Greek Basics: Lesson 3
Do you remember how to say…
?I have and she wants it.|Εγώ το έχω και αυτή το θέλει.
So let’s add to that.
Greek for because is γιατί, which also can mean why.
?She wants it because she does not have it because I have it.|Αυτή το θέλει γιατί δεν το έχει γιατί εγώ το έχω.
Notice how the second αυτή was left out. Remember that you could have also said Αυτή το θέλει γιατί δεν το έχει γιατί το έχω εγώ.
Greek is a “polite” language, which means that it has a different word for you depending on if you want to be formal or familiar.
The formal word for you in Greek is εσείς.
To form the εσείς-form of the verb, change the -ει or -εί ending from the αυτός-form to -ετε or -είτε.
?You can.|Εσείς μπορείτε.
?You have.|Εσείς έχετε.
You should also know that εσείς is used when speaking to more than one person, even if you want to be familiar with them. Simple, right?
?You guys have it, but you don’t want it.|Εσείς το έχετε, αλλά δεν το θέλετε.
One more:
?You want it because you don’t have it.|Εσείς το θέλετε γιατί δεν το έχετε.
Before we move onto the informal you, let’s do some review. Can you remember:
?He hears.|Αυτός ακούει.
?We hear it.|Εμείς ακούμε.
Try to say this one with the different word order that I have been mentioning.
?You want it, but we have it.|Εσείς το θέλετε, αλλά το έχουμε εμείς.
Now, let’s learn the informal word for you.
You (informal) in Greece is εσύ. It sounds just like the plural form but without the ‘s’ sound at the end. You can think of this as because εσείς is also the plural of εσύ.
To form the εσύ-form of the verb, just add -ς to the αυτός-form of the verb.
?He wants it.|Αυτός το θέλει.
?You (informal) want it.|Εσύ το θέλεις.
?She can.|Αυτή μπορεί.
?You (informal) can.|Εσύ μπορείς.
Keep speaking informally. Try to use that “backwards” word order again.
?I do not have it and you do not have it because they have it.|Εγώ δεν το έχω και εσύ δεν το έχεις γιατί το έχουν αυτοί.
Do you remember when I tricked you when I told to you to say we hear in Greek? Try not to get tricked by these ones.
?You (formal) hear.|Εσείς ακούτε.
And…
?You (informal) hear.|Εσύ ακούς.
We are going to learn just a couple more things.
Does, as in he does, in Greek is κάνει. This also means makes.
?I do it.|Εγώ το κάνω.
You might notice that in English it sounds weird to say I do it and might sound better to say I’m doing it. In Greek, you can only say I do it.
?You (informal) are making it.|Εσύ το κάνεις.
?We are doing it.|Εμείς το κάνουμε.
Bread in Greek is ψωμί.
?You guys are making bread.|Εσείς κάνετε ψωμί.
For me in Greek is για μένα.
One last sentence.
?You guys are making bread for me because we want it and we don’t have it.|Εσείς κάνετε ψωμί για μένα γιατί εμείς το θέλουμε και δεν το έχουμε.
Remember to drop the second εμείς.
Great job. See you in the lesson. :)
NOTE: This appears to be the last lesson so far. The course is not marked as finished so there should probably be more lessons in the future. In the meanwhile, you might want to check out some of the other courses we have:
| Greek Alphabet | a course of Greek with 5 lessons produced by Linas |
| Greek Medio-Passive Voice Explained | a course of Greek with 10 lessons produced by Linas |
| Introduction to Norwegian | a course of Norwegian with 5 lessons produced by Linas |
| Demystifying the Chinese Writing | a course of Chinese with 5 lessons produced by Linas |
| Introduction to Estonian | a course of Estonian with 5 lessons produced by Linas |
You can also return to the main page of the labs to see all of the courses we have here.