Learn how to talk about your ethnicity using the verb meaning "to be"
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| Maria: Hey, everyone, welcome to Basic Boot Camp. |
| Iro: This five-part series will help you ease your way into Greek. |
| Maria: We’ll go over all the basics that will really help you understand Greek much quicker and easier. |
| Iro: In this lesson, you will learn how to introduce yourself and tell people where you are from. |
| Maria: Which is essential while traveling to Greece, because that will be the first question people might want to ask you. |
| Iro: We’ll also go over one of the easy building blocks of learning Greek word order. |
| Maria: So, whether you’re in a language class, in a new country, or in your own city, in our small world, you can always find someone from somewhere else. |
| Iro: And in this bootcamp, we’re talking about ethnicity. |
| Maria: So have a listen to these Greek students talk about where they are from. And while you’re listening, try to guess their ethnicities. |
| Iro: And I’ll give you a hint. The first parts of the nationality words are transliterations. The endings might sound strange at first, but you’ll find them very logical while listening to the grammar explanations later. |
| Maria: So, if you do some mental gymnastics, you might be able to guess the nationality. |
| Dialog with English |
| Iro: Γεια σου. Με λένε IROΗρώ. Είμαι Ελληνίδα. |
| Maria: Γεια σου, με λένε MariaΜαρία. Είμαι Αγγλίδα. |
| Maria: Let’s hear it slowly now. |
| Iro: Ας το ακούσουμε τώρα αργά. |
| Iro: Γεια σου. Με λένε IRO. Είμαι Ελληνίδα. |
| Maria: Γεια σου, με λένε MariaΜαρία. Είμαι Αγγλίδα. |
| Maria: And now with the translation. |
| Iro: Και τώρα η μετάφραση! |
| Iro: Γεια σου. Με λένε IROΗρώ. Είμαι Ελληνίδα. |
| Iro: Hello. My name is Iro. I’m Greek. |
| Maria: Γεια σου, με λένε MariaΜαρία. Είμαι Αγγλίδα. |
| Maria: Hello, I'm Maria. I'm British. |
| Post banter |
| MARIA: One of the most fun things about Greek is that it is used all over the world! |
| Iro: Because Greece had such a great influence on mainly western societies, the language is recognized in many places. |
| MARIA: And another very interesting thing is that people want to know one of the oldest modern languages in existence. |
| Iro: Yes, the history of the Greek language goes back to ancient times, and it will take way too long for me to explain it all here. |
| Maria: Yeah, I think it will put our boot camp listeners to sleep! |
| Iro: Okay, now, let’s take a look at the words we used in these phrases so all our learners will be able to share where they are from. |
| Maria: Note here, that in Greek, even nationalities have gender, so a Greek woman would be Ελληνίδα and a Greek man is Έλληνας. |
| Vocabulary |
| Maria: Here we go! |
| Maria: Let’s take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson.Here we go! |
| Maria: The first word we shall see is:. |
| Iro: Ελληνίδα |
| Maria: Greek, feminine |
| Iro: |
| Ελληνίδα (slowly) |
| Iro: Ελληνίδα |
| Maria: The next word is. |
| Iro: Έλληνας |
| Maria: Greek, masculine |
| Iro: Έλληνας (slowly) |
| Iro: Έλληνας |
| Maria: Next we have. |
| Iro: Αγγλίδα |
| Maria: British, feminine |
| Iro: Αγγλίδα (slowly) |
| Iro: Αγγλίδα |
| Maria: And finally we have. |
| Iro: Άγγλος |
| Maria: British, masculine |
| Iro: Άγγλος |
| Vocab and usage |
| MARIA: Cool, we already learned the greeting Γεια σου in Boot Camp One. |
| Iro: And the Με λένε, Ηρώ. (RERECORD WITH BETTER BREAKS BETWEEN WORDS) |
| MARIA: Right, “My name is….” Με λένε. |
| Iro: So now we move on to ethnicity. |
| MARIA: Υours is more exotic than mine, Iro, so let’s start with yours. |
| Iro:Ελληνίδα. |
| MARIA: So, let’s take this word and boot camp it up a little…what do you say? |
| Iro: Sure. |
| MARIA: I’m not sure what "boot camp it up" really means, but we’re going to find out. |
| Iro: Yes! Ελληνίδα is the feminine word for "Greek." BUT, the important thing here is that unlike in English, Ελληνίδα |
| Maria: Greek |
| Iro: Cannot be used as an adverb; therefore, we can never use it in a phrase such as "I speak Greek." Remember, this is only in a context of saying your nationality. |
| MARIA: Another point that needs special attention here is gender. The phrase, "I’m Greek," sounds different for women and men. |
| Iro: Let’s take a look at the examples with both genders, feminine and masculine. |
| First, for women… |
| Iro: Ελληνίδα, (Ellinída.) |
| Maria: Greek. |
| Iro: Ρωσίδα. (Rosída.) |
| Maria: Russian. |
| Iro: Αμερικανίδα. (Amerikanída.) |
| Maria: American. |
| Iro: Αγγλίδα. (Anglída.) |
| Maria: British. |
| Iro: Γιαπωνέζα; (Giaponéza.) |
| Maria: Japanese |
| Iro: Κινέζα; (Kinéza.) |
| Maria: Chinese |
| Iro: Γαλλίδα. (Gallída.) |
| Maria: French. |
| Iro: Ιταλίδα. (Italída.) |
| Maria: Italian. |
| Maria: And for men... |
| Iro: Έλληνας. (Éllinas.) |
| Maria: "Greek." |
| Iro: Ρώσος. (Rósos.) |
| Maria: "Russian." |
| Iro: Αμερικανός. (Amerikanós.) |
| Maria: "American." |
| Iro: Άγγλος. (Ánglos.) |
| Maria: "British." |
| Iro: Ιάπωνας; (Iáponas.) |
| Maria: "Japanese." |
| Iro: Κινέζος; (Kinézos.) |
| Maria: "Chinese" |
| Iro: Γάλλος. (Gállos.) |
| Maria: "French." |
| Iro: Ιταλός. (Italós.) |
| Maria: "Italian." |
| Maria: Now, your nationality is Greek, right, Iro? So how did you say that? |
| Iro: «Ελληνίδα» (Ellinída). And you, Maria? |
| MARIA: Yeah, me! Okay, well, I am British. So… how do we say, "British" in feminine gender? |
| Iro: «Αγγλίδα» (Anglída). |
| Maria: Good. Now, try to make some simple sentences with our nationalities. |
| Iro: Have some fun! |
| Grammar |
| Maria: Let’s take a look at today’s grammar point. |
| Iro: To say your nationality in Greek, you simply need the pronoun Είμαι, which means, "I am," and then a nationality in your gender. |
| MARIA: Just like English, you use the verb, "to be" in the first person. |
| Iro: Είμαι Ελληνίδα. |
| MARIA: Είμαι Αγγλίδα. |
| Iro: Είμαι Ελληνίδα. |
| MARIA: Είμαι Αγγλίδα. |
| Iro: So, we hope everybody isn’t too tired after this boot camp! |
| MARIA: Yeah! I think we’re pretty nice boot camp instructors. We don’t like, yell at the listeners or anything like the boot camps I’ve seen. |
| Iro: So keep practicing and you’ll have these down pat in no time. |
| Closing |
| Maria: Thanks for listening! |
| Iro: Γεια σας! |
| Maria: Bye! |
53 Comments
HideDid you like today's lesson?
Hi everyone,
@Noe: It depends on the gender. Are you a man or a woman? Alternatively, you can say I'm from Croatia. Είμαι από την Κροατία.
@Barboo: Thank you for your kind comment! You remember well. You can pronounce γγ with nasalization (ng). But also remember that nasalization is optional, so some people speak like that (ng) and some others don't (hard g).
Kind regards,
Stefania
Team GreekPod101.com
Hi, Team Greekpod101!
I have a pronunciation question.
"Αγγλίδα" is being pronounced with a hard "g" sound, but as I recall from the pronunciation lessons, the double gamma within a word and after a vowel has a preferred pronunciation with nasalization, as with the "ng" in "finger". Does that hold true with "Αγγλίδα"? It seems like it should, since "England" itself has a "ng" sound.
I'm enjoying my lessons a lot, as well as the teachers. You're a very appealing bunch! :)
how can i say "i am croatian" ?
Hi Naomi,
Thank you for your comment!
I’m Australian = Είμαι Αυστραλός (masculine) / Αυστραλέζα (feminine).
I'm from Australia = Είμαι από την Αυστραλία (gender non-specific).
Cheers,
Stefania
Team GreekPod101.com
Hi there,
Loving all these lessons!
How does a female say, “I’m Australian”?
Thanks in advance,
Naomi
Hi Scott,
Thank you for your kind message.
(οι) Βρετανοί = British as in "the people of Great Britain" (also any group of British men or a mixed group of men and women from Great Britain)
(η) Αγγλίδα = English (a female from England)
Aso:
(ο) Άγγλος = English (a male from England)
(οι) Άγγλοι = English (plural, either a group of English men or a mixed group of men and women from England)
(οι) Αγγλίδες = English (plural, a group of English women)
(ο) Βρετανός = British man
(η) Βρετανίδα = British woman
(οι) Βρετανίδες = British women
I hope it's clearer now!
Regards,
Stefania
Team GreekPod101.com
Hi,
I a really enjoying the lessons although I am only starting out.
Can I ask is Βρετανοί for Britain? instead of Αγγλίδα.?
Thanks
Scott
Γεια σου Σούζαν!
Χαίρομαι που σου άρεσε το μάθημα και που γενικώς ευχαριστιέσαι το πολυεθνικό περιβάλλον που επικρατεί εδώ👍!
Χαιρετισμούς στην Αμερική,
Στεφανία
Team GreekPod101.com
Γεια σου,
Ναι, μου άρεσε το μάθημα σήμερα.
Είμαι από την Αμερική.
Χαίρομαι που βλέπω τόσες πολλές εθνικότητες εδώ.
Σούζαν
Hi Petro,
Thank you for your comment!
If you refer to the Brazilian nationality, you can say:
Είμαι Βραζιλιάνος. (male)
Είμαι Βραζιλιάνα. (female)
OR
Είμαι από τη Βραζιλία. (I'm from Brazil)
Cheers,
Stefania
Team GreekPod101.com