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IT'S ALL GREEK TO ME!

Ancient Greece has given us a large part of our alphabet (a word itself derived from the first two letters of the Greek alphabet: alpha, beta) and a number of everyday words, such as: aphrodisiac, arithmetic, lexicon, police. Greek is a fairly difficult language
to learn and, as with other languages, some words are masculine, some feminine and some neuter, hence you ask for ena frappé  but it's mia bierra. The locals will be impressed if you manage a few basic words and won't be too surprised if you massacre moussaka, pronounced mou'sar'kaaar.

Here’s a very basic beginner’s guide to holiday Greek:
greek

English

Cheers
hello (polite / plural)
hello (informal & singular)
goodbye (as above)
goodbye (final)
abbreviation of yiasou/sas
please
thank you
pardon
good morning
good afternoon
good evening
good night
what is your name?
my name is
how are you? (pl. / formal)
how are you? (sing. / inf.)
I’m fine
and (how are) you?
pleased to meet you
where is
the bank
the doctor
the cigarette kiosk
the toilet
slowly, slowly
it's no problem
I don’t know
I don’t understand
do you speak English?
yes
no
one
two
three
four
five
six
seven
eight
nine
ten
twenty
thirty
forty
fifty
evro
petrol
left
right
straight on
I am
you are
he / she/ it is
we are
you are
they are
Greek

yiamas

yiasas
yiasou
yiasou / yiasas
adio
yah
para-ka-lor
ev-kha-risto
sig-noh-mee
kali-maira
kal-o a-po-yevma
kali-spaira
kali-neekta
pos say lenay
may lenay
tee kanetay
tee kaneese
kala or mia harah
essee
hairo polee
pooh eenay
ee tra-peza
oh yatros
toe periptero
ee too-a-letta
seegar, seegar
kan-ena provlema
then ksero
then katalaveno
milartay Anglikar
nay
okhi
ena / mia
dee-o
tree-a
tessera
penday
exee
efta
okto
enya
deka
eekosee
tree-anda
saranda
peninda
evro
venzeenee
aristera
dexia
eeseea
airgo eemay
essee eesay
avtos / avtee / avtoe eenay
emees eemasstay
esees eestastay
avtee / avtes / avtah eenay


Yiasou / yassas mean both hello and goodbye. Adio also means goodbye but only e.g. at the end of your holiday.

Kalispera / kalinikta are used as we would, i.e. good evening and hello to you / good night to you, I’m going.

Parakalor means please but, if you say 'efkharisto' to, e.g. a waiter, they will likely reply 'parakalor', as in "I am pleased (to be of service)" i.e. "It’s my pleasure (to serve you)".

A general (and very basic) rule is that if a word (singular form) ends in ‘a’ it’s female, so you say e.g. “mia bierra” for a beer but “ena frappé” for a chilled coffee.

octopus Don't worry if you don't get it quite right. I remember one young couple, first time to Greece and loving it, amused the locals by waving at them every morning and wishing them "kalamari" (squid).

And one accommodation owner assured me, in English, that all her rooms were self-catering and had a chicken.
chicken

If you think Greek is difficult to learn (I do!), how about the English language?

How can I intimate this to my intimate friends?


The food decided a soldier in the desert to desert after dessert.

The troops weren't easily led; the officer could lead but he'd caught some lead.

The bandage was wound around the wound.

The land is used to produce produce.

The dump was full so they had to refuse any more refuse.

The Polish furniture needs a polish.

As there's no time like the present, it's time to present the present of thyme.

A sea bass was painted on the base of the bass drum.

When shot at, the dove dove into the bushes.

I do not object to the object of the exercise but I had to subject the subject to tests.

The insurance was invalid for the invalid.

The oarsmen had a row about how to row.

The two were too close to the door to close it.

That buck does like does.

A tailor and a sewer fell down a sewer.

The farmer's wife could sew so the farmer wished his sow could sow.

Once at sea I could see the wind was too strong to wind in the sail.

In the shed I shed a tear when I saw the saw tear my skin, boy it was sore.

There was room in the inn as e
veryone was out at the inn.

In Greek a tonos above a vowel indicates where to put the emphasis, e.g.
ακριβώς.



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