Learn how to use the irregular adjective that means "many" in Modern Greek
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Fay: Hello, everyone. This is Fay. Welcome to GreekPod101.com, Beginner Season 1, Lesson 10 – How Many Greek Beers is ‘Too Much’ Beer? |
| Chrissi: And I’m Chrissi. |
| Fay: What are we learning in this lesson? |
| Chrissi: We’ll learn how to use the irregular adjective “many” in Greek. |
| Fay: The conversation takes place in a bar in Athens. |
| Chrissi: It’s among co-workers; Petra Gordon, Dimitris Triantafyllou and Vaggelis Thomaidis. |
| Fay: Since the characters are co-workers and on a night out, the conversation are informal. |
| Chrissi: Let’s listen. |
Lesson conversation |
|---|
| Πέτρα Γκόρντον: Αυτές τις μπίρες δεν τις ξέρω. |
| Δημήτρα Τριανταφύλλου: Οι πιο πολλές είναι γερμανικές. |
| Πέτρα Γκόρντον: Πίνουν πολλοί Έλληνες γερμανικές μπίρες; |
| Ευαγγελία Θωμαΐδης: Μπα, οι πιο πολλοί προτιμούν τις ελληνικές μάρκες. |
| Fay: Now, the slow version. |
| Πέτρα Γκόρντον: Αυτές τις μπίρες δεν τις ξέρω. |
| Δημήτρα Τριανταφύλλου: Οι πιο πολλές είναι γερμανικές. |
| Πέτρα Γκόρντον: Πίνουν πολλοί Έλληνες γερμανικές μπίρες; |
| Ευαγγελία Θωμαΐδης: Μπα, οι πιο πολλοί προτιμούν τις ελληνικές μάρκες. |
| Fay: Now, with the English translation. |
| Πέτρα Γκόρντον: Αυτές τις μπίρες δεν τις ξέρω. |
| Fay: Ι don't know these beers. |
| Δημήτρα Τριανταφύλλου: Οι πιο πολλές είναι γερμανικές. |
| Fay: Most of them are German. |
| Πέτρα Γκόρντον: Πίνουν πολλοί Έλληνες γερμανικές μπίρες; |
| Fay: Do many people in Greece drink German beer? |
| Ευαγγελία Θωμαΐδης: Μπα, οι πιο πολλοί προτιμούν τις ελληνικές μάρκες. |
| Fay: Nah, most people prefer the Greek brands. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Fay: So Greeks don’t drink German beer? |
| Chrissi: Of course they do—they drink all kinds of imported beers: German, Irish, Belgian, American. People in Greece really love beer, especially in summer. |
| Fay: Tell me, is it true that in Greece, alcohol is sold to minors? |
| Chrissi: It is and it isn’t. You see, up until a few years back, there was no law about who could buy a drink, so bartenders and shop clerks used their common sense. |
| Fay: Okay. I can see that. But what about teenagers? |
| Chrissi: What about them? Teenagers always find a way to get a drink, even in the U.S.! |
| Fay: Not that easily, though. |
| Chrissi: Yeah, you’re probably right. Still, Greeks have found ways to enjoy a drink and not become alcoholics. At least, no more than other countries with stricter laws. |
| Fay: Okay, that was…enlightening. Let’s take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Fay: First, we have… |
| Chrissi: αυτό [natural native speed]. |
| Fay: This. |
| Chrissi: αυτό [slowly - broken down by syllable]. αυτό [natural native speed]. |
| Fay: Next… |
| Chrissi: Δεν ξέρω [natural native speed]. |
| Fay: I don't know. |
| Chrissi: Δεν ξέρω [slowly - broken down by syllable]. Δεν ξέρω [natural native speed]. |
| Fay: Next… |
| Chrissi: πολλές [natural native speed]. |
| Fay: Many. |
| Chrissi: πολλές [slowly - broken down by syllable]. πολλές [natural native speed]. |
| Fay: Next… |
| Chrissi: Γερμανικές [natural native speed]. |
| Fay: German. |
| Chrissi: Γερμανικές [slowly - broken down by syllable]. Γερμανικές [natural native speed]. |
| Fay: Next… |
| Chrissi: πίνω [natural native speed]. |
| Fay: To drink. |
| Chrissi: πίνω [slowly - broken down by syllable]. πίνω [natural native speed]. |
| Fay: Next… |
| Chrissi: πολλοί [natural native speed]. |
| Fay: Many. |
| Chrissi: πολλοί [slowly - broken down by syllable]. πολλοί [natural native speed]. |
| Fay: Next… |
| Chrissi: προτιμώ [natural native speed]. |
| Fay: To prefer. |
| Chrissi: προτιμώ [slowly - broken down by syllable]. προτιμώ [natural native speed]. |
| KEY VOCABULARY AND PHRASES |
| Fay: Let's take a closer look at some of the words and phrases in this lesson. It looks like our main theme in this lesson is the adjective "polys". |
| Chrissi: Which means “many” or “much,” depending on the situation. |
| Fay: But first of all, what does πιο (pio) mean? |
| Chrissi: Πιο (Pio) is an adverb of quantity, similar to the English “more” or the adjective ending “-er.” |
| Fay: So it is the comparative degree of an adjective: “easy,” “easier.” |
| Chrissi: Yes. |
| Fay: How do we say “easy” and “easier” in Greek? |
| Chrissi: We would say εύκολο (eukolo) and πιο εύκολο (pio eukolo). Try repeating those. |
| Fay: And how do we say “fast” and “faster”? |
| Chrissi: Γρήγορο (Grigoro) and πιο γρήγορο (pio grigoro). Repeat those, too. |
| Fay: How about “tasty” and “tastier”? |
| Chrissi: Νόστιμο (Nostimo) and πιο νόστιμο (pio nostimo). Repeat after me. Νόστιμο (Nostimo), πιο νόστιμο (pio nostimo). |
| Fay: OK. I got what πιο (pio) means. But how it is used with “many” or “much”? |
| Chrissi: Well, "pio polloi" (or "pio polles" or "pio polla" for feminine and neuter) means “more.” |
| Fay: Let’s put that in perspective with some examples, shall we? |
| Chrissi: Of course! |
| Fay: “Many people” and “more people.” |
| Chrissi: Πολλοί άνθρωποι (Polloi anthropoi) and πιο πολλοί άνθρωποι (pio polloi anthropoi). |
| Fay: “Many cars” and “more cars.” |
| Chrissi: Πολλά αυτοκίνητα (Polla autokinita) and πιο πολλά αυτοκίνητα (pio polla autokinhta). |
| Fay: “Many chairs” and “more chairs.” |
| Chrissi: Πολλές καρέκλες (Polles karekles) and πιο πολλές καρέκλες (pio polles karekles). |
| Fay: OK. I think we covered that. Is the comparative degree only formed with πιο (pio)? |
| Chrissi: Actually, no. Many adjectives have an inflected form for the comparative degree. Πολύς(Polys) is one of them, in fact. |
| Fay: So let’s see the examples we used before, this time with the inflected form. |
| “Many people” and “more people.” |
| Chrissi: Πολλοί άνθρωποι (Polloi anthropoi) and περισσότεροι άνθρωποι (perisoteroi anthropoi). |
| Fay: Wow! Περισσότεροι (Perissoteroi) is an inflected form of πολλοί (polloi)? |
| Chrissi: Yes! |
| Fay: OK. “Many cars” and “more cars”? |
| Chrissi: Πολλά αυτοκίνητα (Polla autokinita) and περισσότερα αυτοκίνητα (perissotera autokinhta). |
| Fay: “Many chairs” and “more chairs.” |
| Chrissi: Πολλές καρέκλες (Polles karekles) and περισσότερες καρέκλες (perissoteres karekles). |
| Fay: I think this will be enough for now. Let’s move on to our main Grammar Point, which is still about the adjective πολύς (polys). |
| Chrissi: OK! |
Lesson focus |
| Fay: The focus of our lesson is the adjective "polys" that we talked about it before. |
| Chrissi: Right. It’s an adjective that means either “many” (when used with countable nouns like people or objects) or “much” (when used with uncountable nouns like “money” and “work”). |
| Fay: This sounds a little complicated. |
| Chrissi: Personally, I think it’s easier this way. English makes you remember two adjectives, while Greek requires only one! |
| Fay: OK. But it does have three genders, right? |
| Chrissi: Yes. Like most adjectives, "polys" is gendered. Πολύς (Polys) is the masculine gender, accompanying masculine nouns. Πολλή (Pollh) is the feminine, used with feminine nouns. And πολύ (polu) is neuter. |
| Fay: But all those are singular in number, right? I can’t understand how the word “many” or “much” can apply to singular; isn’t it plural by definition? |
| Chrissi: Well, think of uncountable nouns like “work.” if we say “I don’t have much work today,” the noun “work” is singular, right? |
| Fay: Yes, I suppose so. |
| Chrissi: But if we say “Many works of art are in museums,” the noun “work” is plural. |
| Fay: Ah, I see! So in Greek we use the singular form of "polys" for uncountable nouns in the singular. |
| Chrissi: Right. |
| Fay: Can we give some examples? |
| Chrissi: Sure. Πολλή χαρά (Pollh chara) is “much joy,” πολύ γέλιο (poly gelio) is “much laughter,” πολύς θόρυβος (polys thorivos) is “much noise.” Try repeating those. Πολλή χαρά (Pollh chara), πολύ γέλιο (poly gelio), πολύς θόρυβος (polys thorivos). |
| Fay: OK. And the plural? |
| Chrissi: We can use the same nouns. Πολλές χαρές (Polles chares) is "many joys", πολλά γέλια (polla gelia) is “many laughs,) πολλοί θόρυβοι (polloi thorivoi) is “many noises”. Repeat those, too. Πολλές χαρές (Polles chares), πολλά γέλια (polla gelia), πολλοί θόρυβοι (polloi thorivoi). |
| Fay: I think I get it now. Is there a way to remember all these different forms of “polys”? |
| Chrissi: The best way is through everyday use. But we have also included some tables in our PDF showing how “polys” is declined in all three genders. So if you go through these, you won’t have any problems! |
| Fay: Listeners, don’t forget to download the PDF, OK? |
| Chrissi: Yes. It’s a very useful guide to how the adjective “polys” changes in all four cases, singular and plural. |
| Fay: And with that, we shall end this lesson. Study as much as you can, or… |
| Chrissi: Meletiste oso pio poly mporeite! |
| Fay: Bye! |
| Chrissi: Γεια χαρά! (Geia chara!) |
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