Learn how to understand Greek public transport directions
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Iro: Hi, I’m Iro. |
| Judith: Judith here. Absolute Beginner Season 1, Lesson 11, Taking the Subway to a Delicious Greek Destination. |
| Iro:Hi. My name is Iro and I’m joined here by Judith. |
| Judith: Hello, everyone and welcome back to GreekPod101.com. |
| Iro: What are we learning today? |
| Judith: In this lesson, you will learn how to understand public transport directions. |
| Iro: This conversation takes place on a street in Athens. |
| Judith: The conversation is between Andrea, Ellie, and Petros. |
| Iro: The speakers are quickly becoming friends, therefore they will speaking informal Greek. |
| DIALOGUES |
| Έλλη: Α, η Αντρέα… Γεια σου Αντρέα, τι κάνεις; Πώς περνάς στην Ελλάδα; |
| Αντρέα: Πολύ ωραία! Μου αρέσει πολύ εδώ. Εσείς, πώς περνάτε; |
| Πέτρος: Καλά κι εμείς. |
| Αντρέα: Πεινάω πολύ. Μήπως ξέρετε κανένα καλό εστιατόριο; |
| Έλλη: Ναι, το «Αθηναϊκό». Έχει πολύ νόστιμο φαγητό. |
| Αντρέα: Πού είναι; |
| Πέτρος: Στο Γκάζι. Παίρνεις τη μπλε γραμμή προς το «Αιγάλεω» και… |
| Αντρέα: Συγγνώμη, τι σημαίνει «γραμμή»; |
| Έλλη: Line. He means the blue subway line. |
| Πέτρος: Ναι, τη μπλε γραμμή προς το «Αιγάλεω» και λοιπόν κατεβαίνεις στη στάση «Κεραμικός». |
| Αντρέα: Συγγνώμη, δεν καταλαβαίνω… Μήπως μιλάτε αγγλικά; |
| Πέτρος: Εγώ δεν μιλάω πολύ καλά, αλλά η Έλλη μιλάει καλά. |
| English Host: Let’s hear the conversation one time slowly. |
| Έλλη: Α, η Αντρέα… Γεια σου Αντρέα, τι κάνεις; Πώς περνάς στην Ελλάδα; |
| Αντρέα: Πολύ ωραία! Μου αρέσει πολύ εδώ. Εσείς, πώς περνάτε; |
| Πέτρος: Καλά κι εμείς. |
| Αντρέα: Πεινάω πολύ. Μήπως ξέρετε κανένα καλό εστιατόριο; |
| Έλλη: Ναι, το «Αθηναϊκό». Έχει πολύ νόστιμο φαγητό. |
| Αντρέα: Πού είναι; |
| Πέτρος: Στο Γκάζι. Παίρνεις τη μπλε γραμμή προς το «Αιγάλεω» και… |
| Αντρέα: Συγγνώμη, τι σημαίνει «γραμμή»; |
| Έλλη: Line. He means the blue subway line. |
| Πέτρος: Ναι, τη μπλε γραμμή προς το «Αιγάλεω» και λοιπόν κατεβαίνεις στη στάση «Κεραμικός». |
| Αντρέα: Συγγνώμη, δεν καταλαβαίνω… Μήπως μιλάτε αγγλικά; |
| Πέτρος: Εγώ δεν μιλάω πολύ καλά, αλλά η Έλλη μιλάει καλά. |
| English Host: Now let’s hear it with the English translation. |
| Έλλη: Α, η Αντρέα… Γεια σου Αντρέα, τι κάνεις; Πώς περνάς στην Ελλάδα; |
| Judith: Ah, Andrea… Hello, Andrea, how are you? How are things going for you in Greece? |
| Αντρέα: Πολύ ωραία! Μου αρέσει πολύ εδώ. Εσείς, πώς περνάτε; |
| Judith: Very nice! I really like it here. And you, how are you doing? |
| Πέτρος: Καλά κι εμείς. |
| Judith: We're also well. |
| Αντρέα: Πεινάω πολύ. Μήπως ξέρετε κανένα καλό εστιατόριο; |
| Judith: I'm very hungry. Perhaps you know of a good restaurant? |
| Έλλη: Ναι, το «Αθηναϊκό». Έχει πολύ νόστιμο φαγητό. |
| Judith: Yes, the Athinaikó. It has very tasty food. |
| Αντρέα: Πού είναι; |
| Judith: Where is it? |
| Πέτρος: Στο Γκάζι. Παίρνεις τη μπλε γραμμή προς το «Αιγάλεω» και… |
| Judith: In the Gazi. You take the blue line toward the Aigáleo and… |
| Αντρέα: Συγγνώμη, τι σημαίνει «γραμμή»; |
| Judith: Excuse me, what does "γραμμή" mean? |
| Έλλη: Line. He means the blue subway line. |
| Judith: Line. He means the blue subway line. |
| Πέτρος: Ναι, τη μπλε γραμμή προς το «Αιγάλεω» και λοιπόν κατεβαίνεις στη στάση «Κεραμικός». |
| Judith: Yes, the blue line toward the Aigáleoand then you get off at the Keramikósstop. |
| Αντρέα: Συγγνώμη, δεν καταλαβαίνω… Μήπως μιλάτε αγγλικά; |
| Judith: I'm sorry, I don't understand. Do you speak English, perhaps? |
| Πέτρος: Εγώ δεν μιλάω πολύ καλά, αλλά η Έλλη μιλάει καλά. |
| Judith: I don't speak very well, but Elli speaks well. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Judith: Okay. Let’s talk a bit about the subway. Which cities have a subway in Greece? |
| Iro: Athens has a subway and Thessaloniki was supposed to have one but it’s under constructions for many years now. |
| Judith: And the subway in Greece is called "metro", right? |
| Iro: Αττικό μετρό and it has been in use since 2000. The ticket costs EUR 1.40 and is available for all means of transportation except for the route to and from the airport, and it’s valid for 1 hour and 30 minutes. |
| Judith: What is the metro like? Is it safe? |
| Iro: Yes. The stops in cars are clean and new. Eating, drinking, and smoking are not allowed. There are cameras in every station but the passengers must be extremely careful with their personal belongings nevertheless. |
| Judith: How about bikes? Can I take a bike on the subway? |
| Iro: Bikes are allowed on specific days and hours. |
| Judith: Can I reach a lot of places by metro? |
| Iro: The metro covers a vast area and is still expanding. The construction of the tunnels was sometimes very difficult due to the ancient artifacts that were buried underground for centuries. The passengers and visitors to the stations can see exhibits of some of these in some metro stations. |
| Judith: Wow. Yeah. I can imagine, doing a subway in Greece and stumbling in all these artifacts, that must be awesome. |
| Iro: Yes. It happened a lot of times. I think that it really made them tired. Also many archeologists work alongside the buildings in order to protect and record these findings, also managing to make a precise description of the ancient city. |
| Judith: That’s great. Then the subway really does something for Athens. |
| Iro: Yes, it does. |
| Judith: What other possibilities do I have to get around in Athens? |
| Iro: In Athens, people could use also buses, trolleys, trams, and electric train, and the suburban train. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Judith: Okay. Let’s take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. The first word we shall see is? |
| Iro: πώς |
| Judith: How. |
| Iro: πώς |
| Judith: Next. |
| Iro: περνάω |
| Judith: To pass. |
| Iro: περνάω |
| Judith: Next. |
| Iro: πεινάω |
| Judith: To be hungry. |
| Iro: πεινάω |
| Judith: Next. |
| Iro: κανένας |
| Judith: Any or none. |
| Iro: κανένας |
| Judith: Next. |
| Iro: παίρνω |
| Judith: To take. |
| Iro: παίρνω |
| Judith: Next. |
| Iro: μπλε |
| Judith: Blue. |
| Iro: μπλε |
| Judith: Next. |
| Iro: γραμμή |
| Judith: Line. |
| Iro: γραμμή |
| Judith: This word is feminine. Next. |
| Iro: προς |
| Judith: Toward. |
| Iro: προς |
| Judith: Next. |
| Iro: σημαίνω |
| Judith: To mean. |
| Iro: σημαίνω |
| Judith: Next. |
| Iro: κατεβαίνω |
| Judith: To descend or get off. |
| Iro: κατεβαίνω |
| Judith: Next. |
| Iro: στάση |
| Judith: Stop. |
| Iro: στάση |
| Judith: This word is feminine. Next. |
| Iro: καταλαβαίνω |
| Judith: To understand. |
| Iro: καταλαβαίνω |
| Judith: Next. |
| Iro: μιλάω |
| Judith: To talk. |
| Iro: μιλάω |
| Judith: Next. |
| Iro: αγγλικά |
| Judith: English. |
| Iro: αγγλικά |
| KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES |
| Judith: Let’s have a closer look at the usage for some of the words and phrases from this lesson. |
| Iro: The first phrase we’ll look at is Πώς περνάς; |
| Judith: This means “How are you doing?” or “How are things going for you?” |
| Iro: "κανένα" words like the English word “any.” |
| Judith: In a question, you can use it as “Do you know any good restaurants around here?” but in a negative sentence, it means “none” as in “I don’t know any.” The difference is that "κανένα" is used with singular nouns. |
| Iro: "κανένα καλό εστιατόριο" |
| Judith: Some good restaurant. Restaurant is singular here, not plural. |
| Iro: Note the phrases "Δεν καταλαβαίνω" |
| Judith: I don’t understand. |
| Iro: And "Τι σημαίνει;" |
| Judith: What does it mean? |
| Iro: These can save you in Greece. |
| GRAMMAR POINT |
| Judith: The grammar focus of this lesson are second conjugation verbs in the present tense. We’ve encountered a lot of verbs that work like κάνω and δουλεύω. In fact είμαι is the only exception. The bad news is that there is a second big group of verbs and they get slightly different endings. |
| Iro: We’ll take μιλάω as an example. By the way, don’t get confused if some people say μιλώ instead of μιλάω, it’s slightly classier to drop the -άω in favor of -ώ. |
| Judith: Let’s compare the endings of the two major groups of Greek verbs. |
| Iro: κάνω |
| Judith: I speak. |
| Iro: κάνεις |
| Judith: You speak. |
| Iro: κάνει |
| Judith: He speaks. |
| Iro: κάνουμε |
| Judith: We speak. |
| Iro: κάνετε |
| Judith: “You speak,” which is for several people or when you’re talking formally. |
| Iro: κάνουν |
| Judith: They speak. This is really a superficial change. The differences are not very big. |
| Iro: Basically, if you remove the standard -ω form κάνω, your left with a consonant. This means that you can’t just add endings like -ς -με -τε -ν and so on because they’re unpronounceable without a vowel. |
| Judith: So verbs like κάνω have extra vowels fielding all over the place. However, this problem does not exist for verbs that ends in -άω like μιλάω. |
| Iro: If you remove the -ω you still have a vowel at the end of the verb. So you can attach your endings right there. The -άω verbs are basically like -ω verbs without the extra vowel package. For the third person, that is the “he, she, it,” form and also the “they” form, you additionally have the option of treating -άω verbs just like -ω verbs. |
| Judith: You may say μιλά or you may imitate κάνει and say μιλάει with the extra vowel baggage. You may say μιλάνε or you may imitate κάνουν and say μιλούν. |
| Iro: Don’t see this as a difficulty. Really, it means that there are fewer ways you could go wrong. Well, that just about does it for today. Like our podcast. |
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Outro |
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| Judith:Okay, see you next week! |
| Iro:Γεια σας! |
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