Which month is your favorite? Tell us in the comments below!

P.S. Want the Time Conversation Cheat Sheet? Find it here - click here

Hi Heather!

You're welcome! 😊 If you have any questions or need help with learning Greek, feel free to ask. We're here to assist you!

Ευχαριστούμε! (Efcharistoume! "Thank you!")

Team GreekPod101.com

Thank you

Γεια σου KaloKairi,

Και εμένα ο αγαπημένος μου μήνας είναι ο Αύγουστος. Έχεις σχέδια για το καλοκαίρι;

Φιλικά,

Κατερίνα,

Team GreekPod101.com

Αγαπημένος μου μήνας είναι ο Αύγουστος 😁

Γεια σου Μαρκ,

Χρόνια πολλά για τα γενέθλιά σου που πέρασαν! Έχεις γράψει την ημερομηνία αυτή ολόσωστα, μπράβο!

Γεια χαρά,

Στεφανία

Team GreekPod101.com

Tα γενέθλιά μου είναι την 1η Μαρτίου

Hello everyone,

Thank you all for your comments! If you want to download the Time Conversation Cheat Sheet, the link is on the first/pinned comment.

All the best,

Stefania

Team GreekPod101.com

I would like to have that sheet available. It makes it so much easier to learn if I have a written copy of what I’m trying to learn. Thank you.

Η αγαπημένη μου μήνα είναι κάθε μήνα όταν είμαι στην Κρήτη !

Σεπτέμβριος

Σεπτέμβριος

The correct answer is Σεπτέμβριος

Oi Richa,

Parabéns!

Stefania

Team GreekPod101.com

Muito bom estou entendendo

Hi Peter!

You can call me just Στεφανία in the singular :)

I hope this wasn't too overwhelming! It's just that the nature of the question required to portrait all these details 😅. Actually this could be a whole lesson, haha!

All the best,

Stefania

Team GreekPod101.com

κυρία Στεφανία,

OMG I'm glad I asked (I think 😮). Thank you for taking the time to explain so clearly and in depth!

Peter

Hi Peter,

Thank you for clarifying this. I see where there is confusion now.

What you were taught about dates is not quite accurate.

In Greek, we do use cardinals AND ordinals for dates. Both follow different structures.

However, I must say that the use of ordinals sounds more scholarly and is appropriate for historical dates (like the 4th of July in the US or the 25th of March in Greece, both official holidays) or for when we want to sound more formal and official ex. in the news, or in a birth certificate and other official documents.

Dates with cardinal numbers:

Στις έξι Ιανουαρίου (6th)

Στις έντεκα Φεβρουαρίου (11th)

Στις δεκαεφτά Μαρτίου (17th)

Στις είκοσι μία Απριλίου (21st)

Στις τριάντα μία Μαΐου (31st)

ONLY EXCEPTION: The first day of the month: Την πρώτη Ιουνίου with an ordinal number and pure accusative in the singular, not στη πρώτη Ιουνίου or στις πρώτη Ιουνίου.

Dates with ordinal numbers:

Την έκτη Ιανουαρίου (6th)

Την ενδεκάτη Φεβρουαρίου (11th) (with an accent shift instead of ενδέκατη)

Την δεκάτη εβδόμη Μαρτίου (17th) (with an accent shift instead of δέκατη έβδομη)

Την εικοστή πρώτη Απριλίου (21st)

Την τριακοστή πρώτη Μαΐου (31st)

So here, the ordinals require a pure accusative and there are some accentuation irregularities as it is quite usual with phrases that sound scholarly.

The above cases are valid when we want to say that something happened ON a specific date. These structures have an adverbial use answering to "when?" the action of the verb happened. Ex. When where you born? When did that happen?

Things change when we use the dates as the subject of a sentence.

For example:

The 4th of July is a happy day.

Answers to "What? not "When?" (which is adverbial): What day is happy? The 4th of July.

So dates used as subjects in Greek go like this:

Η πρώτη Ιανουαρίου

Η δύο Φεβρουαρίου

Η τρεις Αυγούστου

Η έντεκα Σεπτεμβρίου

Η δεκαεφτά Νοέμβρη

Η είκοσι μία Δεκεμβρίου

Η τριάντα μία Ιουλίου

As you can see they use the nominative case. We use the above without article when saying what date is today:

Τι μέρα είναι σήμερα;

Σήμερα είναι πρώτη Ιανουαρίου/δύο Φεβρουαρίου/τρεις Αυγούστου etc.

It seems paradoxical to use the singular η for days beyond the 1st but in our minds, we think of it like this:

Η (μέρα που λέγεται) δύο Απριλίου.

The (day that is called) 2 of April.

Also, some specific historical dates in Greece (and foreign) may have specific ways of being mentioned (either adverbially or as a subject)

For example:

Η εικοστή πέμπτη Μαρτίου / Την εικοστή Πέμπτη Μαρτίου

Η εικοστή ογδώη Οκτωβρίου / Την εικοστή ογδώη Οκτωβρίου

Η δεκαεφτά Νοέμβρη / Τη δεκαεφτά Νοέμβρη

I hope this answers any questions you had about dates 😅!

Cheers!

Stefania

Team GreekPod101.com

Dear Stefania,

Sorry for my poor Greek: I mean cardinal (1,2,3,...) and ordinal (1st, 2nd, 3rd, ...). Clearly in English we generally use ordinals for dates but I was taught in Greek ordinals are ONLY used for the 1st, 21st and 31st. The rest of the time you use the cardinals, which is, I think, important in spoken Greek. So in the audio of the examples below, which appear in the calendar vocabulary examples, the speaker uses ordinals for 29, 17 and 25 of the particular months:

[1] 29η Φεβρουαρίου

[2] 17 η Μαρτίου

[3] 25 η Δεκεμβρίου

Is there a rule(s)? Does it even matter which we use in Greek?!

Would appreciate your native language knowledge on this.

Peter

Γεια σου Peter,

Δεν καταλαβαίνω καλά την ερώτησή σου. Τι εννοείς «κανονικοί» αριθμοί (normal numbers);

Can you specify in English what do you mean exactly? Are you referring to cardinal or ordinal numbers?

I'm sorry, I just need to make sure I understand your request!

Regards,

Stefania

Team GreekPod101.com

Κυρία Στεφανία,

Μια ερώτηση για οι κανονικοι' αριθμοί και η ημερομηνία. Κατάλαβα ότι πρέπει να τους χρησιμοποιήσουμε μόνο με 1, 21 και 31. Αλλά υπάρχουν πάνω τρία παραδείγματα:

[1] 29η Φεβρουαρίου

[2] 17 η Μαρτίου

[3] 25 η Δεκεμβρίου

Ο ήχος χρησιμοποιεί οι κανονικοι' αριθμοί.

Υπάρχουν κανόνες;

Peter