Learn how to use the sentence pattern "I am a..."
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| INTRODUCTION |
| John: Hi everyone, I'm John. |
| Chrissi: And I'm Chrissi. |
| John: And welcome to Must-Know Greek Sentence Structures, Season 1, Lesson 1. Talking About Your Profession. |
| John: In this lesson, you'll learn how to use a sentence pattern for talking about your profession. |
| PATTERN |
| John: For example, |
| John: "I am a cardiologist." |
| Chrissi: Εγώ είμαι καρδιολόγος. (Egó íme kardiológos.) |
| Chrissi: [slow] Εγώ είμαι καρδιολόγος. (Egó íme kardiológos.) |
| John: The pattern for talking about your profession has three elements. First, the strong personal pronoun in the nominative, meaning "I". |
| Chrissi: Εγώ (Egó). |
| John: Second, the verb "to be" in the first person singular, meaning "am". |
| Chrissi: είμαι (íme). |
| John: Third, the masculine and feminine profession noun in the nominative, meaning "cardiologist". |
| Chrissi: καρδιολόγος (kardiológos). |
| John: Altogether, we have... "I am a cardiologist." |
| Chrissi: Εγώ είμαι καρδιολόγος. (Egó íme kardiológos.) [slow] Εγώ είμαι καρδιολόγος. (Egó íme kardiológos.) [normal] Εγώ είμαι καρδιολόγος. (Egó íme kardiológos.) |
| John: Just like in English, Greek usually follows an SVO structure when it comes to word order of sentences. SVO stands for Subject-Verb-Object. If the verb is a linking verb, such as the verb "to be," then instead of an object, we might have a predicate. |
| When the verb's subject is a personal pronoun, Greeks usually omit it because the verb itself indicates whether we are talking about the first, second, or third person in either the singular or the plural. |
| The personal pronoun is used only to make the context clear or for emphasis; for example, to say "It is I who is a cardiologist," instead of saying "I am a cardiologist." |
| In that case, you can start the sentence with the personal pronoun in the nominative case, followed by the verb "to be" in the first person singular of the present tense. |
| The subject, in this case the pronoun, and the verb need to always "agree" in person and number. Then at the end of the sentence comes the profession, which is usually a noun in the nominative, but it can also be a noun phrase that describes a profession. A noun phrase may consist of an adjective and a noun, among other types of words. |
| Finally, note that in Greek, unlike English, the indefinite article "a or an" is not needed before the profession noun or noun phrase. |
| Chrissi: Εγώ είμαι καρδιολόγος. (Egó íme kardiológos.) |
| John: So remember, to talk about your profession just say "I" in Greek… |
| Chrissi: Εγώ (Egó)... |
| John: ...plus the verb "to be," plus your profession. Make sure the profession's gender matches yours or the subject's gender, if you are talking about someone else. |
| John: Here is another example meaning, "I'm a cashier." First, the strong personal pronoun in the nominative, meaning "I". |
| Chrissi: Εγώ (Egó). |
| John: Second, the verb "to be" in the first person singular, meaning "am". |
| Chrissi: είμαι (íme). |
| John: Third, the masculine and feminine profession noun in the nominative, meaning "cashier". |
| Chrissi: ταμίας (tamías). |
| John: Altogether we have... |
| Chrissi: Εγώ είμαι ταμίας. (Egó íme tamías.) [slow] Εγώ είμαι ταμίας. (Egó íme tamías.) [normal] Εγώ είμαι ταμίας. (Egó íme tamías.) |
| John: "I'm a cashier." |
| [pause] |
| Chrissi: Εγώ είμαι ταμίας. (Egó íme tamías.) |
| John: How do you say - "I'm an engineer." To give you a hint, "engineer" is... |
| Chrissi: μηχανικός (mihanikós). |
| John: "I'm an engineer." |
| [pause] |
| Chrissi: Εγώ είμαι μηχανικός. (Egó íme mihanikós.) [slow] Εγώ είμαι μηχανικός. (Egó íme mihanikós.) [normal] Εγώ είμαι μηχανικός. (Egó íme mihanikós.) |
| [pause] |
| Chrissi: Εγώ είμαι μηχανικός. (Egó íme mihanikós.) |
| REVIEW |
| John: Let's review the sentences from this lesson. I will tell you the English equivalent of the phrase and you are responsible for shouting it out loud in Greek. Here we go. |
| John: "I am a cardiologist." |
| [pause] |
| Chrissi: Εγώ είμαι καρδιολόγος. (Egó íme kardiológos.) |
| [pause] |
| Chrissi: Εγώ είμαι καρδιολόγος. (Egó íme kardiológos.) |
| John: "I'm a cashier." |
| [pause] |
| Chrissi: Εγώ είμαι ταμίας. (Egó íme tamías.) |
| [pause] |
| Chrissi: Εγώ είμαι ταμίας. (Egó íme tamías.) |
| John: "I'm an engineer." |
| [pause] |
| Chrissi: Εγώ είμαι μηχανικός. (Egó íme mihanikós.) |
| [pause] |
| Chrissi: Εγώ είμαι μηχανικός. (Egó íme mihanikós.) |
Outro |
|---|
| John: Okay. That's all for this lesson. You learned a pattern for talking about your profession, as in... |
| Chrissi: Εγώ είμαι καρδιολόγος. (Egó íme kardiológos.) |
| John: meaning "I am a cardiologist." |
| John: You can find more vocab or phrases that go with this sentence pattern in the lesson notes. So please be sure to check them out on GreekPod101.com. Thanks everyone, see you next time! |
| Chrissi: Γεια χαρά! |
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