Learn how to make questions and question tags in Greek
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Intro |
|---|
| Michael: How are questions made in Greek? |
| Chrissi: And what about question tags? |
| Michael: At GreekPod101.com, we hear these questions often. The following situation is typical. Valia Vamvaka is meeting Karen Lee for the first time. She asks, |
| "Where are you from?" |
| Βάλια Βαμβακά: Από πού είσαι; (Apó pú íse?) |
| Dialogue |
| Βάλια Βαμβακά: Από πού είσαι; (Apó pú íse?) |
| Κάρεν Λι: Είμαι από τις Ηνωμένες Πολιτείες. (Íme apó tis Inoménes Politíes.) |
| Michael: Once more with the English translation. |
| Βάλια Βαμβακά: Από πού είσαι; (Apó pú íse?) |
| Michael: "Where are you from?" |
| Κάρεν Λι: Είμαι από τις Ηνωμένες Πολιτείες. (Íme apó tis Inoménes Politíes.) |
| Michael: "I am from the US." |
Lesson focus |
| Michael: In this lesson, you will learn how questions are made in Greek. The most common way to ask a question in Greek is by using question words or interrogative expressions, such as |
| Chrissi: Ποιος; Ποια; (Pios? Pia?) |
| Michael: “Who?” |
| Chrissi: Ποιο; (Pio?) |
| Michael: “Which?” |
| Chrissi: Τι; (Ti?) |
| Michael: “What?” |
| Chrissi: Πότε; (Póte?) |
| Michael: “When?” |
| Chriss: Πού; (Pú?) |
| Michael: “Where?” |
| Chrissi: Γιατί; (Yatí?) |
| Michael: “Why?” |
| Chrissi: Πώς; (pos) |
| Michael: and “How?” In Greek, question words are normally placed at the beginning of the sentence, much like in English. For instance, if you want to ask someone what they’re holding, you can say, |
| Chrissi: Τι είναι αυτό στο χέρι σου; (Ti íne aftó sto héri su?) |
| Michael: or “What is that in your hand?” As mentioned, the question word is typically placed at the beginning of the sentence. Let’s try another one, this time with the question word “which:” |
| Chrissi: Ποιο είναι το δικό σου στυλό; (Pio íne to dikó su stiló?) |
| Michael: “Which one is your pen?” Here, we used the question word “which” or, |
| Chrissi: Ποιο (pio) |
| Michael: which, once again, is placed at the beginning of the sentence. |
| Michael: Now, let’s learn how to form question tags in Greek. In grammar, question tags are interrogative fragments that come right after a declarative statement used to turn the statement into a question. Let’s take a look at one example: |
| Chrissi: Είναι εδώ, έτσι δεν είναι; (Íne edó, étsi den íne?) |
| Michael: “He is here, isn’t he?” Here’s another one: |
| Chrissi: Δεν είναι εδώ, έτσι; (Den íne edó, étsi?) |
| Michael: “He is not here, is he?” There are dozens of other question tags that you can use in Greek depending on the context, but the structure is the same as in English. Usually, if the preceding declarative clause is positive, the question tag is negative. If the preceding declarative clause is negative, the question tag is positive. Let’s take a look at a couple more examples: |
| Chrissi: Ωραία ταινία ε; (Oréa tenía e?) |
| Michael: “Nice movie, huh?” In this case, we used the exclamation, “huh” to invite agreement. You can also use expressions like, |
| Chrissi: Δεν συμφωνείς; (Den simfonís?) |
| Michael: “Don’t you agree,” |
| Chrissi: Καλά δεν τα λέω; (Kalá den ta léo?) |
| Michael: “Am I right?” or simply, |
| Chrissi: Σωστά; (Sostá?) |
| Michael: “Right?” |
| [Recall 1] |
| Michael: Let’s take a closer look at the dialogue. |
| Do you remember how Valia Vamvaka says "Where are you from?" |
| (pause 4 seconds) |
| Chrissi as Valia Vamvaka: Από πού είσαι; (Apó pú íse?) |
| Michael: Here, we have a basic question structure in Greek using the interrogative expression |
| Chrissi: πού (pú) |
| Michael: or “where.” We’ve mentioned that question words such as “where” are often placed at the beginning of the sentence. However, they may move further back in the sentence when another word is being emphasized, which, in this case, is the preposition “from,” or, |
| Chrissi: Από (Apó) |
| [Summary] |
| Michael: In this lesson, you’ve learned how to ask questions in the Greek language using interrogative words, such as |
| Michael: “Who?” |
| Chrissi: Ποιο; (Pio?) |
| Michael: “Which?” |
| Chrissi: Τι; (Ti?) |
| Michael: “What?” |
| Chrissi: Πότε; (Póte?) |
| Michael: “When?” |
| Chriss: Πού; (Pú?) |
| Michael: “Where?” |
| Chrissi: Γιατί; (Yatí?) |
| Michael: “Why?” |
| Chrissi: Πώς; (pos) |
| Michael: and “How?” You’ve also learned how to use question tags, such as |
| Chrissi: Δεν συμφωνείς; (Den simfonís?) |
| Michael: “Don’t you agree,” |
| Chrissi: Καλά δεν τα λέω; (Kalá den ta léo?) |
| Michael: “Am I right?” or simply, |
| Chrissi: Σωστά; (Sostá?) |
| Michael: “Right?” In Greek, question words are often placed at the beginning of a sentence, although they may be pushed further back to give way to words that are being emphasized. Asking questions in Greek is quite easy, since most of the question words we use in English have a direct Greek equivalent. |
| Expansion |
| Michael: Forming yes-no questions in Greek is also not that complicated. In most cases, you only need to add a question mark at the end of the statement. Here’s an example: |
| Chrissi: Εγώ μελετώ ελληνικά κάθε μέρα. (Egó meletó eliniká káthe méra.) |
| Michael: “I study Greek every day.” To turn this declarative statement into a yes-no question, you simply add a question mark at the end. |
| Chrissi: Εγώ μελετώ ελληνικά κάθε μέρα; (Egó meletó eliniká káthe méra?) |
| Michael: “Do I study Greek every day?” Notice, too, that Greek doesn’t use the question mark but the semi-colon. |
| Cultural Insight |
| Michael: Did you know that you can also form questions in Greek simply by inflecting your voice in a “question-asking” tone? This is not as common as using interrogative words and is not often as effective, but it does work in some circumstances. We also do the same thing in English and other languages. Here’s an example to illustrate the point: |
| Chrissi: Πρέπει να σπουδάσω ελληνικά. (Prépi na spudáso eliniká.) |
| Michael: This means “I need to study Greek,” which is a declarative statement. To turn it into a question, you simply use a “question-asking” tone. In written form, that would mean adding a semicolon at the end. |
| Chrissi: Πρέπει να σπουδάσω ελληνικά; (Prépi na spudáso elinika?) |
| Michael: “(Do) I have to study Greek?” |
Outro |
| Michael: Do you have any more questions? We’re here to answer them! |
| Chrissi: Γεια χαρά! (Ya hará!) |
| Michael: See you soon! |
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