Learn to ask, "How much?"
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| 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 the last two lessons we learned how to count in Greek –from one to one hundred. I hope you spent some time practicing the numbers, because they will come in handy in this lesson. Why? Because we will learn how to go shopping in Greece! |
| Before we go, you need to know how to say “How much is it?” |
| Poso kanei? |
| [slowly] Poso kanei? |
| Are you ready to go shopping in Greece? Let’s go! |
| You see something you like and want to ask the shop clerk how much it costs. The first thing to say to a shop clerk is…”parakalo” do you remember what that means? It means, "Please" usually but in this situation, it means, "Excuse me!" |
| Parakalo, poso kanei auto? |
| [slowly] Parakalo, poso kanei auto? |
| The word “auto” we use in this phrase means “it” or “this”; we are referring to a certain object. If we want to be more specific, we must know if the object is feminine, masculine or neuter, convert the word “αυτό” accordingly and add the object itself. Let’s say we are asking about a hat or a “kapelo”; in Greek a hat is neuter so we will use the phrase “auto to kapelo”. |
| Let’s try it: |
| Parakalo, poso kanei auto to kapelo? "Excuse me, how much is this hat?" |
| [slowly] Parakalo, poso kanei auto to kapelo? |
| And “skirt” is a feminine noun. “Fousta”. Let’s try that too- |
| Parakalo, poso kanei auti i fousta? |
| "Excuse me, how much is this skirt?" |
| [slowly] Parakalo, poso kanei auti i fousta? |
| Finally, let’s also try a masculine –like a lighter, “anaptiras” |
| Parakalo, poso kanei autos o anaptiras? |
| "Excuse me, how much is this lighter? |
| [slowly] Parakalo, poso kanei autos o anaptiras? |
| At this point the shop clerk will most certainly answer by saying directly the price - |
| Deka pente evro or |
| Eikosi evro |
| The word “evro” means, of course “euro” and as for the number, you already know that, don’t you? In case you have forgotten, “deka pente” means “fifteen” and “eikosi” means “twenty.” |
| Now it’s time for Chrissi’s Insights. |
| Even though it is not very polite, the fastest way to ask how much something costs is by saying the word “auto” (meaning “it”) and adding the word “poso” (meaning “how much”) raising your tone in the first syllable (po-). In this case, even though you are using the neuter “it”, “auto”, you can also get away with masculine and feminine nouns. It’s just a quick hack, but if you don’t know the object’s gender or you are in a hurry, it’s passable; Greeks do it all the time! |
| At this point, can you count euros in Greek? We are going to learn how to do this in the next lesson; after that you will have no excuse for not going out on a shopping spree in Greece! |
| I'll be waiting for you in our next Ελληνικά σε 3 λεπτά lesson. |
| Tha ta ksanapoume sto epomeno mathima! |
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