Μάθημα δύο (Mathima Dio)
Lesson 2
Today you'll have your first encounter with verbs. But first you'll need to learn the personal pronouns. The form of personal nouns we shall be discussing today is that used as the subject of the verbs (the nominative).
Singular
εγώ (ego) = Ι
εσύ (esi) = you
αυτός (aftos) = he (the αυ is pronounced as af)
αυτή (afti) = she (same as above)
αυτό (afto) = it (same as above)
Plural
εμείς (emis) = we
εσείς (esis) = you
αυτοί (afti) = they (masc.) (the αυ is pronounced as af)
αυτές (aftes) = they (fem.) (same as above)
αυτά (afta) = they (neuter) (same as above)
Note that the plural form εσείς is used in the place of εσύ when the polite plural is appropriate. The polite plural is used when you are addressing someone you're not familiar with or when you want to show respect, like to someone much older than you. We shall see examples of this later on.
The verb είμαι (ime) (I am)
In Greek, verbs have two numbers - singular and plural - and three persons - first, second and third. The verb είμαι in the present tense is as follows:
Singular
εγώ είμαι (ego ime) = I am
εσύ είσαι (esi ise) = you are
αυτός/αυτή/αυτό είναι (aftos/afti/afto ine) = he/she/it is
Plural
εμείς είμαστε (emis imaste) = we are
εσείς είσαστε (esis istaste) = you are
αυτοί/αυτές/αυτά είναι (afti/aftes/afta ine) = they are
Είμαι (ime) is an irregular verb.
The verb έχω (eho) (I have)
The basic form of regular Greek verbs ends in ω. Regular verbs fall into 2 broad categories: those with an accent on the penultimate syllable like the verb έχω (I have) and those with an accent on the last syllable like αγαπώ (I love). The verb έχω is typical of the first category and its present tense in the active voice is:
Singular
εγώ έχω (ego eho) = I have
εσύ έχεις (esi ehis) = you have
αυτός/αυτή/αυτό έχει (aftos/afti/afto ehi) = he/she/it has
Plural
εμείς έχουμε (emis ehume) = we have
εσείς έχετε (esis ehete) = you have
αυτοί/αυτές/αυτά έχουν (afti/aftes/afta ehun) = they have
In Greek the present tense is used to describe both a habitual action - equivalent to the English simple present (I have) - and an action taking place now - equivalent to the English present continuous (I am having).
Another verb that conjugates like έχω is γράφω (grafo) (I write):
Singular
εγώ γράφω (ego grafo) = I write
εσύ γράφεις (esi grafis) = you write
αυτός/αυτή/αυτό γράφει (aftos/afti/afto grafi) = he/she/it writes
Plural
εμείς γράφουμε (emis grafume) = we write
εσείς γράφετε (esis grafete) = you write
αυτοί/αυτές/αυτά γράφουν (afti/aftes/afta grafun) = they write
So you can see that a general rule for conjugating regular verbs is this: You change only the last letters (-ω, -εις, -ει, -ουμε, -ετε, -ουν) and you keep the rest of the verb (έχ-, γράφ-)
Vocabulary
Greetings:
καλημέρα (kalimera) = good morming
καλησπέρα (kalispera) = good evening
καληνύχτα (kalinihta) = good night
γειά σου/σας (gia su/sas) = hello, bye
χαίρετε (herete) = hello, bye (χαίρετε is a more formal version of γειά)
αντίο (antio) = goodbye
Here are some widely used first names:
Γεώργιος or Γιώργος (Georgios or Giorgos) = George
Ιωάννης or Γιάννης (ioannis or Yiannis) = John
Χρήστος (Hristos) = Chris
Βασίλειος or Βασίλης (Vasilios or Vasilis) = Bill
Νικόλαος or Νίκος (Nikolaos or Nikolas) = Nick
Δημήτριος or Δημήτρης (Dimitrios or Dimitris) = Jim
Αντώνιος or Αντώνης (Antonios or Antonis) = Anthony
Μιχαήλ or Μιχάλης (Mihail or Mihalis) = Michael
Αλέξανδρος or Αλέξης (Aleksadros or Aleksis) = Alexander or Alex
Ελένη (Elena) = Helen
Μαίρη or Μαρία (Meri or Maria) = Mary or Maria
Αικατερίνη or Κατερίνα (Ekaterini or Katerina) = Catherine
Άννα (Anna) = Anne
The first type is the formal one (the name that is given during the Christening and used in formal documents, like an ID) while the second type is the pet-name. There are other popular Greek names but these are the ones that can be translated directly in English.
The days of the week:
Δευτέρα (Deftera) = Monday (The ευ in this word is pronounced as εφ (ef))
Τρίτη (Triti) = Tuesday
Τετάρτη (Tetarti) = Wednesday
Πέμπτη (Pempti) = Thursday (The μπτ (bt) is really pronounced as μτ (mt), that means that the "b" sound of μπ is ommited, one of the few cases when this happens)
Παρασκευή (Paraskevi) = Friday (The ευ in this word is pronounced as εβ (ev))
Σάββατο (Savato) = Saturday
Κυριακή (Kiriaki) = Sunday
All the days are of feminine gender with the exception of Σάββατο (Savato) which is of neuter gender.
