LESSON NOTES

Absolute Beginner S1 #4
Greek

CONTENTS
2 Greek
2 Romanization
3 English
4 Vocabulary
4 Sample Sentences
6 Vocabulary Phrase Usage
6 Grammar
7 Cultural Insight

# 4
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 GREEK

1. Πέτρος: Δεν είναι αυτό το ξενοδοχείο!

2. Έλλη: Ωχ, ναι... Θέλω μια πορτοκαλάδα.

3. Πέτρος: Εντάξει... Α, να μία καφετέρια. Πάμε.

4. Σερβιτόρα: Παρακαλώ.

5. Έλλη: Μία πορτοκαλάδα, παρακαλώ.

6. Πέτρος: Εγώ θέλω ένα νερό.

7. Σερβιτόρα: Αυτά είναι όλα;

8. Πέτρος: Ναι.

9. Σερβιτόρα: Βεβαίως.... Ορίστε η πορτοκαλάδα, το νερό και ο λογαριασμός.

10. Έλλη και Πέτρος: Ευχαριστώ.

ROMANIZATION

1. Pétros: Den íne aftó to xenodohío!

2. Éli: O̱ h, ne... Thélo mia portokaláda.

3. Pétros: Endáxi... A, na mía kafetéria. Páme.

4. Servitóra: Parakaló.

CONT'D OVER

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5. Éli: Mía portokaláda, parakaló.

6. Pétros: Egó thélo éna neró.

7. Servitóra: Aftá íne óla?

8. Pétros: Ne.

9. Servitóra: Vevéos.... Oríste i portokaláda, to neró ke o logariasmós.

10. Éli ke Pétros: Efharistó.

ENGLISH

1. Peter: This isn't the hotel!

2. Elli: Oh, yes... I want an orange juice.

3. Peter: Okay... Ah, there's a café. Let's go.

4. Waitress: May I help you?

5. Elli: One orange juice, please.

6. Peter: I want a water.

7. Waitress: Is that all?

8. Peter: Yes.

9. Waitress: Of course... Here's the orange juice, the water, and the bill.

CONT'D OVER

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10. Elli and Peter: Thank you.

VOCABULARY

Romanizatio
Greek n English Class Gender

ο, η, το the article

καφετέρια kafetéria cafe noun feminine

εγώ egó I pronoun

βεβαίως vevéos certainly adverb

πορτοκαλάδα portokaláda orange juice noun feminine

θέλω thélo to want verb

νερό neró water noun neutral

there, here
(when pointing
να na at someone or particle
something)

ένας, μια, ένα a / an article

interjection,
ορίστε oríste here you are expression

λογαριασμός logariasmós bill noun masculine

παρακαλώ parakaló May I help you? expression

SAMPLE SENTENCES

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Ο τουρίστας παίρνει φωτογραφίες τα Η αδελφή μου είναι πολύ
ζώα. κουρασμένη.
I adelfí mu íne polí kurazméni.
"The tourist is taking pictures of the
animals." "My sister is very tired."

Να το ξενοδοχείο! Η καφετέρια αυτή είναι καινούρια.

Na to xenodocheío! I kafetéria aftí íne kenúria.

"There's the hotel!" "This cafe is new."

Οι φίλοι μου και εγώ. Βεβαίως τον ειδοποίησα αμέσως.

I fíli mu ke egó. Vevaios ton eidopoiisa amesos.

"Me and my friends." "Of course, I notified him immediately."

Θέλω να κοιμηθώ νωρίς σήμερα. Δεν θέλω τα παιδιά μου να τρώνε

Thélo na kimithó norís símera. πολλά γλυκά.
Den thélo ta pediá mu na tróne polá gliká.
"I want to go to sleep early today."
"I don't want my children to eat many
sweets."

Θέλει κανείς τίποτα από το Ήθελα να τη δω αυτήν την ταινία

περίπτερο; Íthela na ti do aftí tin tenía
Théli kanís típota apó to períptero?
"I wanted to see this movie."
"Does anybody want anything from the
kiosk?."

Προτιμώ να πίνω εμφιαλωμένο νερό. Η γυναίκα ήπιε νερό.

Protimó na píno emfialoméno neró. I gynaíka ípie neró.

"I prefer to drink bottled water." "The woman drank water."

Μην ανησυχείς, να τι πρέπει να Το βραβείο ήταν μια βιντεοκάμερα.

κάνουμε. To vraveío ítan mia vinteokámera.
Min anisihís, na ti prépi na kánume
"The award was a video camera."
"Don't worry, here's what we've got to
do."

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Θέλω μια μαύρη τσάντα. Έχω ένα μήλο.
Thélo mia mávri tsánta. Écho éna mílo.

"I want a black bag." "I have one apple."

Ένα παγωτό, παρακαλώ. Ένας βράχος κλείνει την πρόσβαση.

Éna pagotó, parakaló. Énas vráchos kleínei tin prósvasi.

"One ice cream please." "A rock is obstructing the access."

Σας ευχαριστούμε που περιμένατε. Να πληρώσουμε τον λογαριασμό μισά-

Ορίστε. μισά.
Sas efharistúme pu periménate. Oríste. Na plirósume ton logariasmó misá-misá.

"Thank you for waiting. Here you are." "Let's split the bill."

Παρακαλώ. Ένα παγωτό, παρακαλώ.

Parakaló. Éna pagotó, parakaló.

"You're welcome." "One ice cream please."

VOCABULARY PHRASE USAGE

1. παρακαλώ is a very versatile Greek word, and you'll hear it a lot. It literally means "I
request." There are three different situations in which you can use it. One is the obvious:
when making a request. We can translate παρακαλώ as "please" in that case. Secondly,
παρακαλώ is also the answer to ευχαριστώ. When somebody thanks you in Greek, you
should reply παρακαλώ. It is the same as saying "you're welcome." Thirdly, you may also
hear a waiter or clerk say παρακαλώ. In that case, they mean "May I help you?" To
summarize, παρακαλώ can mean "please," "you're welcome," or "may I help you?"
depending on the context.

2. ορίστε means "here you are" when you're giving something to somebody. That is why
the waiter said ορίστε as he gave Elli and Petros their drinks. This is the most common use
of the word. However, you can also use ορίστε to mean "Pardon? Sorry?" if you did not
understand or hear something that someone said to you.

GRAMMAR

The Focus of This Lesson Is Indefinite and Definite Articles.

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Ορίστε η πορτοκαλάδα, το νερό, και ο λογαριασµός.
Oríste i portokaláda, to neró kai o logariasmós.
"Here's the orange juice, the water, and the bill."

If you have studied some German before, then you have an advantage in learning Greek.
Just like in German, Greek nouns come in three flavors: masculine, feminine, and neuter.
For some words, it's obvious. "The man" is obviously a masculine word, and "the woman" is
obviously feminine. You can also easily determine the gender of "brother," "sister," "actor,"
"actress," and the like. However, the problem is that Greek assigns a grammatical gender
to EVERY noun, and often there is no logic behind it. For example, why is the bill masculine,
the orange juice feminine, and the water neuter? Students of German and French spend a
lot of time memorizing the illogical genders of nouns by rote, but fortunately in Greek you
can usually tell from the word ending which gender a word is. For example, words ending in
-ος should be masculine, words ending in -ο should be neuter, and words ending in -α are
usually feminine.

What are the effects of something being declared masculine, feminine or neuter? In
Greek, the article and also the adjective endings will be different according to the gender.
For masculine words, the equivalent of "the" is ο, and the equivalent of "a" is ένας, as in ο
λογαριασ µός, ένας λογαριασ µός. For neuter words, the equivalent of "the" is το, and the
equivalent of "a" is ένα, as in το νερό, ένα νερό. Finally, for feminine words, the equivalent
of "the" is η, and the equivalent of "a" is µια. η πορτοκαλάδα, µια πορτοκαλάδα.

CULTURAL INSIGHT

How Do You Like Your Greek Coffee?

The Greeks are coffee lovers. When they go to a café, they usually drink coffee. Greek
coffee is similar to Arabic coffee; it is boiled with sugar and served in a cup. Traditionally,
the Greeks serve a small cookie on the side as well.

You can find Greek coffee in most cafés, but the best place to drink it would be at an
original καφενείο (kafeneío). In the past, every neighborhood and village had its own
kafeneío, where men would sip coffee or ouzo (a traditional anise-flavored alcoholic drink),
play backgammon, and discuss politics. At that time, women never went to the kafeneía.
Nowadays, kafeneía are much less common and can only be found on the islands, in
villages, and in some districts of big cities. They serve traditional sweets, coffee and other
non-alcoholic beverages, as well as certain alcoholic drinks. Of course, nowadays women
can go to kafeneía as well.

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In the summertime, people like to drink "frappé," a drink made of instant coffee and sugar
shaken together. You can add water, milk, and ice cubes, depending on how you like it. In
the last few years, Italian coffee, especially cold, has also become very popular (freddo
espresso, cappuccino, freddoccino, etc.).

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