Modern Greek/Lesson 05.5

Lesson 05.5: Notes on sentence structure

The order of words in a Greek sentence is much more free than in English, but you can correctly construct a sentence using the familiar English syntax of subject+verb, or subject+verb+object. The subject is usually omitted when it is a pronoun.

Sentences:

Είναι καλό.	It is good.
Είναι κακό.	It is bad.

Audio recording: Modern_greek_1l.ogg
NOTE: This recording was made by a non-native speaker of Greek.
We would be grateful to any native speaker who could redo it.

In Greek, adjectives change their endings to agree with the gender and number of the nouns they describe (declension). The following vocabulary list introduces some nouns that happen to be neuter, and some adjectives, which are given in neuter form. The word το is the definite article, like English "the," used with singular neuter nouns.

Vocabulary:

νερό	water
κρασί	wine
τσάι	tea
καυτό	hot
κρύο	cold
άσπρο	white
κόκκινο	red
θέλω	to want

Audio recording: Modern_greek_1m.ogg
NOTE: This recording was made by a non-native speaker of Greek.
We would be grateful to any native speaker who could redo it.

Sentences:

Το νερό είναι κρύο.	The water is cold
Το κρασί είναι κρύο.	The wine is cold.
Το τσάι είναι καυτό.	The tea is hot.
Το άσπρο κρασί είναι κρύο.	The white wine is cold.

Audio recording: Modern_greek_1n.ogg
NOTE: This recording was made by a non-native speaker of Greek.
We would be grateful to any native speaker who could redo it.

Negatives are formed by placing δεν before the verb. The question mark in Greek is the semicolon.

Sentences:

Το κόκκινο κρασί δεν είναι κρύο.	The red wine is not cold
Το νερό δεν είναι καυτό.	The water is not hot.

Audio recording: Modern_greek_1o.ogg
NOTE: This recording was made by a non-native speaker of Greek.
We would be grateful to any native speaker who could redo it.

Dialog:

Χαίρετε.	Hello.
Χαίρετε.	Hello.
Έχετε τσάι;	Do you have tea?
Οχι, δεν έχουμε τσάι. Θέλετε νερό;	No, we don't have tea. Do you want water?
Ναι, ευχαριστώ.	Yes, thank you.

Audio recording: Modern_greek_1p.ogg
NOTE: This recording was made by a non-native speaker of Greek.
We would be grateful to any native speaker who could redo it.

Money/To χρήμα, τα λεφτά

Greece uses the euro, το ευρώ, as its currency. One hundredth of a euro is ενα λεπτό. Both words are neuter, and the plural and singular forms of ευρώ are the same.

το ευρώ	τα ευρώ
το λεπτό	τα λεπτά

Dialog in a wine shop:

Τι θέλετε;	What would you like?
Πόσο κάνει το μπουκάλι;	How much is the bottle?
Εννέα ευρώ και δεκα λεπτά.	Nine euros and ten cents.

Modern Greek

Contents
Lesson 1 • Lesson 2 • Lesson 3 • Lesson 4 • Lesson 5 • Lesson 6 • Lesson 7 • Lesson 8 • Lesson 9 • Lesson 10
Vocab 1 • Vocab 2 • Vocab 3 • Vocab 4 • Vocab 5 • Vocab 6 • Vocab 7 • Vocab 8 • Vocab 9
Alphabet • Grammar
Credits