Learn the key pattern to say where you're from
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| Let's take a closer look at the conversation. |
| Do you remember how Panagiotis Papakonstantinou asks, |
| "Where are you from?" |
| Από πού είστε; (Apó pú íste?) |
| First is από (apó), meaning "from," in this context. Από . Από. |
| Next is πού (pú), "where." Πού . Πού. |
| Last is είστε (íste), "[you] are," when using formal Greek. Είστε . Είστε. |
| Note: είστε (íste) is a shortened form of εσείς είστε (esís íste), "you are," plural, as in "you all are." It's also the formal way to address a single person, as is the case here, where Panagiotis is addressing Mark. |
| In Greek, εσείς (esís), "you," is usually omitted, as it's understood from context. |
| Είστε is from the verb είμαι (íme), the dictionary form of the verb "to be." Είμαι. |
| All together, Από πού είστε; (Apó pú íste?) literally, "From where [you] are," but it translates as "Where are you from?" |
| Από πού είστε; (Apó pú íste?) |
| Remember this question. You'll hear it again later in this lesson. |
| Let's take a closer look at the response. |
| Do you remember how Mark Lee says, |
| "I'm from New York." |
| Είμαι από τη Νέα Υόρκη. (Íme apó ti Néa Iórki.) |
| First is είμαι (íme). "[I] am." Είμαι . Είμαι. |
| Note: είμαι (íme) is a shortened form of εγώ είμαι (egó íme), "I am." In Greek, εγώ (egó), "I," is usually omitted, as it's understood from context. |
| Είμαι is also the dictionary form of the verb "to be." Είμαι |
| Next is από (apó), "from," in this context. Από. |
| Last is τη Νέα Υόρκη (ti Néa Iórki). "New York." Τη Νέα Υόρκη. |
| Let's start with Νέα Υόρκη (Néa Iórki). "New York." Νέα Υόρκη (Néa Iórki). |
| Νέα Υόρκη (Néa Iórki) is in the accusative case, because it follows από (apó). |
| This along with its gender and number will determine the form of other words in the sentence. |
| Νέα Υόρκη (Néa Iórki) is feminine singular. |
| Therefore, Νέα Υόρκη (Néa Iórki) is feminine singular and in the accusative. |
| Before Νέα Υόρκη (Néa Iórki) is τη (ti). Think of it like "the" in English. Τη . Τη. |
| Τη is also feminine, singular, and accusative to agree with Νέα Υόρκη. |
| Note: in this phrase, the article τη (ti) does not have a corresponding English translation. |
| All together, Είμαι από τη Νέα Υόρκη. (Íme apó ti Néa Iórki.) "I'm from New York." |
| Είμαι από τη Νέα Υόρκη. (Íme apó ti Néa Iórki.) |
| The pattern is |
| Είμαι από LOCATION. (Íme apó {LOCATION}) |
| "I'm from LOCATION." |
| Είμαι από LOCATION. |
| To use this pattern, simply replace the {LOCATION} placeholder with the name of your hometown. |
| Note: this pattern requires a proper noun in the accusative case, preceded by the corresponding definite article. |
| Imagine you're from Sydney. In Greek Σίδνεϊ (Sídnei). |
| Σίδνεϊ (Sídnei) is neuter and singular, and its corresponding definite article is το (to). |
| Together, το Σίδνεϊ (to Sídnei). Το Σίδνεϊ . Το Σίδνεϊ (Sídnei). |
| Say |
| "I'm from Sydney." |
| Ready? |
| Είμαι από το Σίδνεϊ. (Íme apó to Sídnei.) |
| "I'm from Sydney." |
| Είμαι από το Σίδνεϊ. (Íme apó to Sídnei.) |
| In Greek, all nouns are either singular or plural. |
| Unlike English, they also have grammatical gender and case. |
| For this lesson, let's review the Greek definite articles for singular nouns in the accusative case. |
| For singular masculine nouns in the accusative case, the corresponding article is τον (ton), as in τον Πειραιά. (ton Pireá), "Piraeus." |
| For singular feminine nouns in the accusative case, there are two corresponding articles: |
| Την (tin) precedes feminine nouns starting with a vowel or one of the following consonants: κ, π, τ, ξ, ψ or one of the following double consonants: γκ, μπ, ντ, τσ, τζ, as in την Αθήνα (tin Athína), "Athens." |
| For all other cases, τη (ti), as in τη Νέα Υόρκη (ti Néa Iórki.), "New York." |
| For singular neuter nouns in the accusative case, the corresponding article is το (to), as in το Σίδνεϊ (to Sídnei), "Sydney." |
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