Learn about the second declension of feminine Greek nouns
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Fay: Hello, and welcome back to GreekPod101.com. Beginner Season 1, Lesson 22 - Enough Greek Culture: Let's Get Some Lunch! |
| Chrissi: Chrissi here. Hello, everyone. |
| Fay: I’m Fay. What are we learning in this lesson? |
| Chrissi: We are second declension nouns. |
| Fay: The conversation takes place at the Acropolis archaeological site. |
| Chrissi: It’s between Petra Gordon and her Greek host, Danai and Kostantina. |
| Fay: The characters are friends so the conversation is informal. |
| Chrissi: Let’s listen. |
Lesson conversation |
|---|
| Πέτρα Γκόρντον: Πέρασε η ώρα. Καλή η τέχνη αλλά με έπιασε πείνα! |
| Δανάη Παπαδοπούλου: Έχεις ακόμα διάθεση για ελληνική κουζίνα; |
| Πέτρα Γκόρντον: Και βέβαια! Γιατί, έχεις καμιά άλλη πρόταση; |
| Δανάη Παπαδοπούλου: Όχι, απλώς σκεφτόμουν να πάμε προς τη θάλασσα, έτσι για αλλαγή. Κωσταντίνα, τι λες; |
| Κωσταντίνα Παπαδοπούλου: Αν η Πέτρα μπορεί να κάνει υπομονή! |
| Fay: Let’s listen to the conversation one time slowly. |
| Πέτρα Γκόρντον: Πέρασε η ώρα. Καλή η τέχνη αλλά με έπιασε πείνα! |
| Δανάη Παπαδοπούλου: Έχεις ακόμα διάθεση για ελληνική κουζίνα; |
| Πέτρα Γκόρντον: Και βέβαια! Γιατί, έχεις καμιά άλλη πρόταση; |
| Δανάη Παπαδοπούλου: Όχι, απλώς σκεφτόμουν να πάμε προς τη θάλασσα, έτσι για αλλαγή. Κωσταντίνα, τι λες; |
| Κωσταντίνα Παπαδοπούλου: Αν η Πέτρα μπορεί να κάνει υπομονή! |
| Fay: Now let’s listen to the conversation with English translation.2 |
| Πέτρα Γκόρντον: Πέρασε η ώρα. Καλή η τέχνη αλλά με έπιασε πείνα! |
| Fay: It's getting late. Art is fine, but I'm getting hungry! |
| Δανάη Παπαδοπούλου: Έχεις ακόμα διάθεση για ελληνική κουζίνα; |
| Fay: Are you still in the mood for Greek food? |
| Πέτρα Γκόρντον: Και βέβαια! Γιατί, έχεις καμιά άλλη πρόταση; |
| Fay: Sure! Why, do you have another suggestion? |
| Δανάη Παπαδοπούλου: Όχι, απλώς σκεφτόμουν να πάμε προς τη θάλασσα, έτσι για αλλαγή. Κωσταντίνα, τι λες; |
| Fay: No. I was just thinking that we could go toward the sea for a change. Kostantina, what do you think? |
| Κωσταντίνα Παπαδοπούλου: Αν η Πέτρα μπορεί να κάνει υπομονή! |
| Fay: If Petra can be patient enough! |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Fay: Our main character sounds a little Philistine! I mean, “art is fine but let’s eat” on the Acropolis? |
| Chrissi: Unfortunately, this is an attitude very common even among Greeks. |
| Fay: You mean Greeks aren’t art lovers anymore? |
| Chrissi: Well, compared to ancient Greeks, probably not. Today, most Greeks focus on more mundane things like cars, electronics, et cetera. |
| Fay: But there is still plenty of culture in Greece, isn’t there? |
| Chrissi: Of course there is! And luckily, you can still see some traditions unbroken after 3,000 years, like ancient drama. |
| Fay: So what is the problem? |
| Chrissi: Mostly that arts and culture in general are not very supported by the state or by the public. So artists really go through tough times. |
| Fay: Don’t they everywhere? |
| Chrissi: There might be something in what you say. Anyway… |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Fay: Let’s take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. First… |
| Chrissi: τέχνη [natural native speed]. |
| Fay: Art. |
| Chrissi: τέχνη [slowly - broken down by syllable]. τέχνη [natural native speed] |
| Fay: Next… |
| Chrissi: διάθεση [natural native speed]. |
| Fay: Mood. |
| Chrissi: διάθεση [slowly - broken down by syllable]. διάθεση [natural native speed]. |
| Fay: Next… |
| Chrissi: κουζίνα [natural native speed]. |
| Fay: Cuisine, kitchen. |
| Chrissi: κουζίνα [slowly - broken down by syllable]. κουζίνα [natural native speed]. |
| Fay: Next… |
| Chrissi: Και βέβαια [natural native speed]. |
| Fay: Of course. |
| Chrissi: Και βέβαια [slowly - broken down by syllable]. Και βέβαια [natural native speed]. |
| Fay: Next… |
| Chrissi: πρόταση [natural native speed]. |
| Fay: Suggestion, proposal. |
| Chrissi: πρόταση [slowly - broken down by syllable]. πρόταση [natural native speed]. |
| Fay: Next… |
| Chrissi: Σκεφτόμουν [natural native speed]. |
| Fay: I was thinking. |
| Chrissi: Σκεφτόμουν [slowly - broken down by syllable]. Σκεφτόμουν [natural native speed]. |
| Fay: Next… |
| Chrissi: θάλασσα [natural native speed]. |
| Fay: Sea. |
| Chrissi: θάλασσα [slowly - broken down by syllable]. θάλασσα [natural native speed]. |
| Chrissi: αλλαγή [natural native speed]. |
| Fay: Alteration, change, modification. |
| Chrissi: αλλαγή [slowly - broken down by syllable]. αλλαγή [natural native speed]. |
| Fay: Next… |
| Chrissi: υπομονή [natural native speed]. |
| Fay: Patience. |
| Chrissi: υπομονή [slowly - broken down by syllable]. υπομονή [natural native speed]. |
| KEY VOCABULARY AND PHRASES |
| Fay: Let's take a closer look at some of the words and phrases from this lesson. A few interesting side points in this lesson. First, how do you say “be patient” in Greek? |
| Chrissi: You don’t! Greeks are notoriously impatient! |
| Fay: But isn’t there a similar expression? |
| Chrissi: Well, I suppose. We say Κάνε υπομονή (Kane ypomoni). This is a fixed expression, so you can use it as it is. Listeners, repeat it. Κάνε υπομονή (Kane ypomoni). |
| Fay: This is good advice for someone learning a foreign language! So in Greek, someone is not patient; he “does” patience. Κάνω (Kano) means “I do,” right? |
| Chrissi: That’s right. |
| Fay: Next, how do you say “I’m hungry” and “I’m thirsty”? |
| Chrissi: We don’t normally use adjectives for those; we prefer the verbs. |
| Fay: Examples? |
| Chrissi: Πεινάω- πάμε να φάμε κάτι; (Peinao—pame na fame kati?) is “I’m hungry—shall we go to eat something?”. |
| Fay: And for “thirsty”? |
| Chrissi: Δειψάω- έχει κρύο νερό στο ψυγείο; (Deipsao—echei kryo nero sto psygeio?) means “I’m thirsty—is there cold water in the refrigerator?”. |
| Fay: Useful sentences. Listeners, did you repeat them? |
| Chrissi: Anything else we should examine? |
| Fay: Well, κουζίνα (kouzina) seems to have more than one meaning. Shall we look at it? |
| Chrissi: Sure. Κουζίνα (Kouzina) can mean either “kitchen” or “style of cooking.” |
| Fay: Thought so. Examples? |
| Chrissi: Τρώω πρωινό στην κουζίνα (Troo proino stin kouzina) means “I’m having breakfast in the kitchen.” And Μου αρέσει η ελληνική κουζίνα (Mou aresei i elliniki kouzina) means “I like Greek cuisine.” |
| Fay: Got it. Next, how do you say “of course”? That would be useful to know. |
| Chrissi: We have a few expressions for that. For example, all of these mean “Of course, I’ll come”—Και βέβαια θα έρθω (Kai vevaia tha ertho), Βεβαίως θα έρθω (Vevaios tha ertho), Φυσικά και θα έρθω (Fusika kai tha ertho), Σίγουρα θα έρθω (Sigoura tha ertho), or Θα έρθω σίγουρα (Tha ertho sigoura), Θα έρθω οπωσδήποτε (Tha ertho oposdipote), and Θα έρθω όπως και να’χει. (Tha ertho opos kai na ‘chei.) |
| Fay: So many! |
| Chrissi: We are a very enthusiastic people. |
| Fay: Finally, is there a difference between Σκέφτομαο να τον πάρω τηλέφωνο (Skeftomai na ton paro tilefono) and Σκεφτόμουν να τον πάρω τηλέφωνο (Skeftomoun na ton paro tilefono)? |
| Chrissi: No. Both mean “I’m thinking of calling him.” |
| Fay: But σκέφτομαι (skeftomai) is present progressive, and σκεφτόμουν (skeftomoun) is past progressive. |
| Chrissi: True. But we also do that in English, don’t we? “I’m thinking of going” and “I was thinking of going” can occasionally mean the same thing, can’t they? |
| Fay: You’re right; they can. With that, let’s move on to grammar! |
| Chrissi: Sure! |
Lesson focus |
| Fay: The focus of this lesson is of the second declension. |
| Chrissi: That is, feminine nouns. |
| Fay: Each declension represents a gender? |
| Chrissi: Yes. First is masculine, second is feminine, and third is neuter. |
| Fay: Are feminine nouns as...inconstant as masculine ones? |
| Chrissi: Not really. But there are a few different endings, and some feminine nouns do gain a syllable when they change to plural. |
| Fay: So let’s see. What are the endings? |
| Chrissi: -A as in η μητέρα (i mitera) "the mother", -i as in η ζάχαρη (i zachari) "the sugar", and -ou as in η αλεπού (i alepou) "the fox” are the standard ones. There are also a few really old feminine nouns that end in -i or -os. |
| Fay: What does their age have to do with it? |
| Chrissi: These words come straight from ancient Greek, so they form some cases differently than modern nouns do. |
| Fay: Could we have some examples of that? |
| Chrissi: Η οθόνη (I othoni) "the screen", a regular feminine noun, becomes των οθονών (ton othonon) in the genitive plural. That’s what we’d expect it to do. |
| Fay: Okay. |
| Chrissi: But η σκέψη (i skepsi) "the thought", an archaic word, has the genitive plural των σκέψεων (ton skepseon). |
| Fay: Weird. In the first case the number of syllables didn’t change, but in the second case it did. |
| Chrissi: Exactly! |
| Fay: But there was another strange thing in what you said—that some feminine nouns ending in -os. I thought only masculine nouns could end in -os! |
| Chrissi: That’s generally true. But as I said, some words come from ancient Greek, so they don’t play by modern rules! |
| Fay: Can we hear a few feminine nouns that end in -os? |
| Chrissi: Yes. Η πρόοδος (I proodos) "the progress", η είσοδος (i eisodos) "the entrance", η έξοδος (i eksodos) "the exit", η λεωφόρος (i leoforos) "the avenue", and η μέθοδος (i methodos) "the method” are all feminine nouns that end in -os. |
| Fay: And how do they behave in the plural? |
| Chrissi: They keep the same number of syllables in all cases. Οι πρόοδοι/των προόδων (Oi proodoi/ton proodon), οι είσοδοι/των εισόδων (oi eisodoi/ton eisodon), οι έξοδοι/των εξόδων (oi eksodoi/ton eksodon), οι λεωφόροι, των λεωφόρων (oi leoforoi/ton leoforon), and οι μέθοδοι/των μεθόδων (oi methodoi/ton metodon). |
| Fay: Thank God! |
| Chrissi: They aren’t so hard. The nouns from ancient Greek may sound a little intimidating, but some of these words are so commonly used that you’ll learn them very quickly! |
| Fay: And of course we list them all in our PDF, right? |
| Chrissi: Of course. We’ve even included tables for all the nouns used in our dialogue, as well as some basic rules so people can see the changes they go through. |
| Fay: Sounds useful! Don’t forget to download it! |
| Chrissi: Yes. That does it for today’s lesson. Want a free way to build your Greek vocabulary? |
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| Fay: Bye. |
| Chrissi: Γεια χαρα! (Geia chara!) |
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