Vocative- Κλητική ---Γεια σου, Αλέξανδρε!

When we call someone we use a special case which is called Vocative=Κλητική.

Γιώργο, μ' ακούς; George, are you listening?

 Καθίστε, κύριε Παπαδόπουλε! Please sit down, Mr Papadopoulos!

 Παιδιά! Ησυχία! Children! Be quite!

Usually we call someone by his name or his occupation or relation to us:

Καλημέρα, στρατηγέ! Good morning, general!

 Τι έχω, γιατρέ μου; What is wrong with me, my doctor?

Πάτερ Κωνσταντίνε! Father Konstantinos! (When talking to a priest)

Πού είσαι, φίλε; Where are you (my) friend?

The vocative differs from the nominative only for (most) masculine singular nouns.

Masculine names ending in -ας, -ης, -ούς, -ές: We omit the  -ς  to form the Vocative.

Ονομαστική Nominative	Κλητική Vocative
Ο Γιάννης Ο Λεωνίδας Ο παππούς Ο γλετζές	Γιάννη! Λεωνίδα! Παππού! Γλετζέ!

Masculine ending in -ος:

Usually the form the Vocative in -ε, but sometimes in -ο and sometimes in both -ε and  –ο

Ονομαστική Nominative	Κλητική Vocative
Ο κύριος Ο δάσκαλος Ο Αλέξανδρος Ο Παύλος Ο Νίκος	Κύριε! Δάσκαλε! Αλέξανδρε! Παύλε! But also Παύλο! Νίκο!

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OK, Let`s try it again. Grammar…

Well, It is time to remember that we can form 3 categories of masculine nouns depending on the number of syllables that they have and the stress mark on them.

·                                          οξύτονα, oxitona nouns if they have the stress mark on the last syllable like the words ουρανός, Νικολός

·                                          παροξύτονα, paroxitona nouns if they have the stress mark on the second syllable before the last one lke the nouns δρόμος, Λυκούργος

·                                          προπαροξύτονα, proparoxitona if they have the stress mark on the third syllable before the last one, like the nouns άγγελος, Αλέξανδρος

From the above, the nouns that are not proper names form the vocative in– ε (with some exceptions like ο γέρος  vocative γέρο, or have double types like ο καπετάνιος  vocative καπετάνιο and καπετάνιε).

But, for the proper names in Vocative:

·                          We say: Νικολό, Δημητρό (and not  Νικολέ, Δημητρέ) whereas the other nouns are forming the Vocative in  –ε  (ο ουρανός   vocative ουρανέ, ο ποταμός   vocative ποταμέ).

·                          We say: Αλέκο, Γιώργο, Νίκο, Μάρκο (and not  Αλέκε, Γιώργε, Νίκε, Μάρκε) whereas the other nouns are forming the Vocative in –ε  (ο δρόμος   vocative δρόμε, ο λύκος   vocative λύκε, ο ταχυδρόμος   vocative ταχυδρόμε).

·                          But we do say : Αλέξανδρε, Γεράσιμε, Τηλέμαχε, Φίλιππε, exactly as we form the Vocative in –ε  for the other nouns (ο άγγελος   vocative άγγελε, ο διάβολος   vocative διάβολε, ο δήμαρχος   vocative δήμαρχε, ο δάσκαλος   vocative δάσκαλε).

The proper name Παύλος appears with two different types in Vocative (Παύλο and Παύλε).

In short:

 Oxitona nouns do not usually form the Vocative in –ε.

Paroxitona nouns form sometimes the Vocative in –ε,  but usually in  –ο.

Proparoxitona nouns usually form the Vocative in –ε.