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!) |
Comments
HideHave you ever tried ouzo and Greek mezedes?
Γεια σου Λεωνίδα.
Σωστά. Το ούζο πίνεται πάντα αραιωμένο με νερό ή πάγο.
Γεια χαρά,
Στεφανία
Team GreekPod101.com
Ναι, μου αρέσει να πιω ένα ουζάκι... από καρπουζάκι (για το καρπούζι κάνω πλάκα, βέβαια).
Αλλά μην το πίνετε πολύ, γιατί αν το κάνετε, θα αισθάνεστε πολύ άσχημα την επόμενη μέρα. Είναι καλύτερα να πίνετε ούζο με κρύο νερό και πάγο.
Γεια σου igi,
Παρακαλώ!
Στεφανία
Team GreekPod101.com
Ευχαριστώ lol
Hi Alain,
You are most welcome!
Maybe an easy way to remember this is the English saying "two is company, three's a crowd" and that's why από gets omitted because things get crowded when the article AND από is there 😜.
Cheers,
Stefania
Team GreekPod101.com
Ευχαριστώ Στεφανία! Very interesting distinction. Hopefully I will remember it enough to use it correctly😳
Hi Alain,
Interesting question. I think in most cases you can use από after μετά when you will mention after it the thing that it is that after it something else will happen. The only difference is that when you will use the definite article before that thing because you want to define it (τη δουλειά) or because it is something very specific, then από feels more unnecessary to me so it can get omitted (μετά (από) τη δουλειά). Whereas if you are talking about that thing in general then you don't need a definite article, and it's that lack of definite article that makes me feel that sentence structure is weak so it needs to be strengthened by από. So in that case, από can stay.
Look at another example:
Μετά (από) τα δέκα χρόνια πολέμου, ήρθε η ειρήνη. (these 10 years are specified here as the ten years of war, not just any ten years, so they get an article and for that από becomes unnecessary and can be omitted.
I hope this is helpful.
Regards,
Stefania
Team GreekPod101.com
Γεια σου. Can you help me distinguish as to when to use τη (μετά τη δουλειά) and when to use από (μετά από δέκα χρόνια) after μετά? εθχαριστώ!
wow I love this web site. I think by the end of it I will be able to go to Greece
Hi Anna,
Thank you for contacting us. That's an easy fix!
You're right, you need to be stressing the words properly to get them right. To do that, follow the instructions in the typing tips section of the following guide:
https://cdn.innovativelanguage.com/greekpod101/static/media/typing-in-greek.pdf
Let me know if you still have any questions!
Kind regards,
Stefania
Team GreekPod101.com
question about the writing test.
I tried to take a writing test but the my answers are not accepted. I guess because i do not have a syllable stress sign when i type. How can i fix this?
Γεια σου Σπύρο,
Glad you are enjoying listening to these lessons!
If you have any questions about anything, let me know :)
Kind regards,
Stefania
Team GreekPod101.com
Love these lessons. Also the shade that CHrissy throws when the host goes too far off topic is funny!
Γεια σου Νικόλ,
Το σωστό είναι σκέφτομαι (passive voice). Δεν υπάρχει η μορφή "σκεφτώ" (active voice). There is θα σκεφτώ (simple future tense) and να σκεφτώ (aorist tense subjunctive) but they are passive voice forms. The verb doesn't have forms in the active voice. Here it is: http://bit.ly/2tKdyGp
Γεια χαρά,
Στεφανία
Team GreekPod101.com
'Οταν είμαι στην Ελλάδα, μου αρέσει να πίνω μπύρα και ρετσίνα και αλλα κρασιά. Δεν μου αρέσει καθόλου το ούζο, αλλά το έχω δοκιμάσει πολλές φορές. Λατρέυω οι Ελληνικές μεζέδες. Τώρα πειναώ γιατί σκέφτομαι για όλλα τα νόστιμα φαγητά.
Would it be σκέφτομαι or σκεφτώ?
Hi Elias,
Thank you for your feedback. Based on the curricula of both series, it seems to me that they are at around the same, very initial level of Greek that got split into two 25-lesson series. Perhaps you'll find more interest after the middle of this series. The hosts also change depending on the series. Nonetheless, we alway welcome such feedback as it helps us make better series in the future.
Kind regards,
Stefania
Team GreekPod101.com
Hi there,
I finished the Absolute beginner level and just started this level but this sounds to be lower level instead of upper. ??? Very basic words and grammar. ??? The previous one was much much better in terms of host and quality. ???
Γεια σου Zsolt,
παρακαλώ!
“...να μη μεθάει γρήγορα κανείς” = ...in order for someone not to get drunk quickly
Κανείς (indefinite pronoun) doesn't always mean "no one". It can also mean "someone", depending on the context. I hope this is not too confusing:grin:!
Stefania
Team GreekPod101.com
Γεια σου Στεφανία!
Σε ευχαριστώ για την βοήθειά σου και τις καινούργιες λέξεις. Ποτέ δε πίνω ξεροσφύρι γιατί έχω πονοκέφαλο μετά. :wink: Όμως δε καταλαβαίνω μία έκφραση. "..να μη μεθάει γρήγορα κανείς" Δεν ξέρω ελληνικά τόσο καλά γι' αυτό αλλάζω αγγλικά.
So, I understand all the words in that sentence and I could figure it out, but why "κανείς" needed at the end of the sentence? Here's an other one: "Μόνο μετρητά μπορεί να πληρώσει κανείς" I understand it but why "κανείς" is at the end?
Γεια.
Γεια σου Zsolt!
Οι μεζέδες είναι μικρές μερίδες φαγητού, σαν ορεκτικά, που τρώγονται ενώ πίνει κανείς ούζο ή αλκοόλ γενικώς. Δεν είναι ούτε ποτά ούτε γλυκά!
Στην Ελλάδα, ο κόσμος προτιμά να τρώει κάτι όταν πίνει αλκοόλ. Είναι θέμα κουλτούρας. Επίσης αυτή η συνήθεια βοηθάει στο να μη μεθάει γρήγορα κανείς. Δεν συνηθίζουμε να πίνουμε κάτι "ξεροσφύρι", δηλαδή μόνο του χωρίς φαγητό.
Να, δες εδώ:
http://bit.ly/2iX6bH5
http://bit.ly/2iFQ90X
Την επόμενη φορά παρήγγειλε μερικούς μεζέδες. Θα απολαύσεις το ούζο σου καλύτερα! Μην το πιεις ξεροσφύρι!:grin:
http://bit.ly/2inWX5q
Γεια χαρά,
Στεφανία
Team GreekPod101.com