Greek Lessons

In our first course we learn how to say hello, how are you, goodmorning etc in greek, the words kala (also kali and kalos) and ego are defined and then we have a brief history of the Greek language.

The Greek language have been spoken thousands of years now but because time changes everything, the Greek language got affected as well.
What we call Ancient Greek is actually the Attican idiom spoken in Athens and in its colonies from about 500BC to 300BC. Then the language was affected vastly by the Macedonian accent (Macedonians had been speaking Greek in a slightly different way) and the “hellenistic” Greek was born.

This variant of the language was spoken by the people in the greek lands during the roman times. It is the language in which the Bible is translated. The people kept speaking the hellenistic Greek throughout the Eastern Roman Empire (Byzantine Empire), while the authorities kept tha Latin as official language. After 1453, when Constaninople was captured by the Ottomans, the people (through the marvelous language-contructive power that each society possesses) started the creation of a new variant of Greek.

This variant was amended by the thinkers at the last years of the Ottoman rule and “katharevusa” (the official language of the first modern Greek state) was born. People started talking more freely without the Ottomans and took a step forward on the language. About 1850 and on katharevusa was spoken only by the authorities and the thinkers, people have been speaking “dimotiki”. Dimotiki went official in 1976.
Language timeline: Ancient Greek-> Hellenistic-> Katharevusa-> Dimotiki (Modern Greek)

Words of the laquage:

Kalos means good and describes only masculine nouns. Kali is for feminine ones. Kalo is for the neutrals.
Kalos is also the ancient greek adverb for good. In modern greek it is kala.

In our second course we learn how to address wishes, what’s your name and my name is this, as well as the basics on greek names.

For the wish-giving part you can listen:

Hronia accented on o means “years” (plural) while accented on a we get the singular form of it.
There is more than one way to say “year”
Etos (accent on e)
Hronos (accent on the first o). This one also mean “time”. We also get Cronus out of it.
Hronia (accent on a)

Modern greek
What’s your name –> Pos se lene?
My name is Achilles –> Me lene Achilles.

Ancient greek
What’s your name –> Pos onomazese?
My name is Achilles –> Onomazome Achilles.

Most of the Greek names have a meaning. I have not much to say about it but to give examples of all the names heard in the podcast.
First let’s cope with anonymity
Onoma = name
An+onoma = Un+name
Anonimos = Anonymous

Georgios (commonly called Giorgos -spelled as Yorgos) derives from Geo+Ergon.
For Geo you can also link to Geo-graphy, Geo-logy, etc.
Geo = soil, land, earth / Ergon = work
The female version of it is Georgia (Yorgia).

Sophocles, sophia+kleos which is wisdom+glory. Sophia is also known out of the word Philosophy.

Alexandra, alexo+andras which means protector of men OR protector by the men. I prefer the second one, at least for the females!

Dimitris derives from the name of ancient goddess Dimitra (Ceres in Latin) whose roots mean “Mother Earth”.
Di+Miter, note that Di is the doric form of Ghi/Geo
The female on is still Dimitra.
The funny thing is that cereals are linked to Ceres, while dimitriaka (which is the same thing as cereals) derive from Dimitra.

Nikos is Nicholas and it consists of Nike+Laos which is victory+people.
The female form is Nikoletta or Niki.

Kostas is the short form of Constantine and I think that isn’t of greek origins.

Giannis (commonly spelled Yannis) is the greek counterpart of John / Johannes and is, in fact, of jewish origin.

Maria is also of jewish origin, but yet a common name for girls.

In the third lesson we cope with numbers 1-12 and the question “how old are you?”.
The greek counting is similar to the latin or saxonic one. It wont be very difficult for you…

How old are you? –> Poson hronon ise? (Mind that sometimes it can be heard without “n”, as “poso hrono ise”)
I am twenty years old –> Ime ikosi hronon.
Ime –> I am
Ise –> you are

hronon means “of years”, but just keep in mind that it is years. It belongs to the same category as “hronia”.
Poson is “how many, how much”

The numbers - i arithmi
1 ena
2 dio
3 tria
4 tessera
5 pente
6 exi
7 epta (can be heard as efta as well)
8 okto (can be heard as ohto as well)
9 ennia
10 deka
11 endeka
12 dodeka

In ancient greek the number are quite the same.
1 en
2 dio
3 tris
4 tessares
5 pente
6 ex
7 epta
8 okto
9 ennea
10 deka
11 endeka
12 dodeka

How old are you? –> Posa eti gegonos?
I am twenty years old. –> Ikosi eti gegonos.
Eti is the plural of etos, which is the ancient form of hronos - year.
Posa is close to poson.
Gegonos means “I have already became”. In modern greek gegonos is the fact, something that has already been done.

Thank you for listening!!!

In the fourth pod-lesson of modern and ancient greek we learn the (rest of the) numbers, 13 to 100. Then we cope with the verb be in present and we give the vocabulary for you to make simple but complete sentences.

Arithmi Αριθμοί (lesson 2)

What you simply do is 10+3, 10+4, 20+1, 30+1, etc. deka+tria, deka+tessera, ikosi+ena, trianta+ena

Note that while in english we say “I am tall” in greek we usually say “Ime psilos”. Though it is not a fault to say “Ego ime psilos”, the common idiom abstracts “ego”, since “ime” is enough for somebody to understand that I speak for myself.

Hello everybody! Be happy! In this lesson we will talk about the joy and happiness! It’s the fifth lesson online; we thank you so much for your comments and e-mails.

Other words to express joy and happiness

Ancient Greek

Street language

Verbs

Por los ninos y las ninas Arhaia Ellada (Grecia Antigua) / Αρχαία Ελλάδα.

This time we proceed with the verb I have “eho”, … what? I forgot to tell you about yes or no! Is anybody listening? Why don’t you ask it from me? Yes, no Yes and No, Yes or no? But still I have is the biggest thing in here.

Yes is ne (ναι). Dont get confused with the other western languages. No, nee, ne, non, etc is the negation but in Greek we use it for “yes”.

No then is ohi (όχι). There is also this national holiday in 28th of October, which is also called “Epetios Ohi” or simply Holiday Ohi.It’s the answer that the Italian embassador received by the Greek Dictator when he asked the country to be given in to the Axis powers. Then Greece entered the wolrd war 2 in the side of the allies. The exact answer he got was “Alors, c’est la guerre” in French (the language of the diplomats). But in Greek this is still ohi. The kids in school learn it easily this way. So.. ohi ston fasismo!

Yes and no is ne ke ohi (ναι και όχι)

Yes or no id ne i ou (ναί ή ου). This is the way the ancestors had been saying yes/no. Yes is ne, No is ou. But in modern Greek “ne i ou” is used in an obstinate way of telling somebody “take a decision, now!” Are we gonna do it? Yes or No? Tha to kanoume? Nai i ou?

…and stay tuned!

In this lesson we talk about LOVE! Love is maybe the most significant aspect of the greek life. The vast majority of the greek songs talk about love, let’s say about 99% of them. This is no exaggeration. Love poems, love songs, love tv series, love movies, love, love, love… Or, in Greek… Agapi!

From the verb “latrevo” we take idolatry (idolo+latria) (είδωλο+λατρεία= ειδωλολατρεία) the worshiping of idols.

We have already learned ena (one) but this is the half truth. While ena is the number one, we also use types of it to express the indefinitive article (a, an).

To make more clear:

A nice Greek expression is “Mia ise mia ke monadiki”, Mia you are one and unique! Μία είσαι μία και μοναδική!

monadikos unique (m) monadiki unique (f) monadiko unique (n)

You can say “monadiko systima”, unit system (μοναδικό σύστημα). “Monadiki empiria” unique experience (see also empiria-empirical) (μοναδική εμπειρία). Monadikos/i/o can be used to express the unit and the unique.

Flirt expressions:

You have beautiful eyes - ehis omorfa matia (omorfa is beautiful’s plural form, matia is eyes in plural) - έχεις όμορφα μάτια

Your smile makes the world beautiful - to hamogelo sou kani ton kosmo omorfo (hamogelo is smile, kosmos is the world -see also cosmology) - το χαμόγελό σου κάνει τον κόσμο όμορφο

You are sexy - ise sexy - είσαι σέξυ

Would you like to play beach-volleyball with us? - thelete na pexete volley mazi mas? (thelo is I want, pezo is I play, mazi is with and mas is us) - θέλετε να παίξετε βόλεϋ μαζί μας;

Ancient Greek

I love you - Agapo se - Αγαπώ σε

I adore you - Latrevo se - Λατρεύω σε (you can observe that the object and the verd are reversed in ancient Greek)

I would like to play volleyball with you - Voulome volley meta sou paizin - Βούλομαι βόλεϋ μετά σου παίζειν

You have beautiful eyes - I ophthalmi sou kallisti eisin - Οι οφθαλμοί σου κάλλιστοι εισίν (see also ophthalmology)

Today is a holiday in Greece. It is the beginning of the fast. Now it is fourty days to the Easter. We go out, we take over the hills, we eat lagana, tarama and olives and fly the kite. The carnival is over. Short periods. I am in holiday as well, that’s why.

This lesson is short so that you have time to learn it. Next one is coming on Friday. So that I get on program again! Sorry that I was late, it was a difficult week for me in the university.

Food! Nutrition, alimentation or any other word cannot describe the smell of a roasted chicken in the oven with a lot of potatoes. In Greece we love so much eating out in tavernas, singing, drinking, dancing and enjoying our company.

Food is a ritual, at least, it used to be one. But still you can see the tradition reviving through the food and its customs.

This is the special anniversary (epetios) of our podcast! We got 10! I thank you all for your nice comments. I would like you to know that they give me the desire to go on. Without so many listeners that give me power to continue, I would have no good reason to make these podcasts. In this lesson we learn the present tense of all but the irregular verbs. Stay tuned for the outtakes in the end…

Enestotas (present tense) Modern Greek Verb Diabazo (διαβάζω) means “I read”

Enestotas (present tense) Ancient Greek Verb Girasko (γηράσκω) means “I grow old”, “I grow up”

Endings in Modern Greek

Endings in Ancient Greek

Sas efharisto gia tin agapi sas! I thank you for your love!

Hello everybody! This is (another) really special session! People from all over the world joined us today thanks to the Greek dinner I prepared for them and they tried their Greek accent. Thus we have no ancient Greek lesson today. They are yours!

Thanks to Maite from Argentina, Schuyler and Danielle from the US, Alice from Sweden, Laura from Germany and Didi, Barbara, Effje & Olivier from the Netherlands you get this amazing session! Applaud them!

Me lene Maite, ime apo tin Argentini ke mu aresi i latin musiki.

Me lene Schuyler, ime apo to Colorado ke mu aresi i jazz.

Me lene Laura, ime apo tin Germania ke mu aresi i jazz episis.

Me lene Didi, ime Ollandeza ke mu aresi na tragudao me tus lykus (I like singing with the wolfs).

Me lene Aliki, ime Suideza ke mu aresi na troo gyro.

Gia sas, me lene Olivier, zo sto Amsterdam ke ipostirizo ton Ajax (I support Ajax).

Gia sas, ime i Barbara apo tin Ollandia ke mu aresun i milopites (I like apple pies).

Ime I Eva, episis apo tin Ollandia ke agapo ton Olivier.

Me lene Daniela, ime Amerikana ke zo sto Mali.

Greece Ellada Ελλάδα

Argentina Argentini Αργεντινή

USA Inomenes Polities Amerikis (or Ameriki) Ηνωμένες Πολιτείες Αμερικής (Αμερική)

Germany Germania Γερμανία

Mali Mali Μάλι

Canada Kanadas Καναδάς

Britain Bretania Βρετανία

France Gallia Γαλλία

Italy Italia Ιταλία

Spain Ispania Ισπανία

Australia Afstralia Αυστραλία

The Netherlands Ollandia Ολλανδία

Greek Ellinas Ellinida Έλληνας Ελληνίδα

Argentinean Argentinos Argentina Αργεντίνος Αργεντίνα

American Amerikanos Amerikana Αμερικάνος Αμερικάνα

German Germanos Germanida Γερμανός Γερμανίδα

Malian Malianos Maliani Μαλιανός Μαλιανή

Canadian Kanados Kanadi (or Kanadeza) Καναδός Καναδή (ή Καναδέζα)

British Bretanos Bretanida Βρετανός Βρετανίδα

French Gallos Gallida Γάλλος Γαλλίδα

Italian Italos Italida Ιταλός Ιταλίδα

Spanish Ispanos Ispanida Ισπανός Ισπανίδα

Australian Afstralos Afstralida (not common  Afstrali) Αυστραλός Αυστραλίδα

Dutch Ollandos Ollandeza Ολλανδός Ολλανδέζα