Hi An,

Declinable words (such as nouns, adjectives, pronouns and article) are inflected, so they change in speech depending on their usage. Just like "I" changes to "me" in English depending on whether it's in a subject or object position.

Μάρτιος (=(the) March) is in the nominative case, used for subjects usually. Ex. March is a month. Ο Μάρτιος είναι μήνας.

Μαρτίου (=of March) is in the genitive case. We need the genitive case because we have the number before it, so we say the 25th of March, η 25η Μαρτίου.

I'm not sure if in your native language there is a case system (because in English the case system is mostly lost) but if you are not sure what cases are, you will learn as you study more Greek grammar. For example you can find grammar lessons in the Absolute Beginner series.

I hope this clears out the confusion.

Kind regards,

Stefania

Team GreekPod101.com

η 25η Μαρτίου I ikostí pémpti Martíou

the twenty fifth of March

------------------------------------------------------------------

in the vocabulary list about months

Μάρτιος masc

Mártios

Why the difference please , really confusing ...?

Hi Bibiana!

Well, there was not much to correct! But since you insist :grin: here are some minor things:

παρακολουθουμε>παρακολουθούμε

μείνω>μένω

αρεσουν>αρέσουν

Don't worry, your writing is great nonetheless!:smile:

Stefania

Team GreekPod101.com

Αληθεια;;; You don´t even have to correct me??? Wow ;)

Σε ευχαριστώ πολύ!

Γεια σου Μπιμπιάνα!

Σε ευχαριστώ για τις πληροφορίες! Γράφεις πολύ καλά!

(Thank you for the information! You write very good!)

The noun πάρτι (some people also write it πάρτυ) remains the same in plural:

το πάρτι, τα πάρτι

This happens to some foreign words that got incorporated into Greek but they didn't adapt to the Greek declension system.

Γεια χαρά!

Στεφανία

Team GreekPod101.com

Γεια σας,

Εγώ θα είμαι σύντομη. :) Είμαι από τη Σλοβακία. Εμείς δεν έχουμε τίποτα ιδιαίτερο για την Παραμονή της Πρωτοχρονιάς. Ο κόσμος βλέπει τηλεόραση ή πάει στο πάρτυ το βράδυ. Τα μεσάνυχτα πίνουμε σαμπάνια και μετά παρακολουθουμε τα πυροτεχνήματα. Σε εμένα δεν μου αρέσουν τα παρτυα (I dont know the plural) έτσι μείνω στο σπίτι, αλλά μου αρεσουν τα πυροτεχνήματα.

I will be short. I am from Slovakia. We do not have anything special for New Years Eve. People watch TV or go to parties in the evening. At midnight we drink champagne and after we watch the fireworks. I dont like parties, so I stay at home, but I like fireworks.

Btw: its true that these cultural lessons arent for beginners, but for somebody who already knows and understands something...

Hi Tony F,

Thank you for your message.

The 25th of March is translated correctly as 25η Μαρτίου in the lesson. This is however an abbreviation. The date, if written word by word, should be:

εικοστή πέμπτη Μαρτίου

"εικοστή πέμπτη" is an ordinal number (25th) in feminine form and has nothing to do with the day of the week "Πέμπτη" (with a capital Π and a noun) as you wrote. Ordinal numbers are adjectives in Greek, that's why they get 3 genders:

εικοστός πέμπτος (m)

εικοστή πέμπτη (f)

εικοστό πέμπτο (n)

"Μάρτιος είκοσι πέντε" as you suggested would therefore be grammatically wrong, as days are considered feminine words in Greek, just like the noun "ημέρα" (that's why in the notes we also included the articles).

We also tend to put the day (25th) before the month in Greek, unlike in English. So there are two ways you can say 25th of March in Greek:

εικοστή πέμπτη Μαρτίου (ordinal number)

είκοσι πέντε Μαρτίου (cardinal number)

I hope this explanation is helpful!

I think starting from Absolute beginner would be a good call, since there might be basic grammar points that you might not know. Give it a start and if you see something that you already know well, you can skip it.

Wish you all the best.

Let me know if you have any questions.

Stefania,

GreekPod101.com

Although I can speak a little Greek I have decided to start this course as an absolute beginner. Already it seems I am off to a bad start.

As far as I am aware 25th March should translate as something like Μάρτιος είκοσι πέντε.not Μάρτιος είκοσι Πέμπτη which translates as March 20 Thursday. If this is not the case please can you explain

Hello Joseph E. Simmons,

Thank you for your comment and for letting us know of the issue. I am very sorry to hear you are having difficulties in following the Culture Class series, however I am here to help the best way I can.

Being a new student of Greek, you did the right step in learning the alphabet first. As a next step I suggest you continue with the Absolute Beginner Series 1 instead. This will help you start learning Greek in a more smooth way than doing the Culture Class series now. Keep in mind that you might need to go back to the Alphabet series from time to time if you need to refresh your knowledge. I know from first hand that it's not easy to learn a language that uses a different writing system than your native one.

After completing the Absolute Beginner Series 1, you can do the Survival Phrases, then the top 25 Greek questions and then move on to the Culture Class which is the latest series we have produced.

By then, it will be much more easy for you to follow the lessons.

Please let me know how it goes and whether you need any help. We are here for that and to answer any questions you might have.

Sincerely,

Stefania,

Team GreekPod101.com

I am an absolute beginner. Which means I cannot speak nor pronounce Greek. I recently learned the alphabets; not proficiently but enough to have a basic understanding of each pronunciation. I just started this lesson about "national Holidays" under the "Absolute Beginner tab. Unfortunately I cannot understand. I am unable to pronounce the words after the speaker because she goes to fast. This level is for someone who has a basic understanding of speaking Greek, not for an absolute beginner. I am very disappointed.