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Lesson Transcript

Geia, legomai Chrissi Hi everybody! I’m Chrissi.
Welcome to GreekPod101.com’s “Ελληνικά σε 3 λεπτά”. The fastest, easiest, and most fun way to learn Greek.
In our previous lesson, we learned how to ask "Who" questions in Greek.
This time, we are going to ask "Why" questions.
Your boss is giving you a call because you are not at work today... He might ask you Giati den eiste sto grafeio simera?
So let’s break down this question.
First we had-
Giati, which is the basic translation of "Why" in Greek.
Den eiste is the 2nd person plural of the verb eimai in the negative form. The second person plural, or formal “you” is being used here for politeness.
Then Sto grafeio which is "at the office"
And finally simera which is "today"
Altogether it is Giati den eiste sto grafeio simera? meaning “Why aren't you at the office today?
So in Greek, giati is the translation of "Why", used to ask the reason for something.
If you find yourself in more trouble with your boss you might hear Giati argisate simera?" this means "Why are you late today?"
Another common usage of giati is to ask the objective of something. But in this case, it is split into 2 words - Gia and ti. Gia means “for” and tee means “what” so, in this case, Gia ti? is closer to the meaning of "What for?" or “For what?”
For example: Gia ti to chrisimopoioume auto? This means "What is this used for?"
Now it’s time for Chrissi’s Insights.
A commonly used expression in Greece is Giati ochi? which means "why not?" You can use it to accept a proposition if you're not really excited about it.
For example, if a friend asks you suddenly "Why don’t we go to the movies tonight?" or Ti les ya sinema apopse?
You can answer Giati ochi? "Why not?"
This lesson is the last of this Absolute Beginner video series, “Ελληνικά σε 3 λεπτά”. You already know how Greek works so I hope you will continue and learn more about this ancient but still fascinating language. To take your language ability to the next level, check out GreekPod101.com, the fastest, easiest, and most fun way to learn Greek.
Giea sas!

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