Dialogue

Vocabulary (Review)

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Lesson Transcript

INTRODUCTION
Fay: Hello, and welcome back to GreekPod101.com, Beginner Season 1, Lesson 9 – The British Call This Greek Place a ‘Pub’. This is Fay.
Chrissi: And Chrissi.
Fay: What are we learning in this lesson?
Chrissi: We are looking at the vocative case of nouns.
Fay: The conversation takes place in a bar in Athens.
Chrissi: It’s among three co-workers: Petra, our main character; Dimitris Triantafyllou and Vaggelis Thomaidis.
Fay: Since the characters are co-workers and on a night out, the conversation is informal.
Chrissi: Let’s listen.

Lesson conversation

Πέτρα Γκόρντον: Πολύ κόσμο έχει αυτό το μπαρ, ε Δημήτρα;
Δημήτρα Τριανταφύλλου: Ναι, είναι πολύ διάσημο.
Πέτρα Γκόρντον: Χμμμμμ. Τι θα πιούμε; Μπύρα; Τι λες Ευαγγελία;
Ευαγγελία Θωμαΐδη: Γιατί όχι; Έχουν πολλές εισαγόμενες μάρκες.
Fay: Now let’s listen to the conversation one time slowly.
Πέτρα Γκόρντον: Πολύ κόσμο έχει αυτό το μπαρ, ε Δημήτρα;
Δημήτρα Τριανταφύλλου: Ναι, είναι πολύ διάσημο.
Πέτρα Γκόρντον: Χμμμμμ. Τι θα πιούμε; Μπύρα; Τι λες Ευαγγελία;
Ευαγγελία Θωμαΐδη: Γιατί όχι; Έχουν πολλές εισαγόμενες μάρκες.
Fay: Now with the English translation.
Πέτρα Γκόρντον: Πολύ κόσμο έχει αυτό το μπαρ, ε Δημήτρα;
Fay: This bar is very crowded, isn't it, Dimitra?
Δημήτρα Τριανταφύλλου: Ναι, είναι πολύ διάσημο.
Fay: Yes, it is very famous.
Πέτρα Γκόρντον: Χμμμμμ. Τι θα πιούμε; Μπύρα; Τι λες Ευαγγελία;
Fay: Hmmm. What are we drinking? Beer? What do you say, Evaggelia?
Ευαγγελία Θωμαΐδη: Γιατί όχι; Έχουν πολλές εισαγόμενες μάρκες.
Fay: Why not? They have many imported brands.
POST CONVERSATION BANTER
Fay: So pubs are very popular in Greece?
Chrissi: Yes, especially for younger people. We don’t call them “pubs,” though. We call them “bars.”
Fay: But they are closer to the English pub, right?
Chrissi: Yes. One of their main characteristics is that many people go there for the music.
Fay: Live music?
Chrissi: No, mostly CDs. But each such bar specializes in some genre, so its crowd is mostly people into this particular style.
Fay: And this is where Greeks go to drink?
Chrissi: Yes. And only to drink, since these places don’t serve food.
Fay: What, nothing?
Chrissi: Maybe some nuts or potato chips, but that’s it.
Fay: These places are for hardcore drinkers!
Chrissi: Nah, you get all kinds of people there.
Fay: So I can go for a chat with a friend or a guy?
Chrissi: Sure—that’s what we usually do.
Fay: I’ll remember that. Shall we move to our vocabulary?
Chrissi: Yes!
VOCAB LIST
Fay: First, we have…
Chrissi: μπαρ [natural native speed].
Fay: Bar.
Chrissi: μπαρ [slowly - broken down by syllable]. μπαρ [natural native speed].
Fay: Next…
Chrissi: πολύς, πολλή, πολύ [natural native speed].
Fay: Much.
Chrissi: πολύς, πολλή, πολύ [slowly - broken down by syllable]. πολύς, πολλή, πολύ [natural native speed].
Fay: Next…
Chrissi: κόσμος [natural native speed].
Fay: World, people.
Chrissi: κόσμος [slowly - broken down by syllable]. κόσμος [natural native speed].
Fay: Next…
Chrissi: πίνω [natural native speed].
Fay: To drink.
Chrissi: πίνω [slowly - broken down by syllable]. πίνω [natural native speed].
Fay: Next…
Chrissi: διάσημο [natural native speed].
Fay: Famous.
Chrissi: διάσημο [slowly - broken down by syllable]. διάσημο [natural native speed].
Fay: Next…
Chrissi: μπύρα [natural native speed].
Fay: Beer.
Chrissi: μπύρα [slowly - broken down by syllable]. μπύρα [natural native speed].
Fay: Next…
Chrissi: εισαγόμενες [natural native speed].
Fay: Imported.
Chrissi: εισαγόμενες [slowly - broken down by syllable]. εισαγόμενες [natural native speed].
Fay: Next…
Chrissi: μάρκα [natural native speed].
Fay: Brand name.
Chrissi: μάρκα [slowly - broken down by syllable]. μάρκα [natural native speed].
KEY VOCABULARY AND PHRASES
Fay: Let's take a closer look at some of the words and phrases in this lesson. “Cosmos”? That’s an English word.
Chrissi: Actually, it was Greek first. It can also mean “ornament”; this is where the word “cosmetics” comes from.
Fay: What does it originally mean?
Chrissi: Literally, it means “world.” But in everyday Greek it also means “people,” especially many people at once.
Fay: Like a crowd.
Chrissi: Yes—although we do have a separate phrase for “crowd,” too! When we use the word κόσμος (kosmos) to mean “people,” we usually put πολύς (polys) in front of it. "Polys kosmos".
Fay: Which means “many people” or “big crowd.”
Chrissi: Exactly!
Fay: What is this πολύς (polys)?
Chrissi: It’s a very useful adjective meaning “many,” “much,” or “a lot.” We will discuss it in a future lesson because it is very irregular.
Fay: OK. I noticed that in the beginning of our dialogue, there is a single "e" all by itself.
Chrissi: Yeah—Ε, Δημήτρη (E, Dimitri). This is a very common (although very informal) way to address someone or ask their opinion. You can think of it as “Hey, John” or “Don’t you agree, John?”.
Fay: So if I want to say “Hot weather, don’t you agree, Grigori?”?
Chrissi: Ζεστός καιρός, ε Γρηγόρη; (Zestos kairos, e Grigori?). Repeat that to make sure you got it!
Fay: And if I want to say “Hey, Grigori look at this”?
Chrissi: Ε, Γρηγόρη. Κοίτα αυτό (E, Grigori. Koita auto).
Fay: The word “bar” also came up in the dialogue, didn’t it?
Chrissi: Right.
Fay: This isn’t a Greek word, is it?
Chrissi: No, it isn’t. Because it’s a foreign word, it doesn’t decline the way a regular Greek noun would.
Fay: Is it used the same in Greek as in English?
Chrissi: Yes. As a matter of fact, many foreign words are used this way in everyday Greek.
Fay: Such as?
Chrissi: The names of sports, like “hockey,” “volleyball,” “basketball,” and “handball”; technology terms like “tablet,” “PC,” and “smartphone”; and many more.
Fay: OK. We should move on now to our main Grammar Point.
Chrissi: Of course!

Lesson focus

Fay: In this lesson, our main grammar point looks pretty easy.
Chrissi: It is. It has kind of a scary name, though—the vocative case!
Fay: What does that mean?
Chrissi: It is the form nouns (and other declinable parts of speech) take when we want to address them.
Fay: So how would you use the vocative to call, say, a police officer?
Chrissi: Well, “police officer” is αστυφύλακας (astyfylakas), so I would say αστυφύλακα (astyfylaka). Or rather Κύριε αστυφύλακα (Kyrie astyfylaka) “Mr. Officer”. In that phrase, κύριε (kyrie) is the vocative form of the word κύριος (kyrios), meaning “mister” or “sir.”
Fay: So the noun αστυφύλακας (astyfylakas) became αστυφύλακα (astyfylaka).
Chrissi: Yes. We dropped the final "-s".
Fay: And that’s how you make the vocative?
Chrissi: Not always, unfortunately. Depending on the ending, masculine nouns can form the vocative in three different ways. We explain that in detail in our PDF, so it’s better to take a look in there.
Fay: In a nutshell?
Chrissi: If the masculine noun ends in "-os", that ending changes to "-e"; if it ends in "-is", the ending becomes "-i"; and if it ends in "-as", the ending becomes "-a".
Fay: Whew, I see what you mean. That’s a lot to remember.
Chrissi: Yes. That’s why we made the PDF to help you keep it straight.
Fay: What happens to feminine and neuter nouns?
Chrissi: Oh, those are easy! Their vocative forms are the same as their nominative forms.
Fay: So if I want to call Maria?
Chrissi: You just say “Maria”!
Fay: And if I want to call Eleni?
Chrissi: Just “Eleni”!
Fay: So the only tricky nouns are the masculine ones.
Chrissi: Yes. But even they are not so hard. The endings "-is" and "-as" just drop their final "-s". The only weird change is from "-os" to "-e".
Fay: Can you give an example of each?
Chrissi: Sure. Ο γιατρός (O giatros) “the doctor” becomes γιατρέ (giatre) “doctor”; ο μάγειρας (o mageiras) “the cook” becomes μάγειρα (mageira) “cook”; and ναύτης (nautis) “the sailor” becomes ναύτη (nauti) “sailor”.
Fay: And that’s all?
Chrissi: Pretty much. There are some exceptions, of course, but if you remember how these three endings change, you can put almost any noun in the vocative case.
Fay: That sounds like enough for now! Make sure to check our PDF for more examples and a thorough explanation of vocative case-forming rules. Take care!
Chrissi: Γεια χαρά! (Geia chara!)

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