40.1 You have already learned the four most commonly used cases for Greek nouns and adjectives: nominative, genitive, dative, and accusative. This lesson presents the final case: the VOCATIVE.
The vocative case is used for the person or persons directly addressed. For example:
- Jurymen, I submit the following evidence.
- Where are you going, Odysseus?
Most often, the NOMINATIVE forms of nouns and adjectives double as VOCATIVE forms. When Greek speakers were being formal or polite, they would use the marker ὦ (like the English “O Brother…”) to signal the vocative case, but it is not necessary, and ὦ is often best left untranslated in English.