Learn how to answer the first question you are asked at a restaurant
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| There's a wide variety of Greek dishes, and your job as a visitor is to try as much food as possible. However, before you start eating, you have to get to the table. In today's lesson, we'll cover getting to a table in a restaurant. |
| When entering a restaurant in Greece, they will greet you with Καλημέρα (Kaliméra), which means "Good morning"or "Good day," or Καλησπέρα (Kalispéra), which means "Good evening." |
| In Greece, when entering a restaurant or what would more commonly be known as a ταβέρνα (tavérna) in Greek, one rarely gets seated by the waiter or waitress. The customers often have to find their own table. However, there are occasions where you will be asked the question "How many people are in your party?" So practicing it will come in handy at some point. |
| "How many people are you?" in Greek is Πόσα άτομα είσαστε; (Pósa átoma ísaste?). |
| Let's hear it once again, Πόσα άτομα είσαστε; (Pósa átoma ísaste?) |
| Πόσα άτομα είσαστε; (Pósa átoma ísaste?) |
| The first word, Πόσα (Posa), means "How many." Let's break down this word and hear it one more time. |
| Po-sa. |
| Πόσα (Posa) |
| Άτομα (Átoma) follows this, which in Greek means "people." |
| Άτομα (Átoma) |
| Άτομα (Átoma) |
| Finally, we have είσαστε (ísaste), which in Greek is "are you" |
| είσαστε (ísaste) |
| είσαστε (ísaste) |
| Πόσα άτομα είσαστε; (Pósa átoma ísaste?) |
| Now let's go over how to answer. |
| In Greek, you would respond by telling the waiter or waitress Είμαστε τρεις. (Ímaste tris), which in English means "We are three." |
| Let's break these words down and hear them one more time. I-ma-ste tris. |
| Είμαστε τρεις. (Ímaste tris) |
| Now we're going to review some numbers in Greek in case your party happens to be bigger. The numbers one through five are: ένα (éna), δύο (dío), τρία (tría), τέσσερα (tésera), πέντε (pénde). |
| You could also say "We are four people," which in Greek is Είμαστε τέσσερα άτομα (Ímaste tésera átoma). |
| Let's break it down by syllable. I-ma-ste te-se-ra a-to-ma. |
| Now let's hear it once again, Είμαστε τέσσερα άτομα (Ímaste tésera átoma). |
| The first word, Είμαστε (Ímaste), means "we are." We follow this with τέσσερα άτομα (tésera átoma), which in Greek is "four people." |
| Τέσσερα άτομα. (Tésera átoma.) |
| Τέσσερα άτομα. (Tésera átoma.) |
| If you are just one person, the proper answer to the question is Είμαι μόνος (Íme mónos) if you are a man or Είμαι μόνη (Ime móni) for a woman. In English, they both mean "I am alone." |
| Let's break down these words and hear them one more time. |
| Είμαι μόνη (Ime móni), Είμαι μόνος (Íme mónos) |
| Είμαι μόνη (Ime móni), Είμαι μόνος (Íme mónos) |
| Είμαι μόνη (Ime móni), Είμαι μόνος (Íme mónos) |
| The first word είμαι (íme) means "I am." |
| Let's break down this word and hear it one more time. |
| είμαι (íme) |
| είμαι (íme) |
| The second word μόνη/μόνος (móni/mónos) means "alone." Μόνη (Móni) is the feminine singular form and μόνος (mónos) is the masculine. Let's break down these words and hear them one more time. |
| Μόνη (Móni) |
| Μόνη (Móni) |
| μόνος (mónos) |
| μόνος (mónos) |
| Okay, to close out today's lesson, we'd like for you to practice what you've just learned. I'll provide you with the English equivalent of the phrase and you're responsible for shouting it out loud. You'll have a few seconds before I give you the answer, so Καλή τύχη (kalí týchi), which means "good luck!" in Greek. |
| "How many people are you?" - Πόσα άτομα είσαστε; (Pósa átoma ísaste?) |
| Πόσα άτομα είσαστε; (Pósa átoma ísaste?) |
| Πόσα άτομα είσαστε; (Pósa átoma ísaste?) |
| "We are three." - Είμαστε τρεις. (Ímaste tris) |
| Είμαστε τρεις. (Ímaste tris) |
| Είμαστε τρεις. (Ímaste tris) |
| "We are four people." - Είμαστε τέσσερα άτομα (Ímaste tésera átoma) |
| Είμαστε τέσσερα άτομα (Ímaste tésera átoma) |
| Είμαστε τέσσερα άτομα (Ímaste tésera átoma) |
| "Only one" - Είμαι μόνος (Íme mónos) / Είμαι μόνη (Ime móni) |
| Είμαι μόνος (Íme mónos) / Είμαι μόνη (Ime móni) |
| Είμαι μόνος (Íme mónos) / Είμαι μόνη (Ime móni) |
| All right, that's going to do it for today! |
| Remember to stop by GreekPod101.com and pick up the accompanying PDF. If you stop by, be sure to leave us a comment. Αντίο! (Antío!) |
Comments
HideHave you ever been in a Greek restaurant?
If so what did you order?
Hi Hiro,
Today we would never say Υπάρχει πολλά άτομα εδώ (verb in the singular, subject in the plural), however, in the Attic dialect of ancient Greek it would be correct, ex. Τα παιδία παίζει, a very well-known phrase to all Greeks. I'm unaware of when exactly this syntax disappeared. Perhaps you could do a research on ancient attic dialect (αττική διάλεκτος) on the internet.
I'm sorry I can't be more of help with this.
All the best,
Stefania
Team GreekPod101.com
Hi Stefania
As to the sentence Υπάρχει πολλά άτομα εδώ, I would like to know when this syntax disappeared.
More then 3000 yeras of Greek, very difficult for me.
But I recognise this is incorrect.
Many thanks
Hi Hiro,
About the της question, please check out on Intermediate lesson 20 the section in the lesson notes about the definite pronoun μόνος μου:
https://www.greekpod101.com/lesson/intermediate-20-thats-what-greek-friends-are-for/
Then please let me know if you still have any questions about this.
As for:
Υπάρχουν πολλά άτομα εδώ.
It's not possible to say Υπάρχει πολλά άτομα εδώ because the subject is in the plural (πολλά άτομα) and the verb needs to be in the plural as well since it's not used here as an impersonal verb. So this syntax is very regular. If you want to learn more about impersonal verbs, check out Upper Intermediate lesson 12:
https://www.greekpod101.com/lesson/upper-intermediate-12-planning-a-night-of-dancing-in-greece/
Kind regards,
Stefania
Team GreekPod101.com
Hello Stefania
I am unable to understand the της of this sentence.
Ήρθε μόνη της στο πάρτι.
It can be Ok without της.????
What kind of value does it have? Does it mean herself, so to speak, is it a syntactic intensification?
Does it come always in genitive?
Many thanks
Hiro
Hello Stefania
As to the phrase above.
Υπάρχουν πολλά άτομα εδώ.
Is it possible to say : Υπάρχει πολλά άτομα εδώ.? Because the subject is plural neutral.
Does modern greek keep this syntax?
Many thanks
Hiro
Hi Veronica,
"You are" in plural can be either είσαστε or είστε. It's the same thing (like "tu" and "vos" in Spanish), however "είστε" sounds a bit more standard and it's what you would hear in the TV news or in formal conversations apart from everyday life as well. Είσαστε just sounds more casual.
Σε χαιρετώ!
Stefania,
Team GreekPod101.com
Hi Stefania,
I remember seeing somewhere that "you are" translates as είστε, but here, "how many people are you?" uses είσαστε. Is there a difference between "you are" and "are you"? Or is είσαστε perhaps the polite form of the verb?
Thank you,
Veronica
Hi Julie,
I understand your confusion.
First of all, the phrases are correct. There are a few ways you can answer the question "Πόσα άτομα είσαστε;":
1) Τρία.
2) Είμαστε τρεις.
3) Είμαστε τρία άτομα.
1) It's just that people, usually don't use "to be" + a neuter standalone numeral to refer to themselves. Here "τρία" without a verb is a very direct answer of the word "άτομα" and "πόσα;" that was mentioned in the question. You want to use the verb "to be"? Then the answer No2 is for you.
2) Either it's a group of men or women only, or a mixed group, the answer "Είμαστε τρεις" is the appropriate one for humans. It doesn't matter that the question above is "άτομα" and "πόσα". It's like answering with the word "humans" in mind: Είμαστε τρεις (άνθρωποι).
3) If you however what to use a more longer version and answer with "άτομα" in mind, not "άνθρωποι" (because that's what is in the question), then you can say the sentence No3. Είμαστε τρία άτομα.
That's why we also have "Είμαστε τέσσερα άτομα". This sentence can also be:
Είμαστε τέσσερις. [as in "Είμαστε τέσσερις (άνθρωποι)]
Does it make more sense now? Let me know if you still have questions!
Stefania
Team GreekPod101.com
Γεια σou Στεφανια
Thank you for your comments and help. I know I am bad at spelling especially where to put the accents!
Your explanation about the neutral and masculine/feminine use of one, three and four makes sense, however I am still a little confused as in the lesson notes it reads
Πόσα άτομα είσαστε;
Είμαστε τρεις.
Είμαστε τέσσερα άτομα.
So to the question how many people are you, shouldn't the answer be
Είμαστε τρια instead of Είμαστε τριες ?
Τζουλι
Hi Julie!
I've had this question a few times, so I will paste below an answer that I gave recently to another listener:
Τρία is what we call an “absolute numeral”. We use it when you count in general, 1, 2, 3, 4, ….
However when it is used as an adjective, for example three children, three men, three women, then it needs to agree with the gender of the word that follows. So we have:
Τρεις άντρες
Τρεις γυναίκες
Τρία παιδιά
Τρεις is for masculine and feminine and τρία for neuter.
You have to decline the following absolute numerals when used as adjectives:
1 ένα
3 τρία
4 τέσσερα
Those get declined like this:
http://screencast.com/t/lCbaPervQWk
Just as an extra information for you, number 2 and numbers 5-100 have only one form for all genders and declination cases. It’s only numbers 1, 3 and 4 that differ between genders.
However be careful. You might not always have a noun right after the numeral, so it might not be easy to treat it as an adjective. In that case you have to pay attention to the context. For example:
Πόσα παιδιά έχεις; - How many kids do you have? (kids = Neuter)
Τρία.
Πόσους βώλους έχεις; - How many marbles do you have? (marbles = Masculine)
Τρεις.
Πόσες γυναίκες βλέπεις; - How many women do you see? (women = Feminine)
Τρεις.
I hope it’s clear!
I also noticed some few issues with your spelling. Here are the corrections:
Μ' αρέσει η τσιπούρα. (not μ’αροέσι σιπουρα)
τρεις (not τριες)
είσαστε/είστε (not ειασατε or ειασαστε)
τέσσερα/τέσσερις (not τεσσορα/τεσσοριες)
I'm glad though that you write in Greek! It's the only way to learn!
Keep it up!
Stefania,
Team GreekPod101.com
γεια σας Στεφανια
can you please explain why in the lesson you say εισαστε τριες but ειασατε τεσσορα ατομα and not ειασαστε τεσσοριες ατομα?
ευχαριστώ
τζουλη
μ'αροέσι σιπουρα.
I like sea bream
:D
Hi Ιουστίνα,
Correct!!! "Υπήρχαν πολλά άτομα εδώ."
Very good!
Stefania,
Team GreekPod101.com
A question about the sentence in the lesson: Υπάρχουν πολλά άτομα εδώ.
If I wanted to say There *were* a lot of people there, would it be Υπήρχαν πολλά άτομα εδώ. ?
Ευχαριστώ.
Firefox Version 5.0 (which is up to date). However, my preferred/default browser is IE9.
hi Pat, would you tell me what version of Firefox are you using?
Thanks!!
Hi Pat, we are terribly sorry for that!! We will check with the tech team about it!! Thank you for your patience :)
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