Learn how to produce the passive voice aorist tense and perfect tense passive participle from the sigmatic active voice aorist, 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 6 - Meeting Your New Greek Coworker. Eric here. |
| Chrissi: Γεια σας. I'm Chrissi. |
| Eric: In this lesson, you’ll learn how to form the passive voice aorist tense and perfect tense participle from the active voice asigmatic aorist. The conversation takes place inside the cabin of a cruise ship. |
| Chrissi: It's between Katerina and 27 year-old hostess Eva Vasiliou. |
| Eric: The speakers are colleagues, but they will be using informal Greek because they are of the same age and status. Okay, let's listen to the conversation. |
Lesson conversation |
|---|
| (Πόρτα καμπίνας ανοίγει) |
| Εύα Βασιλείου: Αα! Εσύ πρέπει να είσαι η καινούρια κοπέλα που μου λέγανε. |
| (Πόρτα καμπίνας κλείνει) |
| Κατερίνα: Γεια σου! Ναι. Με λένε Κατερίνα. |
| Εύα Βασιλείου: Εύα, χαίρω πολύ! Μα, τι έπαθε το χέρι σου; |
| Κατερίνα: Τίποτα μωρέ. Γδάρθηκα λίγο εκεί στη γωνία καθώς έβαζα τις βαλίτσες μέσα στην καμπίνα. |
| Εύα Βασιλείου: Ναι, πρέπει να καλέσω κάποιον να το φτιάξει αυτό το πράγμα. Κάτσε να σου δώσω λίγο ιώδιο να βάλεις πάνω στη γρατζουνιά. Αχ, τι καλά που μας βάλανε μαζί! Τώρα θα 'χω μια Ελληνίδα να μιλάω! Από πού είσαι; |
| Κατερίνα: Από Αθήνα. Εσύ; |
| Εύα Βασιλείου: Από Θεσσαλονίκη. |
| Κατερίνα: Πολύ μου αρέσει η Θεσσαλονίκη! Πιο πολύ απ' την Αθήνα... Να σου πω, σε πειράζει να δυναμώσω λίγο τον κλιματισμό; Ζεστάθηκα με όλο αυτό το ξεπακετάρισμα. |
| Εύα Βασιλείου: Προς Θεού! Να, εδώ είναι ο διακόπτης. Μπορείς να γυρίσεις τις γρίλιες λίγο, για να μη σε χτυπάει ο αέρας. Να, έτσι. |
| Κατερίνα: Α, κατάλαβα. Σε ευχαριστώ! |
| Eric: Listen to the conversation with the English translation. |
| (Cabin door opens) |
| Eva Vasiliou: Oh! You must be the new girl that they told me about. |
| (Cabin door closes) |
| Katerina: Hi! Yeah. My name is Katerina. |
| Eva Vasiliou: Eva, nice to meet you! But, what happened to your hand? |
| Katerina: That's nothing. I scratched myself a bit on that corner as I was putting the suitcases inside the cabin. |
| Eva Vasiliou: Yeah, I need to call someone to fix that thing. Let me give you some iodine to put on that scratch. Oh, how nice that they put us together! Now I'll have a Greek girl to talk to! Where are you from? |
| Katerina: From Athens. And you? |
| Eva Vasiliou: From Thessaloniki. |
| Katerina: I really like Thessaloniki! More than Athens... Listen, uh, do you mind if I make the air conditioner stronger? I got hot doing all this unpacking. |
| Eva Vasiliou: God no! This is where the knob is. You can turn the grilles a bit, so the air won't blow straight on you. Like this. |
| Katerina: Oh, I get it. Thanks! |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Eric: Chrissi, can you tell us more about Thessaloniki? |
| Chrissi: Thessaloniki is the second largest city in Greece. It is just over 500 kilometers from Athens, on the shore of the Thermaic Gulf. |
| Eric: Have you ever been there? |
| Chrissi: Of course. Whenever I visit Thessaloniki, I always enjoy walking around Aristotelous square and strolling down Nikis avenue across the waterfront, which brings you to the White Tower, which is the city's most recognizable landmark. |
| Eric: That sounds like a good place to visit with lots to do. I’ve heard there are also a lot of archaeological sites too. |
| Chrissi: Yes, as well as Byzantine and Ottoman monuments. Around Aristotelous square you can find lots of shops, cafés, bars and restaurants too. |
| Eric: Do you have any recommendations? |
| Chrissi: My favorite shop is the patisserie “Τερκενλής”, on the corner of Tsimiski (Τσιμισκή) street and Aristotelous square. You have to try their chocolate-covered sweet brioche! |
| Eric: Sounds delicious! Okay, onto the vocab. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Eric: Let’s take a look at the vocabulary from this lesson. The first word is... |
| Chrissi: γδέρνομαι [natural native speed] |
| Eric: to scratch myself |
| Chrissi: γδέρνομαι [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Chrissi: γδέρνομαι [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have... |
| Chrissi: καμπίνα [natural native speed] |
| Eric: cabin |
| Chrissi: καμπίνα [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Chrissi: καμπίνα [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have... |
| Chrissi: ιώδιο [natural native speed] |
| Eric: iodine |
| Chrissi: ιώδιο [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Chrissi: ιώδιο [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have... |
| Chrissi: γρατζουνιά [natural native speed] |
| Eric: scratch |
| Chrissi: γρατζουνιά [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Chrissi: γρατζουνιά [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have... |
| Chrissi: λέω [natural native speed] |
| Eric: to say, to tell, to talk, to think, to consider |
| Chrissi: λέω [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Chrissi: λέω [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have... |
| Chrissi: δυναμώνω [natural native speed] |
| Eric: to grow stronger, to strengthen, to tone up |
| Chrissi: δυναμώνω [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Chrissi: δυναμώνω [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have... |
| Chrissi: ξεπακετάρισμα [natural native speed] |
| Eric: unpacking |
| Chrissi: ξεπακετάρισμα [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Chrissi: ξεπακετάρισμα [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have... |
| Chrissi: προς [natural native speed] |
| Eric: toward, towards, to |
| Chrissi: προς [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Chrissi: προς [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have... |
| Chrissi: διακόπτης [natural native speed] |
| Eric: switch |
| Chrissi: διακόπτης [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Chrissi: διακόπτης [natural native speed] |
| Eric: And last... |
| Chrissi: γρίλια [natural native speed] |
| Eric: blind, grille |
| Chrissi: γρίλια [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Chrissi: γρίλια [natural native speed] |
| KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES |
| Eric: Let's take a closer look at the usage of some of the words and phrases from this lesson. The first phrase is.. |
| Chrissi: Να σου πω, (.[something]..). |
| Eric: Which means “Listen, (.[something]..).” |
| Chrissi: Να σου πω consists of the verb λέω in subjunctive mood, which means “to tell,” and the weak form of the personal pronoun “you” which is σου in singular or σας in plural when talking politely. |
| Eric: So this expression literally means “let me tell you,” but you can translate it as “Listen, (.[something]..)". You can use it to get someone's attention before speaking or asking something. In this case it means something like “listen” or “hey” or even “yo,” depending on the situation, your body language and tone of voice. |
| Chrissi: Right. Since it can also be used with the polite σας instead of σου, it can be incorporated into any situation, whether formal or informal. |
| Eric: But be careful how you say this phrase, listeners. If your tone of voice or body language is aggressive while you say this, it will definitely not be received well, because you can come off as rude and overly direct. Chrissi, can you give us an example using this phrase? |
| Chrissi: Sure. For example, you can say: Να σου πω, θα περιμένω πολύ ώρα ακόμα; |
| Eric: Which means “Hey, how much longer will I be waiting?” Okay, what's the next phrase? |
| Chrissi: Προς Θεού! |
| Eric: Which means “please go ahead” or “don't, for the love of God.” |
| Chrissi: Προς Θεού! is made up of the preposition προς meaning “toward,” “towards” or “to” and the noun Θεός meaning “God”. |
| Eric: It's hard to translate this exactly because its meaning depends on the context, but the general message is one of pleading. It's like saying “please go ahead” or “please don't.” |
| Chrissi: Right. Sometimes it might express total agreement with someone’s request, and other times it might express utter disagreement. |
| Eric: Can you give us some examples? |
| Chrissi: For example: Προς Θεού, μην το κάνεις αυτό! |
| Eric: Meaning something like “Please, for the love of God, don't do that!” Another example is... |
| Chrissi: ...Αλέξη, προς Θεού, μην κάνεις τούμπες παιδί μου, θα χτυπήσεις! |
| Eric: Which means “Alexis, for the love of God, don't do front flips my child, you'll get hurt!” |
| Chrissi: You can use Προς Θεού! in both formal and informal situations, but it is most often used in casual conversations. |
| Eric: Expressions like this one that include religious references are very common in Greek, but that doesn't necessarily mean that the person using the expression is religious. Sometimes these expressions are nothing more than a common way of saying particular things. Okay, now onto the lesson focus. |
Lesson focus |
| Eric: In this lesson, you will learn how to form the passive voice aorist tense and perfect tense participle from the active voice asigmatic aorist. As you already know, the asigmatic aorist of the active voice is formed by some “A” conjugation verbs, many of which happen to be irregular. |
| Chrissi: Right. However, regardless of whether it is irregular or not, the ending of the active voice asigmatic aorist is -α. |
| Eric: There are three rules that help us form the passive voice aorist tense and the perfect tense passive participle from the active voice asigmatic aorist. Here’s the first one-- |
| Chrissi: In order to form the passive voice aorist tense, just replace the active voice aorist -α ending with -θηκα and for the perfect tense passive participle replace -α with -μένος. |
| Eric: Listeners, you can apply this rule only to two groups of verbs. |
| Chrissi: Right. First, you can apply it to all “A” conjugation verbs that have stems ending in a liquid consonant. In other words, use it for verb stems that end in lamda (λ), double lamda (λλ), ro (ρ), lamda-ni (λν), or ro-ni (ρν). |
| Eric: Okay. What other group of verbs does this apply to? |
| Chrissi: It also applies to some “A” conjugation verbs that end in -νω. These verbs form the active voice aorist tense with an -α ending and the passive voice aorist with a -θηκα ending. Their perfect tense passive voice participle ends in -μένος. Verbs that end in -ώνω are the exception to this rule, because they don't form an asigmatic aorist. |
| Eric: Can you give us some examples of this? |
| Chrissi: Sure. For example let's take the verb φέρνω |
| Eric: Meaning “to bring”. So the active aorist form is… |
| Chrissi: ...έφερα. Following our rule, the passive aorist will be φέρθηκα and the perfect tense passive participle will be φερμένος. Remember that the syllabic augmentation, έ- in έφερα, does not apply to the passive voice, φέρθηκα. |
| Eric: OK. Let’s go over one more example. |
| Chrissi: Στέλνω, which means “to send.” The active aorist is έστειλα, so the passive aorist will be στάλθηκα and the perfect tense passive participle σταλμένος |
| Eric: Now let's move to the second rule. |
| Chrissi: All “A” conjugation verbs that end in -ύνω and have more than two syllables, as well as the deponent verb αισθάνομαι meaning "to feel," form the active voice aorist tense with an -α ending and the passive voice aorist with a -νθηκα ending. |
| Eric: However, most of these verbs don't form a perfect tense passive voice participle, and the ones that do form it irregularly. Let’s take a look at this rule by using the example... |
| Chrissi: Επιβαρύνω, which means “to burden”. The active voice aorist is επιβάρυνα, so the passive aorist will be επιβαρύνθηκα and the perfect tense passive participle is formed as επιβαρημένος. |
| Eric: Here is another example: |
| Chrissi: Διευκολύνω, which means “to facilitate or to make easier,” becomes διευκόλυνα in the active aorist and διευκολύνθηκα in the passive aorist. This one, however, doesn't have a perfect tense passive participle. |
| Eric: And finally, here is the third rule. |
| Chrissi: Verbs ending in -αίνω that have an -ανα ending in the active voice aorist tense form the passive voice aorist with a -νθηκα ending, maintaining the N (ν) letter on their stem. But some, however, lose this letter to form the passive aorist with a -θηκα ending. |
| Eric: Is there any rule for this? |
| Chrissi: No, you just have to remember the verbs to which this applies. |
| Eric: And what about their perfect tense passive participle? |
| Chrissi: The verbs with the -νθηκα ending in the passive aorist have a perfect tense passive participle that ends in -μένος, while the verbs that have the -θηκα ending form their passive aorist participle in -μένος. |
| Eric: For example, let's take the verb “to warm up”, which in Greek is… |
| Chrissi: ...ζεσταίνω |
| Eric: The active aorist is… |
| Chrissi: ζέστανα |
| Eric: So following our pattern, the passive aorist is… |
| Chrissi: ...ζεστάθηκα... |
| Eric: ...and the perfect tense passive participle is… |
| Chrissi: ...ζεσταμένος. Let’s use another example, απολυμαίνω, meaning “to disinfect.” The active aorist is απολύμανα, so the passive aorist becomes απολυμάνθηκα and the perfect tense passive participle is απολυμασμένος. |
| Eric: Listeners, you can see more examples and conjugations, and find a recap of all the passive voice aorist tense rules in our lesson notes, so 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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