Learn about the use of the first person singular and plural of the Greek verb eimai, meaning "to be"
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Fay: Hello, and welcome back to GreekPod101.com – the fastest, easiest, and most fun way to learn Greek. Beginner Season 1, Lesson 11 - Ready or Not, We're Leaving for Greece! Fay here. Thanks for joining us. |
| Chrissi: I’m Chrissi. Hello, everyone. |
| Fay: What are we learning in this lesson? |
| Chrissi: We are looking at the verb είμαι (íme - "to be"), in the first person. |
| Fay: The conversation takes place at Danai and Kostas house. |
| Chrissi: It’s between Petra and her hosts, Kostas and Danai. |
| Fay: The characters are friends so the conversation is in informal language. |
| Chrissi: Let’s listen. |
Lesson conversation |
|---|
| Δανάη Παπαδόπουλου: Είμαι έτοιμη. Πέτρα; |
| Πέτρα Γκόρντον: Κι εγώ σχεδόν έτοιμη είμαι. Φεύγουμε; |
| Δανάη Παπαδόπουλου: Ναι. Αν φύγουμε τώρα, θα είμαστε στο γραφείο στις 8.40. |
| Πέτρα Γκόρντον: ΟΚ. Πάμε! |
| Δανάη Παπαδόπουλου: Πέτρα, ο Κώστας κι εγώ είμαστε έτοιμοι. Θα σε περιμένουμε στο αυτοκίνητο. |
| Πετρα Γκόρντον: Θα είμαι εκεί σε πέντε λεπτά! |
| Fay: And now, let’s listen to the slow version. |
| Chrissi: Και τώρα πιο αργά. |
| Δανάη Παπαδόπουλου: Είμαι έτοιμη. Πέτρα; |
| Πέτρα Γκόρντον: Κι εγώ σχεδόν έτοιμη είμαι. Φεύγουμε; |
| Δανάη Παπαδόπουλου: Ναι. Αν φύγουμε τώρα, θα είμαστε στο γραφείο στις 8.40. |
| Πέτρα Γκόρντον: ΟΚ. Πάμε! |
| Δανάη Παπαδόπουλου: Πέτρα, ο Κώστας κι εγώ είμαστε έτοιμοι. Θα σε περιμένουμε στο αυτοκίνητο. |
| Πετρα Γκόρντον: Θα είμαι εκεί σε πέντε λεπτά! |
| Fay: Now let’s listen to the conversation with English translation. |
| Chrissi: Και τώρα στα αγγλικά. |
| Δανάη Παπαδόπουλου: Είμαι έτοιμη. Πέτρα; |
| Fay: I'm ready. Petra? |
| Πέτρα Γκόρντον: Κι εγώ σχεδόν έτοιμη είμαι. Φεύγουμε; |
| Fay: I'm almost ready too. Shall we go? |
| Δανάη Παπαδόπουλου: Ναι. Αν φύγουμε τώρα, θα είμαστε στο γραφείο στις 8.40. |
| Fay: Yes. If we leave now, we will be at the office at 8.40. |
| Πέτρα Γκόρντον: ΟΚ. Πάμε! |
| Fay: Okay. Let's go! |
| Δανάη Παπαδόπουλου: Πέτρα, ο Κώστας κι εγώ είμαστε έτοιμοι. Θα σε περιμένουμε στο αυτοκίνητο. |
| Fay: Petra, Kostas and I are ready. We'll be waiting for you in the car. |
| Πετρα Γκόρντον: Θα είμαι εκεί σε πέντε λεπτά! |
| Fay: I'll be there in five minutes. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Fay: Is there a problem with commuting in Athens? |
| Chrissi: Yes! Too many cars and not enough public transportation. |
| Fay: So people use their cars all the time? |
| Chrissi: Unfortunately, sometimes they do even when they could use public transportation. |
| Fay: So people use their cars all the time? |
| Chrissi: Unfortunately, sometimes they do even when they could use public transportation. |
| Fay: Why? |
| Chrissi: I’m not sure. But they do, and in most cases this means they start their day in a very bad temper. |
| Fay: Don’t they carpool? |
| Chrissi: Carpooling hasn’t really caught on in Greece. People prefer to use their cars alone. |
| Fay: So like you said, too many cars. |
| Chrissi: Yes. Going at very low speed, getting caught in traffic jams, and so on. |
| Fay: How about road rage? |
| Chrissi: We have that too—a lot! Greeks are not patient to begin with, and after an hour going at 35 mph, most get really upset! |
| Fay: So it would be better to avoid the streets early in the morning. |
| Chrissi: A very good idea! |
| Fay: Let’s take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Fay: First, we have… |
| Chrissi: εγώ [natural native speed]. |
| Fay: I. |
| Chrissi: εγώ [slowly - broken down by syllable]. εγώ [natural native speed]. |
| Fay: Next… |
| Chrissi: είμαι [natural native speed]. |
| Fay: To be. |
| Chrissi: είμαι [slowly - broken down by syllable]. είμαι [natural native speed]. |
| Fay: Next… |
| Chrissi: έτοιμος [natural native speed]. |
| Fay: Ready. |
| Chrissi: έτοιμος [slowly - broken down by syllable]. έτοιμος [natural native speed]. |
| Fay: Next… |
| Chrissi: φεύγω [natural native speed]. |
| Fay: To leave. |
| Chrissi: φεύγω [slowly - broken down by syllable]. φεύγω [natural native speed]. |
| Fay: Next… |
| Chrissi: αν [natural native speed]. |
| Fay: If. |
| Chrissi: αν [slowly - broken down by syllable]. αν [natural native speed]. |
| Fay: Next… |
| Chrissi: πάμε [natural native speed]. |
| Fay: We go, let's go. |
| Chrissi: πάμε [slowly - broken down by syllable]. πάμε [natural native speed]. |
| Fay: Next… |
| Chrissi: περιμένουμε [natural native speed]. |
| Fay: We wait. |
| Chrissi: περιμένουμε [slowly - broken down by syllable]. περιμένουμε [natural native speed]. |
| Fay: Next… |
| Chrissi: αυτοκίνητο [natural native speed]. |
| Fay: Car. |
| Chrissi: αυτοκίνητο [slowly - broken down by syllable]. αυτοκίνητο [natural native speed]. |
| Fay: Next… |
| Chrissi: πέντε [natural native speed]. |
| Fay: Five (5). |
| Chrissi: πέντε [slowly - broken down by syllable]. πέντε [natural native speed]. |
| Fay: Next… |
| Chrissi: λεπτά [natural native speed]. |
| Fay: Minutes. |
| Chrissi: λεπτά [slowly - broken down by syllable]. λεπτά [natural native speed]. |
| KEY VOCABULARY AND PHRASES |
| Fay: Let's take a closer look at some of the words and phrases in this lesson. The first line of our dialogue seems somehow minimalistic. |
| Chrissi: Yes. Είμαι έτοιμη. Πέτρα; (Íme étimi. Pétra? ) “I am ready. Petra?” |
| Fay: Shouldn’t it be “Petra, are you ready?” or “How about you, Petra?” |
| Chrissi: Technically, yes. But in everyday conversation, when the context provides all the information the listener needs, we can omit pretty much everything. |
| Fay: So Petra will understand what we mean? |
| Chrissi: In this context, yes. |
| Fay: OK. Petra's reply also sounds a little puzzling. The order of the words is reversed. |
| Chrissi: You mean when Danai says Είμαι έτοιμη (Íme étimi) and Petra says Κι εγώ σχεδόν έτοιμη είμαι. (Ki egó schedón étimi íme). Sounds like “ready I am,” doesn’t it? |
| Fay: Yes! Isn’t that wrong? |
| Chrissi: Actually, no. You can say either Κι εγώ είμαι έτοιμη (Ki egó íme étimi) or Κι εγώ έτοιμη είμαι (Ki ego étimi íme). They mean the same thing, “I’m also ready.” To most Greeks, though, Κι εγώ έτοιμη είμαι (Ki ego étimi íme) sounds a little more emphatic. |
| Fay: Can you give any other examples of that more emphatic word order? |
| Chrissi: Let’s see. “I am happy” and “I am also happy” are Είμαι χαρούμενη (Íme harúmeni) and Κι εγώ χαρούμενη είμαι (Ki egó harúmeni íme) or Κι εγώ είμαι χαρούμενη (Ki egó íme harúmeni). Repeat that! |
| Fay: And another? |
| Chrissi: Let's try it with the masculine gender. “I’m tired” and “I’m also tired” are Είμαι κουρασμένος (Íme kurazménos) and Κι εγώ κουρασμένος είμαι (Ki egó kurazménos íme) or Κι εγώ είμαι κουρασμένος (Ki egó íme kurazménos). |
| Fay: Another thing. In one of our sample sentences the phrase “I am a journalist” is translated Είμαι δημοσιογράφος (Íme dimosiográfos). Where is the “a”? |
| Chrissi: When we are stating a person’s occupation, we don’t use the indefinite article as we would in English. |
| Fay: So “I am a teacher” would be? |
| Chrissi: Είμαι δάσκαλος (Íme dáskalos). Repeat this. Είμαι δάσκαλος (Íme dáskalos). Incidentally, this is masculine. The feminine would be Είμαι δασκάλα (Íme daskála). |
| Fay: "I am an American" |
| Chrissi: Είμαι Αμερικάνος (Íme Amerikános) for men and Είμαι Αμερικανίδα (Íme Amerikanída) for women. |
| Fay: “I am a tourist”? |
| Chrissi: Είμαι τουρίστας (Íme turístas) or Είμαι τουρίστρια (Íme turístria) (masculine and feminine, respectively). Try to repeat these, too. Είμαι τουρίστας (Íme turístas), Είμαι τουρίστρια(Íme turístria) |
| Fay: Shall we move to our main grammar point now? |
| Chrissi: Yes! |
Lesson focus |
| Fay: What do we have for this lesson? |
| Chrissi: We focus on the first-person singular and plural of the verb είμαι (íme), “to be.” |
| Fay: An important verb! |
| Chrissi: Yes, but not as important as in English. |
| Fay: Why is that? |
| Chrissi: You see, in English the verb “to be” is an auxiliary verb, meaning it can combine with verbs to change their tenses. |
| Fay: It doesn’t do that in Greek? |
| Chrissi: In Greek, “to be” is used only to state existence or identification. |
| Fay: So if I want to say “I am in Greece”? |
| Chrissi: You say, Είμαι στην Ελλάδα (Íme stin Eláda.) |
| Fay: What happened to the “I,” εγώ (egó)? |
| Chrissi: That’s an important thing about Greek in real life. Although technically we’re supposed to use the personal pronoun, in most conversations we don’t. |
| Fay: Really? Why? |
| Chrissi: It doesn’t sound right. It sounds like we are over-promoting ourselves. Besides, the verb itself tells us which person we are dealing with. |
| Fay: So if you want to say “I am Greek”? |
| Chrissi: I say, Είμαι Έλληνας (Íme Élinas), not Εγώ είμαι Έλληνας (Ego íme Élinas.) Είμαι Ελληνίδα (Íme Elinída), not Εγώ είμαι Ελληνίδα (Egó íme Elinída.) |
| Fay: Interesting. Some more examples? |
| Chrissi: Είμαι μεταφραστής (Íme metafrastís) means “I am a translator.” Repeat that. Είμαι μεταφραστής (Íme metafrastís.) |
| Fay: “I am a student”? |
| Chrissi: Είμαι φοιτητής (Íme fititís.) |
| Fay: “I am in Mykonos”? |
| Chrissi: Είμαι στη Μύκονο (Íme sti Míkono.) Είμαι - στη - Μύκονο (Íme - sti - Míkono.) |
| Fay: Got it. Does that apply to the first-person plural as well? |
| Chrissi: Yes, totally possible. |
| Fay: So how would we say, “We are in Greece”? |
| Chrissi: Είμαστε στην Ελλάδα (Ímaste stin Eláda.) Repeat that, too. Είμαστε στην Ελλάδα (Ímaste stin Eláda.) |
| Fay: And if we put in the pronoun? |
| Chrissi: Εμείς είμαστε στην Ελλάδα. (Emís ímaste stin Eláda.) |
| Fay: “We are happy to be in Greece.” |
| Chrissi: Είμαστε χαρούμενοι που είμαστε στην Ελλάδα. (Ímaste harúmenoi pu ímaste stin Eláda.) Try repeating that as well. Είμαστε - χαρούμενοι - που - είμαστε - στην - Ελλάδα. (Ímaste - harúmenoi - pu - ímaste - stin - Eláda.) |
| Fay: Once again, you avoided using the pronoun εμείς (emís), “we.” |
| Chrissi: As I said, it doesn’t sound right! |
| Fay: So it’s good to remember not to use the pronoun. |
| Chrissi: It’s hard for me to tell you that, since grammatically the pronoun is supposed to be there. But I can tell you that it sounds weird in real life. |
| Fay: Okay, got it. So to recap, “I am” is? |
| Chrissi: Εγώ είμαι (Egó íme) or simply είμαι. (íme.) |
| Fay: And “we are” is? |
| Chrissi: Εμείς είμαστε (Emís ímaste) or simply είμαστε (ímaste.) |
| Fay: Pretty straightforward. |
| Chrissi: I think so, too. So work on these. |
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| Chrissi: Let us know… |
| Fay: …by clicking the “Like” button next to the lesson or series. Bye. |
| Chrissi: Γεια χαρά! (Ya hará!) |
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