Learn about use of the second person singular and plural of the verb eimai, meaning "to be"
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Fay: Hello, and welcome back to GreekPod101.com. Beginner Season 1, Lesson 12 - I'm Okay in Greece; Are You Okay? Fay here. |
| Chrissi: This is Chrissi. |
| Fay: What are we learning in this lesson? |
| Chrissi: We are looking at the verb “eimai’ (to be) in the second person. |
| Fay: The conversation takes place in Danai’s car. |
| Chrissi: It’s between Petra and her Greek hosts, Danai and Kostantina. |
| Fay: The characters are friends so the conversation is in informal language. |
| Chrissi: Let’s listen. |
Lesson conversation |
|---|
| Δανάη Παπαδοπούλου: Είστε σίγουροι ότι τα πήρατε όλα; |
| Κωσταντίνα Παπαδοπούλου: Εγώ ναι. Πέτρα, εσύ είσαι εντάξει; |
| Πέτρα Γκόρντον: Ναι, όλα εντάξει. Μπορούμε να φύγουμε. |
| Δανάη Παπαδοπούλου: Πες μου πάλι, μέχρι τι ώρα θα είστε στο γραφείο σήμερα; |
| Κωσταντίνα Παπαδοπούλου: Ως τις 6.00. Εσύ τι ώρα θα είσαι σπίτι; |
| Δανάη Παπαδοπούλου: Θα έχω γυρίσει ως τις 5.30 το αργότερο. |
| Fay: Now let’s listen to the conversation one time slowly. |
| Δανάη Παπαδοπούλου: Είστε σίγουροι ότι τα πήρατε όλα; |
| Κωσταντίνα Παπαδοπούλου: Εγώ ναι. Πέτρα, εσύ είσαι εντάξει; |
| Πέτρα Γκόρντον: Ναι, όλα εντάξει. Μπορούμε να φύγουμε. |
| Δανάη Παπαδοπούλου: Πες μου πάλι, μέχρι τι ώρα θα είστε στο γραφείο σήμερα; |
| Κωσταντίνα Παπαδοπούλου: Ως τις 6.00. Εσύ τι ώρα θα είσαι σπίτι; |
| Δανάη Παπαδοπούλου: Θα έχω γυρίσει ως τις 5.30 το αργότερο. |
| Fay: Now let’s listen to the conversation with English translation. |
| Δανάη Παπαδοπούλου: Είστε σίγουροι ότι τα πήρατε όλα; |
| Fay: Are you sure you have everything? |
| Κωσταντίνα Παπαδοπούλου: Εγώ ναι. Πέτρα, εσύ είσαι εντάξει; |
| Fay: I'm sure, yes. Petra, are you okay? |
| Πέτρα Γκόρντον: Ναι, όλα εντάξει. Μπορούμε να φύγουμε. |
| Fay: Yes, everything is okay. We can leave. |
| Δανάη Παπαδοπούλου: Πες μου πάλι, μέχρι τι ώρα θα είστε στο γραφείο σήμερα; |
| Fay: Tell me again, until what time will you be in the office today? |
| Κωσταντίνα Παπαδοπούλου: Ως τις 6.00. Εσύ τι ώρα θα είσαι σπίτι; |
| Fay: Until 6.00. What time will you be home? |
| Δανάη Παπαδοπούλου: Θα έχω γυρίσει ως τις 5.30 το αργότερο. |
| Fay: I'll be back by 5.30 at the latest. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Fay: I saw in the PDF that the first law for the equality of sexes passed in the early- to mid-’80s in Greece. |
| Chrissi: That’s right. |
| Fay: That’s a little, well, late, isn’t it? |
| Chrissi: You know, most Greeks won’t admit it, but in many ways the country doesn’t keep step with other European countries. |
| Fay: But now many women work with equal opportunities as men, right? |
| Chrissi: To be honest there are still seeds of the old mentality in the minds of many employers. But yes, for the most part, women’s rights in the workplace are the same as men’s. |
| Fay: And many women choose to follow a career, am I wrong? |
| Chrissi: Yes, you’re right. Actually most women do; in most families nowadays, both parents work away from home. Of course, this creates various problems, but people find ways to deal with them. |
| Fay: Okay. Let’s take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Fay: First… |
| Chrissi: είστε [natural native speed]. |
| Fay: Are. |
| Chrissi: είστε [slowly - broken down by syllable]. είστε [natural native speed]. |
| Fay: Next… |
| Chrissi: σίγουροι [natural native speed]. |
| Fay: Sure, certain. |
| Chrissi: σίγουροι [slowly - broken down by syllable]. σίγουροι [natural native speed]. |
| Fay: Next… |
| Chrissi: ότι [natural native speed]. |
| Fay: That. |
| Chrissi: ότι [slowly - broken down by syllable]. ότι [natural native speed]. |
| Fay: Next… |
| Chrissi: εντάξει [natural native speed]. |
| Fay: Okay. |
| Chrissi: εντάξει [slowly - broken down by syllable]. εντάξει [natural native speed]. |
| Fay: Next… |
| Chrissi: μπορούμε [natural native speed]. |
| Fay: We can. |
| Chrissi: μπορούμε [slowly - broken down by syllable]. μπορούμε [natural native speed]. |
| Fay: Next… |
| Chrissi: όλα [natural native speed] |
| Fay: All. |
| Chrissi: όλα [slowly - broken down by syllable]. όλα [natural native speed]. |
| Fay: Next… |
| Chrissi: πάλι [natural native speed]. |
| Fay: Again. |
| Chrissi: πάλι [slowly - broken down by syllable]. πάλι [natural native speed]. |
| Fay: Next… |
| Chrissi: μέχρι [natural native speed]. |
| Fay: Until. |
| Chrissi: μέχρι [slowly - broken down by syllable]. μέχρι [natural native speed]. |
| Fay: Next… |
| Chrissi: αργότερο [natural native speed]. |
| Fay: Latest. |
| Chrissi: αργότερο [slowly - broken down by syllable]. αργότερο [natural native speed]. |
| KEY VOCABULARY AND PHRASES |
| Fay: Let's take a closer look at some of the words and phrases from this lesson. First of all, what does Αργότερο (argotero) mean? |
| Chrissi: Literally it means “slower” or “slowest,” but it is never used this way. The phrase το αργότερο (to argotero) in our dialogue means “at the latest.” |
| Fay: So if I want to say “I’ll be home by 6:00 at the latest”? |
| Chrissi: Θα είμαι στο σπίτι, το αργότερο ως τις 6:00 (Tha eimai sto spiti, to argotero os tis 6:00) or Θα είμαι στο σπίτι, ως τις 6:00 το αργότερο (Tha eimai sto spiti, os tis 6:00 to argotero)—changing the order makes no difference in meaning. Try to repeat this sentence. Θα είμαι στο σπίτι, το αργότερο ως τις 6:00. (Tha eimai sto spiti, to argotero os tis 6:00.) |
| Fay: Got it. So το αργότερο (to argotero) is an idiom. |
| Chrissi: Yes. So better learn it as a stock phrase. A time word [hour, day, week, month, year] plus το αργότερο (to argotero) means “by then at the latest.” |
| Fay: Other examples? |
| Chrissi: Το αργότερο ως τον Αύγουστο (To argotero os ton Augousto) means “By August at the latest,” and το αργότερο ως την Κυριακή (to argotero os tin Kyriaki) means “by Sunday at the latest.” Repeat those, too! |
| Fay: Right. Now about oti. |
| Chrissi: Very useful word! It means “that” in the sense of “Did you know that Greek is a very old language?” |
| Fay: And how it is used? |
| Chrissi: Είπα ότι θα πάω (Eipa oti tha pao) means “I said that I would go.” Listeners, repeat this! |
| Fay: Another example? |
| Chrissi: Άκουσα ότι θα βρέξει (Akousa oti tha brekse) means “I heard that it will rain.” Repeat this, too. |
| Fay: Finally, what does μέχρι (mechri) mean? |
| Chrissi: It means “until.” But in Greek we use it both in the sense of “until Monday” and in the sense of “to”. Μέχρι τη Δευτέρα (Mechri ti Deutera) means “until Monday.” And μέχρι τις εννέα (mechri tis ennea) means “until nine.” |
| Fay: And for the other usage? |
| Chrissi: Πάω μέχρι την Αθήνα (Pao mechri tin Athina) means “I go to Athens” and not farther. And Ήρθε μέχρι εδώ ( Irthe mechri edo) means “He came up to here.” |
| Fay: I think we covered these. Let’s move on to our main Grammar Point. |
| Chrissi: Okay! |
Lesson focus |
| Fay: What is our Grammar Point for this lesson? |
| Chrissi: The second-person singular and plural of the verb “to be.” Εσύ είσαι (Esy eisai) and Εσείς είσαστε (Eseis eisaste) or εσείς είστε (eseis eiste). |
| Fay: Just a moment there. There are two versions of the second-person plural? |
| Chrissi: Yes, but they are completely interchangeable! |
| Fay: So if I want to say “You are brothers”? |
| Chrissi: Εσείς είσαστε αδέρφια (Eseis eisaste aderfia) or Εσείς είστε αδέρφια (Eseis eiste aderfia). Both are correct. |
| Fay: Another example—“You are friends”? |
| Chrissi: Είσαστε φίλοι (Eisaste filoi) or Είστε φίλοι (Eiste filoi). |
| Fay: What happened to the eseis? |
| Chrissi: As we mentioned when discussing the first person of the verb “to be,” we dropped the pronoun. That’s a very common thing to do in Greek, although it is not 100% correct. |
| Fay: For the singular, too? |
| Chrissi: Yes. |
| Fay: For example, if I want to say “You are my friend”? |
| Chrissi: Είσαι φίλος μου (Eisai filos mou). Or Εσύ είσαι φίλος μου (Esy eisai filos mou) with a pronoun. |
| Fay: How about “You are Greek”? |
| Chrissi: Είσαι Έλληνας (Eisai Ellinas). Or Εσύ είσαι Έλληνας (Esy eisai Ellinas.) |
| Fay: Pretty straightforward. Εσύ είσαι (Esy eisai) and Εσείς είσαστε (Eseis eisaste). |
| Chrissi: Or εσείς είστε (eseis eiste)! |
| Fay: Right! So we are finished? |
| Chrissi: There’s one more thing we should mention now, though it doesn’t specifically concern the verb eimai. |
| Fay: Which is? |
| Chrissi: As in many other languages, the second-person plural can be used as a polite second-person singular. |
| Fay: That’s very important! |
| Chrissi: Yes. If I want to speak to someone older than I am, I won’t say Εσύ είσαι Έλληνας (Esy eisai Ellinas); I’ll say Εσείς είστε Έλληνας (Eseis eiste Ellinas). |
| Fay: The noun Έλληνας (Ellinas) remains singular, but the verb goes from singular to plural. |
| Chrissi: Exactly! If you were speaking to the president of the United States, you wouldn’t say Εσύ είσαι ο Πρόεδρος (Esy eisai o Proedros). You would say Εσείς είστε ο Πρόεδρος (Eseis eiste o Proedros) “You are the president”. |
| Fay: To recap, we have εσύ είσαι (esy eisai), meaning “you are (singular)”... |
| Chrissi: Right! |
| Fay: And we have εσείς είστε (eseis eiste), meaning either “you two”… |
| Chrissi: …or three or more… |
| Fay: …right, or meaning “You, Mr. President”… |
| Chrissi: …or anyone else whom we want to address politely. |
| Fay: I think I have it straightened out now. Shall we leave it at that? |
| Chrissi: Yes. But we should remind the people listening that the PDF contains all these and much more. Want a free way to build your Greek vocabulary? |
| Fay: Follow our Greek Word of the Day at GreekPod101.com. |
| Chrissi: See and hear the Word of the Day… |
| Fay: Plus sample phrases and sentences. |
| Chrissi: Get these daily vocabulary alerts on Facebook, Twitter, and the GreekPod101.com blog. |
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| Chrissi: Get these easy instructions at GreekPod101.com/greekphrases. |
| Fay: Bye! |
| Chrissi: Γεια (Geiá)! |
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