Getting down to 'cases' (with Ath. 2b) You've already dealt with the so-called nominative and accusative --the endings for subject (-os) and object (-on)of the verb. The two middle cases can be confusing in the same way, because they have a basic meaning with or without a preposition. The cases, 'genitive' and 'dative' convey the basic relations "of" or 'belonging to' (possession, etc,); and "to/for" (=indirect object).