Learn how to use irregular verbs ending in -αίνω, from a conversation with mixed levels of formality
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Eric: Hi everyone, and welcome back to GreekPod101.com. This is Upper Intermediate Season 1 Lesson 18 - Do Greeks Make the Best Captains? Eric here. |
| Chrissi: Γεια σας. I'm Chrissi. |
| Eric: In this lesson, you’ll learn about irregular verbs ending in… |
| Chrissi: -αίνω. |
| Eric: The conversation takes place on the bridge of a cruise ship. |
| Chrissi: It's between Katerina and Staff Captain Alexis. |
| Eric: The speakers are colleagues. Katerina will be using formal Greek, and Alexis will be using informal Greek. Okay, let's listen to the conversation. |
Lesson conversation |
|---|
| Αλέξης: Tώρα που τελείωσε το τουρ και έφυγε το γκρουπ, έλα, κάτσε λίγο να ανασάνεις. Πάρε κι ένα γλυκάκι. Μην ανησυχείς, δεν παχαίνει! |
| Κατερίνα: Σας ευχαριστώ. |
| Αλέξης: Αυτός ο μεγάλος ο κύριος με τα γυαλιά φαίνεται ότι σας τρέλανε όλους με τη φλυαρία του. |
| Κατερίνα: Ε, λιγάκι. Μας έλεγε διάφορες ιστορίες από τα νιάτα του ως ναυτικός. Ήθελε να κάνει το τουρ στη γέφυρα για να δει πώς έχουν αλλάξει τα πράγματα από τότε. |
| : Έμεινε εντυπωσιασμένος με όλη την τεχνολογία που υπάρχει σήμερα. |
| Αλέξης: Σήμερα τα πράγματα είναι σαφώς πολύ καλύτερα. Από κάθε άποψη. Εμένα ο παππούς μου, καπετάνιος και αυτός από τη Χίο, μου περιέγραφε πώς ήταν η ζωή στα μπάρκα παλιά. |
| : Κάνανε εβδομάδες οι ναύτες να φάνε ένα πορτοκάλι. Τώρα... δουλεύουμε σε πλωτά ξενοδοχεία πολυτελείας. |
| Κατερίνα: Δίκιο έχετε. Τελικά είναι αλήθεια αυτό που λένε για τους Χιώτες, ότι είναι οι καλύτεροι καπετάνιοι; |
| Αλέξης: Οι Χιώτες και όχι μόνο. |
| : Η Ελλάδα γενικώς βγάζει τους καλύτερους καπετάνιους! Ο καπετάν Θόδωρος, που έχουμε, είναι από τους καλύτερους που ξέρω. Ξέρεις από πού είναι; |
| Κατερίνα: Από πού είναι; |
| Αλέξης: Από τη Μάνη! |
| Eric: Listen to the conversation with the English translation. |
| Alexis: Now that the tour is over and the group has left, come, sit down for a while and catch your breath. Here, take a sweet. Don't worry, it won't make you fat! |
| Katerina: Thank you. |
| Alexis: It seems that the old gentleman with the glasses drove all of you crazy with his chatter. |
| Katerina: Well, a little bit. He was telling us various stories from his youth when he was a sailor. |
| : He wanted to do the bridge tour in order to see how things have changed since then. He was impressed with all the technology that there is today. |
| Alexis: Today things are obviously much better. From every aspect. My grandfather, who was also a captain, from Chios Island, used to describe to me how life was on the barques in the old days. |
| : It would take weeks for the sailors to get an orange to eat. Now... we are working on floating luxury hotels. |
| Katerina: You are right. Actually, is it true what they say about the captains from Chios Island being the best? |
| Alexis: Not just the captains from Chios. |
| : Greece in general has the best captains! Captain Thodoros, who we have, is one of the best I know. Do you know where he is from? |
| Katerina: Where is he from? |
| Alexis: From Mani! |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Eric: Chrissi, I've heard that a very common belief in Greece is that Greek seafarers and especially Greek officers and captains are the best in the world. |
| Chrissi: True! And actually that’s not far from the truth, because apart from Greece's long maritime history, Greek captains are indeed highly skilled and they’re preferred not just by Greek maritime companies, but by foreign companies as well. |
| Eric: I see! |
| Chrissi: In the Aegean Sea, where the busiest ferry routes are, strong winds and rough seas are very common. Navigation and docking in ports is often extremely difficult and dangerous and requires precision. |
| Eric: Yeah, I've seen videos on YouTube with Greek ferries docking in bad weather. Listeners, you’ll be amazed at how Greek captains and dockworkers quickly and easily dock and then get the passengers and vehicles off and on, no matter the conditions. |
| Chrissi: I take my hat off to all of them! |
| Eric: Okay, now onto the vocab. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Eric: Let’s take a look at the vocabulary from this lesson. The first word is... |
| Chrissi: γλυκάκι [natural native speed] |
| Eric: small dessert |
| Chrissi: γλυκάκι [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Chrissi: γλυκάκι [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have... |
| Chrissi: παχαίνω [natural native speed] |
| Eric: to gain weight, to get fat, to fatten |
| Chrissi: παχαίνω [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Chrissi: παχαίνω [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have... |
| Chrissi: φλυαρία [natural native speed] |
| Eric: chatter, babbling |
| Chrissi: φλυαρία [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Chrissi: φλυαρία [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have... |
| Chrissi: νιάτα [natural native speed] |
| Eric: youth, young age, youthfulness |
| Chrissi: νιάτα [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Chrissi: νιάτα [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have... |
| Chrissi: ναυτικός [natural native speed] |
| Eric: sailor, seafarer, seaman |
| Chrissi: ναυτικός [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Chrissi: ναυτικός [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have... |
| Chrissi: σαφώς [natural native speed] |
| Eric: obviously, clearly, definitely, of course |
| Chrissi: σαφώς [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Chrissi: σαφώς [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have... |
| Chrissi: μπάρκο [natural native speed] |
| Eric: barque (barc or bark), a three-masted sailing vessel |
| Chrissi: μπάρκο [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Chrissi: μπάρκο [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have... |
| Chrissi: πλωτός [natural native speed] |
| Eric: floating, navigable |
| Chrissi: πλωτός [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Chrissi: πλωτός [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have... |
| Chrissi: καπετάν [natural native speed] |
| Eric: captain (colloquial way to address a ship's captain or officer) |
| Chrissi: καπετάν [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Chrissi: καπετάν [natural native speed] |
| Eric: And last... |
| Chrissi: Μάνη [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Mani, a mainly mountainous Greek peninsula in the Peloponnese |
| Chrissi: Μάνη [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Chrissi: Μάνη [natural native speed] |
| KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES |
| Eric: Let's have a closer look at some of the words and phrases from this lesson. The first phrase is... |
| Chrissi: ...δεν παχαίνει... |
| Eric: ...which means “it's not going to make you fat” or “it's not going to make you gain weight.” |
| Chrissi: Here we have the verb παχαίνω, which means “to gain weight,” “to get fat,” or “to fatten.” It’s in the 3rd person singular and it’s the negative form. |
| Eric: So, this phrase literally means “it doesn't fatten,” but you can translate it as “it's not going to make you fat” or “it's not going to make you gain weight.” Listeners, as you know, women and men in western cultures are usually concerned with how they look and Greek people are no exception, so someone might say “no” when they’re offered sweets. |
| Chrissi: Saying δεν παχαίνει to someone in that case isn’t about being sincere, because let's be honest, all sweets are fattening, it just shows the other person that we really want them to accept the offer as a show of our hospitality and we won't take “no” for an answer. |
| Eric: You can use this phrase with friends and family. |
| Chrissi: Right. But you might want to avoid this expression with people you don't know that well, because it's like assuming they have issues with their body, and that might offend someone. |
| Eric: Can you give us an example using this phrase? |
| Chrissi: Sure. For example, you can say Ένα μόνο μπακλαβαδάκι δεν παχαίνει! |
| Eric: “Just one small piece of baklava won't make you fat!” Okay, what's the next phrase? |
| Chrissi: Καπετάν Θόδωρος. |
| Eric: Which means “Captain Thodoros.” |
| Chrissi: Θόδωρος is a colloquial way to say the name Θοδωρής or the more formal Θεόδωρος, Theodor. The word καπετάν is a colloquial way to refer to a ship's captain or officer. |
| Eric: And what’s the normal title for a “captain” in Greek? |
| Chrissi: It’s καπετάνιος. But it’s more common to contract this to καπετάν when it’s followed by a name. So καπετάν Θόδωρος means “Captain Thodoros.” |
| Eric: Can you give us an example using this word? |
| Chrissi: For example, you can say Καπετάν Γιάννη, θα δέσουμε κανονικά ή θα χρησιμοποιήσουμε λέμβους για την αποβίβαση; |
| Eric: This means “Captain John, are we docking normally or are we using tender boats for the disembarkation?” Okay, now onto the lesson focus. |
Lesson focus |
| Eric: In this lesson, you’ll learn about irregular verbs, ending in... |
| Chrissi: -αίνω. |
| Eric: In this lesson we’ll separate them into groups according to their behavior, or irregularity, in order to have a better look at them and clear up any confusion that might come up. |
| Chrissi: The -αίνω verbs can be initially separated into two main groups – the ones that form a sigmatic aorist and the ones that form an asigmatic aorist. |
| Eric: The ones that form a sigmatic aorist, generally belong to the category 4 of irregular verbs. This category is shortened to “C4.” |
| Chrissi: In a previous lesson, we learned that category 4 includes many verbs ending in -αίνω or -άνω that form their aorist stem by dropping the ν and by changing the stem vowel of the present tense. |
| Eric: Chrissi, can you give us an example of this kind of verb? |
| Chrissi: For example, the verb ανασταίνω. |
| Eric: Meaning “To resurrect.” Let's see how this verb changes in different tenses. The active voice aorist tense is… |
| Chrissi: ...ανάστησα. |
| Eric: The passive voice aorist tense is… |
| Chrissi: ...αναστήθηκα... |
| Eric: ...and the passive voice perfect tense participle is… |
| Chrissi: ...αναστημένος. As you can see in these forms, the -ν- got lost from the stem and the -αι- became -η-. Now in the other group, the asigmatic aorist group, we have verbs that lose the -αίν- part in their aorist stem. |
| Eric: These verbs belong to category 7 of irregular verbs, or C7. Chrissi, can you give us an example? |
| Chrissi: Sure. For example, μαθαίνω, which means “to learn, to find out.” So μαθαίνω in the active voice aorist tense will become έμαθα, in the passive voice aorist tense μαθεύτηκα and in the passive voice perfect tense participle μαθημένος. As you can see, the -αίν- part gets lost, so it's not correct to say μαθαινεύτηκα or μαθαινημένος, for example. |
| Eric: The asigmatic aorist group also includes verbs that form their aorist stem by changing the stem vowel of the present tense. These verbs form three subgroups. |
| Chrissi: The first subgroup includes the verbs that end in -ανα, -νθηκα, and -σμένος in the active voice aorist tense, passive voice aorist tense, and passive voice perfect tense participle respectively. |
| Eric: For example… |
| Chrissi: The verb απολυμαίνω. |
| Eric: Meaning “to disinfect, to sanitize, to fumigate, to decontaminate.” Let's see how this verb changes in the tenses we just mentioned. |
| Chrissi: Απολυμαίνω - απολύμανα- απολυμάνθηκα - απολυμασμένος. |
| Eric: Great! Chrissi, what about the second subgroup? |
| Chrissi: The second subgroup includes the verbs that end in -ανα, -θηκα and -μένος in the active voice aorist tense, passive voice aorist tense, and passive voice perfect tense participle respectively. |
| Eric: For example... |
| Chrissi: ...with the verb βουβαίνω... |
| Eric: ...which means “to go silent, to be speechless.” The active voice aorist tense is… |
| Chrissi: ...βούβανα. |
| Eric: The passive voice aorist tense is… |
| Chrissi: ...βουβάθηκα... |
| Eric: ...and the passive voice perfect tense participle is… |
| Chrissi: ...βουβαμένος. |
| Eric: Finally, the third subgroup includes verbs that in the active voice aorist tense end in… |
| Chrissi: -υνα with ύψιλον. For example, the verb ακριβαίνω. |
| Eric: Meaning “To become more expensive, to raise the price.” |
| Chrissi: In the active voice aorist tense ακριβαίνω will become ακρίβυνα. This particular verb doesn't have a passive voice aorist tense or a passive voice perfect tense participle. |
| Eric: Is there another example? |
| Chrissi: The verb κονταίνω. |
| Eric: “To shorten.” |
| Chrissi: In the active voice aorist tense, it becomes κόντυνα. |
| Eric: Great! Listeners, here is a very important rule. |
| Chrissi: -αίνω ending verbs belong in the A conjugation group because they end in an unaccented -ω and have the accent mark on the penultimate – that is, the second to last syllable – in the present tense of the active voice. |
| Eric: Being in the A conjugation group, that means that in the passive voice, the present tense ends in an unaccented... |
| Chrissi -ομαι, and the accent mark is in the antepenultimate, or the third to last syllable. |
| Eric: Listeners, you can find more explanations for these verbs, as well as more examples in the lesson notes, so please be sure to check them out. |
Outro |
| Eric: Okay, that’s all for this lesson. Thank you for listening, everyone, and we’ll see you next time! Bye! |
| Chrissi: Γεια χαρά! |
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