Learn how to use indefinite and definite articles
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Iro:I’m Iro. |
| Judith: Judith here, Absolute Beginner, Season 1, Lesson 4, Greek cafes are about more than ordering coffee. |
| Iro: Hello, everyone. I’m Iro, and welcome to GreekPod101.com. |
| Judith: With us, you’ll learn how to speak Greek with fun and effective lessons. |
| Iro: We also provide you with cultural insights. |
| Judith: And tips you won’t find in a textbook. In this lesson, you will learn how to order a refreshing drink in Greek. |
| Iro: This conversation takes place at a café in Athens. |
| Judith: The conversation is between Petros, Ellie and the waitress. |
| Iro: The speakers are young. Therefore, they will be speaking informal Greek. |
| Judith: Let’s listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUES |
| Πέτρος: Δεν είναι αυτό το ξενοδοχείο! |
| Έλλη: Ωχ, ναι... Θέλω μια πορτοκαλάδα. |
| Πέτρος: Εντάξει... Α, να μία καφετέρια. Πάμε. |
| Σερβιτόρα: Παρακαλώ. |
| Έλλη: Μία πορτοκαλάδα, παρακαλώ. |
| Πέτρος: Εγώ θέλω ένα νερό. |
| Σερβιτόρα: Αυτά είναι όλα; |
| Πέτρος: Ναι. |
| Σερβιτόρα: Βεβαίως.... Ορίστε η πορτοκαλάδα, το νερό και ο λογαριασμός. |
| Έλλη και Πέτρος: Ευχαριστώ. |
| English Host: Let’s hear the conversation one time slowly. |
| Πέτρος: Δεν είναι αυτό το ξενοδοχείο! |
| Έλλη: Ωχ, ναι... Θέλω μια πορτοκαλάδα. |
| Πέτρος: Εντάξει... Α, να μία καφετέρια. Πάμε. |
| Σερβιτόρα: Παρακαλώ. |
| Έλλη: Μία πορτοκαλάδα, παρακαλώ. |
| Πέτρος: Εγώ θέλω ένα νερό. |
| Σερβιτόρα: Αυτά είναι όλα; |
| Πέτρος: Ναι. |
| Σερβιτόρα: Βεβαίως.... Ορίστε η πορτοκαλάδα, το νερό και ο λογαριασμός. |
| Έλλη και Πέτρος: Ευχαριστώ. |
| English Host: Now let’s hear it with the English translation. |
| Πέτρος: Δεν είναι αυτό το ξενοδοχείο! |
| Judith: This isn't the hotel! |
| Έλλη: Ωχ, ναι... Θέλω μια πορτοκαλάδα. |
| Judith: Oh, yes... I want an orange juice. |
| Πέτρος: Εντάξει... Α, να μία καφετέρια. Πάμε. |
| Judith: Okay... Ah, there's a café. Let's go. |
| Σερβιτόρα: Παρακαλώ. |
| Judith: May I help you? |
| Έλλη: Μία πορτοκαλάδα, παρακαλώ. |
| Judith: One orange juice, please. |
| Πέτρος: Εγώ θέλω ένα νερό. |
| Judith: I want a water. |
| Σερβιτόρα: Αυτά είναι όλα; |
| Judith: Is that all? |
| Πέτρος: Ναι. |
| Judith: Yes. |
| Σερβιτόρα: Βεβαίως.... Ορίστε η πορτοκαλάδα, το νερό και ο λογαριασμός. |
| Judith: Of course... Here's the orange juice, the water, and the bill. |
| Έλλη και Πέτρος: Ευχαριστώ. |
| Judith: Thank you. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Judith: Okay, what about coffee? Why aren’t they ordering coffee? I heard that Greeks love coffee. |
| Iro: Yes. This is true. Greeks are coffee lovers. When they go to a café, they usually drink coffee. Greek coffee is similar to Arabic coffee. It is boiled with sugar and served in a cup. Traditionally, they serve a small cookie on the side as well. |
| Judith: So, where would I go to get some good Greek coffee? |
| Iro: Greek coffee can be found in most cafes. But the best place to drink it would be at the original καφενείο. |
| Judith: kafeneío what’s that? |
| Iro: In the past, every neighborhood and village had its own kafeneío. There many would sip coffee or ouzo, play backgammon and discuss politics. At that time, women never went to the kafeneío. Nowadays, this kind of place is much less common and can only be found on the islands, in villages and some districts of big cities. |
| Judith: So what can I get at the kafeneío? |
| Iro: At the καφενείο they serve traditional sweets, coffee and other non-alcoholic beverages, also some alcoholic drinks. Of course, nowadays, women can go to the kafeneío as well. |
| Judith: What about the summer time? It gets really hot in Greece. Do people still drink coffee? |
| Iro: Yes, of course, especially cold coffee which is called φραπέ. This was actually invented in my city, Thessaloniki. That’s why people call my city, "φραπεδομάνα" which means “a mother of frappé.” |
| Judith: What is frappé actually? |
| Iro: "Frappé," is a drink made of instant coffee and sugar shaken together. You can add water, milk and ice cubes, depending on how you like it. In the last few years, Italian coffee, especially cold has also become very popular, freddo espresso, cappuccino, freddoccino, et cetera. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Judith: Let’s take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. The first word we shall see is. |
| Iro: θέλω |
| Judith: To want. |
| Iro: θέλω |
| Judith: Next. |
| Iro: ένας, μια, ένα |
| Judith: A or an. |
| Iro: ένας, μια, ένα |
| Judith: This is the indefinite article, first masculine, feminine and neuter. Next. |
| Iro: πορτοκαλάδα |
| Judith: Orange juice. |
| Iro: πορτοκαλάδα |
| Judith: This word is feminine. Next. |
| Iro: να |
| Judith: There or here. |
| Iro: να |
| Judith: Next. |
| Iro: καφετέρια |
| Judith: Café. |
| Iro: καφετέρια |
| Judith: This word is feminine. Next. |
| Iro: παρακαλώ |
| Judith: Please, you’re welcome or may I help you? |
| Iro: παρακαλώ |
| Judith: Next. |
| Iro: εγώ |
| Judith: I. |
| Iro: εγώ |
| Judith: Next. |
| Iro: νερό |
| Judith: Water. |
| Iro: νερό |
| Judith: This word is neuter. Next. |
| Iro: βεβαίως |
| Judith: Certainly, of course. |
| Iro: βεβαίως |
| Judith: Next. |
| Iro: ορίστε |
| Judith: Here you are. |
| Iro: ορίστε |
| Judith: Next. |
| Iro: ο, η, το |
| Judith: The. |
| Iro: ο, η, το |
| Judith: Next. |
| Iro: λογαριασμός |
| Judith: Bill. |
| Iro: λογαριασμός |
| Judith: This word is masculine. |
| KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES |
| Judith:Let’s have a closer look at the usage for some of the words and phrases from this lesson. |
| Iro: The first word we’ll look at is "παρακαλώ". |
| Judith: It’s a very versatile Greek word and you’ll hear it a lot. It literally means “I request.” There are three different situations in which you can use it. |
| Iro: One is the obvious when making a request, "παρακαλώ" can be translated as “please” in that case. |
| Judith: Secondly, "παρακαλώ" is also the answer to "ευχαριστώ". When somebody thanks you in Greek, you should reply "παρακαλώ". It’s the same as saying “you’re welcome.” |
| Iro: Thirdly, you may also hear a waiter or a clerk say, "παρακαλώ." In that case, they mean “may I help you?” |
| Judith: To summarize, "παρακαλώ" can mean “please, you’re welcome or may I help you?” Depending on the context. |
| Iro: "ορίστε" can mean “here you are,” when you are giving something to somebody. That is why the waiter said, "ορίστε" as he gave Ellie and Petros their drinks. This is the most common use of the word. However, "ορίστε" can also be used to mean “pardon, sorry,” if you did not understand or hear something that someone said to you. |
| Judith: ορίστε? |
| Iro: I said, "ορίστε" can also mean “pardon, sorry.” |
| GRAMMAR POINT |
| Judith: The grammar focus of this lesson is indefinite and definite articles. |
| Iro: If you have study some German before, then you have an advantage in learning Greek. Just like in German, Greek nouns come in three flavors, masculine, feminine and neuter. |
| Judith: For some words it’s obviously. The man is obviously a masculine word. And the woman is obviously feminine. You can also easily determine the gender of brother, sister, actor, actress and the like. However, the problem is that Greek assigns a grammatical gender to every noun and often there is no logic behind it. |
| Iro: For example, why is the bill masculine, the orange juice feminine and the water neuter? |
| Judith: Students of German and French spend a lot of time memorizing the illogical genders of nouns by rote. But fortunately, in Greek, you can usually tell from the word ending which gender a word is. For example, words ending in -ος should be masculine, words ending -ο should be neuter, and words ending in -α are usually feminine. But what are the effects of something being declared masculine, feminine or neuter? |
| Iro: In Greek, the article and also the adjective endings will be different according to the gender. For masculine words, the equivalent of “the” is "ο". And the equivalent of “A” is "ένας." ο λογαριασμός, ένας λογαριασμός. |
| Judith: For neuter words, the equivalent of “the” is "το". And the equivalent of “A” is "ένα." For feminine nouns, the equivalent of “the” is η. And the equivalent of “A” is μία. Η πορτοκαλάδα, μία πορτοκαλάδα. That just about does it for today. |
Outro |
|---|
| Iro: Listeners, looking for a cheat sheet to memorizing Greek vocabulary? |
| Judith: Have you checked out our video vocab series? This themed “video lessons” combine visual cues with the voices of native speakers. |
| Iro: Just another effective method of learning and retaining thousands of vocabulary words. |
| Judith: Go to GreekPod101.com. |
| Iro: Click on the video lessons tab. |
| Judith: And hit play. |
| Iro: It’s that easy. |
| Judith: But don’t take our word for it. |
| Iro: Try it for yourself at GreekPod101.com. |
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