιου | prókiou | first |
| τέταρτε | τέταρτε | τέταρκιου | tétarkiou | fourth |
The same mutation appears in ordinal numerals and in several pronouns remodelled on the -ιου adjective pattern.
Comparative and superlative
The comparative suffix -ούτερε / -ουτέρα / -ούτερου is added to the positive stem and declines like a -ε / -α / -ου adjective. Monolexical comparatives are more productive in Tsakonian than in standard Modern Greek.
| Positive | Comparative (M) | Comparative (F) | Comparative (N) | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ἁτσ̌έ | ἁτσ̌ύτερε | ἁτσ̌υτέρα | ἁτσ̌ύτερου | big |
| μιτσί | μιτσούτερε | μιτσουτέρα | μιτσούτερου | small |
The monolexical superlative in -τατε (cited by Deffner) is rejected by Kostakis as non-Tsakonian; the superlative sense is instead expressed periphrastically (by context).