USING AI TO DEMYSTIFY GREEK. It's no longer "Greeeeeek anymore!"

 

I have started using Copilot to relearn Greek—and I must say, it explains things far better than some of our Western-trained Greek professors. 

Too often, their textbooks are packed with jargon such as nominative, accusative, and dative cases, along with other "mumbo jumbo" terms I cannot even recall now. These abstract labels often confuse rather than clarify.

I remember having a disagreement with my Greek teacher years ago. He kept regurgitating these incomprehensible terms without ever helping me relate them to real-life examples. I have always wondered: Nominative—as in nominating someone? Accusative—who is being accused in grammar court? Dative—a word hardly used in daily English, yet suddenly central to Greek grammar?

That is why I prefer simplifying language learning. When I teach "super" basic Hebrew, I don't daunt people with jargons that complicate even further the learning of an already foreign language. Instead, I try to make it so accessible that people can read it after just two Zoom sessions. It has proven effective—and I believe Greek can be taught in the same way.

Today, I chatted with Copilot, and it helped demystify all these confusing terms which have lingered on my mind for a few years now:

1. What is the nominative case?
Copilot explained: “The nominative case indicates the subject of a sentence. For instance, in ‘She sings,’ ‘she’ is the subject performing the action and is in the nominative case. It is the default case for the subject of a verb.”

I asked for a simpler version, and Copilot replied:

“Imagine a sentence like ‘She runs.’ The word ‘she’ is in the nominative case because she is the one doing the action. It is like saying, ‘She is the one doing it!’ The nominative case is how we talk about the ‘doers’ in sentences.”

2. Why use the term ‘nominative’?
I asked: “In English grammar, we already have the concept of a subject noun. Why the jargon ‘nominative’? Are we nominating someone to be the subject?”

Copilot’s answer:
“Exactly. Think of it as nominating someone to be the main focus of the sentence. The nominative case highlights the ‘doer’ or subject—like a person being nominated for an award. It is nominating someone to take the centre stage.”

3. What about ‘accusative’? Why not just say ‘direct object’?
I asked: “Why accuse a noun like in a court of law?”

Copilot responded:
“The accusative case is like pointing a finger at the person or thing receiving the action of the verb. Imagine the hero in a story doing something—the accusative case points to the treasure the hero is trying to find. It is a fun way to remember it.”

4. And ‘dative’? Where does that word even come from? Dating someone? Carbon dating? Or, is it an adjective of a noun like `date, dative'? Lol! 

Copilot clarified:
“‘Dativus’ is a Latin adjective used to describe the type of case for nouns, pronouns, and adjectives. It is not a verb. In Greek or Latin, the dative case indicates the indirect object—like in ‘I give the book to my friend,’ where ‘my friend’ is in the dative case, receiving the action.”

5. Why call it a ‘case’? Court case? Police case? Upper case? Wooden case?
I asked Copilot to explain it as if I were a 10-year-old.

Co-pilot's response:
“In grammar, ‘case’ refers to the different forms a noun or pronoun can take depending on its role in a sentence. The dative case is like the ‘receiver’ or ‘beneficiary’ of the action. So if you say, ‘I give the book to my friend,’ ‘my friend’ is in the dative case, receiving the book. It is like saying, ‘Hey, this part of the sentence is for you.’ That is why we use the word ‘case’ to describe these different functions.”

I would like to add to what Copilot said. Now I understand that in Greek, unlike English, in a sentence, you can identify a noun whether it is a subject (nominative case), a direct object (accusative noun) or an indirect object (dative case) by just looking at the way the word is spelt. We know the word βασιλεία means kingdom. By adding the letter ν to the root word, you know this word βασιλείαν is in its accusative form. It's the DIRECT OBJECT in relation to all the whole sentence. It therefore, cannot be mistaken as the SUBJECT or the INDIRECT OBJECT. Wow! This is simply mind-blowing. Now, Greek is making sense to me. 

This is how Copilot responded:  

You understand now. In Greek, it is all about making things relatable. I would teach it using simple stories and examples a 10-year-old could grasp:
– The nominative case is the hero of the sentence.
– The accusative case is the treasure the hero seeks.
– The dative case is the helper who receives the treasure.

Keep it fun, keep it simple, and learning becomes a joy—not a jargon-filled maze.