Learn how to use proper nouns in Modern Greek
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Fay: Hello, and welcome back to GreekPod101.com – the fastest, easiest, and most fun way to learn Greek. Beginner Season 1, Lesson 7 - How Long Is Your Lunch Break in Greece, Again? Thanks for being here with us. I’m Fay. |
| Chrissi: I’m Chrissi. |
| Fay: What are we learning in this lesson? |
| Chrissi: We are looking at proper nouns – that is, names and how they are used in modern Greek. |
| Fay: The conversation takes place in an office in Athens. |
| Chrissi: It’s between Petra Gordon and her Greek co-worker, Dimitris Triantafylloy. |
| Fay: Since the characters are well acquainted, the conversation is informal. |
| Chrissi: Let’s listen. |
Lesson conversation |
|---|
| Δημήτρα Τριανταφύλλου: Πέτρα, τέλος. Ώρα για φαγητό. Θα συνεχίσουμε αύριο. |
| Πέτρα Γκόρντον: Αύριο; Γιατί Δημήτρα; |
| Δημήτρα Τριανταφύλλου: Δε θα δουλέψουμε πολύ μετά το φαγητό! |
| Πέτρα Γκόρντον: Οπότε, ας μη φάμε πολύ. |
| Δημήτρα Τριανταφύλλου: Αστειεύεσαι, ε; |
| Fay: Now, the slow version. |
| Δημήτρα Τριανταφύλλου: Πέτρα, τέλος. Ώρα για φαγητό. Θα συνεχίσουμε αύριο. |
| Πέτρα Γκόρντον: Αύριο; Γιατί Δημήτρα; |
| Δημήτρα Τριανταφύλλου: Δε θα δουλέψουμε πολύ μετά το φαγητό! |
| Πέτρα Γκόρντον: Οπότε, ας μη φάμε πολύ. |
| Δημήτρα Τριανταφύλλου: Αστειεύεσαι, ε; |
| Fay: Now with the English translation. |
| Δημήτρα Τριανταφύλλου: Πέτρα, τέλος. Ώρα για φαγητό. Θα συνεχίσουμε αύριο. |
| Fay: Petra, that's it. Time for lunch. We will continue tomorrow. |
| Πέτρα Γκόρντον: Αύριο; Γιατί Δημήτρα; |
| Fay: Tomorrow? Why, Dimitris? |
| Δημήτρα Τριανταφύλλου: Δε θα δουλέψουμε πολύ μετά το φαγητό! |
| Fay: We will not work much after lunch! |
| Πέτρα Γκόρντον: Οπότε, ας μη φάμε πολύ. |
| Fay: So let's not eat much. |
| Δημήτρα Τριανταφύλλου: Αστειεύεσαι, ε; |
| Fay: You're kidding, right? |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Fay: Greek corporate culture is pretty much American, huh? |
| Chrissi: It depends. Sometimes it is closer to Mad Men, though. |
| Fay: Meaning? |
| Chrissi: Greek corporations haven’t caught up 100% to how things are done in the West. For example, there are still offices where smoking is allowed; this is unheard of in, say, the U.S. |
| Fay: Certainly! But from what I see in our dialogue, they have copied some procedures from American companies. |
| Chrissi: Of course. And also their language, a big part of Greek executive’s vocabulary is English. |
| Fay: Translated? |
| Chrissi: No, directly from English. |
| Fay: Really? So an English speaker has one less reason to study Greek, huh? |
| Chrissi: Of course not! Actually, this is one more reason to study the language, to better appreciate the differences. |
| Fay: So let’s see some more Greek words. On to our vocabulary. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Fay: First, we have… |
| Chrissi: τέλος [natural native speed]. |
| Fay: The end, that's it. |
| Chrissi: τέλος [slowly - broken down by syllable]. τέλος [natural native speed]. |
| Fay: Next… |
| Chrissi: ώρα [natural native speed]. |
| Fay: Hour, time. |
| Chrissi: ώρα [slowly - broken down by syllable]. ώρα [natural native speed]. |
| Fay: Next… |
| Chrissi: συνεχίζω [natural native speed]. |
| Fay: To continue, keep, proceed. |
| Chrissi: συνεχίζω [slowly - broken down by syllable]. συνεχίζω [natural native speed]. |
| Fay: Next… |
| Chrissi: αύριο [natural native speed]. |
| Fay: Tomorrow. |
| Chrissi: αύριο [slowly - broken down by syllable]. αύριο [natural native speed]. |
| Fay: Next… |
| Chrissi: γιατί [natural native speed]. |
| Fay: Why, because. |
| Chrissi: γιατί [slowly - broken down by syllable]. γιατί [natural native speed]. |
| Fay: Next… |
| Chrissi: δουλειά [natural native speed]. |
| Fay: Work. |
| Chrissi: δουλειά [slowly - broken down by syllable]. δουλειά [natural native speed]. |
| Fay: Next… |
| Chrissi: πολύ [natural native speed]. |
| Fay: Much, great, very. |
| Chrissi: πολύ [slowly - broken down by syllable]. πολύ [natural native speed]. |
| Fay: Next… |
| Chrissi: Ας φάμε / Ας μη φάμε [natural native speed]. |
| Fay: Let's eat/Let's not eat. |
| Chrissi: Ας φάμε / Ας μη φάμε [slowly - broken down by syllable]. Ας φάμε / Ας μη φάμε [natural native speed]. |
| Fay: Next… |
| Chrissi: Αστειεύεσαι [natural native speed]. |
| Fay: You’re kidding. |
| Chrissi: Αστειεύεσαι [slowly - broken down by syllable]. Αστειεύεσαι [natural native speed]. |
| KEY VOCABULARY AND PHRASES |
| Fay: Let's have a closer look at some of the words and phrases in this lesson.The expression ας μη φάμε (as mi fame) sounds very useful. |
| Chrissi: It is! Using the particle ας (as), we can urge or encourage people to take certain actions. You can think it as more or less equivalent to the English “Let’s.” |
| Fay: And how it is used? |
| Chrissi: Just say ας (as) and then the first-person plural of the verb. Easy! |
| Fay: Indeed! So how do we say “Let’s go to the cinema”? |
| Chrissi: Ας πάμε σινεμά (As pame sinema.) Repeat after me. [slow] Ας πάμε σινεμά (As pame sinema). |
| Fay: How about “Let’s learn Greek”? |
| Chrissi: Ας μάθουμε ελληνικά (As mathoume ellinika). Repeat that, too. [slow] Ας μάθουμε ελληνικά (As mathoume Ellinika). |
| Fay: And “Let’s go for a drink”? |
| Chrissi: Ας πάμε για ποτό (As pame gia poto). [slow] Ας πάμε για ποτό (As pame gia poto). Remember, though, these are all active proposals. When we are asking for the other person’s opinion or consent, we don’t use ας (as)! |
| Fay: OK. In our dialogue we also used the negative form of this suggestion pattern. How does this work? |
| Chrissi: It’s very easy. We just add the word μη (mi) or μην (min), depending on what letter the next word starts with, between the particle ας (as) and the verb. |
| Fay: And that’s it? |
| Chrissi: Yes! |
| Fay: So how would we say “Let’s not go out tonight”? |
| Chrissi: Ας μη βγούμε απόψε (As mi bgoume apopse). Repeat after me. [slow] Ας μη βγούμε απόψε (As mi bgoume apopse). |
| Fay: And how would we say “Let’s not eat pizza”? |
| Chrissi: Ας μη φάμε πίτσα (As mi fame pitsa". Repeat this, too. [slow] Ας μη φάμε πίτσα (As mi fame pitsa). |
| Fay: That is easy. Oh, one more thing—what does ώρα (ora) mean? “Time” or “hour”? |
| Chrissi: It literally means “hour,” but there are a few cases when it means “time,” too. |
| Fay: For example? |
| Chrissi: Έχουμε αρκετή ώρα ακόμα (Echoume arketi ora akoma). This means “We still have enough time.” |
| Fay: And another example? |
| Chrissi: Είναι ώρα να φύγουμε (Einai ora na fygoume). “It’s time to go.” |
| Fay: You’re right—it’s indeed time to go. To our main Grammar Point! |
| Chrissi: Ας πάμε (As pame). Let’s go! |
Lesson focus |
| Fay: The focus of this lesson sounds very easy. |
| Chrissi: Yes—proper nouns. |
| Fay: In other words, names. |
| Chrissi: Yes. We mention them with nouns because they decline the way common nouns do. |
| Fay: But we’re just introducing them for now, so we won’t bother declining them yet. |
| Chrissi: No, we’ll just use them in the nominative case. |
| Fay: Which one is that? |
| Chrissi: It’s the form used to answer the question “Who?”. |
| Fay: So if I point to you and ask “Who is this?”, somebody will say...? |
| Chrissi: Η Χρυσή (I Chrissi). |
| Fay: What are some common Greek names? |
| Chrissi: Let’s see… Kostas, Yannis, Nikos, and Thanassis are pretty common male names. |
| Fay: What about female names? |
| Chrissi: Eleni, Maria, Ioanna, Katerina, and Zoi are also pretty common. |
| Fay: Do you put an article before a proper noun in Greek? We don’t do that in English. |
| Chrissi: No, you wouldn’t say “the John” in English. But we have to say it in Greek. |
| Fay: So we would say ο Νίκος (o Nikos). |
| Chrissi: Exactly. If I want to say “This is my friend Nikos,” I have to say say Αυτός είναι ο φίλος μου “ο” Νίκος (Autos einai o filos mou “o” Nikos). You guys listening, try repeating this. [slow] Αυτός είναι ο φίλος μου ο Νίκος (Autos einai o filos mou o Nikos.) |
| Fay: And how about “This is Piraeus”—the port of Athens? |
| Chrissi: Αυτός είναι ο Πειραιάς (Autos einai o Pireas). Repeat. [slow] Αυτός είναι ο Πειραιάς (Autos einai o Pireas). |
| Fay: Now that you’ve mentioned Piraeus—proper nouns include place names too, don’t they? |
| Chrissi: Certainly! |
| Fay: So what’s “Greece”? |
| Chrissi: Η Ελλάδα (I Ellada). [slow] Η Ελλάδα (I Ellada). |
| Fay: And “Athens”? |
| Chrissi: Η Αθήνα (I Athina). [slow] Η Αθήνα (I Athina). |
| Fay: How about “Europe”? |
| Chrissi: Η Ευρώπη (I Europi). [slow] Η Ευρώπη (I Europi). |
| Fay: Are all place names feminine? |
| Chrissi: No. But most cities and countries are. |
| Fay: How would you say “the U.S.”? |
| Chrissi: Η Αμερική (I Ameriki)—America. |
| Fay: And “Great Britain”? |
| Chrissi: Officially, η Μεγάλη Βρετανία (i Megali Bretania)—which, by the way, is the name of a very expensive hotel in the center of Athens! But we usually just say η Αγγλία (i Agglia)) "England”). |
| Fay: How about a country with a masculine name? |
| Chrissi: The only two I can think of are ο Καναδάς (o Kanadas)) "Canada”) and ο Λίβανος (o Libanos)) "Lebanon”). |
| Fay: And how about some city names in the neuter gender? |
| Chrissi: Well, let’s see. “London” is το Λονδίνο (to Londino), “Tokyo” is το Τόκιο (to Tokio), “Beijing” is το Πεκίνο (to Pekino), “Paris” is το Παρίσι (to Parisi)...there are quite a few of them, actually. |
| Fay: And feminine city names? |
| Chrissi: “New York” is η Νέα Ιόρκη (i Nea Yorki), “Moscow” is η Μόσχα (i Moscha), “Madrid” is η Μαδρίτη (i Madriti), and “Rome” is η Ρώμη (i Romi). |
| Fay: And on this cosmopolitan note, we can finish for now. Be sure to check our PDF for more about Greek proper nouns and some interesting tidbits about the Greek language. Bye for now! |
| Chrissi: Γεια χαρά! (Geia chara!) |
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