Learn how to decline masculine Greek nouns of the first declension
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Fay: Hello! Welcome back to GreekPod101.com, Beginner Season 1, Lesson 21 - Are the Greeks Hiding Something? I’m Fay. |
| Chrissi: And I’m Chrissi. |
| Fay: What are we learning in this lesson? |
| Chrissi: We are looking 1st-declension nouns. |
| Fay: This conversation takes place at the Acropolis archaeological site. |
| Chrissi: It’s between Petra, Danai, and Kostantina. |
| Fay: The characters are friends so the conversation is in informal language. |
| Chrissi: Let’s listen. |
Lesson conversation |
|---|
| Πέτρα Γκόρντον: Να ο φύλακας! Εκεί, στην άκρη του φράχτη! |
| Κωσταντίνα Παπαδοπούλου: Να τον ρωτήσουμε γιατί έχει μουσαμά επάνω σ' αυτό το άγαλμα. |
| Δανάη Παπαδοπούλου: Λες να ξέρει; Ο ξεναγός δεν ήξερε. |
| Πέτρα Γκόρντον: Μάλλον είναι για να το προστατεύει από τον ήλιο. |
| Κωσταντίνα Παπαδόπουλος: Στην Ελλάδα; Τζάμπα κόπος! |
| Fay: Now let’s listen to the conversation one time slowly. |
| Πέτρα Γκόρντον: Να ο φύλακας! Εκεί, στην άκρη του φράχτη! |
| Κωσταντίνα Παπαδοπούλου: Να τον ρωτήσουμε γιατί έχει μουσαμά επάνω σ' αυτό το άγαλμα. |
| Δανάη Παπαδοπούλου: Λες να ξέρει; Ο ξεναγός δεν ήξερε. |
| Πέτρα Γκόρντον: Μάλλον είναι για να το προστατεύει από τον ήλιο. |
| Κωσταντίνα Παπαδόπουλος: Στην Ελλάδα; Τζάμπα κόπος! |
| Fay: Now let’s listen to the conversation with English translation. |
| Πέτρα Γκόρντον: Να ο φύλακας! Εκεί, στην άκρη του φράχτη! |
| Fay: There's the guard! At the end of the fence! |
| Κωσταντίνα Παπαδοπούλου: Να τον ρωτήσουμε γιατί έχει μουσαμά επάνω σ' αυτό το άγαλμα. |
| Fay: Let's ask him why there's a tarpaulin on this statue. |
| Δανάη Παπαδοπούλου: Λες να ξέρει; Ο ξεναγός δεν ήξερε. |
| Fay: Do you think he'll know? The tour guide didn't know. |
| Πέτρα Γκόρντον: Μάλλον είναι για να το προστατεύει από τον ήλιο. |
| Fay: I guess it's to protect it from the sun. |
| Κωσταντίνα Παπαδόπουλος: Στην Ελλάδα; Τζάμπα κόπος! |
| Fay: In Greece? It's a waste of time. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Fay: Very sunny, your country, is it? |
| Chrissi: Indeed. Even now in these post-global warming days, with the climate being completely crazy, Greece has sun maybe 300 days a year. |
| Fay: Even in winter? |
| Chrissi: Usually, yes. Although there are days when we have an ilio me dontia, which translates as “a sun with teeth.” |
| Fay: And it means? |
| Chrissi: A very cold but sunny day. |
| Fay: How is the weather generally in Greece? |
| Chrissi: It used to be the definition of a temperate climate—not very cold in winter and not very hot at summer. Well, here comes global warming into play. Now sometimes summers are awfully hot and winters awfully cold. |
| Fay: But still lots of sun, right? |
| Chrissi: Yes! |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Fay: Let’s take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. First… |
| Chrissi: φύλακας [natural native speed]. |
| Fay: Guard. |
| Chrissi: φύλακας [slowly - broken down by syllable]. φύλακας [natural native speed]. |
| Fay: Next… |
| Chrissi: άκρη [natural native speed]. |
| Fay: End. |
| Chrissi: άκρη [slowly - broken down by syllable]. άκρη [natural native speed]. |
| Fay: Next… |
| Chrissi: φράχτης [natural native speed]. |
| Fay: Fence. |
| Chrissi: φράχτης [slowly - broken down by syllable]. φράχτης [natural native speed]. |
| Fay: Next… |
| Chrissi: ρωτάω [natural native speed]. |
| Fay: To ask. |
| Chrissi: ρωτάω [slowly - broken down by syllable]. ρωτάω [natural native speed]. |
| Fay: Next… |
| Chrissi: μουσαμάς [natural native speed]. |
| Fay: Tarpaulin. |
| Chrissi: μουσαμάς [slowly - broken down by syllable]. μουσαμάς [natural native speed]. |
| Fay: Next… |
| Chrissi: άγαλμα [natural native speed]. |
| Fay: Statue. |
| Chrissi: άγαλμα [slowly - broken down by syllable]. άγαλμα [natural native speed]. |
| Fay: Next… |
| Chrissi: ξεναγός [natural native speed]. |
| Fay: Tour guide. |
| Chrissi: ξεναγός [slowly - broken down by syllable]. ξεναγός [natural native speed]. |
| Fay: Next… |
| Chrissi: μάλλον [natural native speed]. |
| Fay: Probably. |
| Chrissi: μάλλον [slowly - broken down by syllable]. μάλλον [natural native speed]. |
| Fay: Next… |
| Chrissi: προστατεύω [natural native speed]. |
| Fay: I protect. |
| Chrissi: προστατεύω [slowly - broken down by syllable]. προστατεύω [natural native speed]. |
| Fay: Next… |
| Chrissi: ήλιος [natural native speed]. |
| Fay: Sun. |
| Chrissi: ήλιος [slowly - broken down by syllable]. ήλιος [natural native speed]. |
| KEY VOCABULARY AND PHRASES |
| Fay: Let's take a closer look at some of the words and phrases from this lesson. I noticed the word να (na). What does it mean? |
| Chrissi: Actually, there are two words pronounced να (na) in Greek. |
| Fay: Really? |
| Chrissi: Yes. One is a demonstrative word. |
| Fay: Demonstrative? |
| Chrissi: We use it when we want to show something to someone else. |
| Fay: For example? |
| Chrissi: Να η θάλασσα (Na i thalassa). “There’s the sea.” |
| Fay: Can we get another demonstrative na? Listeners, repeat Chrissi’s examples, okay? |
| Chrissi: Να ένα δείγμα (Na ena digma). “Here’s a sample.” |
| Fay: Just what I asked for. And the other na? |
| Chrissi: The other na is a conjunction used to form the subjunctive mood of verbs. |
| Fay: Whoa! Too much grammar! |
| Chrissi: Is it? Maybe instead of explaining it, we should watch it in action. |
| Fay: Good idea. I think this na came up in the expression Λες να ξέρει; (Les na kserei?) |
| Chrissi: Right. That means “Do you think he knows?”. It’s a way to ask for someone’s opinion. |
| Fay: Is this na used a lot? |
| Chrissi: Yes, but it’s really informal, so you’d better use it with people you feel really comfortable with. |
| Fay: How does it work? |
| Chrissi: Λες να… (Les na…) means “Do you think...?”. Put it before a verb to get someone’s opinion on whether that action will happen. |
| Fay: An example? |
| Chrissi: “Do you think he’ll come?” Λες να έρθει (Les na erthei?) Listeners, repeat this. Λες να έρθει; (Les na erthei?) |
| Fay: Good, I’m starting to see it. Another example? |
| Chrissi: Λες να πάμε; (Les na pame?) |
| Fay: That means... |
| Chrissi: “Do you think we’ll go?” |
| Fay: All right, I think we’re straight on that second na! Now let’s leave na behind and look at another phrase I noticed, Τζάμπα κόπος (Tzampa kopos.) Looks like an idiom. |
| Chrissi: You’re right. It is an idiom. |
| Fay: What does it mean? |
| Chrissi: “A waste of effort.” Literally, it means “free effort.” |
| Fay: “Free” as in… |
| Chrissi: No charge, that’s correct. |
| Fay: Τζάμπα (Tzampa) means “free”? |
| Chrissi: Yes, but it’s a really slangy word. |
| Fay: What is the proper word? |
| Chrissi: Δωρεάν (Dorean). |
| Fay: So how do you say “free sample”? |
| Chrissi: Δωρεάν δείγμα (Dorean deigma). |
| Fay: And “free meal”? |
| Chrissi: I thought there were no free meals! |
| Fay: True. But If there were? |
| Chrissi: Δωρεάν γεύμα (Dorean gevma). |
| Fay: That does it for today’s phrases. Let’s get to our main Grammar Point! |
Lesson focus |
| Fay: The focus of this lesson is nouns of the first declension. |
| Chrissi: Something simple, but with lots of variations. |
| Fay: What what is a declension? |
| Chrissi: A declension is the way a noun declines, or changes its ending to express different cases, numbers, and genders. Greek has three declensions, one for each gender. For example, nouns of the first declension are all masculine. |
| Fay: At least we won’t have to worry about feminine or neuter nouns today. |
| Chrissi: Oh, don’t worry—we’ll have our hands full with masculine nouns. You see, they come in many flavors. |
| Fay: You mean the way they end? |
| Chrissi: That and the number of syllables. Some nouns gain a syllable when they change from singular to plural. |
| Fay: That sounds complicated. |
| Chrissi: It’s not so bad. |
| Fay: But I think it’s still more complicated than you’re letting on. After all, there aren’t just declensions to worry about—aren’t there also classes within declensions? |
| Chrissi: That’s true, but the first declension has only two classes. Nouns of the first class end in -as, -is, -es, or -ous, while nouns of the second class all end in -os. |
| Fay: Examples, please. |
| Chrissi: Ο πατέρας (O pateras) "the father”, ο ράφτης (o raftis) "the tailor", ο καφές (o kafes) "the coffee”, and ο παππούς (o pappous) "the grandfather” are all masculine nouns of the first class. |
| Fay: How about the second class? |
| Chrissi: Ο γιατρός (O giatros) "the doctor", ο στρατηγός (o stratigos) "the general", and ο ήλιος (o ilios) "the sun” are masculine nouns of the second class. |
| Fay: Do all these nouns have different ways of changing from singular to plural? |
| Chrissi: Not the ones in the second class—they all end in -oi in the plural. Οι γιατροί (Oi giatroi) "the doctors", οι στρατηγοί (oi stratigoi) "the generals", οι ήλιοι (oi ilioi) "the suns”. |
| Fay: I’m guessing it’s a different story for nouns in the first class. |
| Chrissi: Those can change considerably. Some of them even get an extra syllable! |
| Fay: For example? |
| Chrissi: “The grandfather” is ο παππούς (o pappous); “the grandfathers” is οι παππούδες (oi pappoudes). |
| Fay: Wow! |
| Chrissi: Yes. But even though nouns of the first class have a few different ways of changing from singular to plural, there are some rules to follow, and you can find them in the PDF. |
| Fay: Is there anything helpful we can say about masculine nouns in general? |
| Chrissi: They usually end in -s in the nominative singular. After the article, this is another way to tell that a noun is masculine. Also, the genitive plural of all masculine nouns ends in -on. |
| Fay: That does sound helpful. |
| Chrissi: Yes. But remember that some neuter and feminine nouns also ending in -s, so the ending is no guarantee that a noun is masculine. |
| Fay: If we can’t trust the ending to tell us a noun’s gender, the best way to tell the gender would be... |
| Chrissi: …from the article. And, of course, from experience! |
| Fay: I could use some more of that! |
| Chrissi: That’s what we’re here for. And it’ll only get easier if you use the PDF! |
| Fay: Listeners, you heard the girl. Let’s grab that PDF. Like our podcast? |
| Chrissi: Then “Like” our Facebook page too! |
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| Chrissi: Just search for GreekPod101.com and “Like” our fan page. |
| Fay: And if you like a lesson or a series on GreekPod101.com… |
| Chrissi: …let us know… |
| Fay: …by clicking the Like button next to lesson or series. See you next time. |
| Chrissi: Γεια χαρα! (Geia chara!) |
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