Learn about superlative adjectives
Now Playing: Lesson Audio
Get a breakdown of the dialogue and translations instantly with the Premium line-by-line Audio. Sign up for your Free Lifetime Account Now and get 7 Days of Premium Access including this feature.
Get this lesson’s key vocab, their translations and pronunciations. Sign up for your Free Lifetime Account Now and get 7 Days of Premium Access including this feature.
Unlock Lesson Notes and Transcripts for every single lesson. Sign Up for a Free Lifetime Account and Get 7 Days of Premium Access.
| INTRODUCTION |
| Fay: Hello, everyone. Welcome back to GreekPod101.com, Beginner Season 1, Lesson 25 - The Best Greece Has to Offer! This is Fay. |
| Chrissi: I’m Chrissi. Thanks for joining us for this last lesson of Beginner Season 1. |
| Fay: Last lesson already? What are we learning in this lesson? |
| Chrissi: We are learning about the superlative degree of adjectives. |
| Fay: The conversation takes place in a restaurant in Athens. |
| Chrissi: It’s between Petra Gordon and her Greek hosts, Danai and Kostantina. |
| Fay: The characters are friends so the conversation is informal. |
| Chrissi: Let’s listen. |
Lesson conversation |
|---|
| Πέτρα Γκόρντον: Βεβαίως, το πιο νόστιμο ελληνικό φαγητό που έχω φάει είναι της Δανάης! |
| Δανάη Παπαδοπούλου: Ευχαριστώ! Αλλά είναι το λιγότερο που μπορώ να κάνω αυτόν τον καιρό. Η δουλειά στο γραφείο μού τρώει τις περισσότερες ώρες της ημέρας. |
| Κώσταντίνα Παπαδοπούλου: Παρ' όλα αυτά, θα συμφωνήσω με την Πέτρα—το φαγητό σου είναι το καλύτερο! |
| Δανάη Παπαδοπούλου: Σταματήστε—έχω γίνει κατακόκκινη! |
| Fay: Now let’s listen to the conversation one time slowly. |
| Πέτρα Γκόρντον: Βεβαίως, το πιο νόστιμο ελληνικό φαγητό που έχω φάει είναι της Δανάης! |
| Δανάη Παπαδοπούλου: Ευχαριστώ! Αλλά είναι το λιγότερο που μπορώ να κάνω αυτόν τον καιρό. Η δουλειά στο γραφείο μού τρώει τις περισσότερες ώρες της ημέρας. |
| Κώσταντίνα Παπαδοπούλου: Παρ' όλα αυτά, θα συμφωνήσω με την Πέτρα—το φαγητό σου είναι το καλύτερο! |
| Δανάη Παπαδοπούλου: Σταματήστε—έχω γίνει κατακόκκινη! |
| Fay: Now let’s listen to the conversation with English translation. |
| Πέτρα Γκόρντον: Βεβαίως, το πιο νόστιμο ελληνικό φαγητό που έχω φάει είναι της Δανάης! |
| Fay: Of course, the most delicious Greek food I've tasted is Danai's! |
| Δανάη Παπαδοπούλου: Ευχαριστώ! Αλλά είναι το λιγότερο που μπορώ να κάνω αυτόν τον καιρό. Η δουλειά στο γραφείο μού τρώει τις περισσότερες ώρες της ημέρας. |
| Fay: Thank you. But it's the least I can do these days. My work in the office takes up most hours of my day. |
| Κώσταντίνα Παπαδοπούλου: Παρ' όλα αυτά, θα συμφωνήσω με την Πέτρα—το φαγητό σου είναι το καλύτερο! |
| Fay: Still, I will agree with Petra—your cooking is the best! |
| Δανάη Παπαδοπούλου: Σταματήστε—έχω γίνει κατακόκκινη! |
| Fay: Stop it—I'm blushing! |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Fay: You know, the first time I saw Greeks talking with each other, I thought they were fighting! |
| Chrissi: Yes, it seems that way to most Westerners. We tend to exaggerate sometimes. |
| Fay: “Sometimes”? You yell and gesture at each other! |
| Chrissi: It’s true; most Greeks tend to speak in loud, almost theatrical voices and gesture too much. |
| Fay: It’s a little weird for someone accustomed to more moderate methods of communication. |
| Chrissi: Personally I also find very funny how Westerners react to hugging; it makes them very uncomfortable. |
| Fay: You think that’s funny? It’s invasion of personal space! |
| Chrissi: Think of it as a sign of affection! |
| Fay: I mean, I understand that things are different in different cultures. Still, I think that you Greeks are too extroverted! |
| Chrissi: Is there such a thing as “too extroverted”? |
| Fay: Spoken like a true Greek. But shouldn’t we move on to our vocabulary? |
| Chrissi: Yes, we should. Let’s go! |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Fay: Let’s take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. First… |
| Chrissi: βεβαίως [natural native speed]. |
| Fay: Certainly. |
| Chrissi: βεβαίως [slowly - broken down by syllable]. Chrissi: βεβαίως [natural native speed] |
| Fay: Next… |
| Chrissi: λιγότερο [natural native speed]. |
| Fay: Less/least. |
| Chrissi: λιγότερο [slowly - broken down by syllable]. λιγότερο [natural native speed]. |
| Fay: Next… |
| Chrissi: περισσότερες [natural native speed]. |
| Fay: More/most. |
| Chrissi: περισσότερες [slowly - broken down by syllable]. περισσότερες [natural native speed]. |
| Fay: Next… |
| Chrissi: ημέρα [natural native speed]. |
| Fay: Day. |
| Chrissi: ημέρα [slowly - broken down by syllable]. ημέρα [natural native speed]. |
| Fay: Next… |
| Chrissi: Παρ' όλα αυτά [natural native speed]. |
| Fay: Still, regardless. |
| Chrissi: Παρ' όλα αυτά [slowly - broken down by syllable]. Παρ' όλα αυτά [natural native speed]. |
| Fay: Next… |
| Chrissi: συμφωνώ [natural native speed]. |
| Fay: I agree. |
| Chrissi: συμφωνώ [slowly - broken down by syllable]. συμφωνώ [natural native speed]. |
| Fay: Next… |
| Chrissi: σταματάω [natural native speed]. |
| Fay: To stop. |
| Chrissi: σταματάω [slowly - broken down by syllable]. σταματάω [natural native speed]. |
| Fay: Next… |
| Chrissi: γίνομαι [natural native speed]. |
| Fay: To become. |
| Chrissi: γίνομαι [slowly - broken down by syllable]. γίνομαι [natural native speed]. |
| Fay: Next… |
| Chrissi: κατακόκκινος [natural native speed]. |
| Fay: Blood-red. |
| Chrissi: κατακόκκινος [slowly - broken down by syllable]. κατακόκκινος [natural native speed]. |
| KEY VOCABULARY AND PHRASES |
| Fay: Let's take closer look at some of the words and phrases from this lesson. So, do you eat time in Greece? |
| Chrissi: I take it you’re referring to the phrase Η δουλειά στο γραφείο μου τρώει τισ περισσότερες ώρες της ημέρας (I douleia sto grafeio mou troei tis perissoteres ores tis imeras.) |
| Fay: Yes. It means “My work in the office takes up most of the hours in my day.” But the verb you use is τρώω (troo) "I eat”. |
| Chrissi: Why not? In everyday conversation you can use “eat” to mean “use up a lot of,” usually in a negative sense. |
| Fay: Such as? |
| Chrissi: Well, if a repairman takes more days than promised to do some repair, you can say Έχει φάει τρεις εβδομάδες (Echei faei treis evdomades) "He has spent three weeks”—when he should have spent less!. |
| Fay: Another example? Listeners, repeat after Chrissi. |
| Chrissi: Έφαγα μισή μέρα ψάχνοντας βα το βρω (Efaga misi mera psachnontas na to vro) means “I wasted half a day looking for it.” |
| Fay: Next, what does παρ’όλα αυτά (par’ ola auta) mean? |
| Chrissi: That means “still” or “even so.” |
| Fay: How can we use it? |
| Chrissi: Είπα ότι θα πάω. Παρ’όλα αυτά δεν μπόρεσα (Eipa oti tha pao. Par’ ola auta den mporesa). Listeners, repeat these sentences. |
| Fay: What do they mean? |
| Chrissi: “I said I’d go. Still, I couldn’t.” |
| Fay: Another example? |
| Chrissi: “I had too much work. Still, I managed to take some days off.” Είχα πολλή δουλειά. Παρ’όλα αυτά, κατάφερα να φύγω μερικές μέρες. (Eicha polli douleia. Par’ ola auta, katafera na fygo merikes meres.) |
| Fay: I think I’ve got it. Do we normally use it in the beginning of a sentence? |
| Chrissi: Usually, yes. It shows a contradiction between the previous sentence and the one it’s in. |
| Fay: Got it. Shall we move on to our main Grammar Point? |
| Chrissi: Let's! |
Lesson focus |
| Fay: The focus of this lesson is superlative adjectives. |
| Chrissi: Yes, the superlative degree. |
| Fay: That that’s the form an adjective takes when we want to say that a noun has the quality of that adjective more than any other noun does. |
| Chrissi: That’s right! |
| Fay: How do we make a superlative adjective in Greek? |
| Chrissi: Remember how to make the comparative degree? |
| Fay: Sure We just put πιο (pio), something like the English “more”, in front of the positive degree. |
| Chrissi: Yes. Σωστός (Sostos) is “right,” so πιο σωστός (pio sostos) is “more right.” Καλός (Kalos) is “good,” so πιο καλός (pio kalos) is “better.” Κακός (Kakos) is “bad,” so πιο κακός (pio kakos) is “worse.” |
| Fay: Thanks for the comparative examples. But what about the superlative? |
| Chrissi: Sorry, I thought it was a good chance for a small review! All we do to make the superlative is to make the comparative and stick a definite article in front of it. |
| Fay: Wow, that easy? |
| Chrissi: It is! |
| Fay: Can we see that in action? |
| Chrissi: Sure, we’ll use the same adjectives. Πιο σωστός (Pio sostos) becomes ο πιο σωστός (o pio sostos) "the most right", πιο καλός (pio kalos) becomes ο πιο καλός (o pio kalos) "the best", and πιο κακός pio kakos) becomes ο πιο κακός (o pio kakos) "the worst”). |
| Fay: So how would we say “Greek is the most difficult language in the world”? |
| Chrissi: Τα ελληνικά είναι η πιο δύσκολη γλώσσα στον κόσμο. (Ta ellinika einai i pio dyskoli glossa ston kosmo.) But it isn’t...is it? |
| Fay: I’m just exaggerating. How might you say “This is the biggest exaggeration I’ve ever heard”? |
| Chrissi: Αυτή είναι η μεγαλύτερη υπερβολή που έχω ακούσει! (Auti einai i megalyteri ypervoli pou echo akousei!) |
| Fay: Simple. But is this comparative-plus-definite article construction the only way to make the superlative in Greek? |
| Chrissi: There are two or three other ways to do it, but they’re rather complicated to explain now. If you’re interested, you can find them in the PDF with plenty of examples. |
| Fay: Hear that, listeners? Our PDF has “the most info” on Greek superlatives! |
| Chrissi: So go wild. But if you’d rather stick to the comparative-plus-article setup, rest assured that it’ll be correct every time. |
| Fay: Wow, how surprisingly trustworthy. Why would you ever use the other methods, then? |
| Chrissi: It mostly has to do with what feels right. With some color adjectives, like κόκκινος (kokkinos) "red", λευκός (leukos) "white", and μαύρος (mauros) "black", it feels better to say κατακόκκινος (katakokkinos) like in our dialogue, κατάλευκος (kataleukos), and κατάμαυρος (katamauros) for “reddest,” “whitest,” and “blackest.” |
| Fay: Listeners, read the PDF for more details on how to exaggerate adjectives. |
| Chrissi: And that’s all we need to cover in this lesson! 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 tools 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 flashcards today. |
| Fay: Bye! |
| Chrissi: Γεια χαρα! (Geia chara!) |
Comments
Hide