Vocabulary
ναι ne yes | ||||
όχι óhi no | ||||
ακόμα akóma still, yet | ||||
ξενοδοχείο Xenodohío hotel | ||||
τώρα tóra now | ||||
εντάξει entáxei OK | ||||
ευχαριστώ efharistó thank you | ||||
μαμά mamá mom | ||||
είμαι íme I am | ||||
εδώ edó here | ||||
δεν den not, don't | ||||
γεια ya hi, bye | ||||
στο sto at, in | ||||
όλα óla everything |
Lesson Notes
Grammar
The focus of this lesson is pronunciation
Δεν είμαι ακόμα στο ξενοδοχείο.
"I'm not at the hotel yet."
Greek pronunciation is pretty straightforward and the spelling is almost phonetic. Even the word stress is easy, since it is indicated with a little accent mark above the vowel. Still, there are a few difficulties in the form of letters that don't sound as you'd expect.
- Beta (βήτα) does not sound like B but like V. In fact, there is no /b/ sound in Greek except as /mb/, and even then it's mostly used for foreign words. The /mb/ sound is spelled MP (μι πι).
- By the same token, Delta (δέλτα) does not sound like D; it sounds like the TH in "that". The /d/ sound pretty much only appears in the combination /nd/, spelled as NT (νι ταυ).
- Gamma (γάμα), the Greek equivalent of G, has two pronunciations. If Gamma is followed by a front vowel like /e/ or /i/, it sounds approximately like Y in "year". If Gamma is followed by an /a/, /o/ or /u/ sound however, it sounds like a throaty R. By contrast, the actual Greek R (ρο) is rolled at the front of the mouth.
- Chi (χι) also has two pronunciations. If you studied German, this will be easy for you, because the two pronunciations are exactly the same as the German CH sound. When combined with a back vowel like /a/, /o/ or /u/, Chi is throaty, as in the name of the composer "Bach". When combined with a front vowel like /e/ or /i/, Chi is pronounced as in the German word for I, "ich". If you can't produce this sound yet, try saying Y as in "year", draw it out "yyyyyy" and then keep this mouth position and exhale instead.
- Finally, I should warn you about the Greek letter Ypsilon. Most of the time, it is just another way of writing the "eee" sound, just like the letters Ita and Iota. However, in the combination with Omikron it sounds like "oo", and in combination with Alpha or Epsilon it sounds like /f/ or /v/ ... as in Ευχαριστώ!
Cultural Insights
• Family is very important for the Greeks, as for most Southern Europeans. There is a very special bond between family members, which sometimes seems strange to people from other cultures.
• Young people usually live with their parents until they get married. Even if they go to another city or country for their studies, they go back to live with their parents when they finish their studies.
• Greek parents are very supportive of their children. Because the benefits provided by the Greek government are not sufficient to cover people’s essential expenses, they get financial support from their parents when they study in another city or country, or if they are unemployed. Parents don’t give loans to their children because for them it is an obligation to support their children.
• Sometimes, Greek parents financially support their children even if they work because salaries are low compared to those in the US.
• However, they can also be very intrusive sometimes, and have constant arguments with their children if they don’t approve of their lifestyle or of the way they raise their children. Some issues like homosexuality are still taboo in Greek families, even in big cities.
• Even when the parents are not wealthy, they support their children and their children’s family in other ways, such as by babysitting their grandchildren or cooking for them.
• Family members are very close to even more distant relations (grandparents, uncles and aunts, cousins, and so forth). They spend Easter and Christmas together, and in the past it was very common to spend Sundays together as well, but nowadays this tradition is becoming less widespread.
• Greek women are usually overprotective and proud of their sons. They often show favoritism by preparing special meals for them or by boasting about their scores at school.
Lesson Transcript
INTRODUCTION |
Iro:I’m Iro. |
Judith: Judith here, Absolute Beginner Season, 1 Lesson 1, Your Greek Family is Calling. Hello and welcome to GreekPod101.com where we study modern Greek in a fun education format. |
Iro: So brush up on the Greek that you started learning long ago or start learning today. |
Judith: Thanks again for being here with us. What are we looking at in this lesson? |
Judith: In this lesson, you will learn how to pronounce Greek. |
Iro: This conversation takes place on the phone. |
Iro: Ellie and her boyfriend have just arrived in Athens and they're just heading to their hotel when Ellie already gets a phone call. |
Judith: The conversation is between Ellie and her mom, but we're only hearing Ellie's side of the conversation. |
Iro: Ellie is talking to family, so she will be speaking informal Greek. |
Judith: Let's listen to the conversation. |
DIALOGUES |
Έλλη: Ναι; |
Έλλη: Α μαμά, ναι... |
Έλλη: Ναι, εδώ είμαι... |
Έλλη: Ναι, όλα είναι εντάξει. |
Έλλη: Μαμά, όχι τώρα. Δεν είμαι ακόμα στο ξενοδοχείο. |
Έλλη: Ευχαριστώ. Γεια! |
English Host: Let’s hear the conversation one time slowly. |
Έλλη: Ναι; |
Έλλη: Α μαμά, ναι... |
Έλλη: Ναι, εδώ είμαι... |
Έλλη: Ναι, όλα είναι εντάξει. |
Έλλη: Μαμά, όχι τώρα. Δεν είμαι ακόμα στο ξενοδοχείο. |
Έλλη: Ευχαριστώ. Γεια! |
English Host: Now let’s hear it with the English translation. |
Έλλη: Ναι; |
Judith: Hello? |
Έλλη: Α μαμά, ναι... |
Judith: Ah, mom! Yes... |
Έλλη: Ναι, εδώ είμαι... |
Judith: Yes, I'm here... |
Έλλη: Ναι, όλα είναι εντάξει. |
Judith: Yes, everything is alright... |
Έλλη: Μαμά, όχι τώρα. Δεν είμαι ακόμα στο ξενοδοχείο. |
Judith: Mom, not now. I'm not at the hotel yet... |
Έλλη: Ευχαριστώ. Γεια! |
Judith: Thank you. Bye! |
POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
Judith: Okay. For our cultural point today, how about we talk about family. Iro, can you tell me a bit about family in Greece? |
Iro: Well, Judith, family is actually very important for the Greeks as for most of the Europeans. There's a very special bone between family members which sometimes might seem strange to people from other cultures. |
Judith: How's it strange or how's it different from how things are in America? |
Iro: Well, for example, young children, after they finished the school, they go to the university and after finished their studies, they just go back to live with their parents. |
Judith: They live with their parents until they're married? |
Iro: Sometimes yes, that is true, but it's mostly because of the state cannot support them to live on their own. So even if they find a job, they just can't have enough money to pay the rent. |
Judith: I see. So families financially support their children. |
Iro: Yes, I'm afraid they have to do that for some years after they finish their studies. |
Judith: Are the families also more involved in their children's lives? |
Iro: Well, if a family supports financially their children, then sometimes they become a little bit intrusive which can cause some conflicts in the family. |
Judith: What are the conflicts about? |
Iro: For example, if they don't approve their children's lifestyle, for example, young people would like to come back at home late at night, some parents just find this inappropriate and they're just trying to change their children's way of life. |
Judith: Would you say that grandparents or uncles, aunts are also closer to the family? |
Iro: Yes, I would say that in Greece, even distant relatives are very close to the family. I mean, sometimes, they spend Easter and Christmas together although the last year's that is not always the case. |
Judith: Okay, anything else you want to share about Greek families? |
Iro: I would also like to say that sometimes mothers are overprotective and proud of the sons. |
Judith: Can you give me example? |
Iro: For example, sometimes, they show favoritism by preparing special meals for them or by boasting about their scores at school. |
VOCAB LIST |
Judith: Oh, wow. Let's take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. The first word we will see is… |
Iro: ναι |
Judith: Yes. |
Iro: ναι |
Judith: Next. |
Iro: μαμά |
Judith: Mom. |
Iro: μαμά |
Judith: Next. |
Iro: εδώ |
Judith: Here. |
Iro: εδώ |
Judith: Next. |
Iro: είμαι |
Judith: I am. |
Iro: είμαι |
Judith: Next. |
Iro: όλα |
Judith: Everything. |
Iro: όλα |
Judith: Next. |
Iro: εντάξει |
Judith: Okay. |
Iro: εντάξει |
Judith: Next. |
Iro: όχι |
Judith: No. |
Iro: όχι |
Judith: Next. |
Iro: τώρα |
Judith: Now. |
Iro: τώρα |
Judith: Next. |
Iro: δεν |
Judith: Not, don't. |
Iro: δεν |
Judith: Next. |
Iro: ακόμα |
Judith: Still or yet. |
Iro: ακόμα |
Judith: Next. |
Iro: στο |
Judith: At or in. |
Iro: στο |
Judith: This was actually a combination of σ and το / “to the”. Next. |
Iro: ξενοδοχείο |
Judith: Hotel. |
Iro: ξενοδοχείο |
Judith: Next. |
Iro: ευχαριστώ |
Judith: Thank you. |
Iro: ευχαριστώ |
Judith: Next. |
Iro: γεια |
Judith: Hi or bye. |
Iro: γεια |
KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES |
Judith: Now, let's have a closer look at the usage for some of the words and phrases from this lesson. First, we shall look at Greek verbs. When learning a Greek verb something like to go, to be, to have or the like, you will always learn the I form instead, I go, I am, I have. This is also the form that you will find in dictionaries. The reason for this is that there is no direct equivalent for the infinitive in Greek. |
Iro: In this lesson, we've seen "είμαι". |
Judith: I am… |
Iro: …is the base form of the irregular verb, to be, which we'll study in the next lesson. For now, all we've seen is "είμαι". |
Judith: I am. |
Iro: And "είναι". |
Judith: He is or she is, it is. Note that Greek verbs do not require a pronoun. That is Ellie can say, "εδώ είμαι" literally, here am and the, I, is understood. The pronouns are only use when we want to emphasize something. This is the same as in Italian or Spanish. |
GRAMMAR POINT |
The focus of this lesson is pronunciation. Greek pronunciation is pretty straightforward and the spelling is almost phonetic. Even the word stress is easy since it is indicated with a little accent mark above the vowel. Still, there are few difficulties in the form of letters that don't sound as you'd expect. |
Iro: βήτα does not sound like B but like V. |
Judith: In fact, there is no B sound in Greek except as MB and even then, it's mostly used for foreign words. The MB sound is spelled MP μι πι. |
Iro: By the same token, Delta δέλτα does not sound like D, it's sounds like the TH in that. |
Judith: The D sound pretty much only appears in the combination ND spelled as NT νι ταυ |
Iro: γάμα, the Greek equivalent of G, the Greek equivalent of G has two pronunciations. |
Judith: If Gamma is followed by a front vowel like E or I, it sounds approximately like the Y in year. |
Iro: You heard this sound in the word "γεια" for, bye. |
Judith: If Gamma is followed by an A, O or U sound however, it sounds like a throaty R. |
Iro: As in the letter name Ramma. By contrast, the actual Greek R, ρο, is rolled in the front of the mouth. |
Judith: Can you say Gamma and Rho for us so we can compare? |
Iro: Yes, γα - ρα, first Gamma then Rho. γα - ρα. γα - ρα. |
Judith: Next, the letter CH also has two pronunciations. If you studied German, this will be easy for you because the two pronunciations are exactly the same as the German CH sound. |
Iro: When combined with the back vowel like A, O or U, CH is throaty as in the name of the composer Bach. When combined with a front vowel like E or I, CH is pronounced as in the German word for I, "ich". |
Judith: If you can't pronounced the sound yet, try saying Y as in year and draw it out "yyyyyy" and then keep this mouth position and exhale instead chhhh. Finally, I should warn you about the Greek letter Ypsilon. Most of the time, it is just another way of writing the E sound just like the letter Ita and Iota. However, in the combination with Omicron, is sounds like U and in combination with Alpha or Epsilon, it sounds like F or V… |
Iro: As in Ευχαριστώ! The second letter is an Ypsilon, Ευ...Ευχαριστώ! |
Outro |
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Judith: That just about does it for today. Attention perfectionists, you're about to learn how to perfect your pronunciation. |
Iro: Lesson review audio tracks. |
Judith: Increase fluency and vocabulary fast with these short effective audio tracks. |
Iro: Super simple to use, listen to the Greek word or phrase… |
Judith: Then repeat it out loud in a loud clear voice. |
Iro: You'll speak with confidence knowing that you're speaking Greek like the locals. |
Judith: Go to GreekPod101.com and download the review audio tracks right on the lesson's page today. |
Judith: We hope you enjoyed this lesson. See you next week! |
Iro: Γεια σας! |
Iro: Ναι; |
321 Comments
HideHow is your Greek pronunciation after this lesson?
Hi Alexander,
Thank you for reaching out to me.
To be honest, I never had someone telling me their vocal range causes them trouble with pronunciation. I personally think your deep voice shouldn't be an issue as it wouldn't for a Greek who happens to be a bass too.
I think it's a matter of training and practicing with someone who can hear how you form the sounds and guide you properly.
It's hard for me to come up with advice for you at this point without having the ability to hear how you speak and see which sounds are the ones that need work. The only thing I could recommend is for you to try out the Premium+ subscription for a while which will give you access to a platform where we could exchange audio messages. That way I would have a much better idea of what the issues are and I could try to help you as best as I can. I'm not trying to push a sale here, so please don't get me wrong! It's just that with this platform, this is the only way I could help you.
My other advice is to not take pronunciation too seriously. One reason is that Greeks are used to tourists and foreigners, so our ears are "trained" in all sorts of accents. So if you say the right things, even with a heavy accent, you will be understood.
The other reason is that learners sometimes judge themselves very harshly when it comes to pronunciation (among other things) and they shouldn't because even people who lived for decades in Greece, and I know a few, will always have a certain accent. So having an accent it's an idea learners need to accept and come to peace with. Always try to improve, yes, but just don't let that disappoint you or keep you from focusing on other more important skills such as grammar and vocabulary.
I would be happy to work with you, should you decide to upgrade to the Premium+ subscription! In that case, you can send an email to contactus@greekpod101.com and request me as your tutor specifically, if you don't want to be assigned a tutor randomly.
I hope to be hearing from you soon.
All the best,
Stefania
Team GreekPod101.com
Ya Stefania,
I have a bad accent like in between english and deep voice, so my words doesn't come out as i say it.😞
What is best for individuals such as myself who has a deep voice, because i say it but comes out differently due too voice tone.
Regards,
Alexander W
Hi Saba,
Thank you for contacting us.
I apologize for the delay. Since your concerns are related to academic matters which I don't overview or control, I had to ask for the team's advice.
This is their response regarding the diagnostic tests:
"Diagnostic assessments are assessments that are placed at the *beginning* of a curriculum segment, rather than in the middle or at the end of them. They're also known as *pretests*.
Diagnostic assessments have several purposes.
1. They act as placement test, so that learners can potentially skip over content they already know.
2. They allow students to get a 'preview' of what they will learn in the unit, and to reflect on what knowledge they already have.
3. They serve as a basis for comparison for later tests in the curriculum segment, allowing the company to evaluate the effectiveness of its learning materials.
Learners are encouraged to take the diagnostic assessments, but not worry too much about the results. Failure is not a 'bad' outcome, and these results don't contribute to the overall grade.
Learners should, however, take their time and use this opportunity to try to decipher what they can, to make guesses about the language, and to familiarize themselves with its features.
------------------------------------------------
And this is their response regarding the assessments that follow the lessons and that to you they seem to be disconnected:
"Regarding the alphabet, the dedicated tests for practice will tell you exactly what special lessons you should study to get familiarised with Greek writing. See here: https://www.screencast.com/t/EJt1pT3Mp6qT"
-------------------------------------------------
So to summarize, you shouldn't worry about the diagnostic tests, you can focus on the Level 1 lessons instead but for those practice tests that recommend you which lessons you need to study first, you would have to study those other lessons first before doing the test and move on.
Since the first practice tests are about the Greek alphabet, you can find the whole series here for your convenience:
https://www.greekpod101.com/lesson-library/greek-alphabet-made-easy-video/
If you have any more questions and if you need any assistance, please let me know. I'm here to help :)
All the best,
Stefania
Team GreekPod101.com
Hi Alexander!
Could you please help me understand your question a bit better?
You mean what to do if your pronunciation is not accurate? If you can substitute the word in that case? Could you please give me an example of what you mean so I can help you better?
Sorry about that! I just need to make sure I understand the question well enough.
Stefania
Team GreekPod101.com
Hello Stefania,
The pronunciation part for the vocabulary if accent isn't quite accurate is there a way around it too substitute the word?
Regards
Alexander W
Hi, I am doing the level Greek 1 course and I don't really understand how it works. the first part of the course is a diagnostic assessment which seems a little weird to me as I have not yet learned anything... Could someone please help me understand how i am supposed to go through this course? the assessments that follow the lessons also seem a little disconnected from the lesson as the first is about introducing yourself in Greek and the following assessment is about the alphabet for which you need to have finished other lessons. I am just a little confused and I do not know yet how to work through this site efficiently.
Is there maybe a video somewhere that explains how to work through this cite?
Thank you!
Saba
Hi Lisa,
Thank you for asking this.
What you are probably hearing is "δεν είμ- ακόμα". This is an example of assimilation where words blend in together upon pronunciation. In English, you can hear something similar with "ten bucks" that sound like "tembucks" in natural speech. Here we have two vowel sounds blending /eh/ and /ah/ resulting in one /ah between the words so it's easier to pronounce them. This is a phonological phenomenon. It's not about contracting words though where we put an apostrophe like in "don't".
This lesson will explain this phenomenon more:
https://www.greekpod101.com/lesson/ultimate-greek-pronunciation-guide-8-assimilation-part-1/?lp=47
All the best,
Stefania
Team GreekPod101.com
Hi Stefania or Katerina,
In the phrase "Δεν είμαι ακόμα στο ξενοδοχείο", I do not hear the word "είμαι" in the recording. It sounds like she is saying "μακόμα" rather than "είμαι ακόμα". Is this the Greek version of the way we shorten words in English, like when we say "don't" instead of "do not"?
Ευχαριστώ
Hi Carole,
The γ in σ' αγαπώ is throated, not "j". You can hear the pronunciation of Greek words from Google translate's audio tool (the speaker phone icon). Check it here: https://bit.ly/2Jd4dkN
Normally it's σε αγαπώ that gets contracted to σ' αγαπώ. Σε here is a 'weak' personal pronoun meaning "you" BUT it indicates "object" similar to how "him" indicates object compared to "he" that indicates the subject of a verb. It's just that in English "you" remains the same either it's used as an object (answering to what or whom?) or as a subject (answering to who?) so don't confuse σε (you, object) with εσύ (you, subject) which you will come across very soon.
I hope this helps!
Stefania
Team GreekPod101.com
Hi Stephania,
I just want to know how we can pronounce s'agapo ?
The "g" is throated? Or "g" like "j" and one more thing : when we can use the "s" of s'agapo? And why we use it? It means like "you" ?
And ευχαριστώ :)