Talk Greek - Language notes

Χαίρετε!
hair-e-teh
This is another all-purpose greeting the same as Γεια σας (yiassas) and Γεια σου (yiassoo). It literally means ‘Be happy’.

Χαίρω πολύ
hair-o polee
Literally χαίρω means I’m glad or happy and χαίρετε, you’re happy or be happy. They’re both forms of the same verb, and you’ll notice this change in the ending in many other verbs.

Καλημέρα
kalee-maira
This greeting literally means ‘good day’, but is only used in the morning. If in doubt you can always use one of the all-purpose greetings.

Καλησπέρα
kalee-spaira
This greeting is used from late afternoon (after the end of the siesta period) and throughout the evening. If in doubt you can always use one of the all-purpose greetings.

Παρακαλώ
parakalo
You can use this word to ask something politely, interrupt someone or as a reply to ευχαριστώ

Ευχαριστώ (πολύ)
ef-ha-ree-sto polee
Literally, ευχαριστώ means ‘I thank you’ and ευχαριστούμε, we thank you. Many other verbs change the meaning in the same way with these endings.

Συγνώμη
seegh-no-mee
You can use this word to attract someone’s attention or to ask them to repeat what they’ve just told you.

Ορίστε / Ορίστε;
oreesteh
You can use this word when offering something to someone, meaning ‘Here you are’. Add a questioning intonation and you can use it to ask for clarification when you haven’t heard or understood something, ‘Pardon?’.

Note how in written Greek the question mark looks like a semi-colon.

Τι κάνετε;
tee ka-neh-teh
This can be used when greeting a group of people or one person. For someone you are on first-name terms with, you say Τι κάνεις; (tee ka-nees) Both literally mean ‘What are you doing?’

(Και) εσύ;
(keh) essee
Εσύ is the word for ‘you’ when you’re on first-name terms with the other person.

Πώς σε λένε;
poss seh lenneh
This question literally means ‘How/What do they call you?’ You use it with someone you can be on first-name terms with. Otherwise, you use Πώς σας λένε; (poss sass lenneh).

ο φίλος, η φίλη
oh feeloss, ee feelee
Some words can change their ending to refer to a man, such as ο φίλος (oh feeloss) ‘the’ male friend, or a woman, like η φίλη (ee fee-lee), ‘the’ female friend.

Είναι
ee-neh
Είμαι means ‘I am’. Change the μ to a ν and it becomes είναι, which may mean ‘it is’ as well as ‘he is’ and ‘she is’, or just ‘is’, depending on the context: είναι Άγγλος (ee-neh ang-loss) he’s English, είναι Αγγλίδα (ee-neh ang-lidha) she’s English.

Αυτός είναι ο ...
af-toss eeneh oh
To say ‘this is’, you use Αυτός είναι ο to introduce men or Αυτή είναι η (af-tee eeneh ee) to introduce women. Unlike English, names are also preceded by the word for 'the': ο (oh) for a man's name and η (ee) for a woman's.

Αυτή είναι η ...
af-tee eeneh ee
The words for ‘the, this’ change depending on whether it refers to a man, such as ο φίλος (o an-drass) ‘the’ male friend, or a woman, like η φίλη (ee mee-taira), ‘the’ female friend. This change also applies when referring to things.

μου
moo
Unlike English, the word for ‘my’, μου, always comes after the noun. They’re both preceded by the word for ‘the’: ο γιος μου (o yoss moo), ‘my son’, literally ‘the son (of) mine’.

το ξενοδοχείο
toh kseno-dho-heeo
το is the word for ‘the’ with neuter words like ξενοδοχείο (kseno-dho-heeo) hotel. The best way to remember which one to use - ο, η, το - is to learn it together with the word.

Μία μπύρα
mee-a beera
Ένα ελληνικό καφέ
enna elleeneeko kaffeh
The same as for ‘the’, there’s more than one word for ‘a (one)’.
You use μία (mee-a) with feminine words, which often end in -α. For words which are not feminine, you use ένα (enna).

ένα κιλό άσπρο κρασί
enna kee-lo aspro krassee
House wine or wine from the barrel is ordered by the kilo, which is equivalent to a litre. To order half a kilo you say μισό κιλό (mee-so kee-lo), and a quarter kilo is ένα τέταρτο (enna teh-tar-to).

ντομάτα, ντομάτες
doma-tah, doma-tez

To make a word plural, you usually change its ending:

-ος changes to -οι (-ee)

-α -η change to -ες (-ez)

-ο -ι change to -α (-ah) -ια (-ee-ah)

Words borrowed from other languages and some new words don’t change, like ευρώ

η μελιντζάνα, οι μελιτζάνες
ee melit-za-nah, ee melit-za-nez

οι (ee) is the plural word for ‘the’, when the singular is either ο or η

τα (tah) is the plural for το

Θέλω
thello
This word means ‘I want’. Change the ending from -ω to -ετε and you get ‘you want’: Θέλετε. If you use that word in a question, it means ‘do you want?’. For people you’re on first-name terms with, the ending is -εις, as in Θέλεις. You can apply the same change to many other verbs.

Μιλάς Ελληνικά (mee-lass eh-lee-nee-ka) means ‘You speak Greek’. Raise the intonation to make it into a question - that’s the only change you need to make: Μιλάς Ελληνικά;

Έχουμε χοιρινό σήμερα
ehoomeh hee-ree-no see-maira

Έχουμε (ehoomeh) means ‘we have’, έχω (eho) means ‘I have’.

Έχετε (eheteh) means ‘you have’ or, in a question, ‘do you have?’

Έχεις (ehees) means ‘you have’ when you’re on first-name terms.

These endings can be used with many other verbs to change the meaning in the same way.

Έχετε κατάλογο;
eheteh kata-lo-gho
The word for ‘menu’ is ο κατάλογος (oh kata-lo-ghos). When masculine words like this come after a verb like ‘to have’ they lose their final -ς.

Μήπως έχετε ...;
Mee-poss eheteh
Έχετε means ‘you have’ or, in a question, ‘do you have?’. Change the ending, έχω, and it becomes ‘I have’. The word Μήπως makes the question more tentative and polite - Μήπως έχετε ντομάτες; ‘Would you have any tomatoes?’

Τι θα πάρετε;
tee tha pa-reh-teh
This literally means ‘What will you take?’ For people you’re on first-name terms with, you say Τι θα πάρεις; (tee tha pa-reh-ees). To reply you say Θα πάρω ... (tha pa-roh), ‘I’ll have ...’.

Θα πάτε
tha pa-teh
Πάτε on its own means ‘you go’. Add Θα in front and it becomes ‘you will go’. Apart from expressing something you will do, this is also a common way of giving directions or instructions.

Θέλω να κλείσω ...
thello na kleeso
Θέλω (thello) means ‘I want’, κλείσω means ‘I book’. Add να (na) in between to say ‘I want to book’, literally ‘I want that I book’.

Μπορώ να έχω ...;
borro na eho ...
μπορώ (borro) means ‘Can I...?’. You can use it to make a request or ask for permission. έχω means ‘I have’. Add να (na) in between to say ‘Can I have...?’, literally ‘Can I that I have ...?’

Μ’αρέσει
maressee

Μ’αρέσει (maressee) is short for μου αρέσει (moo aressee), ‘I like (it)’, σας αρέσει; (sass aressee) is ‘do you like (it)?’ or σ’αρέσει; (saressee) short for σου αρέσει (soo aressee) if you’re on first-name terms.

To say what you like, you use the word for ‘the’: μ’αρέσει το χοιρινό (dhen maressee toh hee-ree-no), literally ‘I like the pork’.

δεν μ’αρέσει
dhen maressee
The word δεν (dhen) before any verb makes it negative: δεν μ’αρέσει... (dhen maressee), ‘I don’t like...’, or δεν έχουμε... (dhen ehoomeh) ‘We don’t have...’.

φεύγει
fev-yee
Φεύγω means ‘I leave’. Change the ending to -ει and it means ‘it leaves’: φεύγει (fev-yee) or, in a question, ‘does it leave?. Depending on the context, that ending can also mean 'he' or 'she'.

για τη Μύκονο
ya tee meekono
You’ll notice that some words can lose or get a final -ς depending on where they appear in the sentence and without changing their meaning. For example, after the word για, to.

από την Παρασκευή
apoh teen para-skevee
You’ll also notice that after prepositions (like για, to/for, από, from) the word for ‘the’ changes: η becomes τη and ο becomes το. You’ll also notice that if the following word starts with a π, τ or κ there’s an extra ν at the end.

Τι ώρα...;
tee ora
Ώρα (οra) means both ‘time’ and ‘hour’. To say ‘o’clock’, you use the number, such as οχτώ (ohto), eight, followed by η ώρα (ee ora), literally ‘the hour’.

στις οχτώ και σαράντα
stees ohto keh saranda
When telling the time, you say και (keh), ‘and’, for minutes past the hour: οχτώ και είκοσι (ohto keh eekossee) is literally ‘eight and twenty’, or twenty past eight and οχτώ και μισή (ohto keh mee-see) is ‘eight and a half’, or half past eight. For minutes to the hour, you say παρά (parra), ‘less’:. εννιά παρά είκοσι (en-ya parra eekossee) is literally ‘nine less twenty’, or twenty to nine.

δεκαέξι, δεκαεφτά, δεκαοχτό, δεκαεννιά
dhekaeksi, dhekaefta, dhekaohto, dhekaennia
To say the numbers 13 to 19 you just say δέκα (dheka), ten, followed by the numbers 3 to 9.

εξήνδα, εβδομήντα, οχδόντα, ενενήντα
eksinda, efdhominda, ohdhonda, eneninda
To add units to the tens you simply say the word followed by the numbers 1 to 9: τριάντα τέσσερα (trianda tessera), 34, εξήντα οχτό (eksinda ohto), 68.