Learn about the definite article of nouns
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Fay: Hello, and welcome back to GreekPod101.com. Beginner Season 1, Lesson 20 - The Greek Kids Are All Right. I’m Fay, and I’m joined by… |
| Chrissi: Chrissi. |
| Fay: What are we learning in this lesson? |
| Chrissi: We are looking at the definite article. |
| Fay: The conversation takes place at the Acropolis archaeological site. |
| Chrissi: It’s between Petra Gordon and her Greek host, Kostantina and Danai who are sisters. |
| Fay: The characters are friends so the conversation is informal. |
| Chrissi: Let’s listen. |
Lesson conversation |
|---|
| Πέτρα Γκόρντον: Κρίμα που τα παιδιά σας δεν μπόρεσαν να έρθουν. |
| Κωσταντίνα Παπαδοπούλου: Ε, ο μικρός γιος της Δανάης και η κόρη της μελετάνε για τις εξετάσεις τους και ο μεγάλος της γιος είχε να κάνει κάτι δουλειές. |
| Δανάη Παπαδοπούλου: «Δουλειές»! Απλώς ήθελε να μείνει στο σπίτι! |
| Πέτρα Γκόρντον: Είναι καλό πάντως που όλα τα παιδιά είναι στο σπίτι, δεν είναι; |
| Κωσταντίνα Παπαδοπούλου: Από τη μία, είναι καλό για τα παιδιά και για μας. Από την άλλη, δεν είναι καλό για το σπίτι και τους γείτονες... |
| Fay: Now let’s listen to the conversation one time slowly. |
| Πέτρα Γκόρντον: Κρίμα που τα παιδιά σας δεν μπόρεσαν να έρθουν. |
| Κωσταντίνα Παπαδοπούλου: Ε, ο μικρός γιος της Δανάης και η κόρη της μελετάνε για τις εξετάσεις τους και ο μεγάλος της γιος είχε να κάνει κάτι δουλειές. |
| Δανάη Παπαδοπούλου: «Δουλειές»! Απλώς ήθελε να μείνει στο σπίτι! |
| Πέτρα Γκόρντον: Είναι καλό πάντως που όλα τα παιδιά είναι στο σπίτι, δεν είναι; |
| Κωσταντίνα Παπαδοπούλου: Από τη μία, είναι καλό για τα παιδιά και για μας. Από την άλλη, δεν είναι καλό για το σπίτι και τους γείτονες... |
| Fay: Now let’s listen to the conversation with English translation. |
| Πέτρα Γκόρντον: Κρίμα που τα παιδιά σας δεν μπόρεσαν να έρθουν. |
| Fay: It's a shame that your kids couldn't come. |
| Κωσταντίνα Παπαδοπούλου: Ε, ο μικρός γιος της Δανάης και η κόρη της μελετάνε για τις εξετάσεις τους και ο μεγάλος της γιος είχε να κάνει κάτι δουλειές. |
| Fay: Well, Danai's young son and daughter had to study for their exams, and her older son had some errands to run. |
| Δανάη Παπαδοπούλου: «Δουλειές»! Απλώς ήθελε να μείνει στο σπίτι! |
| Fay: "Errands to run!" He just wanted to stay at home! |
| Πέτρα Γκόρντον: Είναι καλό πάντως που όλα τα παιδιά είναι στο σπίτι, δεν είναι; |
| Fay: It's good, though, that all the kids are at home, isn't it? |
| Κωσταντίνα Παπαδοπούλου: Από τη μία, είναι καλό για τα παιδιά και για μας. Από την άλλη, δεν είναι καλό για το σπίτι και τους γείτονες... |
| Fay: On the one hand, it's good for the kids and for us. On the other hand, it's not good for the house and the neighbors... |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Fay: So neighborhoods in Greece are small, tight-knit communities, right? |
| Chrissi: You’re probably thinking of the communities you see on islands or in villages. This doesn’t happen in the cities anymore. |
| Fay: Why is that? |
| Chrissi: Probably because cities have become too big. The best example is Athens. It has six million people. |
| Fay: Well, that is big! |
| Chrissi: Yes. So there’s not much interaction between neighbors. |
| Fay: How about people living in the same building? |
| Chrissi: Well, people speak to each other occasionally but there’s no real sense of a neighborhood. Maybe in some areas of Athens. |
| Fay: Like? |
| Chrissi: I don’t know. Plaka, near the Acropoli, or downtown Eksarcheia or Kolonaki. |
| Fay: So those picturesque little neighborhoods with people sitting on porches and talking until late night are gone? |
| Chrissi: Yes, I’m afraid. But like I said, if you go the islands, you might still find some. But shouldn’t we move on to our vocabulary? |
| Fay: Sure! Let’s take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. First… |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Chrissi: κρίμα [natural native speed]. |
| Fay: Pity, shame. |
| Chrissi: κρίμα [slowly - broken down by syllable]. κρίμα [natural native speed]. |
| Chrissi: δεν μπόρεσα [natural native speed]. |
| Fay: I couldn't. |
| Chrissi: δεν μπόρεσα [slowly - broken down by syllable]. δεν μπόρεσα [natural native speed]. |
| Fay: Next… |
| Chrissi: έρχομαι [natural native speed]. |
| Fay: To come. |
| Chrissi: έρχομαι [slowly - broken down by syllable]. έρχομαι [natural native speed]. |
| Fay: Next… |
| Chrissi: μελετάω [natural native speed]. |
| Fay: To study. |
| Chrissi: μελετάω [slowly - broken down by syllable]. μελετάω [natural native speed]. |
| Fay: Next… |
| Chrissi: εξετάσεις [natural native speed]. |
| Fay: Examinations. |
| Chrissi: εξετάσεις [slowly - broken down by syllable]. εξετάσεις [natural native speed]. |
| Fay: Next… |
| Chrissi: κάνω [natural native speed]. |
| Fay: To do. |
| Chrissi: κάνω [slowly - broken down by syllable]. κάνω [natural native speed]. |
| Fay: Next… |
| Chrissi: μένω [natural native speed]. |
| Fay: To stay; live. |
| Chrissi: μένω [slowly - broken down by syllable]. μένω [natural native speed]. |
| Fay: Next… |
| Chrissi: καλό [natural native speed]. |
| Fay: Good. |
| Chrissi: καλό [slowly - broken down by syllable]. καλό [natural native speed]. |
| Fay: Next… |
| Chrissi: γείτονας [natural native speed]. |
| Fay: Neighbor. |
| Chrissi: γείτονας [slowly - broken down by syllable]. γείτονας [natural native speed]. |
| KEY VOCABULARY AND PHRASES |
| Fay: Let's take a closer look at some of the words and phrases in this lesson. Let’s see. Δουλειές (Douleies) means “jobs,” right? |
| Chrissi: Yes. It’s the plural of douleia, which means “job” or “work.” Δεν υπάρχουν αρκετές δουλειές για όλους (Den yparchoun arketes douleies gia olous) "There are not enough jobs for everybody”. |
| Fay: A big problem, to be sure. But in our dialogue it is translated as “errands.” |
| Chrissi: Yes, the same word is used to mean “errands.” For example, Σήμερα έχω πολλές δουλειές (Simera echo polles douleies) "I have many things to do/many errands to run.” Listeners, repeat this—it’s a useful sentence! |
| Fay: Okay. What does pantos mean? |
| Chrissi: It’s an adverb meaning something like “though.” We use it to express a different opinion. |
| Fay: An example? |
| Chrissi: Εγώ πάντως θα πάω (Ego pantos tha pao) means “I’ll go, though.” |
| Fay: “Even if you say you won’t go.” |
| Chrissi: Exactly! |
| Fay: Another example? |
| Chrissi: Νομίζω πάντως ότι δεν έχεις δίκιο (Nomizo pantos oti den echeis dikio) means “I think you aren’t right, though.” |
| Fay: Got it. Finally, is there a word that’s just “e”? |
| Chrissi: Not exactly a word, more of a filler. We use it to end the overall feel of sentences what can you do? |
| Fay: An example? |
| Chrissi: Ε, τα πράγματα δεν πάνε καλά (E, ta pragmata den pane kala). Things aren’t going well. |
| Fay: And another? |
| Chrissi: Ε, όπως καταλαβαίνεις, τελικά κάτσαμε στο σπίτι (E, opos katalabaineis, telika katsame sto spiti). Well, as you understand, we finally stayed at home. |
| Fay: So it can be used the same way as well in English? |
| Chrissi: In its pessimistic sense, yes. |
| Fay: Okay. On to our grammar. |
Lesson focus |
| Fay: What’s our main Grammar Point for today? |
| Chrissi: It’s the definite article. |
| Fay: Very basic stuff, huh? |
| Chrissi: Yes. But in Greek it’s a little more complicated than in English. |
| Fay: Because it’s… |
| Chrissi: Gendered. |
| Fay: So we actually have to learn three articles. |
| Chrissi: Five—it also has a plural! |
| Fay: Yeesh. Well, let’s get into them! |
| Chrissi: Okay. The singular definite article is ο (o) for masculine, η (i) for feminine, and το (to) for neuter. |
| Fay: O, i, and to—got it! |
| Chrissi: The plural is οι (oi) for masculine and feminine and τα (ta) for neuter. |
| Fay: That’s not bad. Οι, οι, τα (Oi, oi, ta). |
| Chrissi: Of course, all these are in the nominative case. You can find the rest of the cases in the PDF. |
| Fay: Got that, listeners? One more reason to download the PDF immediately! |
| Chrissi: In the meantime, let’s take a few nouns through the full set of cases, numbers, and genders. |
| Fay: We’re all ears. |
| Chrissi: “The computer” is ο υπολογιστής (o ypologistis). Let’s walk our computer through its cases. Ο υπολογιστής (O ypologistis), του υπολογιστή (tou ypologisti), τον υπολογιστή (ton ypologisti), and υπολογιστή (ypologisti)—there’s no article for the vocative case. |
| Fay: Good. And the plural? |
| Chrissi: Οι υπολογιστές (Oi ypologistes), των υπολογιστών (ton ypologiston), τους υπολογιστές (tous ypologistes), υπολογιστές (ypologistes). |
| Fay: Still with us? We just took a masculine noun and its indefinite article through both numbers and all four cases. Now we’ll do the same for a feminine noun. Listeners, repeat after Chrissi, okay? |
| Chrissi: “The sea” is η θάλασσα (i thalassa). The cases are η θάλασσα (i thalassa), της θάλασσας (tis thalassas), τη θάλασσα (ti thalassa), θάλασσα (thalassa). |
| Fay: That was one sea. How about more than one sea? |
| Chrissi: Οι θάλασσες (Oi thalasses), των θαλασσών (ton thalasson), τις θάλασσες (tis thalasses), θάλασσες (thalasses). |
| Fay: That was a feminine noun, singular and plural, in all four cases with the definite article. Last we’ll do the same thing for a neuter noun. The article will also be neuter, won’t it? |
| Chrissi: Yes, that’s a nice thing about definite articles—they tell you what gender their nouns are going to be! |
| Fay: That is nice. Can we decline our neuter noun now? |
| Chrissi: “The letter” is το γράμμα (to gramma). Its cases in the singular are το γράμμα (to gramma), του γράμματος (tou grammatos), το γράμμα (to gramma), and γράμμα(gramma). |
| Fay: And in the plural? |
| Chrissi: Τα γράμματα (Ta grammata), των γραμμάτων (ton grammaton), τα γράμματα (ta grammata), and γράμματα (grammata). |
| Fay: There you have it, folks—all the Greek definite articles in one compact package. |
| Chrissi: Be sure to learn them as soon as possible. They will help you enormously—mostly with nouns, but also in getting a general feel for the language. |
| Listeners, do you know the reason flash cards are so popular? |
| Fay: It’s because they work! |
| Chrissi: We’ve taken this time-tested studying tool and modernized with My Wordbank flashcards. |
| Fay: Learn vocabulary using your eyes and ears. |
| Chrissi: It’s simple and powerful. Save difficult and interesting words to your personal vocabulary list called My Word Bank. |
| Fay: Master words in your My Word Bank by practicing with flashcards. |
| Chrissi: Words in My Word Bank come with audio so you learn proper pronunciation. |
| Fay: …while you learn to recognize words by sight. |
| Chrissi: Go to GreekPod101.com now and try My Word Bank and flash cards today. |
| Fay: Bye for now. |
| Chrissi: Γεια χαρά! (Geia chara!) |
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