Two-Ending Adjectives: 3rd Declension (3-3) -ης -ες

31.3 Another small group of adjectives uses 3rd DECLENSION endings for ALL GENDERS. For these adjectives:

Both the MASCULINE and FEMININE forms share the SAME ENDINGS as 3rd DECLENSION MASCULINE/FEMININE nouns.

The NEUTER form uses the same endings as 3rd DECLENSION NEUTER nouns.

These adjectives tend to fall into one of two groups:

• Adjectives ending in –ης –ες.
  • These adjectives have a stem ending in –εσ.
• Adjectives ending in –(ί)ων –(ι)ον.
  • These adjectives have a stem ending in –(ι)ον.

31.4 Adjectives in –ης –ες

(cf. S 292)

The contractions that produce the inflection of –ης –ες adjectives are similar to nouns in –εσ that we have already studied, e.g. Σωκράτης, Σωκράτους ὁ (stem: Σωκράτεσ-) and ἔτος ἔτους τό (stem: ἔτεσ-). The main differences are:

• For the NEUTER of 3-3 adjectives, –ες does not become –ος in the nominative and accusative singular.
• The MASCULINE/FEMININE accusative plural is identical to the nominative plural: –έσες → –εῖς.

That said, adjectives of this type are fairly rare. The only other common adjective inflected like ἀληθής ἀληθές is σαφής σαφές clear.