ABSTRACT
The chief functions of the noun phrase are:
to act as the subject of a verb (in the nominative)
to act as a subject predicate (in the nominative)
to act as the direct object of a verb (in the accusative)
to act as an object predicate (in the accusative)
to act as the indirect object of a verb (in the genitive; this construction is less common, however, than σε followed by a noun phrase in the accusative)
to be governed by a preposition (normally in the accusative)
to depend on another noun (in the genitive).
Ο πατέρας του Γιώργου χτύπησε τη μύτη του στον τοίχο ‘George’s father banged his nose on the wall’
Example (1) contains four noun phrases:
ο πατέρας (in the nominative) is the subject of the verb χτύπησε τη μύτη (in the accusative) is the direct object of the verb χτύπησε τον τοίχο (in the accusative) is governed by the preposition σ[ε] του Γιώργου (in the genitive) depends on the head of the noun phrase ο πατέρας
In addition, the noun phrase τη μύτη του contains the weak personal pronoun του (in the genitive).
Ο Γιώργος είναι φοιτητής
‘George is a student’
In example (2) the noun φοιτητής is a subject predicate that attributes a property to the subject (i.e. George).
Ο Γιώργος έδωσε της Ελένης ένα βιβλίο
‘George gave Helen a book’
In example (3) the noun phrase της Ελένης is the indirect object of the verb έδωσε (see also Section 1.1.1.3.1).
το αυτοκίνητο της Ελένης
‘Helen’s car’
In example (4) the noun phrase της Ελένης depends on the noun αυτοκίνητο and is in the genitive to indicate that Helen is the possessor of the car.
A noun phrase must contain one of the following:
a noun
a pronoun other than a weak (clitic) personal pronoun
any other part of speech or phrase acting as a noun
In addition, a noun phrase may contain one or more of the following:
adjectival phrase (see also Section 2.6)
cardinal or ordinal numeral (see also Section 2.7)
article (see also Section 2.5)
determiner not otherwise listed here (see also Section 2.8.2ff.)
weak (clitic) personal pronoun (see also Section 2.8.1.1.1)
adverbial (see also Section 2.9)
clause connective (see also Section 2.10)
A noun phrase can also be further extended through the addition of a complement (see Section 5.3.4.3) or a relative clause (see Sections 5.3.1–5.3.1.3).
The head or nucleus of a noun phrase is a noun (πατέρας, Γιώργου, μύτη, τοίχο in example (1)), and a noun may form a noun phrase by itself. Nevertheless, any word in categories (b) to (e) above may stand for a noun, and may even constitute a phrase on its own, e.g.:
noun (κρέας ‘meat’): Τρώω κρέας ‘I eat meat’
pronoun (εγώ ‘I’): Εγώ θα πάω ‘I’ll go’
(τι ‘what’): Τι θέλεις; ‘What do you want?’
(κάποιος ‘someone’): Kάποιος σε ζητάει ‘Someone’s looking for you’
other part of speech or phrase acting as noun (ευχαριστώ ‘thank you’): Χίλια ευχαριστώ! ‘A thousand thanks!’
adjective (μαύρα ‘black’): Φοράει μαύρα ‘S/he wears black’
numeral (δέκα ‘ten’): Ήρθαν δέκα ‘Ten came’
In addition, a nominal clause functions as a noun phrase (e.g. as the subject or object of a verb, as in the following example):
Όσα μου είπαν ήταν ψέματα
‘What they told me was lies’
