As its name says, Greek sans flexions has very little to no inflectional morphology. This section will describe what little it has, as well as what syntactic morphology is used where some languages have inflectional morphology.
Verbs end in -ι; most of them specifically in -σι/-ξι/-ψι. They are invariable in form. (In most cases, the GSF form of the noun is from the “infinitive” (απαρέμφατο) form of Modern Greek, which is also the third person singular, aorist subjunctive form (which, fortunately, happens to be the most common form used after the future particle as well). In certain cases, other forms were chosen; in particular, verbs usually used in the imperfective aspect sometimes take the form of the third person singular, present indicative instead, and deponent verbs are sometimes changed to an active form.
In the following examples, the verb αγαπισι “to love” will be used.
In the present tense, the citation form of the verb is used. Subject pronouns cannot be dropped. Example: μενα αγαπισι “I love”.
To form the future, use the particle θα before the verb: μενα θα αγαπισι “I will love”.
To form the past, use the particle сi before the verb: μενα сι αγαπισι “I loved; I have loved”.
To form the pluperfect (past-in-the-past), use the particle ιсε before the verb: μενα ιсε αγαπισι “I had loved”.
To from the future perfect (past-in-the-future), use the particles θα and сι together: μενα θα сι αγαπισι “I will have loved”.
To form the passive voice, use the particle θι after the verb: μενα αγαπισι θι, μενα θα αγαπισι θι, μενα сι αγαπισι θι, μενα ιсε αγαπισι θι, μενα θα сι αγαπισι θι “I am loved, I will be loved, I was loved, I had been loved, I will have been loved”.
To form a passive participle, use the particle μενο, also after the verb: αγαπισι μενο “loved”. The particle μενο acts like an adjective; as such, it can take an optional -ς when modifying a plural noun: αγαπισι μενος ανθροπος “loved people”.
There is no infinitive. After modal verbs and in other situations with more than one verb, the particle να is used before the second and subsequent verbs. The subject, if stated (whether as a noun phrase or as a pronoun), comes after the verb; sentences use VSO order in this case. If the subject of the second and subsequent verbs is the same as the subject of the first, it can be omitted or optionally resumed by an appropriate pronouns.
Examples: μενα θεљι να πьι “I want to drink”, μενα θεљι να φαι το ќιριο “I want the gentleman to eat” or “I want to eat the gentleman”, μενα θεљι να φαι το ќιριο το αρτο “I want the gentleman to eat the bread”, σας θεљι να αγαπισι θι “you want to be loved”, μενα сι θεљι να διαβασι σενα “I wanted you to read”, μενα сι θεљι να сι διαβασι σενα “I wanted you to have read”, το Јαњι бορεσι να τραγυδισι αφτο/το Јαњι бορεσι να τραγυδισι “John can sing”, μας πρεπι να θεљι μας να бορεσι μας να γραψι μας/μας πρεπι να θεљι να бορεσι να γραψι “we have to want to be able to write”.
Suggestions can also be expressed using να, as in Μενα να αњιξι το παραθιρο; “Shall I open the window?” or Σενα να δοσι φαјιτο στο γατα “Feed the cat (lit. give food to the cat)”, which is a less forceful than the version with imperative, Δοσι φαјιτο στο γατα.
The imperative is formed using the citation form of the verb. No difference is made between singular and plural imperative. Examples: Τραγυδισι! “Sing!”, Δοσι το βιβљιο σε μενα! “Give the book to me!”. Negative imperatives use the particle μι: Μι τραγυδισι! Μι δοσι το βιβљιο σε μενα!. Imperatives occur only in the second person.
Hortatives are formed using the particle ας: Αφτο ας παι! “Let him go! May he go!”, Μας ας φαι! “Let's eat!”, Αφτος ας ζισι! “May they live!”. They are used only in the first and third persons, though use in the first person singular is rare.
GSF distinguishes person and number, but not gender or case, in pronouns.
The pronouns are:
| GSF | English |
|---|---|
| μενα | I |
| σενα | thou |
| αφτο | he, she, it |
| μας | we |
| σας | you |
| αφτος | they |
Note: the plural ending -s in αφτος is technically optional; however, it is nearly always left on. (As in some other languages such as English or French, pronouns are more highly inflected than nouns.)
Possessive adjectives indicate to whom something belongs. They are connected to pronouns but are not themselves pronouns, since they modify a noun rather than standing alone, representing a noun.
The possessive adjectives are:
| GSF | English |
|---|---|
| μυ | my |
| συ | thy |
| τυ | his, her, its |
| μας | our |
| σας | your |
| τας | their |
Note 1: These are the same as in Modern Greek, with the exception of the third person plural form, which was changed from τυς (τους) to τας by analogy with the other plural forms.
Note 2: The third person singular possessive adjective is gender-neutral, just as the third person singular pronoun is.
Unlike other adjectives, these possessive adjectives follow the noun, which must be preceded by the definite article. Hence not *μυ βιβљιος, *τας σπιτι but τος βιβљιος μυ, το σπιτι τας.
GSF does not have separate possessive pronouns such as mine in “That is mine” or “Mine is yellow”. Instead, it uses constructions with δικο and possessive adjectives.
Example: Εδο ινε τρια μοљιβι. Πьό ινε το δικο συ; - Το δικο μυ ινε το πρασινο μοљιβι. “Here are three pencils. Which one is yours? - Mine is yellow pencil.”
This construction can also be followed by a noun, rather than standing alone, to indicate “one's own”. Examples: Το αδελφι συ ινε ομορφο, αλα το δικο μυ αδελφι ινε πьο ομορφο. “Your sister is beautiful, but my own sister is more beautiful.”; Τυτο δεν ινε το δικο μυ βιβљιο· αφτο ινε το δικο συ “This isn't my (own) book; it's yours.”
Reflexive constructions (“myself”, etc.) are formed using the noun εαφτο in a possessive construction. Examples: Σενα сι δι το εαφτο συ στο καθρεφτι “You saw yourself in the mirror”, Αφτος φοβιθι το εαφτο τας “They are afraid of themselves”.
To emphasise a pronoun, for example, to say that it was you, and nobody else, who did something, you can use το ιδιο. This comes before nouns but after pronouns: Το ιδιο το καθιјιτι θα ερθι “The professor himself will come”, Μενα το ιδιο θα ερθι “I myself will come”.
(This phrase is related to the adjective ιδιο, which means “same”; compare the first example sentence with Το ιδιο καθιјιτι θα ερθι “The same professor will come”.)
To state that someone did something by themselves, use the invariable word μονο followed by a possessive adjective (but not preceded by the definite article, as in most other possessive constructions): Μενα сι γραψι τυτο το γραμα μονο μυ “I wrote this letter by myself”, Σας бορεσι να τραγυδισι μονο σας; “Can you (all) sing by yourselves?”.
GSF has the following demonstrative pronouns:
| GSF | English |
|---|---|
| τυτο | this |
| εќινο | that |
Both words can take a plural -ς: τυτος “these”, εќινος “those”.
Both words can also be combined with a noun to form demonstrative adjectives. The definite article must also be present. Examples: τυτο το βιβљιο “this book”, εќινος τος μοљιβις “those pencils”.
In both usages (demonstrative pronouns and demonstrative adjectives), the final -s is optional in the plural.
In general, if the article and noun have a plural ending, so will the demonstrative adjective preceding them; however, plural agreement is not required.
Nouns are not inflected for case, and are optionally inflected for number. Nouns typically end in a vowel (with ο, α, ι being most common).
(The nouns forms in GSF are usually from the accusative singular form in Greek, with some regularisation by analogy. For example, neuter nouns in -ος drop the final sigma, e.g. βαρο “weight” from βάρος, by analogy with masculine and feminine nouns in -ος, and neuter nouns of the third declension that end in a consonant end in -α in GSF, as in the neuter accusative plural, rather than in the consonant, as in the neuter accusative singular, e.g. κρεατα “meat” from κρέας or φοτα “light” from φως; this could also be by analogy with third declension masculine or feminine nouns, which have -α in the accusative singular.)
The optional plural marker is -ς, for all nouns regardless of ending. (The plural marker is left off a little more often when the noun is quantified by a number.)
The definite article is το; like nouns, it is not inflected for case (or gender) and is optionally inflected for number. The plural form of the definite article is τος.
If the noun is marked for number, then the article often is, too, but plural agreement is not required.
The indefinite article is ενα; it is homophonous with the number “one”. There is no plural form of the indefinite article; indefinite plurals simply carry no article at all.
Adjectives, like the definite article, do not inflect for gender or case, and inflect optionally for number.
The plural morpheme for adjectives is also -ς.
Adjectives precede the noun they modify: ενα ομορφο јινεκα, το μεγαλο βιβљιο, ακριβος σπιτις (ακριβο σπιτις, ακριβο σπιτι) “a beautiful woman, the big book, expensive houses”.
Adverbs simply use the same form as the corresponding adjective (as in German).
For example, το γριγορο δρομεα “the fast runner”, το δρομεα τρεξι γριγορο “the runner runs quickly”.
For GSF's numbers, see the separate page on numbers.
(to do.)
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