Learn how Greek verbs get categorized according to their properties, focusing on three of them: diathesis, mood, and voice
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Brandon: Hello everyone and welcome to GreekPod101.com. This is Intermediate, Season 1, lesson 1, A Strange Reason for Being Late in Greece. I’m Brandon. |
| Stefania: And I’m Stefania: and I would like to welcome you to this Intermediate series. You've come a long way in Greek, but the learning journey continues! Over the next 25 lessons I'll be your guide on your Greek "Odyssey," and I'll help you learn my language in a fun and easy way! |
| Brandon: In this lesson, you'll learn how Greek verbs get categorized according to their properties, and we will focus on three of them—diáthesis, mood, and voice. This conversation takes place at the music school where our characters go for their choir rehearsals. |
| Stefania: The conversation is between two sisters, Erato and Natalia, and their best friend Sakis. |
| Brandon: The characters are good friends, so they'll be using informal Greek. Let's listen to the conversation! |
Lesson conversation |
|---|
| Ερατώ Γεια σου Σάκη! |
| Σάκης Καλώς τες! Αργήσατε σήμερα. Νόμιζα πως δεν θα ερχόσασταν. |
| Ναταλία Ναι, να 'ναι καλά η γάτα μου. Όπως βαφόμουνα και ενώ αυτή κοιμότανε στο γραφείο, χτύπησε το τηλέφωνο, ξαφνιάστηκε και πετάχτηκε σαν παλαβή μπροστά μου. Έριξε τις σκιές επάνω μου και με έκανε χάλια. |
| Ερατώ Και μετά έκανες και δέκα ώρες να αλλάξεις... |
| Ναταλία ...Ερατώ, μην αρχίζεις πάλι... |
| Σάκης ...Καλά, κατάλαβα! Απλές στιγμές καθημερινής τρέλας των αδερφών Γεωργίου. Τέλος πάντων, πάρτε αυτές εδώ τις φωτοτυπίες. Μας τις μοίρασε πριν από λίγο η κυρία Ελπίδα. Είναι οι διορθωμένοι στίχοι του τραγουδιού που λέμε στο τέλος. |
| Ερατώ Α, σ' ευχαριστούμε! |
| Σάκης Ναταλία, έκανες καθόλου πρακτική το ντουέτο μας; |
| Ναταλία Αμέ. Δεν νομίζω ότι θα έχουμε πρόβλημα στο ρεφρέν εκεί που κάνουμε τη διφωνία. |
| Ερατώ Καλά, σωπάτε τώρα! Αρχίζουμε ζέσταμα. |
| (NO SLOW VERSION) |
| Brandon: Now let’s hear it with the English translation. |
| Ερατώ Γεια σου Σάκη! |
| Brandon: Hi Sakis! |
| Σάκης Καλώς τες! Αργήσατε σήμερα. Νόμιζα πως δεν θα ερχόσασταν. |
| Brandon: Welcome! You're late today. I thought you wouldn't come. |
| Ναταλία Ναι, να 'ναι καλά η γάτα μου. Όπως βαφόμουνα και ενώ αυτή κοιμότανε στο γραφείο, χτύπησε το τηλέφωνο, ξαφνιάστηκε και πετάχτηκε σαν παλαβή μπροστά μου. Έριξε τις σκιές επάνω μου και με έκανε χάλια. |
| Brandon: Yes, thanks to my cat. As I was doing my makeup and while she was sleeping on the desk, the phone rang, she startled and jumped like crazy in front of me. She knocked over the eye shadows and made a mess of me. |
| Ερατώ Και μετά έκανες και δέκα ώρες να αλλάξεις... |
| Brandon: And after that it took you ten hours to change... |
| Ναταλία ...Ερατώ, μην αρχίζεις πάλι... |
| Brandon: ...Erato, don't start again... |
| Σάκης ...Καλά, κατάλαβα! Απλές στιγμές καθημερινής τρέλας των αδερφών Γεωργίου. Τέλος πάντων, πάρτε αυτές εδώ τις φωτοτυπίες. Μας τις μοίρασε πριν από λίγο η κυρία Ελπίδα. Είναι οι διορθωμένοι στίχοι του τραγουδιού που λέμε στο τέλος. |
| Brandon: ...OK, I get it! Simple moments of everyday madness of the Georgiou sisters. Anyway, take these photocopies. Mrs. Elpida handed those out to us a while ago. It's the corrected lyrics of the song we sing at the end. |
| Ερατώ Α, σ' ευχαριστούμε! |
| Brandon: Oh, thank you! |
| Σάκης Ναταλία, έκανες καθόλου πρακτική το ντουέτο μας; |
| Brandon: Natalia, did you practice our duet? |
| Ναταλία Αμέ. Δεν νομίζω ότι θα έχουμε πρόβλημα στο ρεφρέν εκεί που κάνουμε τη διφωνία. |
| Brandon: Yup. I don't think we'll have trouble in the refrain where we do the harmony. |
| Ερατώ Καλά, σωπάτε τώρα! Αρχίζουμε ζέσταμα. |
| Brandon: Okay, be quiet now! We are starting with the warm-up. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Brandon: So our characters are choir singers! |
| Stefania: Yes! And they meet often at their music school. |
| Brandon: Are music schools popular in Greece? |
| Stefania: I think so! When I was going to school many classmates of mine were going once or twice a week to a music school to learn an instrument. Usually piano or guitar. I did piano. |
| Brandon: Can someone become a professional in those schools? |
| Stefania: If they study hard! There are many good teachers out there, but for a higher level of music education and a more recognised title, the choice would be studying in a music university. |
| Brandon: Are there any famous music schools? |
| Stefania: Yes. We have the National Conservatory of Athens (Εθνικό Ωδείο) and the State Conservatory of Thessaloniki (Κρατικό Ωδείο Θεσσαλονίκης). |
| Brandon: Okay, now let’s take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Brandon: Let's take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. |
| The first one we shall see is: |
| Stefania: να 'ναι καλά [natural native speed] |
| Brandon: thanks to, blame it on |
| Stefania: να 'ναι καλά [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Stefania: να 'ναι καλά [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Stefania: βάφω [natural native speed] |
| Brandon: to paint, to dye, to apply or to wear makeup |
| Stefania: βάφω [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Stefania: βάφω [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Stefania: παλαβός [natural native speed] |
| Brandon: insane, mental, crazy |
| Stefania: παλαβός [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Stefania: παλαβός [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Stefania: στιγμές καθημερινής τρέλας [natural native speed] |
| Brandon: moments of everyday madness |
| Stefania: στιγμές καθημερινής τρέλας [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Stefania: στιγμές καθημερινής τρέλας [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Stefania: διορθωμένος [natural native speed] |
| Brandon: corrected |
| Stefania: διορθωμένος [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Stefania: διορθωμένος [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Stefania: στίχος [natural native speed] |
| Brandon: line, words of a song, lyrics (when in plural) |
| Stefania: στίχος [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Stefania: στίχος [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Stefania: πρακτική [natural native speed] |
| Brandon: practice, practicum, internship |
| Stefania: πρακτική [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Stefania: πρακτική [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Stefania: ντουέτο [natural native speed] |
| Brandon: duet |
| Stefania: ντουέτο [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Stefania: ντουέτο [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Stefania: διφωνία [natural native speed] |
| Brandon: harmony in music created by two different voices or melodies |
| Stefania: διφωνία [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Stefania: διφωνία [natural native speed] |
| And Last: |
| Stefania: σωπαίνω [natural native speed] |
| Brandon: to become quiet, to hush |
| Stefania: σωπαίνω [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Stefania: σωπαίνω [natural native speed] |
| KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES |
| Brandon: Let's have a closer look at the usage for some of the words and phrases from this lesson. What do we have first? |
| Stefania: We have the expression "να 'ναι καλά". Although it literally means "may he/she/it be well" and we use this as a wish of good health to a third person, in our dialogue it's used differently. It means "thanks to" and has a negative connotation. |
| Brandon: So it's almost like "blame it on", right? |
| Stefania: Yes, exactly! You could use both of these translations. |
| Brandon: Ok and what's our next word? |
| Stefania: The verb "βάφω". |
| Brandon: Which means "to paint", "to dye", "to apply or to wear makeup". So what's so special about this verb? |
| Stefania: It's important to know that when a person applies makeup to his or her face, then we use the passive voice form of "βάφω", which is "βάφομαι". |
| Brandon: Passive voice? Have we learned passive voice yet? |
| Stefania: Not yet, but we'll talk a bit about active and passive voice in our grammar, and we'll see passive voice in detail in later lessons. So listeners, keep this in mind! |
| Brandon: And what about when someone applies makeup to someone else? |
| Stefania: Then we use "βάφω" as it is. In the active voice. |
| Brandon Well, that brings us to the last vocab for this lesson, and it is… |
| Stefania: …"στιγμές καθημερινής τρέλας", which means "moments of everyday madness". |
| Brandon: I've heard that many times before! |
| Stefania: Yes, it's quite common. We use it to describe a situation that is intense or frenetic, and it includes moments that are funny, crazy, or beyond belief in some way. |
| Brandon: Funny like what the cat did to Natalía in the dialogue, right? |
| Stefania: Exactly! |
| Brandon: Okay, now onto the grammar. |
Lesson focus |
| Brandon: In this lesson, you’ll learn how Greek verbs get categorized according to their properties. These are the 7 most important... |
| Stefania: 1) diathesis |
| 2) mood |
| 3) voice |
| 4) conjugation group |
| 5) tense |
| 6) number |
| and 7) person |
| Brandon: Now listeners, you all know that in Greek there are two conjugation groups, verbs have 3 persons, a singular and a plural form, and we have studied some tenses before. |
| Stefania: Yes, so let's focus on diathesis, mood, and voice. |
| Brandon: What is "diathesis"? I thought it was the same thing as "voice". |
| Stefania: In Greek, these are two different things. Diathesis is a property of a verb that shows what the verb does, what happens to it, or in which situation the subject of the verb is. There are four diathesis—active, mediopassive, passive, and neutral. Our listeners can check out the lesson notes for examples. |
| Brandon: They will really help! |
| Stefania: Keep in mind that the active verbs can be either transitive, meaning they have an object, or intransitive, with no object. |
| Brandon: OK. Next, let’s talk about "moods", In Greek there are 5—indicative, subjunctive, imperative, infinitive, and participle. The mood is the form that a verb takes in order for us to show how we want to present the meaning of the verb. |
| Stefania: Indicative presents the meaning of the verb as something certain and real, subjunctive as something we want or we expect to happen, and Imperative as a command or a wish. |
| Brandon: What about infinitives? I thought Greek didn't have any! |
| Stefania: Well, we don't, in the sense of English infinitives, but we have what WE call infinitives and those are non-conjugated verb forms, used in the formation of perfective verb tenses that we'll see in a later lesson. |
| Brandon: And participles? |
| Stefania: Most verbs have two infinitives and two participles, but we'll focus on participles in a later series. |
| Brandon: OK, What's our last category? |
| Stefania: Voices! Just like in English we have active and passive voice. |
| Brandon: Listeners, don't confuse the voices with the diathesis we heard about just before! |
| Stefania: Good point! They're different. We call active voice all the verb forms that have an -ω ending in the first person singular of the present tense indicative mood, and we call passive voice all the same forms that end in -μαι. |
| Brandon: Do all verbs have both voices? |
| Stefania: No. Some only follow the active voice, and some follow only the passive voice. We call the latter, deponent verbs. Listeners, make sure to review those notes! |
Outro |
| Brandon: Attention, Android, iPhone, iPad, and Kindle Fire users. |
| Stefania: Wanna learn Greek on the go with your mobile device? |
| Brandon: Then download our free app, InnovativeLanguage101. |
| Stefania: You’ll get all your favorite GreekPod101 lessons inside this app. |
| Brandon: So you can learn anywhere anytime. |
| Stefania: Go to GreekPod101.com/ill-app to download InnovativeLanguage101 for free. |
| Brandon: Well, that’s all for this lesson, everyone! If you have any questions or comments, leave us a message at GreekPod101.com. |
| Stefania: We’re here to help! |
| Brandon: Thanks for listening, and we’ll see you next time. Bye! |
| Stefania: Γεια χαρά! |
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