【现代希腊语】Beginner S1L3 Keeping It
INTRODUCTION
Fay: Hello, and welcome to GreekPod101.com, Beginner Season 1, Lesson 3 – Keeping It in the Greek Family. I’m Fay. I’m joined in the studio by…
Chrissi: Hi, Chrissi here.
Fay: What are we learning in this lesson?
Chrissi: We are looking at adjectives and how they are used in Modern Greek.
Fay: The conversation takes place at the home of Peter's Greek hosts.
Chrissi: It’s among the main character, Petra Gordon, her Greek friend, Danai Papadopoulo, and Danai’s sister, Kostantina Papadopoulos.
Fay: Since the characters are friends, the conversation is in informal language.
Chrissi: Let’s listen.
Lesson conversation
Δανάη Παπαδόπουλος: Πέτρα, αυτή είναι η αδελφή μου, η Κωσταντίνα που ζει μαζί μας και τα παιδιά μου
Πέτρα Γκόρντον: Γεια. Είμαι η Πέτρα.
Κωσταντίνα Παπαδοπούλου: Καλώς ήρθες στην Αθήνα και στο σπίτι μας!
Πέτρα Γκόρντον: A, τα παιδιά είναι σχεδόν ενήλικες! Πόσο είναι τώρα;
Κωσταντίνα Παπαδοπούλου: Ο μεγάλος γιος της Δανάης είναι 18, ο μικρός είναι 15 και η κόρη της είναι 16.
Fay: Now, the slow version.
Δανάη Παπαδόπουλος: Πέτρα, αυτή είναι η αδελφή μου, η Κωσταντίνα που ζει μαζί μας και τα παιδιά μου
Πέτρα Γκόρντον: Γεια. Είμαι η Πέτρα.
Κωσταντίνα Παπαδοπούλου: Καλώς ήρθες στην Αθήνα και στο σπίτι μας!
Πέτρα Γκόρντον: A, τα παιδιά είναι σχεδόν ενήλικες! Πόσο είναι τώρα;
Κωσταντίνα Παπαδοπούλου: Ο μεγάλος γιος της Δανάης είναι 18, ο μικρός είναι 15 και η κόρη της είναι 16.
Fay: Now, let’s listen to the conversation with English translation.
Δανάη Παπαδόπουλος: Πέτρα, αυτή είναι η αδελφή μου, η Κωσταντίνα που ζει μαζί μας και τα παιδιά μου – Γιώργος, Γιάννης και Ελένη.
Fay: Petra, this is my sister Kostantina who lives with us and my children—Giorgos, Yannis, and Eleni.
Πέτρα Γκόρντον: Γεια. Είμαι η Πέτρα.
Fay: Hi. I'm Petra.
Κωσταντίνα Παπαδοπούλου: Καλώς ήρθες στην Αθήνα και στο σπίτι μας!
Fay: Welcome to Athens and to our home!
Πέτρα Γκόρντον: A, τα παιδιά είναι σχεδόν ενήλικες! Πόσο είναι τώρα;
Fay: Oh, your kids are almost grown-ups! How old are they now?
Κωσταντίνα Παπαδοπούλου: Ο μεγάλος γιος της Δανάης είναι 18, ο μικρός είναι 15 και η κόρη της είναι 16.
Fay: Danai's older son is 18, the younger is 15 and her daughter is 16.
Vocabulary
η αδελφή
sister
μου
my
που
who (relative pronoun)
ζει
she lives
μαζί
with
μας
us
τα παιδιά
children
Καλώς
well
ήρθες
σπίτι
home
σχεδόν
ενήλικες
Πόσο είναι τώρα;
How old are they now?
ο μεγάλος
big
γιος
son
ο μικρός
small
η κόρη
daughter
POST CONVERSATION BANTER
Fay: So is it typical for an average Greek family to have three children?
Chrissi: I’d say it’s rather rare. Most Greek families these days have only one child; usually both parents work, so there’s a problem with childcare.
Fay: And how do families deal with it?
Chrissi: Mostly with the help of the grandparents—if they live close and are able to help.
Fay: Is it customary for Greeks to live close to their parents even after they get married?
Chrissi: Well, many do, yes. Family ties are still very strong in Greece! And not only among the basic family members; there are also strong ties with the extended family as well, even if they don’t actually live close by.
Fay: So when you make friends with a Greek…
Chrissi: …you make friends with many, many more! Shall we go on to our vocabulary?
Fay: Of course!
VOCAB LIST
Fay: Let's take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. First, we have…
Chrissi: αυτή [natural native speed].
Fay: This.
Chrissi: αυτή [slowly - broken down by syllable]. αυτή [natural native speed].
Fay: Next.
Chrissi: μου [natural native speed].
Fay: My.
Chrissi:
μου [slowly - broken down by syllable]. μου [natural native speed].
Fay: Next.
Chrissi: παιδί [natural native speed].
Fay: Child.
Chrissi: παιδί [slowly - broken down by syllable]. παιδί [natural native speed].
Fay: Next…
Chrissi: γιός [natural native speed].
Fay: Son.
Chrissi: γιός [slowly - broken down by syllable]. γιός [natural native speed].
Fay: Next…
Chrissi: κόρη [natural native speed].
Fay: Daughter.
Chrissi: κόρη [slowly - broken down by syllable]. κόρη [natural native speed].
Fay: Next…
Chrissi: Καλώς ήρθες [natural native speed].
Fay: Welcome.
Chrissi: Καλώς ήρθες [slowly - broken down by syllable]. Καλώς ήρθες [natural native speed].
Fay: Next…
Chrissi: σπίτι [natural native speed].
Fay: Home, house.
Chrissi: σπίτι [slowly - broken down by syllable]. πίτι [natural native speed].
Fay: Next…
Chrissi: πόσο
Fay: How much?
Chrissi: πόσο
Fay: Next…
Chrissi: τώρα [natural native speed].
Fay: Now.
Chrissi: τώρα [slowly - broken down by syllable]. τώρα [natural native speed].
Fay: Next…
Chrissi: αδερφή [natural native speed].
Fay: Sister.
Chrissi: αδερφή [slowly - broken down by syllable]. αδερφή [natural native speed].
Fay: Next…
Chrissi: μεγάλος [natural native speed].
Fay: Big, elder.
Chrissi: μεγάλος [slowly - broken down by syllable]. μεγάλος [natural native speed].
KEY VOCABULARY AND PHRASES
Fay: Let's take a closer look at the words and phrases in this lesson. So what’s happening there with μεγάλος (megalos) and μικρός (mikros)? These are adjectives, right?
Chrissi: Yes. And we will talk about adjectives later. For the moment, let’s say that these particular adjectives have two meanings in modern Greek.
Fay: Which are?
Chrissi:
First, they mean "big" and "small," as in μεγάλος δρόμος (megalos dromos) and μικρός δρόμος (mikros dromos).
Fay: Which mean “big street” and “small street.”
Chrissi: Right! Or in μεγάλος πύργος (megalos pirgos) and μικρός πύργος (mikros pirgos), “big tower” and “small tower.”
Fay: But in our dialogue they are used in a somewhat different way.
Chrissi: Yes. We say ο μεγάλος γιος (o megalos gios) and ο μικρός γιος (o mikros gios) to mean “the older son” and “the younger son.” Actually, they mean “the old son” and “the young son.”
Fay: So in Greek the adjectives μεγάλος (megalos) and μικρός (mikros)—that is, “big” and “small”—can also mean “younger” and “older” when we are speaking about two people’s ages, right?
Chrissi: Exactly.
Fay: OK, we made that clear. Beyond that, there was also something you wanted to say about the word σπίτι (spiti), wasn’t there?
Chrissi: Yes. In our dialogue, one character says Καλώς ήρθες στο σπίτι μας (Kalos irthes sto spiti mas).
Fay: Which means “welcome to our home,” doesn’t it?
Chrissi: Yes. But it could also mean “Welcome to our house”; you see, in Greek we don’t have a separate word for “home” and “house” like in English.
Fay: So how do you know which is which?
Chrissi: From the context. If we hear someone say Έχω ένα σπίτι στην Αθήνα (Echo ena spiti stin Athina), which means “I have a spiti in Athens,” this σπίτι (spiti) could only mean “house,” right?
Fay: Right. And if we want to say “I’m going home”?
Chrissi: This would be Πάω στο σπίτι (Pao sto spiti)—again we use σπίτι (spiti), but from the context it’s clear we’re talking about “home.”
Fay: This makes sense. So shall we move on to adjectives?
Chrissi: Sure!
Lesson focus
Fay: The focus of this lesson is adjectives.
Chrissi: Yes. Can you think of a language without adjectives?
Fay: Certainly not. It would be too boring! How are adjectives used in Greek?
Chrissi: Pretty much the same way as in English. We put them between the article and the noun, and they help us describe some quality of the noun.
Fay: So the order would be article-adjective-noun, yes?
Chrissi: Yes. For example, we can say ο κόκκινος μαρκαδόρος (o kokkinos markadoros). Try to repeat that.
Fay: Ο κόκκινος μαρκαδόρος (O kokkinos markadoros). This means “the red marker,” right?
Chrissi: Right! Or we can say "o leukos toichos". Would you like to repeat that?
Fay: Ο λευκός τοίχος (O leukos toichos). The white wall. How would we say “the right way”?
Chrissi: Ο σωστός δρόμος (O sostos dromos). All you people listening at home, try this too: ο σωστός δρόμος (o sostos dromos).
Fay: I see you always use the article ο (o), right?
Chrissi: Yes. This is the singular nominative of the masculine article; we want to keep things simple, so in this lesson we will focus on that.
Fay: Because adjectives are gendered—and numbered, right?
Chrissi: Exactly. But if we can grasp the singular nominative, we will have gone a long way to understanding how adjectives work. The order doesn’t change in the other cases or genders, or in the plural number.
Fay: Great! What else do we need to know about adjectives for now?
Chrissi: We could also mention that if there is a verb, the verb goes before the article.
Fay: Can you give an example?
Chrissi: Yes. Εγώ είμαι Έλληνας πολίτης (Ego eimai Ellinas politis), “I am a Greek citizen.”
Fay: Let’s repeat that.
Chrissi: Sure. Εγώ είμαι Έλληνας πολίτης (Ego eimai Ellinas politis). Or you could say Εγώ είμαι Αμερικανός πολίτης (Ego eimai Amerikanos politis), “I am an American citizen.”
Fay: You don’t use the indefinite article in Greek, though.
Chrissi: In this case, no. But we will speak about that in a future lesson! In our examples, the order is εγώ (ego)...
Fay: “I,” the personal pronoun.
Chrissi: Εμαι (Eimai).
Fay: “Am,” the verb.
Chrissi: Αμερικανός (Amerikanos).
Fay: “American,” the adjective.
Chrissi: And πολίτης (politis).
Fay: “Citizen,” the noun.
Chrissi: Right!
Fay: Or to go to a previous example about the right street, how can we say “This is the right street”?
Chrissi: Αυτός είναι ο σωστός δρόμος (Autos einai o sostos dromos). Again—pronoun, verb, article, adjective, noun. Repeat it after me. Αυτός είναι ο σωστός δρόμος (Autos einai o sostos dromos).
Fay: Αυτός είναι ο σωστός δρόμος (Autos einai o sostos dromos). Not that hard!
Chrissi: No, it isn’t!
Fay: So let’s stop here for now. Remember the right order [the same as in English] and be sure to check the PDFs for more examples on the use of adjectives. Bye-bye for now!
Chrissi: Γεια χαρά! (Geia chara!)
