Learn about the genders (masculine, feminine, and neuter) of various parts of Greek speech, and we will focus on the feminine gender
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Fay: Hello, and welcome back to GreekPod101.com, Beginner Season 1, Lesson 4 - Lunch…Before Lunch in Greece? I’m Fay and I’m joined here by… |
| Chrissi: Chrissi here. |
| Fay: What are we learning in this lesson? |
| Chrissi: We are looking at genders of Greek nouns, adjectives, and pronouns, especially the feminine gender. |
| Fay: The conversation takes place Kostas and Danai’s house. |
| Chrissi: It’s between Petra Gordon and Danai, her Greek friend and host. |
| Fay: Since the characters are friends, the conversation is in informal language. |
| Chrissi: Let’s listen. |
Lesson conversation |
|---|
| Πέτρα Γκόρντον: Ααααχ! Το πρώτο μου ούζο μετά από δέκα χρόνια. Αλλά τι είναι όλα αυτά; |
| Δανάη Παπαδοπούλου: Απλώς ένα λουκάνικο, μερικές φέτες ψωμί, μερικές ελιές, μια κομμένη ντομάτα και λίγο τυρί. |
| Πέτρα Γκόρντον: Και αυτά δεν είναι γεύμα; |
| Δανάη Παπαδοπούλου: Όχι, αυτά είναι μεζέδες. Πάντα τρώμε κάτι μαζί με το ούζο· τουλάχιστον μια ελιά και ένα κομμάτι ψωμί. |
| Fay: And now for the slow version. |
| Πέτρα Γκόρντον: Ααααχ! Το πρώτο μου ούζο μετά από δέκα χρόνια. Αλλά τι είναι όλα αυτά; |
| Δανάη Παπαδοπούλου: Απλώς ένα λουκάνικο, μερικές φέτες ψωμί, μερικές ελιές, μια κομμένη ντομάτα και λίγο τυρί. |
| Πέτρα Γκόρντον: Και αυτά δεν είναι γεύμα; |
| Δανάη Παπαδοπούλου: Όχι, αυτά είναι μεζέδες. Πάντα τρώμε κάτι μαζί με το ούζο· τουλάχιστον μια ελιά και ένα κομμάτι ψωμί. |
| Fay: And now with the English translation. |
| Πέτρα Γκόρντον: Ααααχ! Το πρώτο μου ούζο μετά από δέκα χρόνια. Αλλά τι είναι όλα αυτά; |
| Fay: Aaaaah! My first ouzo after ten years. But what are all these? |
| Δανάη Παπαδοπούλου: Απλώς ένα λουκάνικο, μερικές φέτες ψωμί, μερικές ελιές, μια κομμένη ντομάτα και λίγο τυρί. |
| Fay: It's just a sausage, a few slices of bread, some olives, a sliced tomato and a little cheese. |
| Πέτρα Γκόρντον: Και αυτά δεν είναι γεύμα; |
| Fay: And all this isn't lunch? |
| Δανάη Παπαδοπούλου: Όχι, αυτά είναι μεζέδες. Πάντα τρώμε κάτι μαζί με το ούζο· τουλάχιστον μια ελιά και ένα κομμάτι ψωμί. |
| Fay: No, these are appetizers. We always eat a little something with ouzo, at least an olive and a piece of bread. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Fay: So basically in Greece, you never drink with an empty stomach, right? |
| Chrissi: We do drink n empty stomach. But especially during summer and when there is ouzo or a really cold beer involved, most people still like a little something to go with it. |
| Fay: Yes, but here they had all kinds of “little somethings”! |
| Chrissi: Well, some people overdo it, that’s true. Especially if you go to a place that serves mostly ouzo, the mezedes (that is, the appetizers) you will get are probably going to be a full meal. |
| Fay: Do people drink much ouzo? |
| Chrissi: Yes, they do. Although these days many people go for tsipouro instead; it’s a sort of Italian grappa. It doesn’t turn white with water, like ouzo does. |
| Fay: And tsipouro also goes with mezedes? |
| Chrissi: Everything goes with mezedes! But shouldn’t we move to our vocabulary now? |
| Fay: Yes, we should! |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Fay: Let's take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. First… |
| Chrissi: μετά [natural native speed] |
| Fay: After. |
| Chrissi: μετά [slowly - broken down by syllable]. μετά [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: μερικές [natural native speed]. |
| Fay: Some. |
| Chrissi: μερικές [slowly - broken down by syllable]. μερικές [natural native speed]. |
| Fay: Next… |
| Chrissi: λίγο [natural native speed]. |
| Fay: A little. |
| Chrissi: λίγο [slowly - broken down by syllable]. λίγο [natural native speed]. |
| Fay: Next… |
| Chrissi: γεύμα [natural native speed]. |
| Fay: Meal, lunch. |
| Chrissi: γεύμα [slowly - broken down by syllable]. γεύμα [natural native speed]. |
| Fay: Next… |
| Chrissi: πάντα [natural native speed]. |
| Fay: Always. |
| Chrissi: πάντα [slowly - broken down by syllable]. πάντα [natural native speed]. |
| Fay: Next… |
| Chrissi: τρώω [natural native speed]. |
| Fay: To eat. |
| Chrissi: τρώω [slowly - broken down by syllable]. τρώω [natural native speed]. |
| Fay: Next… |
| Chrissi: κάτι [natural native speed]. |
| Fay: Something. |
| Chrissi: κάτι [slowly - broken down by syllable]. κάτι [natural native speed]. |
| Fay: Next… |
| Chrissi: μαζί [natural native speed]. |
| Fay: Together. |
| Chrissi: μαζί [slowly - broken down by syllable]. μαζί [natural native speed]. |
| Fay: Next… |
| Chrissi: ελιά [natural native speed]. |
| Fay: Olive. |
| Chrissi: ελιά [slowly - broken down by syllable]. ελιά [natural native speed]. |
| Fay: Next… |
| Chrissi: ψωμί [natural native speed]. |
| Fay: Bread. |
| Chrissi: ψωμί [slowly - broken down by syllable]. ψωμί [natural native speed]. |
| KEY VOCABULARY AND PHRASES |
| Fay: Let's have a closer look at the words and phrases in this lesson. The first sentence of this dialogue looks a little strange, doesn’t it? |
| Chrissi: You mean the sentence Το πρώτο μου ούζο μετά από δέκα χρόνια (To proto mou ouzo meta apo deka chronia), right? |
| Fay: Yes. Shouldn’t there be a verb somewhere in there? |
| Chrissi: Yes. Probably the verb είναι (einai) “is.” The full sentence should be Αυτό είναι το πρώτο μου ούζο μετά από δέκα χρόνια (Auto einai to proto mou ouzo meta apo deka chronia). |
| Fay: “This is my first ouzo in ten years.” |
| Chrissi: Right! |
| Fay: So what happened to αυτό είναι (auto einai), “this is”? |
| Chrissi: Sometimes in Greek, we can omit the verb if it is understood by the context. Here we have someone obviously enjoying his first ouzo after ten years. Do we really need the verb? |
| Fay: We don’t. So in these cases where the verb and the pronoun or article are omitted, the sentence doesn’t change in any significant way? |
| Chrissi: No! Let’s imagine that you are looking at the Acropolis and say, “A great work of art.” |
| Fay: In Greek that would be...? |
| Chrissi: Καταπληκτικό έργο τέχνης (Katapliktiko ergo technis). Try this after me: Καταπληκτικό έργο τέχνης (Katapliktiko ergo technis). |
| Fay: So the person you are talking to is also looking at the Acropolis, there’s no need to say Αυτό είναι ένα καταπληκτικό έργο τέχνης (Auto einai ena katapliktiko ergo technis), “This is a great work of art.” |
| Chrissi: Exactly! Actually, saying that would sound a little strange. |
| Fay: Another thing. One of our sample sentences says Πάντα τρώμε κάτι κατά τις 12Η00 (Panta trome kati kata tis 12:00), “We always eat something around 12:00.” So κατά (kata) means “around”? |
| Chrissi: Actually, κατά (kata) means “against.” But when used in relation to hours, it has an idiomatic meaning of “about,” as you said. |
| Fay: So “around six” would be...? |
| Chrissi: Κατά τις έξι (Kata tis eksi). Our friends listening to this should try to repeat it: κατά τις έξι (kata tis eksi). |
| Fay: And “about noon” would be? |
| Chrissi: Κατά το μεσημέρι (Kata to mesimeri). Repeat this too: κατά το μεσημέρι (kata to mesimeri). |
| Fay: OK. So shall we move on to our Grammar Point now? |
| Chrissi: Of course! |
Lesson focus |
| Fay: The focus of this lesson is gender. |
| Chrissi: Yes! |
| Fay: These are hard to grasp. |
| Chrissi: Actually, they are not that hard. They also exist in English. Males are masculine, females are feminine, and objects are neuter – he, she, and it. |
| Fay: Right. But in Greek, there’s a twist! |
| Chrissi: The twist lies in objects, both concrete and abstract. |
| Fay: Which are supposed to be neuter. |
| Chrissi: Yes. But they aren’t! |
| Fay: For example? |
| Chrissi: Let’s take three very common objects – a PC, its monitor, and its mouse. These are all concrete objects, so you would expect that they’d be all neuter. |
| Fay: But they aren’t. |
| Chrissi: No! We have ο υπολογιστής (o ypologistis) for the computer, η οθόνη (i othoni) for the screen, and το ποντίκι (to pontiki) for the mouse. You guys listening at home, try these: ο υπολογιστής (o ypologistis), η οθόνη (i othoni), το ποντίκι (to pontiki). |
| Fay: Ο υπολογιστής (O ipologistis) is masculine, η οθόνη (i othini) is feminine, and το ποντίκι (to pontiki) is neuter. |
| Chrissi: Yes. |
| Fay: And how do we know which objects will take which genders? |
| Chrissi: The problem is, we don’t. These genders usually come from the ancient Greek language, and usually there are some very complicated evolutionary reasons that they turned out the way they are today. |
| Fay: This means we have to learn them by heart? |
| Chrissi: More or less. Usually the article (definite or indefinite) helps. |
| Fay: So if I see ο (o) or ένας (enas) before a noun, it is masculine. |
| Chrissi: Yes. And if you see η (i) or μία/μια (mia), it is feminine. |
| Fay: And το (to) or ένα (ena) means neuter. |
| Chrissi: Right. In this lesson, though, we focus on the feminine, so let’s look at some examples of that. |
| Fay: So how would we say “The capital of Greece is Athens”? |
| Chrissi: Η πρωτεύουσα της Ελλάδας είναι η Αθήνα (I proteuousa tis Elladas einai i Athina). Try to repeat that: Η πρωτεύουσα της Ελλάδας είναι η Αθήνα (I proteuousa tis Elladas einai i Athina). Πρωτεύουσα (Proteuousa) and Αθήνα (Athina) are feminine. |
| Fay: How do we say “I like this music”? |
| Chrissi: Μου αρέσει αυτή η μουσική (Mou aresei auti i mousiki). Μουσική (Mousiki) is feminine. |
| Fay: How about “Is this the right address?”? |
| Chrissi: Αυτή είναι η σωστή διεύθυνση; (Auti einai i sosti dieuthinsi?). Try to repeat that too: Αυτή είναι η σωστή διεύθυνση; (Auti einai i sosti dieuthinsi?) |
| Fay: Διεύθυνση (Dieuthinsi) is feminine, right? |
| Chrissi: Yes! See? The article η (i) really helps, doesn’t it? |
| Fay: It does. But you still have to learn an awful lot! |
| Chrissi: I wouldn’t say “awful,” but yes, there are some things to learn. We have included some more examples in our PDF, so check them out. And practice them as many times as you can. |
| Fay: And we will leave it at that for this lesson! Take care! |
| Chrissi: Γειάαααα! (Geiaaaaa!) |
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