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Για σου πάλι

I notice that when you reply to me you say Ιάκοβε and not Ιάκοβος. Is this correct when writing AND when addressing directly because I am confused.

I know that when  I am speaking about a male person in Greek - say Κόστας I would address him Κόστα to his face.  So would you call me Ιάκοβο if we met or Ιάκοβε - I am confused because you previously mentioned that to speak to my doctor I should address her as  γιατρέ. So is it just vocative?

What about females - are there any leaving of endings of names there?

Ευχαριστώ πολύ

Ιάκοβος
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Ιάκοβε

In Greek there are several groups of nouns and each one of them follows its own conjugating rules.  
Masculine nouns ending in " -os", in vocative case usually turn " -ος" into "".
Εxample: Nominative o άνθρωπος (= man)    -> Vocative: άνθρωπε
                                   o φίλος (= friend) -> φίλε
                                   ο Ιάκοβος -> Ιάκοβε
Masculine nouns ending in " -ας", in vocative case usually turn " -ας" into "" (or, more simply,in vocative case the final "s" drops off.)
Εxample:

Nominative: o γείτονας (= neighbour) -> Vocative: γείτονα
                    ο Κώστας -> Κώστα

About the feminine nouns:

The ones ending in "" or  "" in Nominative case, usually keep the same endings in Vocative case.
Εxample:

Nominative η γυναίκα (= woman)    -> Vocative: γυναίκα
                   η Μαρία -> Μαρία
                   η φίλη (= female friend) -> φίλη
                   η Ελένη -> Ελένη

The ones ending in "-oς" in Nominative case, in Vocative case turn "-oς" into "". Εxample: Nominative η γιατρός (= the female doctor)    -> Vocative: γιατρέ

 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Vasiliki Baskou, Instructor/Director, https://learn-greek-online.com.

by (45.0k points)
Lots of proper names ending in '-ος' just drop the 'ς' in the vocative: βρε Νίκο! Γειά σου Γιωργο! 'Αντε βρε Στέλιο! So this doesn't really get us any further forward.
Thank you for asking, your remark is justified.

In general male nouns ending in -ος, have their singular vocative case ending in -ε.  These are the exceptions to the rule:

1) Two syllable names (Νίκος / Γιώργος /Στέλιος etc).  Their vocative case ends in -ο.
Example: Νίκο, Γιώργο

2) Some multi-syllable first and last names intonated in the second from the end syllable.  These too form singular vocative case ending in -ο.
Example: Κύριε Γιακουμάτο. Κύριε Ευαγγελάτο.

3)  The nouns διευθυντής and καθηγητής keep the ancient vocative case ending in -α:
κύριε διευθυντά, κύριε καθηγητά.
What do you make of the word “γέρος,” we say “γέρο” not “γέρε”.  Why?  It is not a name.  I’m curious if this is from a rule or not.
We also use γέρε sometimes. It is an isosyllabic masculine noun in singural and plural which keeps always its tone at the same syllable. For this reason the vocative case is γέρο or γέρε. An another example is the word καπετάνιος: vocative case καπετάνιε/ καπετάνιο.
Interesting.  That rule does seem to work sometimes.  I’m thinking of δράκος—δράκο! (not δράκε!).  But then you have others like φίλος, ie, φίλε!  I’m not sure what is the rule and what is the exception.  Thank you for your response!
We also use "δράκε".
The general rule is that Masculine nouns ending in " -os", in vocative case usually turn " -ος" into "-ε".  
But trying to explain the reason why some nouns ending in " -ος", in vocative case turn " -ος" into "-o", for example γέρος-γέρε, we use the rule which says that  isosyllabic masculine nouns in singural and plural which keeps always its tone at the same syllable, ιn vocative case sometimes turn " -ος" into "-o".
What about Marios? I've learned its vocative is Marie. That seems to conflict with your first exception.
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