Learn how to use the phrase "Do you speak English?"
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| Γεια, λέγομαι Χρυσή. 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 the last lesson, we learned the most common forms of greetings in Greek. Do you remember them? |
| In this lesson we’re going to learn a very useful phrase: “Do you speak English?” |
| If you find yourself in a situation where you need assistance in English, this phrase can be a lifesaver. And because you’re asking it in Greek, you can be sure that everyone will understand what you’re saying, even if their answer is no. |
| Here's the informal way to say it. |
| Μιλάς αγγλικά; |
| [slowly] Μιλάς αγγλικά; |
| Μιλάς is “to speak” and αγγλικά is “English. |
| In Greek, verbs change depending on who the subject is. The word “μιλάς” is conjugated from the verb, μιλάω, which means “to speak”. By the ending “ς”, we understand this is the second person singular. This is the informal way to say “you speak”. You will notice that the personal pronoun itself -- the word “you” -- is missing; this happens very often in Greek. Because the verb ending changes depending on the subject, you don’t need to actually say the subject in order to be understood! |
| To learn how to properly conjugate -ω verbs, like μιλάω, please look at our Absolute Beginner series on GreekPod101.com. You can find very detailed grammar lessons and resources there! |
| We’re now going to make this sentence formal. This is done by using the formal version of “you,” which is “εσείς”. If we change the word for “you,” we will conjugate μιλάω differently. It becomes μιλάτε. Everything else stays the same: |
| Μιλάτε αγγλικά; |
| [slowly] Μιλάτε αγγλικά; |
| Adding Συγγνώμη, "excuse-me", the sentence becomes even more polite: |
| Συγγνώμη, μιλάτε αγγλικά; |
| [slowly] Συγγνώμη, μιλάτε αγγλικά; |
| The responses you will receive could be one of these three: |
| Ναι. "Yes." |
| [slowly] Ναι. |
| Λίγο. "A little." |
| [slowly] Λίγο. |
| Όχι, δε μιλάω αγγλικά "No, I don’t speak English." |
| [slowly] Όχι, δε μιλάω αγγλικά |
| Since this last one is a negative statement, we need to say δεν or δε before the verb, μιλάω. Here you can also notice what we mentioned before: the personal pronoun εγώ that, is, “I” is not used since the ending of the verb shows that it is in the first person. |
| Now it’s time for Chrissi’s Insights. |
| For those of you who are not only English speakers, you can obviously use this question with any language you need. Greek people study other European languages, so maybe you will get lucky! Just substitute αγγλικά with… |
| ιταλικά for Italian. |
| ρώσικα for Russian. |
| ισπανικά for Spanish. |
| γερμανικά for German. |
| In this lesson we mentioned the expression συγγνώμη. But did you know that this could also be used as an apology? In the next lesson we will learn this and other ways to apologize in Greek. It’s never too late to show your good manners with Greek people! |
| I'll see you in our next ελληνικά σε 3 λεπτά lesson. Γειά! |
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