Learn how to use verbs ending in -άγω and -βάλλω using an informal conversation between friends as an example
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Eric: Hi everyone, and welcome back to GreekPod101.com. This is Upper Intermediate Season 1 Lesson 20 - A Special Delivery from a Greek Grandmother. Eric here. |
| Chrissi: Γεια σας. I'm Chrissi. In this lesson, you will learn about verbs ending in -άγω and -βάλλω. |
| Eric: The conversation takes place at a cruise terminal. |
| Chrissi: It's between Katerina and her grandmother, Mrs Meropi. |
| Eric: The speakers are family, so they’ll be using informal Greek. Okay, let's listen to the conversation. |
Lesson conversation |
|---|
| Κατερίνα: Γιαγιούλα μου! Τι κάνεις; |
| Γιαγιά Μερόπη: Καλά είμαι κοπελούδα μου! Εσύ πες μου τι κάνεις! Πώς τα πας; Τρως καλά; |
| Κατερίνα: Καλά τρώω γιαγιά, μην ανησυχείς. |
| Γιαγιά Μερόπη: Αμφιβάλλω γι' αυτό. Για να σε δω... πετσί και κόκαλο έχεις γίνει. Κάτσε να δεις τι σου 'χω φέρει εδώ. Μέλι από το χωριό. |
| : Όχι από αυτά τα σιρόπια που εισάγουν και σας δίνουν στο πλοίο. |
| Κατερίνα: Αα! Ποιος σου το έφερε; |
| Γιαγιά Μερόπη: Η Αγγελική, η κόρη της κυρα-Σούλας. Πήγε στο χωριό το περασμένο Σαββατοκύριακο και της είπα να μου φέρει ένα κιλό από τον κυρ Μπάμπη τον μελισσοκόμο. |
| : Σου έφερα επίσης και λίγο φαγητό από το σπίτι. |
| Κατερίνα: Τι λίγο φαγητό βρε γιαγιά. Εδώ έχεις φέρει δύο σακούλες με τάπερ! Πού να τα βάλω όλα αυτά; |
| Γιαγιά Μερόπη: Κοτζάμ κρουαζιερόπλοιο, ένα ψυγείο δεν μπορείς να βρεις; Τέλος πάντων, σου έφερα και τα άλλα τα πράγματα που μου ζήτησες. |
| : Το φόρεμα το μπλε, τα μπεζ παπούτσια και το καλώδιο για το κομπιούτερ. |
| Κατερίνα: Σε ευχαριστώ γιαγιούλα μου! Έλα, πάμε κάπου να καθίσουμε και να τα πούμε. |
| Eric: Listen to the conversation with the English translation. |
| Katerina: Grandma! How are you? |
| Grandma Meropi: I'm fine my girl! Tell me, how are you? How are you doing? Are you eating well? |
| Katerina: I'm eating fine grandma, don't worry. |
| Grandma Meropi: I doubt that. Let me see you... you've become just skin and bones. Take a look what I brought for you here. Honey from the village. |
| : Nothing like those syrups that they import and give you on the ship. |
| Katerina: Wow! Who brought this to you? |
| Grandma Meropi: Angeliki, the daughter of Mrs Soula. She went to the village last weekend and I told her to bring me a kilo from Mr Babis the beekeeper. |
| : I also brought you a little bit of food from the house. |
| Katerina: Grandma, a little bit of food? You brought two bags full of plastic containers! Where am I supposed to put all that? |
| Grandma Meropi: With a big ship like that can't you find a fridge? Anyway, I also brought you the other stuff that you asked me for. |
| : The blue dress, the beige shoes and the cable for the computer. |
| Katerina: Thanks grandma! Come on, let's go somewhere to sit down and catch up. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Chrissi: Eric, did you know that there are some things in Greece that are considered iconic to all Greeks? |
| Eric: Hmm… like what? |
| Chrissi: One of them is η Ελληνίδα μάνα, the Greek mother, and another is το ταπεράκι της μαμάς, mom's plastic food container! |
| Eric: And these things are iconic? |
| Chrissi: Yes! Anyone with a Greek mother knows the connection between the two! It doesn't matter where you are or how far away from home you are, Greek mothers will ALWAYS find a way to send you their delicious homemade food in plastic containers. |
| Eric: Even if you’re in a different city? |
| Chrissi: Yes! Even if you’re studying at a university in a far away city, for example, that won't stop your Greek mother from sending you a package with still warm food with the long-distance bus service. |
| Eric: So I guess that's what makes Greeks lovers of good homemade food. |
| Chrissi: Haha, I guess so! There's even a documentary about such Greek mothers called "Food for Love." You can find the trailer on YouTube. |
| Eric: Listeners, if you have a chance, please have a look! Okay, now onto the vocab. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Eric: Let’s take a look at the vocabulary from this lesson. The first word is... |
| Chrissi: κοπελούδα [natural native speed] |
| Eric: young girl (colloquial) |
| Chrissi: κοπελούδα [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Chrissi: κοπελούδα [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have... |
| Chrissi: αμφιβάλλω [natural native speed] |
| Eric: to doubt |
| Chrissi: αμφιβάλλω [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Chrissi: αμφιβάλλω [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have... |
| Chrissi: πετσί [natural native speed] |
| Eric: skin, leather |
| Chrissi: πετσί [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Chrissi: πετσί [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have... |
| Chrissi: εισάγω [natural native speed] |
| Eric: to import, to introduce, to admit, to insert, to bring in |
| Chrissi: εισάγω [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Chrissi: εισάγω [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have... |
| Chrissi: κυρα- [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Mrs (colloquial) |
| Chrissi: κυρα- [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Chrissi: κυρα- [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have... |
| Chrissi: περασμένος [natural native speed] |
| Eric: last, past, previous, former, bygone, gone through, registered |
| Chrissi: περασμένος [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Chrissi: περασμένος [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have... |
| Chrissi: μελισσοκόμος [natural native speed] |
| Eric: beekeeper |
| Chrissi: μελισσοκόμος [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Chrissi: μελισσοκόμος [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have... |
| Chrissi: σακούλα [natural native speed] |
| Eric: paper or plastic bag, bag under the eye |
| Chrissi: σακούλα [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Chrissi: σακούλα [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have... |
| Chrissi: τάπερ [natural native speed] |
| Eric: plastic food container |
| Chrissi: τάπερ [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Chrissi: τάπερ [natural native speed] |
| Eric: And last... |
| Chrissi: λέω [natural native speed] |
| Eric: to say, to tell, to talk, to think, to consider, to call |
| Chrissi: λέω [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Chrissi: λέω [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: ...πετσί και κόκαλο... |
| Eric: ...which is an idiom and means “skin and bones.” You can use this idiom in any situation. |
| Chrissi: Πετσί is a colloquial word that refers to human skin or to the natural or processed skin of animals. Πετσί sounds less refined and standard than the word δέρμα, which is more appropriate to express the word “skin.” There are many idioms that use πετσί in Greek. |
| Eric: Can you give us some examples? |
| Chrissi: For example μπαίνω στο πετσί ενός ρόλου. |
| Eric: It literally means “to get into the skin of a role” in the case of actors, but we translate it into English as “to get into character.” |
| Chrissi: Another one is πουλάω ακριβά το πετσί μου. |
| Eric: This idiom means that we sacrifice ourselves but cause great losses to our enemy or opponent at the same time. Okay, Chrissi, can you give us an example using our idiom? |
| Chrissi: Sure. Όταν βρήκαν τον χαμένο τους σκύλο, εκείνος είχε μείνει πετσί και κόκαλο από την πείνα. |
| Eric: “When they found their lost dog, he was skin and bones from hunger.” Okay, what's the next phrase? |
| Chrissi: Κυρα-Σούλα. |
| Eric: which means “Mrs Soula.” |
| Chrissi: Κυρα- means “lady” or “Mrs,” just like κυρία. |
| Eric: Listeners, the difference between these two words is the intimacy level. |
| Chrissi: Right. Κυρα- denotes a close relationship despite the formal speech that should be used with it. Κυρία, on the other hand, should be used for people you don't know or for people you do know but want to keep some sort of distance from. Κυρα- is a very common and colloquial way to address a woman, usually an old lady or simply a lady who is much older than us. |
| Eric: You can also use after it a female noun showing rank, status or profession instead of a female name. When you use this to address someone directly, it’s best to also use formal language, in other words plural. For example... |
| Chrissi: Τι καλό μας μαγειρέψατε σήμερα κυρα-Μαρία; |
| Eric: “What nice food did you cook for us today Mrs. Mary?” |
| Chrissi: Using informal language when addressing someone directly with with κυρα- doesn't sound overly proper because it creates a contradiction between the more formal “Mrs.” part and the informal speech, but many people do use informal speech with κυρα- when the relationship is casual. |
| Eric: Okay, what's the last phrase? |
| Chrissi: Τα λέω με... |
| Eric: ...which means “to talk with or catch up with.” |
| Chrissi: This idiom consists of τα, a personal pronoun in weak form, and of the verb λέω meaning “to say, to tell, to talk, to think, to consider” or “to call.” If you add με at the end you will have τα λέω με. |
| Eric: It means “to talk with” or “to catch up with.” You can use it in any situation, however as you can guess, it's not something you would hear in the news or see in the press. |
| Chrissi: A very common use of this idiom is the phrase τα λέμε as a way to say Goodbye to someone you will be seeing soon. |
| Eric: It's like saying “catch ya later.” In this case though, it's better to use it with people you know well and are casual with. Chrissi, can you give us an example using this word? |
| Chrissi: Sure. For example, you can say Κύριε Φωτίου, περάστε παρακαλώ από το γραφείο μου μετά. Θα ήθελα να τα πούμε. |
| Eric: Which means “Mr. Fotiou, please come by my office later. I'd like to talk to you.” Okay, now onto the lesson focus. |
Lesson focus |
| Eric: In this lesson, we'll continue to focus on specific groups of verbs. And our first group includes verbs that end in… |
| Chrissi: -άγω. Actually άγω is an ancient Greek verb that means “to lead” or “to guide.” |
| Eric: Today it only exists in compound verbs that use prepositions as prefixes. Chrissi, can you give us examples of these verbs? |
| Chrissi: Sure. For example ανάγω, “to deduce, to trace back, to relate to, to date from,” απάγω, which means “to kidnap, to abduct,” and κατάγω, meaning “to bring upon, to win.” |
| Eric: There are two things that you need to keep in mind about these verbs. Here is the first one. |
| Chrissi: When we use them to express a continuous or repeated action, then the final part of their stem remains αγ-. |
| Eric: For example... |
| Chrissi: Η χώρα μας θα εξάγει ελαιόλαδο στην Ευρώπη για πολλές ακόμα δεκαετίες. |
| Eric: This means “Our country will be exporting olive oil to Europe for many more decades.” However, when we use these verbs to express a momentary action, then the final part of their stem goes through a morphological process called reduplication in linguistics. |
| Chrissi: Right. Basically, the αγ- part gets repeated, resulting in a stem ending in αγαγ-. Due to this reduplication, άγω ending verbs are considered irregular. |
| Eric: This reduplication applies only to the active voice. |
| Chrissi: For example, Την ερχόμενη εβδομάδα η χώρα μας θα εξαγάγει 500 τόνους ελαιόλαδο στην Ευρώπη. |
| Eric: “Next week our country will export 500 tons of olive oil to Europe.” Okay! For our next grammar point we have verbs ending in... |
| Chrissi: -βάλλω. Βάλλω is another ancient Greek verb and it means “to shoot” or “to blame.” |
| Eric: Today it is still used as it is, but it also exists in compound verbs that have prepositions as prefixes. |
| Chrissi: In those compound verbs, the meaning of βάλλω is closer to the verb βάζω, which means “to put, to place.” |
| Eric: Chrissi, can you give us some examples? |
| Chrissi: Sure. For example, αμφιβάλλω, |
| Eric: meaning “to doubt,” |
| Chrissi: πανικοβάλλω, |
| Eric: “to panic” |
| Chrissi: and παραβάλλω, meaning “to compare.” When we use verbs ending in -βάλλω to express a continuous or repeated action, then their stem maintains the double λ (-λλ-.) |
| Eric: For example? |
| Chrissi: Η μητέρα περιβάλλει τα παιδιά της με αγάπη. |
| Eric: “The mother surrounds her children with love.” |
| Chrissi: If you check the lesson notes, you’ll see that we write περιβάλλει with a double λ. The next point is that when we use these verbs to express a momentary action, then they lose one of the two λ from their stem. For example, Οι νέοι συνάδελφοί σου θα σε περιβάλουν με αγάπη. |
| Eric: “Your new colleagues will surround you with love.” |
| Chrissi: Here, περιβάλουν is written with one λ. Now, it’s time for a small tip. If you get confused over when to leave the double λ and when to use a single λ, remember this. A continuous action happens many times, so we need many λ (-λλ-). An instant action happens only once, so we only need one λ. |
| Eric: Due to the stem changes of these verbs, they’re considered irregular. Listeners, for more examples and explanations, as well as the conjugations of these two verb groups, please check the lesson notes. |
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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