Learn about the formation of diminutives
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Becky: Hello everyone and welcome back to GreekPod101.com. This is Lower Intermediate, Season 1, Lesson 7, Getting Cute in Greek. I’m Becky. |
| Stefania: And I’m Stefania. |
| Becky: In this lesson, you’ll learn about word formation in Greek, and specifically diminutives. |
| Stefania: The conversation takes place at the office of the daily Greek newspaper. It’s between Antonia and her colleague, photojournalist Vasilis Antoniou. |
| Becky: The characters know each other well, so they’re using informal Greek. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Αντωνία:Βασίλη έχεις κάτι για αύριο το πρωί; |
| Βασίλης:Δεν νομίζω. Ίσως χρειαστεί να πεταχτώ μέχρι το δημαρχείο όταν θα τελειώσει το δημοτικό συμβούλιο, αλλά εκτός από αυτό, τίποτα. |
| Αντωνία:Οπότε μπορούμε να κοιτάξουμε λίγο αυτό το θεματάκι με το κοσμηματοπωλείο; |
| Βασίλης:Α, αυτό που λέγατε με τον Γιαννουλάτο; |
| Αντωνία:Ναι. |
| Βασίλης:ΟΚ. Να πάρω το μηχανάκι ή το αμάξι; |
| Αντωνία:Το μαγαζί είναι σε ένα δρομάκι κοντά στο Μοναστηράκι, άρα μάλλον η μηχανή είναι πιο βολική. |
| Βασίλης:Κανένα πρόβλημα. Έχω και μέρες να τη βγάλω, οπότε μια βολτίτσα θα της κάνει καλό. |
| Αντωνία:Δεν είχες πάει κάποια εκδρομούλα πριν από μια-δυο εβδομάδες; |
| Βασίλης:Ναι, είχα πάει ως το Ναύπλιο για μπανάκι, αλλά θέλει πιο συχνά. |
| Αντωνία:Ωραία! Μπορείς να περάσεις από το σπίτι κατά τις εννιά; |
| Βασίλης:Μέσα! Και πίνουμε και ένα καφεδάκι πριν ξεκινήσουμε! |
| Antonia: Vasilis, do you have something for tomorrow morning? |
| Vasilis: I don’t think so. Maybe I’ll have to go quickly to City Hall after the city council meeting, but other than that, nothing. |
| Antonia: So can we have a look at that story with the jewelry shop? |
| Vasilis: Oh, the one you were discussing with Mr. Giannoulatos? |
| Antonia: Yes. |
| Vasilis: OK. Shall I take the bike or the car? |
| Antonia: The shop is in an alley near Monastiraki, so I think the motorcycle would be more convenient. |
| Vasilis: No problem. I haven’t taken it out for days, so a short ride would do it good. |
| Antonia: Didn’t you go on a road trip a couple of weeks ago? |
| Vasilis: Yeah, I went as far as Nafplio for a swim, but it needs to be taken out more often. |
| Antonia: Good! Can you pass by my place at around nine? |
| Vasilis: I’m in! And we can drink a cup of coffee before we start! |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Becky: So our characters are going out? |
| Stefania: Yes, to work on a story. |
| Becky: And they will be using a motorbike, huh? Many people ride motorcycles in Greece, don’t they? |
| Stefania: Yes! Many do! |
| Becky: Why is that do you think? The weather? |
| Stefania: The good weather is certainly one reason. Another reason is the cost. |
| Becky: I guess being able to park anywhere is also something to consider. |
| Stefania: Of course! You know, I used to drive a car, and finding a parking spot anywhere in the city was always a problem. |
| Becky: It makes sense then! |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Becky: Let's take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. |
| Stefania: χρειάζομαι [natural native speed] |
| Becky: to need, to require |
| Stefania: χρειάζομαι [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Stefania: χρειάζομαι [natural native speed] |
| Stefania: αμάξι [natural native speed] |
| Becky: car, carriage |
| Stefania: αμάξι [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Stefania: αμάξι [natural native speed] |
| Stefania: θέλω [natural native speed] |
| Becky: to want |
| Stefania: θέλω [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Stefania: θέλω [natural native speed] |
| Stefania: Μοναστηράκι [natural native speed] |
| Becky: Monastiraki area |
| Stefania: Μοναστηράκι [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Stefania: Μοναστηράκι [natural native speed] |
| Stefania: Ναύπλιο [natural native speed] |
| Becky: Nafplio town |
| Stefania: Ναύπλιο [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Stefania: Ναύπλιο [natural native speed] |
| Stefania: πετάγομαι [natural native speed] |
| Becky: to go somewhere quickly or for a little while/to get thrown |
| Stefania: πετάγομαι [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Stefania: πετάγομαι [natural native speed] |
| Stefania: θεματάκι [natural native speed] |
| Becky: news story, issue, matter |
| Stefania: θεματάκι [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Stefania: θεματάκι [natural native speed] |
| Stefania: μηχανάκι [natural native speed] |
| Becky: motorbike, small machine |
| Stefania: μηχανάκι [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Stefania: μηχανάκι [natural native speed] |
| Stefania: καφεδάκι [natural native speed] |
| Becky: a cup of coffee |
| Stefania: καφεδάκι [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Stefania: καφεδάκι [natural native speed] |
| Stefania: μπανάκι [natural native speed] |
| Becky: short swim/shower |
| Stefania: μπανάκι [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Stefania: μπανάκι [natural native speed] |
| KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES |
| Becky: Let's have a closer look at the usage for some of the words and phrases from this lesson. |
| Stefania: First is the verb “θέλω” meaning “to want”. We can see it in our sample sentence “Θέλει κανείς τίποτα από το περίπτερο; |
| Becky: Meaning “Does anybody want something from the kiosk?” |
| Stefania: Right. Still, in this phrase, we have a very common idiom. |
| Becky: Which is? |
| Stefania: It is the use of the masculine negative pronoun “κανείς”, literally meaning “nobody” and the non-declinable negative pronoun “τίποτα”, literally meaning “nothing”. |
| Becky: So the literal translation of the phrase would be “Does nobody want nothing from the kiosk?” |
| Stefania: Right. And here’s the idiom! In such cases, these words mean their opposite: “anyone” or “anybody” and “something” or “anything”. |
| Becky: I see! What else do we have? |
| Stefania: The verb “πετάγομαι”. This means “to get thrown”. |
| Becky: But in everyday conversation, you use it idiomatically as in “to go somewhere quickly” or “for a little while”. The idea is that this will be a deviation from a regular schedule. What’s an example? |
| Stefania: “Θα πεταχτώ ως το ταχυδρομείο και έρχομαι”. |
| “Θα πεταχτώ” is the future tense of “πετάγομαι”. |
| Becky: So the meaning is “I’ll go quickly to the post office and I’ll be right back”. |
| Stefania: Right! |
| Becky: And our last one? |
| Stefania: “καφεδάκι” meaning “a cup of coffee”. In English we can say “Come by the house for a cup of coffee”, right? |
| Becky: That’s right. |
| Stefania: In Greek, though, we just say “Έλα από το σπίτι για καφεδάκι” or “Έλα από το σπίτι για καφέ”, which both translate as “Come by the house for coffee”. |
| Becky: So, no cup. |
| Stefania: Nope! |
| Becky: OK. Now onto the grammar. |
| GRAMMAR POINT |
| Becky: In this lesson you’ll learn about diminutives. |
| Stefania: Yes! Diminutives! |
| Becky: These are words produced from most nouns, proper nouns, some adjectives and very few adverbs. Diminutives indicate a smaller version of what the original word denotes, affection and intimacy, or they make something appear trivial for various reasons. So Stefania, do people use those much in Greek? |
| Stefania: Yes! Diminutives are very common. Especially with younger girls that are trying to sound very cute! |
| Becky: OK. And how do diminutives work? |
| Stefania: Like all derivatives, we take the stem of the root word and add a suffix. |
| Becky: But not just any suffix! |
| Stefania: There are particular suffixes that we use for that. So after a certain point, you will get used to them. |
| Becky: I see. And these suffixes are in our lesson notes? |
| Stefania: Of course! In a very handy table that even includes an example for each suffix! |
| Becky: So listeners, please check the notes! |
| Stefania: Definitely! But in the meantime, let’s look at some of the ones used in our dialogue. |
| Becky: Certainly. Like? |
| Stefania: One good example is “καφεδάκι”. |
| Becky: Meaning “Small coffee”? |
| Stefania: Hmm... not exactly! It’s more like affection towards coffee I would say. Appreciation for the whole drinking ritual. So it is something that coffee lovers say quite often! |
| Becky: Ah...the well-known Greek affection for coffee! |
| Stefania: Exactly! |
| Becky: And how is this word created? |
| Stefania: By combining the root word “καφές”, which means coffee, and adding the suffix “-άκι”, one of the most common suffixes for diminutives. |
| Becky: So this “-áki” works with other nouns as well? |
| Stefania: Lots! We have some examples in our dialogue. From the word “θέμα”, which means “subject”, “matter”, “issue” or “theme”, we get the diminutive “θεματάκι”, which in our dialogue has been translated as “story” because of the journalistic context. Then from the root word “μηχανή”, which can mean “machine”, “engine” or “motorcycle”, we get “μηχανάκι”, meaning either “motorbike” or “small machine”. Next, the word “δρομάκι” in our dialogue, which means “alley”, comes from the word “δρόμος”, meaning “road” or “street”, and “Μοναστηράκι”, which is the name of an area in Athens, comes from “μοναστήρι”, meaning “monastery”. So “Μοναστηράκι” literally means “small monastery”. Finally, from the word “μπάνιο”, meaning “bathroom”, “shower” or generally any kind of immersion in water, we get the diminutive “μπανάκι”, which means “short swim” or “shower”. |
| Becky: Sounds easy! |
| Stefania: I am glad you think so! Some other diminutives we have in our dialogue are “βολτίτσα”, meaning small walk, with “βόλτα” being the original word and meaning either “stroll” or “car/bicycle or motorcycle ride”. Last we have “εκδρομούλα”, meaning “small trip”, that comes from “εκδρομή”, which refers to any road trip, excursion or voyage. |
| Becky: Oh, but what about the gender of the diminutive words? Is it always the same as the original word? |
| Stefania: Most times, yes. There are some cases, however, where the diminutives change their gender. |
| Becky: Is there a way to know the gender of any given diminutive? |
| Stefania: The suffix will always indicate the gender. But unfortunately, there are no rules and no particular logic to explain which diminutive suffixes go with which words and to which gender. In the lesson notes, we list which words from our examples change gender. |
| Becky: But keep in mind that you will learn diminutives and their genders as you go along. |
| MARKETING PIECE |
| Stefania: Listeners, ever have any Greek language or lesson-related questions? |
| Becky: Or maybe you have some feedback for us... |
| Becky: Leave us a comment or ask a question on the lessons page! |
| Stefania: It's super simple. Go to GreekPod101.com... |
| Becky: ...click on comments, |
| Stefania: ...enter your comment and name, |
| Becky: ...and that's it! |
| Stefania: Commenting is a great way to practice writing and reading in Greek. |
| Becky: It helps you learn faster. |
| Stefania: And it helps us get better through your feedback. |
| Becky: No excuses. |
| Stefania: Go to GreekPod101.com, and comment now. |
| Becky: NOW! |
Outro |
|---|
| Becky: That’s all for this lesson, everyone! Thanks for listening, and we’ll see you next time. |
| Stefania: Γεια χαρά! |
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