Dialogue

Vocabulary

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Lesson Transcript

INTRODUCTION
Fay: Hello, and welcome to GreekPod101.com, Beginner Season 1, Lesson 2 - Take the Last Greek Train to Athens. This is Fay.
Chrissi: And I’m Chrissi.
Fay: What are we learning in this lesson?
Chrissi: We’ll be introducing the masculine indefinite article (enas).
Fay: The conversation takes place at the airport subway station.
Chrissi: It is between Peter Gordon, and a station clerk.
Fay: Since the characters don’t know each other, the conversation is in formal language.
Chrissi: Let’s listen.

Lesson conversation

Πέτρα Γκόρντον: Συγνώμη, κυρία, εδώ είναι δύο γραμμές αλλά μόνο μια πλατφόρμα;
Υπάλληλος σταθμού: Είναι μια γραμμή για το Μετρό και μια για τον Προαστιακό Σιδηρόδρομο.
Πέτρα Γκόρντον: Οπότε, μόνο μια πλατφόρμα και για τα δύο τρένα;
Υπάλληλος σταθμού: Ναι. Ένας σταθμός, μια πλατφόρμα, δύο τρένα.
Fay: Now let’s listen to the slow version.
Πέτρα Γκόρντον: Συγνώμη, κυρία, εδώ είναι δύο γραμμές αλλά μόνο μια πλατφόρμα;
Υπάλληλος σταθμού: Είναι μια γραμμή για το Μετρό και μια για τον Προαστιακό Σιδηρόδρομο.
Πέτρα Γκόρντον: Οπότε, μόνο μια πλατφόρμα και για τα δύο τρένα;
Υπάλληλος σταθμού: Ναι. Ένας σταθμός, μια πλατφόρμα, δύο τρένα.
Fay: Now with the translation.
Πέτρα Γκόρντον: Συγνώμη, κυρία, εδώ είναι δύο γραμμές αλλά μόνο μια πλατφόρμα;
Fay: Excuse me, madam, here are two tracks but only one platform?
Υπάλληλος σταθμού: Είναι μια γραμμή για το Μετρό και μια για τον Προαστιακό Σιδηρόδρομο.
Fay: There is one track for the Metro and one track for the Suburban Railroad.
Πέτρα Γκόρντον: Οπότε, μόνο μια πλατφόρμα και για τα δύο τρένα;
Fay: So only one platform for both trains?
Υπάλληλος σταθμού: Ναι. Ένας σταθμός, μια πλατφόρμα, δύο τρένα.
Fay: Yes. One station, one platform, two trains.
POST CONVERSATION BANTER
Chrissi: So how’s transportation in Greece? Didn’t Athens use to have some problems in that area?
Fay: Oh, it still does! There are too many cars, taxis, supply vehicles and buses going around 24 hours a day. Not to mention that Athens was not built for the 6 million people it has now!
Chrissi: So what do you do?
Fay: Well, we plan ahead; we take into account all possible things that can happen and delay us. And, if it fits, we take the metro.
Chrissi: Right! The new metro built for the 2004 Olympics, isn’t it?
Fay: Yes. It is great. It’s not very big so you won’t get lost or anything and it will take you to all the important places and to many residential areas.
Chrissi: I’ll keep that in mind. Shall we move on to our vocabulary?
Fay: Sure!
VOCAB LIST
Fay: First, we have…
Chrissi: Συγνώμη [natural native speed].
Fay: I'm sorry, excuse me, I beg your pardon.
Chrissi: Συγνώμη [slowly - broken down by syllable]. Συγνώμη [natural native speed].
Fay: And the next…
Chrissi: κύρια [natural native speed].
Fay: Madam.
Chrissi: κύρια [slowly - broken down by syllable]. κύρια [natural native speed].
Fay: And the next…
Chrissi: γραμμές [natural native speed].
Fay: Tracks, lines.
Chrissi: γραμμές [slowly - broken down by syllable]. γραμμές [natural native speed].
Fay: And the next…
Chrissi: αλλά [natural native speed].
Fay: But.
Chrissi: αλλά [slowly - broken down by syllable]. αλλά [natural native speed].
Fay: And the next…
Chrissi: μόνο [natural native speed].
Fay: Only.
Chrissi: μόνο [slowly - broken down by syllable]. μόνο [natural native speed].
Fay: And the next…
Chrissi: μια [natural native speed].
Fay: One.
Chrissi: μια [slowly - broken down by syllable]. μια [natural native speed].
Fay: And the next…
Chrissi: πλατφόρμα [natural native speed].
Fay: Platform.
Chrissi: πλατφόρμα [slowly - broken down by syllable]. πλατφόρμα [natural native speed].
Fay: And the next…
Chrissi: τρένο [natural native speed].
Fay: Trains.
Chrissi: τρένο [slowly - broken down by syllable]. τρένο [natural native speed].
Fay: And the next…
Chrissi: σταθμός [natural native speed].
Fay: Station.
Chrissi: σταθμός [slowly - broken down by syllable]. σταθμός [natural native speed].
KEY VOCABULARY AND PHRASES
Fay: Let's take a closer look at the words and phrases in this lesson. I see in our dialogue and our vocabulary that in Greek there are two words for “one.”
Chrissi: Actually, there are three—for the masculine, feminine, and neuter genders.
Fay: Because Greek uses genders.
Chrissi: Yes—extensively! But don’t worry. For the moment, we will focus on the masculine and leave the other two genders for future lessons.
Fay: Also, why those last two lines of the dialogue sound somehow strange?
Chrissi: Oh, you mean μόνο μία πλατφόρμα για δύο τρένα (mono mia platforma gia dyo trena) and ένας σταθμός, μία πλατφόρμα, δύο τρένα (enas stathmos, mia platforma, dyo trena), right?
Fay: Yes. These mean “one platform for two trains” and “one station, one platform, two trains.” Correct?
Chrissi: Exactly! Well, they sound a little strange because we tried to keep the verbs out so we wouldn’t confuse the people listening.
Fay: But they are normal Greek phrases?
Chrissi: Of course they are! You can use them and nobody will say they are not correct.
Fay: So in Greek you can omit the verbs arbitrarily?
Chrissi: Well, not arbitrarily. But as in most languages, there are parts of a sentence that can be omitted if they are understood from the context.
Fay: Another thing—how you translate συγγνώμη (sygnomi)?
Chrissi: You can translate it as “I’m sorry," “Excuse me,” or “Pardon me”; it’s the most basic, and at the same time the most flexible, word to apologize in Greek.
Fay: So our listeners would do well to remember it, right?
Chrissi: Right. So listen and repeat - Συγγ-νώ-μη (Syg-no-mi). Συγγνώμη (Sygnomi).
Fay: Okay. Shall we go on to our main grammar point for this lesson?

Lesson focus

Chrissi: Of course! And our main grammar point is…
Fay: So let’s define the indefinite article!
Chrissi: Greek has two articles. One for situations where we are talking about a specific person or thing…
Fay: That’s the definite article, like “the” in English.
Chrissi: Right! And one for when we are talking about an unspecified person or thing.
Fay: That’s the indefinite article. Like “a/an” in English.
Chrissi: Exactly. For now, we will focus at the masculine indefinite article, though.
Fay: Oh, there are also feminine and neuter?
Chrissi: Yes. As we said in our previous lesson, Greek makes extensive use of genders in many parts of speech. And one of these is articles.
Fay: Okay. So the masculine indefinite article is?
Chrissi: Enas.
Fay: Which means “a” or “an.” Can we say it again? Listeners, please repeat after Chrissi.
Chrissi: Enas.
Fay: Got it. But aren’t articles declinable in Greek?
Chrissi: Yes, they are. But for the moment, we will stick to the nominative case.
Fay: So enas is the nominative case of the masculine indefinite article, right?
Chrissi: Right! It’s also the masculine indefinite pronoun and the masculine numeral one.
Fay: So we learn three for the price of one! How do we know which is which?
Chrissi: Well, it doesn’t really matter. If you want to be technical about it—if it’s followed by a noun, it’s an article; if it’s followed by a verb, it’s a pronoun; and if you are counting, it’s a numeral.
Chrissi: Yes. And it would be ένας αστυνομικός (enas astynomikos). Repeat after me: έ-νας α-στυ-νο-μι-κός (e-nas a-sty-no-mi-kos).
Fay: How will we use it as a pronoun?
Chrissi: In our sample sentences, we have Ο ένας είναι ψηλός και ο άλλος κοντός (O enas einai psilos kai o allos einai kontos).
Fay: This means “The one is tall and the other is short.”
Chrissi: Exactly! So in this case, the word ένας (enas) replaces some noun—maybe the noun “man”—and is followed by the verb είναι (einai).
Fay: Which means “is.”
Chrissi: Right. So here, ένας (enas) is a pronoun.
Fay: And how do we use it as a numeral?
Chrissi: That’s easy! It’s when you count: ένας άνθρωπος (enas anthropos), δύο άνθρωποι (dyo anhtropoi), τρεις άνθρωποι (treis anthropoi), etc.
Fay: That would be “one man,” “two men,” “three men,” etc. Right?
Chrissi: Right!
Fay: So to put it all together, in Greek we have an indefinite article with three genders. The masculine gender is…
Chrissi: Ένας (Enas).
Fay: And this is also the indefinite pronoun and the numeral “one.”
Chrissi: Exactly!
Fay: OK. That will be it for now. Be sure to check our PDF to see more about the indefinite article and its function. Bye!
Chrissi: Γειάαααα! (Geiaaaaa!)

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