Learn a few phrases you can use to understand the culture better
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| Maria: Welcome to Basic Boot Camp. This five-part series will help you ease your way into Greek. |
| Iro: We'll go over all the basics that will get you on the right track to learning Greek quickly. |
| Maria: Including today's lesson! In this lesson, you will learn several essential phrases to help you learn Greek. |
| Iro: Yep, you can use today's phrases when you are at a loss for words or caught in a confusing situation. |
| Maria: These phrases will help you avoid or resolve misunderstandings whenever and wherever you are in Greece. |
| Iro: Using Greek to learn Greek can help you improve much faster! |
| Maria: Okay, here we have a little Greek dream sequence for you. |
| Iro: Yes, it's a really common situation a learner will be in. |
| MariaThe case of "the lacked word." |
| Iro: You want to say something, but don't have the vocabulary word. |
| Maria: For some of us, it's not just a dream…maybe more like a recurring nightmare. |
| Iro: But the nightmare is over now! |
| Maria: So listen to Iro and me try to overcome some language difficulties by asking simple but very useful phrases, and try to keep up! |
| Maria: Here we go! |
| Four Phrases in Greek |
| Maria: Here we go! |
| Iro: Συγγνώμη, πώς λέμε … στα Ελληνικά; |
| Iro: Δεν καταλαβαίνω. Μπορείτε να το επαναλάβετε; |
| Iro: Παρακαλώ, μιλάτε πιο αργά. |
| Iro: Μπορείτε να μου το γράψετε στα Ελληνικά; |
| Slow |
| Maria: Let’s hear it slowly now. |
| Iro: Ας το ακούσουμε τώρα αργά. |
| Iro: Συγγνώμη, πώς λέμε … στα Ελληνικά; |
| Iro: Δεν καταλαβαίνω. Μπορείτε να το επαναλάβετε; |
| Iro: Παρακαλώ, μιλάτε πιο αργά. |
| Iro: Μπορείτε να μου το γράψετε στα Ελληνικά; |
| Translation |
| Maria: And now with the translation. |
| Iro: Και τώρα η μετάφραση! |
| Iro: Συγγνώμη, πώς λέμε … στα Ελληνικά; |
| Maria: Excuse me, how do you say __________ in Greek? |
| Iro: Δεν καταλαβαίνω. Μπορείτε να το επαναλάβετε; |
| Maria: |
| I'm sorry, I didn't understand. Say it once again, please. |
| Iro: Παρακαλώ, μιλάτε πιο αργά. |
| Maria: |
| Please, speak slower. |
| Iro: Μπορείτε να μου το γράψετε στα Ελληνικά; |
| Maria: |
| Write this down in Greek for me, please. |
| Post banter |
| Maria: Now you will never be at a loss for words again. |
| Iro: That's right. |
| Maria: So, what exactly were all these words? Let's break them down. |
| Vocabulary |
| Maria: The first phrase we had was, |
| Iro: Συγγνώμη, πώς λέμε: : στα Ελληνικά; |
| "Excuse me, how do we say __________ in Greek?" |
| Maria: The first word is Συγγνώμη, which means "Excuse me" if you put it at the beginning of the question sentence. It can also mean "I'm sorry" if you use it in the context of the English "Sorry." |
| Iro: So, the first phrase we have, expresses the request for help; therefore, we use Συγγνώμη in the meaning of "excuse me." |
| Maria: Let's say it again. |
| Iro: Συγγνώμη |
| Iro: Συ-γγνώ-μη (slowly) |
| Iro: Συγγνώμη |
| Maria: "Excuse me" or "I'm sorry." |
| Maria: The next word is... |
| Iro: Πώς. |
| Maria: Which means "how." |
| Iro: We've mentioned this word before in the first Basic Boot Camp lesson in the phrase πώς σε λένε; ("What's your name?") Remember? |
| Maria: Oh, that's right. Well, the good news is that this word hasn't changed its meaning since. And it never will! |
| Iro: Easy, hmm? πώς! |
| Maria: Okay, and the next word we have is… |
| Iro: Λέμε. Λέ-με, λέμε. |
| Maria: Means "to say." So here, we have… |
| Iro: Πώς λέμε; |
| Maria: Which literally means "how do we say." And then, just add the word you want to know, followed by... |
| Iro: Στα Ελληνικά. στα Ε-λλη-νι-κά, στα Ελληνικά. |
| Maria: We can translate this as "in Greek," and it refers to the language in our case. All you need here is hope that your companion speaks English enough to understand and say it in Greek for you! Now, let's make a short dialogue using the words we've just learned. Συγγνώμη, πώς λέμε 'ticket' στα Ελληνικά? |
| Iro: Εισιτήριο. |
| Maria: Here we go! Okay, let's move to the second phrase. |
| Iro: Δεν καταλαβαίνω. Μπορείτε να το επαναλάβετε; |
| Maria: "Δεν" literally means "not" or "don't," "doesn't," "didn't," "won't," etc. Because we express genders and tenses in Greek by modifying the verb ending, and not by the variations of the verb "to do" as in English. |
| Iro: That's right, and our next verb is clear evidence of that. |
| καταλαβαίνω, κα-τα-λα-βαί-νω, καταλαβαίνω |
| Maria: Καταλαβαίνω literally means "understand," and we use it in neuter gender. And the next word is… |
| Iro: Μπορείτε, Μπο-ρεί-τε, Μπορείτε |
| Maria: Μπορείτε means "Can you," and is used for both formal speech and when expressing plural, just like English. |
| Iro: Next is να το, which literally translates as "to it," which is finally followed by the word for "repeat," επαναλάβετε. |
| Maria: So literally, we are saying "Can you to it repeat?" Great! Let's repeat the whole phrase again. |
| Iro: Δεν καταλαβαίνω. Μπορείτε να το επαναλάβετε; |
| Maria: Let's move to sentence number three. |
| Iro: Παρακαλώ, μιλάτε πιο αργά. |
| Maria: Παρακαλώ is the word for "Please." The next word is… |
| Iro: Μιλάτε Μι-λά-τε, μιλάτε |
| Maria: It means "(you) speak." |
| Iro: And in order not to sound rude, we put Παρακαλώ before it. "Please, speak." |
| Maria: The next word is... |
| Iro: Πιο, πιο. |
| Maria: This literally means "more." |
| Iro: Followed by, αργά, Α-ργά, αργά. |
| Maria: Which means "slower." In case you wonder how to say "slow" in Greek... |
| Iro: Αργός, αργός. |
| Maria: So αργά is a comparative adjective and means "slower." Let's say phrase one again. |
| Iro: Παρακαλώ, μιλάτε πιο αργά. |
| Maria: And finally, the last phrase for this lesson. |
| Iro: Μπορείτε να μου το γράψετε στα Ελληνικά; "Write this down in Greek for me, please." |
| Maria: We start with a question, Μπορείτε or "Can you?" |
| Iro: Μπορείτε, Μπο-ρεί-τε, Μπορείτε. |
| Maria: Followed by saying to whom you want it written, which in this case is "for me." |
| Iro: Να μου το. |
| Maria: As we learned earlier, να το means "to it," and as we want to say that we want something written down for "me," we add μου. So this would translate as "to me." Let's hear it again. |
| Iro: Να μου το. |
| Maria: Next, we have γράψετε, which literally means "write." |
| Iro: Γράψετε, γρά-ψε-τε, γράψετε. |
| Maria: Finally, we have "στα Ελληνικά," which we learned in a previous Boot Camp lesson means "in Greek." |
| Iro: Στα Ελληνικά, στα Ελ-λη-νι-κά, στα Ελληνικά. |
| Maria: Very easy and useful! Let's just repeat everything we've learned today. |
| Iro: Okay, let's make a dialogue. |
| Maria: Συγγνώμη, πώς λέμε ticket στα Ελληνικά; |
| Iro: Εισιτήριο. |
| Maria: Δεν καταλαβαίνω, μπορείτε να το επαναλάβετε: |
| Iro: Εισιτήριο! |
| Maria: Παρακαλώ, μιλάτε πιο αργά. |
| Iro: Ει-σι-τή-ρι-ο. |
| Maria: Μπορείτε να μου το γράψετε στα ελληνικά; |
| Translation: |
| Maria: And now with the translation. |
| Iro: Και τώρα η μετάφραση! |
| Maria: Συγγνώμη, πώς λέμε ticket στα Ελληνικά; |
| Excuse me, how do you say 'ticket' in Greek? |
| Iro: Εισιτήριο Eisitírio. |
| Maria: Δεν καταλαβαίνω, μπορείτε να το επαναλάβετε: |
| I didn't understand. Say it once again, please. |
| Iro: Εισιτήριο Eisitírio!" |
| Maria: Παρακαλώ, μιλάτε πιο αργά"Please, speak slower. |
| Irio: Εισιτήριο Ei-si-tí-ri-o. |
| Maria: Μπορείτε να μου το γράψετε στα ελληνικά; Write this down in Greek for me, please. |
| Vocabulary and usage |
| Maria: Well, we covered all the words, and now we are supposed to explain their usage. But it's too easy because most of them have the same usage as in English! |
| Iro: With small exceptions such as Συγγνώμη, which we can use both as "Excuse me" and "I'm sorry." But again, its meaning is defined by its usage! |
| Maria: So here, we equipped you with all the necessary words and phrases for resolving misunderstandings. |
| Iro: If you didn't understand the word the first time, you know the phrase for "repeat, please." |
| Maria: And if you still have problems understanding your companions, you know how to ask them to speak slower. |
| Iro: And if you think the word is useful for you, you can ask someone to show you how to write the word or to help you with your Greek writing. |
| Maria: I used to carry a notebook. Once I had the word and its English equivalent, I would just open the book any time I had a moment—on the bus, whatever—and study the words. |
| Iro: Oh, that is what I do too. |
| Maria: Once the word is somewhere in your brain, you just need to give yourself the chance to encounter it a few times in different circumstances. |
| Iro: Yes, this writing down method is great, because once you introduce yourself to the word and write it down, you are giving yourself a chance to hear it again, and use it again. |
| Closing |
| Maria: Thanks for listening! |
| Iro: Γεια σας! |
| Maria: Bye! |
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