More Phrases in Modern Greek

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Guide to reading and using the following Greek phrases:

Each phrase, below, is explained at three levels: at the word, segment, and sentence level.

Clicking on the Greek word, you hear the pronunciation.

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Cells for nouns, adjectives, articles, or anything else that is associated with a gender, are color-coded as follows:

PHRASES: ΦΡΑΣΕΙΣ

GLOSSARY: ΛΕΞΙΛΟΓΙΟ

Αγορά : Agora. Proper noun, feminine, singular, accusative of Αγορά. This is the place where the ancient Athenians used to assemble, deciding the policies of the state by voting. The non-proper noun αγορά (not capitalized) means "market". Conjugated acc. to feminine pattern in -α / ες.

Αθήνα : Athens. Proper noun, feminine, singular, nominative. Conjugated acc. to feminine pattern in -α / ες.

Ακρόπολη : Acropolis. Proper noun, feminine, singular, accusative. Notice that it is a compound word: ακρο- (edge) + πόλη (city). Literally means citadel (many ancient cities had ακροπόλεις, citadels, not only Athens; the one of Corinth is another well-known one). Conjugated acc. to feminine pattern in -η / εις.

άλλες : other. Pronoun, feminine, plural, accusative of άλλη. Masc.: άλλος; Fem.: άλλη; Neut.: άλλο. Cognates in English: first constituent of words such as allegory, allele, allergy, allomorph, allophone, allosaurus. Conjugated acc. to feminine pattern in -η / ες.

Αμερικής : America's. Proper noun, feminine, singular, genitive of Αμερική. Note that when Greeks say Αμερική, they may mean either the United States, or one of the two continents. However, an American (masc: Αμερικάνος; fem: Αμερικάνα) is always a person from the U.S. Conjugated acc. to feminine pattern in -η / ες.

αν : if. Particle. An older form, εάν, identical in meaning, may still be used occasionally.

από : from. Preposition. This preposition is the first constituent of several Greek words which have passed into the English language: apogee, apology, apostate, apostle, apostrophe, apotheosis, etc.

αρέσει : likes. Verb, third person singular, present tense, appearing only in 2nd and 3rd person. (The first person of this verb, αρέσω, has the meaning "I am liked by somebody"; see note for more). Imperfect: άρεζε. Past: άρεσε. Future: θα αρέσει. Perfect: έχει αρέσει. Appears only in active voice. (The middle form αρέσομαι or αρέσκομαι exists, but it has the meaning of "I have the habit of...")

Αρχαία : ancient. Adjective, feminine, singular, accusative of αρχαία. Here the word is used as part of a proper noun (Αρχαία Αγορά). Masc.: αρχαίος; Fem.: αρχαία; Neut.: αρχαίο. Cognates in English: archaic. Conjugated acc. to feminine pattern in -η / ες.

αρχαία : ancient. Adjective, neuter, plural, accusative of αρχαίο. Here it plays the role of a noun (since it is not followed by another noun), much like in English when we say "the ancients", meaning "the people of antiquity". Masc.: αρχαίος; Fem.: αρχαία; Neut.: αρχαίο. Cognates in English: archaic. Conjugated acc. to neuter pattern in -ο.

αρχαιολογικό : archeological. Adjective, neuter, singular, accusative of αρχαιολογικό. Here used as part of a proper name. Masc.: αρχαιολογικός; Fem.: αρχαιολογική; Neut.: αρχαιολογικό. Cognate in English: archeology. Conjugated acc. to neuter pattern in -ο.

αρχαίων : ancient. Adjective, neuter, plural, genitive of αρχαίο. Masc.: αρχαίος; Fem.: αρχαία; Neut.: αρχαίο. Cognates in English: archaic. Conjugated acc. to neuter pattern in -ο.

αυτοκίνητα : cars. Noun, neuter, plural, accusative of αυτοκίνητο. Notice that this is a compound word: αυτο (auto) + κινητο (mobile), thus literally meaning "automobile". The second constituent comes from κίνηση. Conjugated acc. to neuter pattern in -ο.

γνωρίζετε : you know, you are aware of (pl.). Verb (transitive & intr.), second person plural, present, subjunctive mood of γνωρίζω: I know, I am aware of. Cognates in English: cognition, cognate, ignore, agnostic. Conjugated acc. to λύνω. Imperfect: γνώριζα. Past: γνώρισα. Future: θα γνωρίσω. Perfect: έχω γνωρίσει.

διακοπές : vacations. Noun, feminine, plural, accusative of διακοπές. This word appears only in plural with the meaning "vacations, holidays". The same word in the singular, διακοπή, has the meaning of "interruption". Conjugated acc. to feminine pattern in -η / ες.

διαφορά : difference. Noun, feminine, singular, nominative. Cognate in English: differ. Conjugated acc. to feminine pattern in -α / ες. See also next entry

διαφορετική : different. Adjective, feminine, singular, nominative. Masc.: διαφορετικός; Fem.: διαφορετική; Neut.: διαφορετικό. Cognate in English: differ. Conjugated acc. to feminine pattern in -η / ες. See also previous entry.

Διός : Zeus. Proper noun, masculine, singular, genitive of Δίας. The ancient form and declension of this word in the nominative case is ο Ζευς; genitive: του Διός; dative: τω_ι Διί; accusative: τον Δία; vocative: ω Ζευ. The ancient form is still in use in Modern Greek in expressions such as Ολύμπιος Ζευς (notice that in Modern Greek the god's name is pronounced [zefs]). Conjugated acc. to masculine pattern in -ος.

είναι : is. Verb, auxiliary, third person singular, present tense, of είμαι: I am. See its conjugation here.

είτε : either, whether. Conjunctive particle. The English syntactic construct is: either... or..., with one or more "or..." parts. In Greek the structure is the same, except that both either and or are usually expressed through είτε. In our example we preferred to express or... with its direct translation ή... (still correct but less common), mostly for didactic purposes.

εθνικό : national. Adjective, neuter, singular, accusative of εθνικό. Here used as part of a proper name. Masc.: εθνικός; Fem.: εθνική; Neut.: εθνικό. Cognate in English: ethnic, ethnicity. Conjugated acc. to neuter pattern in -ο.

Ελλάδα : Greece. Proper noun, feminine, singular, accusative of Ελλάδα. Conjugated acc. to feminine pattern in -α / ες.

ενδιαφέροντα : interesting. Adjective, neuter, plural, nominative of ενδιαφέρον. Masc.: ενδιαφέρων; Fem.: ενδιαφέρουσα; Neut.: ενδιαφέρον. Conjugated acc. to neuter pattern in -ον / οντος.

επισκεφθείτε : you visit (pl.). Verb (transitive), passive voice, second person plural, past, subjunctive mood of επισκέπτομαι: I visit, conjugated acc. to λύνομαι. This verb has no active voice. Notice that it is a compound word: επί (on) + σκέπτομαι (I think). Cognates in English: skeptic, although this comes from the second constituent: σκέπτομαι = I think (σκέψη = thought). Imperfect: επισκεπτόμουν. Past: επισκέφθηκα. Future: θα επισκεφθώ. Perfect: έχω επισκεφθεί. See note on conjugation of compound verbs.

Ευρώπης : Europe's. Proper noun, feminine, singular, genitive of Ευρώπη. Note the pronunciation of "υ": it is [v], not [i]. This is a case of the diphthong "ευ", so "υ" should be pronounced as either [v], or [f]; here is is [v], because the following sound ([r]) is voiced. Likewise, the European currency unit is pronounced [evro'] in Greek (stress on [o]), not [yu'ro]. Conjugated acc. to feminine pattern in -η / ες.

έχει : is. Verb, third person singular, present tense, of έχω: I have. Conjugated acc. to λύνω, but it has no past, or any of the perfect tenses. Imperfect: είχα. Future: θα έχω. Appears only in active voice.

η : the. Definite article, singular, feminine, nominative. Do not confuse it with the conjunctor "or" (see next entry); this one is never stressed, neither in pronunciation, nor in writing.

ή : or. Conjunctive particle. Do not confuse it with the feminine definite article (see previous entry); this one is always stressed, both in pronunciation, and in writing.

ημέρες : days. Noun, feminine, plural, accusative of ημέρα. Conjugated acc. to feminine pattern in -α / ες.

θέλετε : you want (pl.). Verb (transitive), active voice, second person plural, present, subjunctive mood of θέλω: I want, conjugated acc. to λύνω. Imperfect: ήθελα. Past: θέλησα. Future: θα θελήσω. Perfect: έχω θελήσει.

ίσως : maybe, perhaps. Adverb.

και : and. Conjunctive particle. Sometimes this word is changed to κι, when the following word starts with a vowel. However, there is no rule demanding that κι has to be used in that case; certainly και is used always when the following word starts with a consonant.

καλό : good. Adjective, neuter, singular, nominative. Masc.: καλός; Fem.: καλή; Neut.: καλό. Cognates in English: calligraphy, calisthenics. Conjugated acc. to neuter pattern in -ο.

κάνετε : you do, you make (pl.). Verb (transitive), second person plural, past, subjunctive mood of κάνω: I do, I make, conjugated acc. to λύνω, but with a slight irregularity: this verb's present, present subjunctive, future, and past subjunctive, all have the same endings (those of the present tense). Imperfect: έκανα (also: έκαμνα, esp. in Macedonia). Past: έκανα. Future: θα κάνω. Perfect: έχω κάνει.

κίνηση : traffic, movement. Noun, feminine, singular, accusative of κίνηση. The ancient and now rather obsolete form of this word is κίνησις. However, it is not uncommon to encounter this form in Modern Greek, esp. in written texts. Cognate in English: cinema, kinesiology, kinesthesia. Such words (which used to end in -ις but in modern language end in -η) are conjugated acc. to feminine pattern in -η / εις.

κόσμο : world, people. Noun, masculine, singular, accusative of κόσμος. Cognates in English: cosmos. Conjugated acc. to masculine pattern in -ος.

λίγο : few. Adjective, neuter, singular, accusative of λίγο. Masc.: λίγος; Fem.: λίγη; Neut.: λίγο. Cognates in English: oligarchy, Oligocene (the cognates come from the ancient form ολίγο). Conjugated acc. to neuter pattern in -ο.

μεγάλες : big, great. Adjective, feminine, plural, accusative of μεγάλη. Masc.: μεγάλος; Fem.: μεγάλη; Neut.: μεγάλο. Cognates in English: first constituent of words such as megabyte, megahertz, megalomania, megaphone, megaton, etc. Conjugated acc. to feminine pattern in -η / ες.

μείνετε : you stay (pl.). Verb (intransitive), active voice, second person plural, past, subjunctive mood of μένω: I stay, conjugated acc. to λύνω. Imperfect: έμενα. Past: έμεινα. Future: θα μείνω. Perfect: έχω μείνει.

μέρη : places; also: parts. Noun, neuter, plural, nominative of μέρος. Conjugated acc. to neuter pattern in -ος.

μην, μη: don't. Particle. The first form is used when the initial letter of the following word (almost always a verb in the imperative mood) is a vowel, or one of κ, π, τ, ξ, ψ; for the rest of the consonants, the second form is used. Although it is translated as "don't" in English (because it preceeds verbs), it is just a particle: there is nothing like the auxiliary verb "do" in it. The second form can also be used as an imperative: Μη! (Don't!)

μια : a, one. Indefinite article. Feminine, singular, accusative. Masc.: ένας; Fem.: μια; Neut.: ένα. Notice its pronunciation: native speakers actually say [μνιά], where the ν is actually like the Spanish "en^~e" in "Espan^~a". Notice also that there is an alternative stress pattern and, consequently, alternative pronunciation and spelling for this word: μία, which is disyllabic with the stress on iota; in this form, there is no insertion of any extra sound. The form μία is slightly more formal; the form μια is slightly more colloquial.

μνημείων : monuments. Noun, neuter, plural, genitive of μνημείο. Cognates in English: mnemonic, monument. Notice that μνήμη = memory. Conjugated acc. to neuter pattern in -ο.

μουσείο : museum. Noun, neuter, singular, accusative of μουσείο. Here used as a proper name. Cognates in English: museum. Conjugated acc. to neuter pattern in -ο.

μπορείτε : you can (pl.). Verb (intransitive), second person plural, present tense, indicative mood of μπορώ: I can, conjugated acc. to λύνω. Imperfect: μπορούσα. Past: μπόρεσα. Future: θα μπορέσω. Perfect: έχω μπορέσει.

να : to. Particle, the most frequent word in Modern Greek. It is used to form the subjunctive mood of verbs, by prepending it to the verb, as in every instance in this page.

ολυμπίου : olympian. Adjective, masculine, singular, genitive of ολύμπιος. Here used as part of a proper noun. Masc.: ολύμπιος; Fem.: ολύμπια; Neut.: ολύμπιο. Conjugated acc. to masculine pattern in -ος.

όμως : though, however. Adverb.

οτι : that. Pronoun. Notice that I place no accent mark over this word, although it is disyllabic. This is an exception. The reason is that there is another word with the exact same three letters, ο, τ, ι, meaning "whatever", which I write with accent mark, like this: ότι. To differentiate between the two in writing, I write this οτι without accent mark (and there is actually no stress in speech on any of its two syllables when embedded in a phrase). However, a different convention has prevailed in actual writing practice in Modern Greek (to my utter chagrin!): you will see this word written with an accent mark: ότι (although as I mentioned it is not stressed in speech), whereas the one meaning "whatever" is written with a comma (and no space) after o, like this: ό,τι (this latter form was also the one used in the ancient language, reflecting the fact that the word was made of two constituents). The "whatever"-word is always stressed in speech. Which style do you prefer? I find mine more rational (it reflects the pronunciation), but go argue with Greeks, who take all the wrong decisions regarding their written language all the time!

παρακάτω : following, below. Adverb. Notice that it is a compound of two words: παρά (by) + κάτω (down).

παραλείψετε : you miss, you omit (pl.). Verb (transitive), second person plural, past, subjunctive mood of παραλείπω: I miss, I omit, conjugated acc. to λύνω. Cognates in English: paraleipsis (or: paralepsis). Notice that it is a compound word: παρά (by) + λείπω (am absent). Imperfect: παρέλειπα. Past: παρέλειψα. Future: θα παραλείψω. Perfect: έχω παραλείψει. See note on conjugation of compound verbs.

πεζούς : pedestrians. Adjective, masculine, plural, accusative of πεζός. Here used as a noun. Masc.: πεζός; Fem.: πεζή; Neut.: πεζό. Conjugated acc. to masculine pattern in -ος.

πιο : most, more. Adverb. Notice its pronunciation: native speakers actually say [πχιό]. Note the similarity of this remark with the one for the word μια, above (there is no alternative pronunciation or speling for πιο). The meaning of πιο does not correspond exactly to either "most", or "more". It can be used in front of an adjective to form the comparative form of adjectives. For example, πιο σημαντικός = σημαντικότερος: more important (contrary to English, in Greek it is equally fine to say either "more important", or "importanter" -- if such term existed). When preceded by the definite article it forms the superlative form: o πιο σημαντικός (see also comments on comparative and superlative). If used in front of adverbs, it adds emphasis to the degree denoted by the adverb: πιο γρήγορα: more quickly; πιο πολύ: even more. The expression πολύ πιο means: much more. (We can even say πολύ πιο λίγο: much less, lit.: much more less.)

πόλη : city. Noun, feminine, singular, nominative. The ancient and now rather obsolete form of this word is πόλις. However, it is not uncommon to encounter this form in Modern Greek, esp. in written texts. Cognate in English: the second constituent of names of cities of the U.S., such as Minneapolis, Indianapolis, etc. Such words (which used to end in -ις but in modern language end in -η) are conjugated acc. to feminine pattern in -η / εις.

πόλεις : cities. Noun, feminine, plural, accusative. of πόλη. See previous entry.

πολλές : much, many. Adjective, feminine, plural, accusative of πολλή. Masc.: πολύς; Fem.: πολλή; Neut.: πολύ. Cognates in English: see adverb πολύ, below. See its conjugation here.

πολλή : much, many. Adjective, feminine, singular, accusative of πολλή. Masc.: πολύς; Fem.: πολλή; Neut.: πολύ. Cognates in English: see adverb πολύ, below. See its conjugation here.

πολύ : much, many. Adjective, neuter, singular, accusative of πολύ. Masc.: πολύς; Fem.: πολλή; Neut.: πολύ. Cognates in English: see next entry. See its conjugation here. Notice that this form of the adjective is written and pronounced identically with the adverb meaning "much" (see next entry).

πολύ : much. Adverb. Cognates in English: Fisrt constituent of compound words such as polyester, polygamy, polygon, Polynesia, polytechnic, polyp, etc. Notice that this adverb is written and pronounced identically with the neuter of the adjective πολύς ("much", see previous entry).

που : that. Conjunctive particle. It is used to introduce a subordinate clause that modifies a noun phrase in the main clause. (Noticed the that in the previous sentence?). Do not confuse this word with this one: πού, stressed both in pronunciation and in writing (in spite of being a monosyllabic word, to distinguish it from the conjunctive particle), which is the adverb "where", introducing a question.

πράσινο : green. Adjective, neuter, singular, accusative of πράσινο. Here it is used as a noun. Masc.: πράσινος; Fem.: πράσινη; Neut.: πράσινο. Conjugated acc. to neuter pattern in -ο.

σας : your, you (pl.). Possessive and personal pronoun, second person plural. After a noun, it is possessive "your"; Before a verb, it is personal "you".

σημαντικές : important. Adjective, feminine, plural, accusative of σημαντική. Masc.: σημαντικός; Fem.: σημαντική; Neut.: σημαντικό. Cognate in English: semantic; notice, however, that the meaning is very different. Conjugated acc. to feminine pattern in -η / ες.

στην : to the. Definite article, feminine, singular, accusative. This is actually a compound form of the ancient εις την (to the).

στον : to the. Definite article, masculine, singular, accusative. This is actually a compound form of the ancient εις τον (to the).

στύλους : pillars. Noun, masculine, plural, accusative of στύλος. Cognate in English: stylus, but with a different meaning; also, the relation between the two words is not certain. Conjugated acc. to masculine pattern in -ος.

συλλογές : collections. Noun, feminine, plural, accusative of συλλογή. Cognate in English: syllogism; notice, however, that the meaning is entirely different. An interesting remark about this word is that just like "collect" (the verb) can be seen as coming from two roots, col+lect, similarly, συλλέγω (the verb) comes from the same two Greek roots: συν+λέγω, where λέγ- is the root for "lect-", "lex-", "log-", etc., while συν is the Greek equivalent of "con". Conjugated acc. to feminine pattern in -η / ες.

σχεδιάζετε : you plan (pl.). Verb (transitive), second person plural, present tense, of σχεδιάζω: I plan, conjugated acc. to λύνω. Cognates in English: schedule, sketch. Imperfect: σχεδίαζα. Past: σχεδίασα. Future: θα σχεδιάσω. Perfect: έχω σχεδιάσει.

τα : the. Definite article, neuter, plural, nominative & accusative.

τελείως : totally, completely. Adverb.

την : the. Definite article, feminine, singular, accusative.

της : the. Definite article, feminine, singular, genitive.

τις : the. Definite article, feminine, plural, accusative.

το : the. Definite article, neuter, singular, nominative & accusative.

του : the. Definite article, masculine & neuter, singular, genitive.

τους : the. Definite article, masculine, plural, accusative.

τσιμέντο : cement. Noun, neuter, singular, accusative of τσιμέντο. Notice that although this is a word of foreign origin, it has passed into the language and it is conjugated acc. to neuter pattern in -ο, contrary to most other foreign words which remain unchanged in their conjugation.

υπάρχουν : there are, exist. Verb (intransitive), third person plural, present tense, of υπάρχω: I exist, conjugated acc. to λύνω. Imperfect: υπήρχα. Past: υπήρξα. Future: θα υπάρξω. Perfect: έχω υπάρξει.

υπόλοιπη : rest of. Adjective, feminine, singular, accusative. Masc.: υπόλοιπος; Fem.: υπόλοιπη; Neut.: υπόλοιπο. Consists of two parts, the first of which is the preposition υπό, passed in English as hypo- (hypocrite, hypotenuse, hypothesis, etc.); the second part, λοιπός, still means "rest". Conjugated acc. to feminine pattern in -η / ες.

φύση : nature. Noun, feminine, singular, nominative. The ancient and now rather obsolete form of this word is φύσις. However, it is not uncommon to encounter this form in Modern Greek, esp. in written texts. Cognates in English: physics, physical, physiology, physique. Such words (which used to end in -ις but in modern language end in -η) are conjugated acc. to feminine pattern in -η / εις.

NOTES: ΣΗΜΕΙΩΣΕΙΣ

αν σχεδιάζετε : if you plan. The particle αν, just like the particle να, introduces subjunctive mood. Here, we have subjunctive of the present tense.

τις διακοπές σας : your vacations. Notice that the possessive pronoun follows the noun, in Greek. A note on pronunciation: when two same consonants are encountered as in this case, where an initial σ follows a final ς, one does not have to pronounce them separately, especially if one speaks fast. In slow speech, however, the two consonants may produce a prolonged sound of a single one. This observation is true only between word-boundaries; double consonants within a word are always pronounced as if they were a single consonant.

καλό είναι : "it's a good idea". Notice the reversal of the predicate and verb. This is not regular: the regular pattern is <verb>+<predicate>, as in English. This is an exception, which should be treated as a sort of idiom.

τα παρακάτω : the following. Contrary to English, the word παρακάτω is not a participle, but an adverb. How can we have an article (τα) in front of an adverb? The reason is that some noun is assumed to exist after the word "παρακάτω", but not written explicitly, e.g., "τα παρακάτω σχόλια" ("the following comments").

πολλή κίνηση,
πολλές ημέρες: "much traffic", "many days". In Greek there is no syntactic distinction between countable and uncountable nouns regarding the adjectives many-much.

έχει όμως: "however, it has". Notice that the syntax is not strict: όμως can be placed before the verb: όμως έχει.

και μια από...: "also one of...". Although we translate και as "also" in this phrase, notice that this is not the usual way of saying "also" in Greek (the usual way is επίσης, and επιπλέον).

τις πιο σημαντικές: "the most important". This is the superlative form in Modern Greek. For example, for the adjective σημαντικός we have, comparative: σημαντικότερος; superlative: ο πιο σημαντικός. Another form, the ancient superlative, σημαντικότατος, adds emphasis on the comparative in the modern language -- it could be translated as "very, very important" (but not necessarily "the single most important").

σας αρέσει: "you (pl.) like". Literally, this means "to you, it likes". Take it as an idiomatic expression. For example, the phrase "I like music" in Greek is: μου αρέσει η μουσική (lit.: "to me it likes the music"). Syntactically, it is as if Greeks say "music likes me". Semantically, however, the phrase is no different than "I like music" (and no native speaker of Greek ever notices the syntactic strangeness of this expression).

conjugation of compound verbs: Compound verbs consisting of a preposition and a simple verb (e.g., παραλείπω = παρά + λείπω) retain the preposition unchanged in all tenses, while the normal changes are effected on the simple verb. E.g., the past of λείπω is έλειψα, therefore, the past of παραλείπω is παρά+έλειψα = παρέλειψα (α+ε undergoes elision, becoming ε).

subjunctive mood : The subjunctive mood in Greek is usually translated by the infinitive in English (notice that there are no infinitives in Modern Greek). For example: θέλω να τραγουδήσω, I want to sing.

present subjunctive : The subjunctive mood of the present tense in Greek has the endings of the present tense in indicative mood, but the particle να is prepended to the verb. The meaning is not of an action that happens now; rather, of one that may be happening in the future (i.e., the present subjunctive has a progressive aspect). For example: θέλω να τραγουδάω, I want to be singing.

past subjunctive : The subjunctive mood of the past tense in Greek has the endings of the future tense, but the particle να is prepended to the verb, instead of θα (which is the particle for future). The meaning is not of an action that happened in the past; rather, of one that may happen in the future. For example: θέλω να τραγουδήσω, I want to sing.

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