Learn how to ask "Can you speak English?"
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| In today's lesson, we'll cover another extremely important phrase, "Do you speak English?" Using this phrase, as opposed to speaking English directly to someone, is important for many reasons. For one, if the party you're speaking to doesn't understand English, at least they'll be able to understand what you're asking. Furthermore, it shows a lot of respect on your part that you've made an effort to learn even a little bit of the language. For these reasons and many more, we're going to cover this very important phrase. |
| In Greek, "Do you speak English?" is Μιλάτε αγγλικά; (Miláte angliká?) |
| Μιλάτε αγγλικά; (Miláte angliká?) |
| Let's break it down by syllable: Mi-lá-te an-gli-ká? |
| And now let's hear it one more time, Μιλάτε αγγλικά; (Miláte angliká?) |
| The first word, Μιλάτε (Miláte), means "do you speak" and comes from the verb μιλάω (miláo) - "to speak." Let's break down this word again and hear it one more time, Mi-lá-te. Mi-lá-te. |
| The following word, αγγλικά (angliká), means "English" in Greek. |
| αγγλικά (angliká) |
| αγγλικά (angliká) |
| The phrase that we just learned is in the formal version. This means you should always use the above phrase in situations with people you don't know or with elders. |
| When speaking to younger people, it's acceptable to use the informal version. In this case, you would say in Greek Μιλάς αγγλικά; (Milás angliká?). While the difference is minimal, the significance is very important. |
| Let's say it slowly now, Μιλάς αγγλικά; (Milás angliká?) |
| Now we'll break it down by syllable: Mi-lás an-gli-ka? |
| Hear it once again, Μιλάς αγγλικά; (Milás angliká?) |
| Before we move on, please remember that Μιλάτε (Miláte) followed by a word for a language is the formal way to ask if somebody speaks that language, while Μιλάς (Milás), again, followed by a word for a language is the informal way to ask "do you speak" that language. Μιλάς (Milás) is more direct. Do not use it with people you don't know or with elders. |
| Now, for a change, let's try a different language. Let's try Spanish. "Do you speak Spanish?" is Μιλάς ισπανικά; (Milás ispaniká?). The word for "Spanish" is ισπανικά (ispaniká). Let's break down this word and hear it one more time, i-spa-ni-ká. |
| ισπανικά (ispaniká) |
| Here, just the word for the language changes, the rest is the same. |
| 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. |
| "Do you speak English?" formal - Μιλάτε αγγλικά; (Miláte angliká?) |
| Μιλάτε αγγλικά; (Miláte angliká?) |
| Μιλάτε αγγλικά; (Miláte angliká?) |
| "Do you speak English?" informal - Μιλάς αγγλικά; (Milás angliká?) |
| Μιλάς αγγλικά; (Milás angliká?) |
| Μιλάς αγγλικά; (Milás angliká?) |
| 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!) |
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