In this lesson, we will learn:

• Greek adjectives in -ής, -ής, -ές: Declension
• Adjectives: Degrees of Comparison
• Possessive Pronouns & Adjectives
• Greek verbs, Part 5: Perfect tenses

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 Masculine

 Feminine

 Neutral

More adjectives in -ης, -ης, -ες:

ο επιμελής, η επιμελής, το επιμελές –> studious, thorough-paced

ο ακριβής, η ακριβής, το ακριβές –> accurate
(do not confuse with ο ακριβός, η ακριβή, το ακριβό = expensive!)

ο ασθενής, η ασθενής, το ασθενές –> ill // weak

ο δημοφιλής, η δημοφιλής, το δημοφιλές –> popular

ο συνεχής, η συνεχής, το συνεχές –> continuous

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Adjectives: Degrees of Comparison

As in English, adjectives in Greek have 3 degrees of comparison:

•  Positive
•  Comparative
• Superlative

In this lesson, we will learn:

• Personal Pronouns: Declension & Use
• Greek verbs, Part 4: Future tense (Simple & Continuous)

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Personal Pronouns

Of this “weak” form,  the nominative case is used very rarely, only in the phrases
“Να τος” (There he is), “Να τη” (There she is), etc

– How to use Personal Pronouns in a sentence

We already know how to use the nominative case of personal pronouns (“strong” forms) as subject to verbs. Let us now see how we can use them as

Direct Object (accusative case, “weak” form)

I looked at him. –> Τον κοίταξα.
(Confused? In Greek, the verb κοιτάζω takes a direct  object)

I know this. –> Το γνωρίζω.

I used the tools. –> I used them. –> Τα χρησιμοποίησα.

Indirect Object (possessive case, “weak” form)

I wrote her a letter. –> Της έγραψα ένα γράμμα.

I miss you. –> Μου λείπεις.
(Now, this is a tricky one:  In English the subject of the verb “to miss” is the person feeling the lack. In Greek though, “λείπω” literally means “being absent” — thus, the subject is the person being absent and the person feeling the lack becomes the indirect object.)

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The  Future 

Future tenses are marked by the presence of the Future Particle — θα — (=will)

Future Continuous is very simple to form: it is the Present tense preceded by the future particle. Thus, we have:

κάνω ( to do) –> θα κάνω (I will be doing)

πηγαίνω (to go) –>  θα πηγαίν-ω (I will be going)

βλέπ-ω (to see) –> θα βλέπω (I will be seeing)

αγαπώ (to love) –> θα αγαπώ (I will be loving)

χρησιμοποιώ (to use) –> θα χρησιμοποιώ (I will be using)

Simple Future is based on the theme of Simple Past:

πηγαίν-ω –> είπα –> θα πω

ακού-ω –> άκουσα –> θα ακούσω

βλέπ-ω –> είδα –> θα δω

λέ-ω –> είπα –> θα πω

φτάν-ω –> έφτασα –> θα φτάσω

γνωρίζ-ω –> γνώρισα –> θα γνωρίσω

γράφ-ω –> έγραψα –> θα γράψω

διαβάζ-ω –> διάβασα –> θα διαβάσω

αρχίζ-ω –> άρχισα –> θα αρχίσω

λείπ-ω –> έλειψα –> θα λείψω

τελειών-ω –> τελείωσα –> θα τελειώσω

αγαπώ –> αγάπησα –> θα αγαπήσω

νικ-ώ –> νίκησα –> θα νικήσω

πετ-ώ –> πέταξα –> θα πετάξω

πηδ-ώ –> πήδηξα –> θα πηδήξω

κοιτ-ώ –> κοίταξα –> θα κοιτάξω

κρατ-ώ –> κράτησα –> θα κρατήσω

πον-ώ –> πόνεσα –> θα πονέσω

πειν-ώ –> πείνασα –> θα πεινάσω

βοηθ-ώ –> βοήθησα –> θα βοηθήσω

λειτουργ-ώ –> λειτούργησα –> θα λειτουργήσω

χρησιμοποι-ώ –> χρησιμοποίησα –> θα χρησιμοποιήσω

καλ-ώ –> κάλεσα –> θα καλέσω

ωφελ-ώ –> ωφέλησα –> θα ωφελήσω

We see that the prefix –ε-that denotes the past tense is dropped and that the stress also drops onto the next syllable.

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Exercise: 

Transfer the verbs to the tenses requested. Do not change the number or person.

1. πεινάς                                     :  Imperfect, Simple Future
2. δείχνουμε (=point to)      :  Simple Past, Future Continuous
3. βάφετε ( = to paint)           :  Imperfect, Future Continuous
4. λαδώνουν (=to oil)            :  Simple Future, Future Continuous
5. στραγγίζει (=to drain)       :  Simple Past, Imperfect
6. μαγειρεύεις (=to cook)      :  Imperfect, Future Continuous

Key to the exercise:

1. πεινούσες, θα πεινάσεις
2. δείξαμε, θα δείχνουμε
3. βάφατε, θα βάφετε
4. θα λαδώσουν, θα λαδώνουν
5. στράγγισε, στράγγιζε
6. μαγείρευες, θα μαγειρεύεις

In this lesson, we will learn:

• Noun declension, Part 5: Masculine & Feminine nouns with an additional syllable in the plural number
• Greek verbs, Part 3: Simple Past (active voice)
• Adverbs (time, place, manner)

Other nouns ending in -άς are:

ο χαλβάς –> halva

ο αρακάς –> snow pea

ο ψαράς –> fisherman

ο μυλωνάς –> miller

ο καβγάς –> argument, row

ο βοριάς –> the north wind

ο νοτιάς –> the south wind

Other nouns ending in -ές are:

ο λεκές –> stain

ο μεζές –> meze, tapas

ο τενεκές –> tin

Other common nouns ending in -ούς are:

ο νους –> mind

ο Ιησούς –> Jesus

Their particularity is that they have only a singular number.

– Feminine nouns in -ού and in -α / -ά with an additional syllable in the plural number:

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2. Greek Verbs, Part 3

Simple Past

1. Verbs in -ω: γνωρίζω

We see that the consonant in the ending is different: Simple Past is characterized by the presence of the consonant -σ- or for a high occurrence of various irregular tense roots. Thus, we have:

κάνω (to do) –> έκανα (irregular, identical to Imperfect)

πηγαίν-ω (to go) –> πήγα (irregular)

ακού-ω (to hear, to listen) –> άκουσα

βλέπ-ω (to see) –> είδα (irregular)

λέ-ω (to tell) –> είπα (irregular)

φτάν-ω (to arrive) –> έφτασα

γνωρίζ-ω (to know) –> γνώρισα

γράφ-ω (to write) –> έγραψα (ψ = π+σ)

διαβάζ-ω (to read) –> διάβασα

αρχίζ-ω (to start) –> άρχισα

λείπ-ω (to miss, to be absent) –> έλειψα

τελειών-ω (to finish) –> τέλειωσα

2. Verbs in -άω, -ώ: αγαπώ

νικ-ώ (to win) –> νίκησα

πετ-ώ (1. to fly // 2. to throw) –> πέταξα (ξ = κ+σ)

πηδ-ώ (to jump) –> πήδηξα

κοιτ-ώ (to look) –> κοίταξα

κρατ-ώ (to hold) –> κράτησα

πον-ώ (to ache) –> πόνεσα

πειν-ώ (to be hungry) –> πείνασα

βοηθ-ώ (to help) –> βοήθησα

Verbs in -έω, -ώ: κινώ

Thus we have:

λειτουργ-ώ = to function –> λειτούργησα

χρησιμοποι-ώ = to use –> χρησιμοποίησα

καλ-ώ = to call // to invite –> κάλεσα

ωφελ-ώ = to benefit –> ωφέλησα

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Adverbs

Adverbs of time

τώρα –> now

πριν –> before

μετά (από) –> after

σήμερα –> today

χθες –> yesterday

αύριο –> tomorrow

φέτος –> this year

πέρισυ –> last year

του χρόνου –> next year

αργά –> late

νωρίς –> early

Adverbs of place

εδώ –> here

εκεί –> there

πάνω (από) –> above, on top of

κάτω (από) –> below, under

μπροστά (από) –> in front of, to the front

πίσω (από) –> behind

δίπλα (σε) –> beside

δεξιά –> to the right

αριστερά –> to the left

Adverbs of manner

έτσι –> like this

αλλιώς –> in another way

αργά –> slowly

γρήγορα –> quickly

δυνατά –> strongly

Adverbs of amount

πολύ –> much

λίγο –> a bit, little

πολύ λίγο –> too little

υπερβολικά –> too much

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Building Sentences in Greek

How would you say in Greek?

1. Yesterday I said ‘Good morning’ to grandfather.

2. The fisherman went to the sea and saw a beautiful cave.

3. The foxes ate the birds.

4. I read many books (βιβλίο, decline as πεύκο) last year.

5. Mary (Μαρία) is a good girl, but Paul (Παύλος) is a bad kid.

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Key to the exercise:

1. Χθες είπα “Καλημέρα” στον παππού.

2. Ο ψαράς πήγε στη θάλασσα και είδε μια όμορφη σπηλιά.

3. Οι αλεπούδες έφαγαν τα πουλιά.

4. Διάβασα πολλά βιβλία πέρισυ.

5. Η Μαρία είναι καλό κορίτσι, αλλά ο Παύλος είναι κακό παιδί.

In this lesson, we will learn:

• Noun declension, Part 2: Masculine nouns in -ος, Feminine nouns in -α
• Indefinite article (ένας, μία, ένα)
• Basic structure of Greek sentences
• some more Greek vocabulary

We will also start forming simple sentences, using the rules and vocabulary we’ve been through up to now.

1. Noun Declension

In Lesson 3 we discussed nouns, how they are differentiated by gender and how gramatical gender does not necessarily coincide with natural gender in Greek language. We also laid out 3 examples of noun declension, one for each gender.

Today, we’ll start elaborating on different noun groups and on inflection peculiarities for each one. First, though, we should make a remark on Stressing, as declension calls sometimes for fluctuation of word stress within a paradigm.

Word Stress Rules

Greek words usually have one to six (or even more) syllables.

• The iron rule is that no word may receive a stress before the antepenult (3rd syllable from the end). To put it differently, Greek words are stressed only on the last, penultimate and antepenult syllables, whether they are simple or composite words and no matter the number of syllables of which they are constructed.
• When the last syllable of a noun bears the vowels-η- and -ω- or the double vowel -ου- (in ancient Greek these were pronounced as long vowels), then the antepenult cannot be stressed. See the tables below for examples.

Now, after putting forth the above basic rules, we can proceed to inflecting some more Greek nouns, beginning with…

Masculine nouns ending in -ος

Stressed on the last syllable:

Stressed on the penultimate:

Stressed on the antepenult:

You must have noticed that, in this last paradigm, where the word is stressed on the antepenult, the stress “descends” on the genitive of singular and plural, as well as on the accusative of plural, where the syllables contain the letters -ω- and -ου-, according to the above mentioned Greek word stressing rule.

This happens on the majority of masculine nouns of this group, especially on those which have been in use for many centuries (most are in use since Antiquity, although with slight changes). On the other hand, popular words of more recent origin do not follow the rule. For convenience sake, I shall henceforward introduce new vocabulary (nouns) by mentioning the singular vocative and plural genitive cases, e.g. o άνθρωπος, των ανθρώπων (human). This will help you locate the nouns into their respective declension groups.

Feminine nouns ending in -α: first group

Stressed on the last syllable:

Stressed on the penultimate:

Stressed on the antepenult:

Note: We see that, in this group of feminine nouns, in the plural genitive the stress “descends” to the last syllable (remember ‘γυναίκα’ from Lesson 3?).

Don’t worry. After completing our lessons on Greek nouns declension, a comprehensive table of stressing rules for all 3 genders will be available for you, to help you with a more systematic revision. Now, let’s go and see…

Feminine nouns ending in -α: 2nd group

Stressed on the penultimate:

Stressed on the antepenult:

Unlike the previous group, this 2nd group of feminine nouns in -α does not require the stress descending to the last syllable (η μητέρα). In the case of ‘ταχύτητα’, it is the stressing rule about “long” vowels (the -ω- of genitive) forcing the stress to move down to the penultimate.

To practice a little with noun declension, you can take your notebook and exercise by inflecting the following nouns:

ο βοσκός (shepherd)

ο έμπορος, των εμπόρων (merchant)

ο κίνδυνος, των κινδύνων (danger)

ο γέρος, των γέρων (old-man)

η σπηλιά (cave)

η ελπίδα, των ελπίδων (hope)

η χώρα, των χωρών (country)

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2. The Indefinite Article

Like a, an in English, the Greek indefinite article appears only in the Singular number.

Note: Context and practice will help you distinguish between the Numeral  for ‘one’ (ένα) and the Indefinite article, as they are practically the same in form.

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3. Basic Structure of Greek Sentences

Nothing complicated really.

As with English, the basic Greek sentence is comprised of

Subject       +        Predicate

The subject may be a pronoun or a nominal group.

The predicate (= “the part of sentence or clause that expresses what is said of the subject,” merriam-webster.com) is a Verb, either alone (e.g. I sleep, Εγώ κοιμάμαι) or accompanied by

• an object (direct or indirect)
• a complement (a nominal group)
• an adverb.

Some examples of useful Greek phrases:

Το πλοίο φεύγει στις 8 ακριβώς. The boat leaves at 8 o’clock. (verb accompanied by an adverb)

To τρένο φεύγει από την αποβάθρα 2. The train leaves from platform 2. (verb accompanied by a nominal group introduced by a preposition)

(Εγώ)* θέλω ένα ποτήρι νερό. I want a glass of water. (verb accompanied by a direct object)

Η θάλασσα είναι ζεστή. The sea is warm. (verb accompanied by an adjective)

* Notice that in Greek language the presence of the pronoun is not compulsory. Thus, we can say,

Εγώ είμαι Έλληνας (I am Greek), but we can also say

Είμαι Έλληνας, omitting the pronoun (εγώ, I).

Nevertheless, we shall most definitely use a pronoun, when there is danger of getting confused over which the subject is.

Aims:

• Learn one more set of letters (vowels) combinations
• Declension: definite article, nouns (Part 1)
• Auxiliary verb έχω (to have)

1. Vowel combinations

In Lesson 2, we learnt how to pronounce two-letter vowels, i.e. a combination of two vowels that sound as another vowel, completely different from what we see on the page.
In Greek language there are also combinations of two vowels that produce a vowel + consonant sound. This happens as follows:

Vowel combinations:

According to the above table, we will pronounce:

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2. Declension: Definitive Article

Greek is a highly inflected language. Greek articles and nouns (as well as adjectives and pronouns) are inflected for gender, number and case.

Singular Number

*Note: The final consonant -ν is added when the next word (noun, article, etc) begins with:

(i) a vowel or any kind of vowel combination,

(ii) κ, τ, π,

(iii) a double consonant (μπ, ντ, γκ).

Plural Number

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3. Declension: Nouns (Part 1)

The next step is to inflect some nouns.

Greek nouns consist of a word root and an ending denoting the word’s gender, number and case. Thus, we can have:

Masculine

Feminine

*Note: We see that, in the genitive of plural, the stress moves to the ultimate syllable of the noun. This phenomenon pertains to the general rules governing Word Stress, which we will explore in one of our next lessons.

Neutral

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4. Auxiliary verb “έχω” (to have)

Aims:

• Learn how to read combinations of letters
• Introduction to grammatical genders
• Learn the definite article
• Auxiliary verb είμαι (to be)

Two-letter sounds

In Lesson 1, we learnt the Greek alphabet. One thing you should notice is that Greek is not always pronounced exactly as it is spelled – in other words, you do not always read what you see. Sometimes two letters may form a new sound, which either resembles the original letters or is totally unrelated. Let’s see how this works:

Two-letter vowels:

Two-letter consonants:

According to the above pronunciation rules,

Genders

Greek language has got 3 grammatical genders: masculin, feminine, neutral.

The only thing is, they do not necessarily coincide with the natural gender. Thus, we can have inanimate objects or animals using the masculine (male) or feminine (female) gender, whereas persons might be refered to in the neutral gender. For example:

• το κορίτσι = girl (neutral)
• η καρέκλα = chair (feminine)
• ο ήλιος = sun (masculine)

Also, notice the genders in the above pronunciation table.

In vocabulary study, it is paramount that you learn nouns along with their article, which indicates the gender of the noun. This will help you choose the right forms, pronouns, adjectives, etc.

The Definite Article

In the next lesson, we shall see how the article is inflected. For now, let’s just learn some vocabulary to help us start forming our first sentences later on.

masculine nouns:

ο πατέρας –> o pateras–> the father

ο ήλιος –> o ilios –> the sun

ο καιρός –> o keros –> the weather

ο άνθρωπος –> o an-θ-ropos –> the human

feminine nouns:

η μητέρα –> i mitera –> the mother

η θάλασσα –> i θ-alassa –> the sea

η καρέκλα –> i karekla–> the chair

η βροχή –> i vrohi –> the rain

neutral nouns:

το παιδί –> to pe-δ-i –> the child

το ξενοδοχείο –> to xeno-δ-ohio –> the hotel

το τραπέζι –> to trapezi –> the table

το φαγητό –> to fayito –> the food

In the above list you also see some double vowels “in action.”

Auxiliary verb “είμαι” (to be)

Are you starting to recognize the double vowels we learnt today?

Are you getting familiar with Greek pronunciation?

In Lesson 3, we shall have a final round of letter combinations, we’ll talk about inflection of nouns and articles, and we’ll learn the auxiliary verb “to have.” All these will help us to start forming our first sentences (Lesson 4).

Aims:

• Installing fonts for Greek
• Learn the alphabet and its pronunciation
• Learn the numbers
• Learn some basic everyday phrases/ greetings

First, let’s start by installing Greek fonts so you can read and write them.

I will post a link to a Greek site explaining how to do that on many operating systems

Go here -> http://www.hri.org/fonts/

Done? Great! We’re ready to start.

For the first lesson we will start by introducing the Greek alphabet five letters at a time, followed by some numbers!

The trick to learn Greek is to acknowledge that it is a hard and unique language to get used to so try to stay motivated and practice, practice, practice.

Let’s go then:

Pronunciation and Transcription Key:

• We will use the transcription y to render the sound of Γ γ. Pronounce it a bit more strongly.
• We will use the transcription δ to render the sound of Δ δ.

Pronunciation and Transcription Key:

• We will use the transcription θ to render the sound of Γ γ.
• Note that H η and Ι ι are pronounced the same. Greek language, actually, has dropped prosody and it has no longer short, long or heavy vowels and accents.

Pronunciation and Transcription Key: