Dialogue

Vocabulary

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Lesson Notes

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Lesson Transcript

INTRODUCTION
John: Hi everyone, I'm John.
Chrissi: And I'm Chrissi.
John: And welcome to Must-Know Greek Sentence Structures, Season 1, Lesson 15. Talking About Your Habits.
John: In this lesson, you'll learn how to use a sentence pattern for discussing one's habits.
PATTERN
John: For example,
John: "We used to play soccer every Sunday."
Chrissi: (Εμείς) παίζαμε ποδόσφαιρο κάθε Κυριακή. ((Emís) pézame podósfero káthe Kiriakí.)
Chrissi: [slow] (Εμείς) παίζαμε ποδόσφαιρο κάθε Κυριακή. ((Emís) pézame podósfero káthe Kiriakí.)
John: The pattern for discussing one's habits has three elements. First, a main clause meaning "We used to play soccer."
Chrissi: (Εμείς) παίζαμε ποδόσφαιρο ((Emís) pézame podósfero).
John: Second, the indeclinable indefinite pronoun meaning "every".
Chrissi: κάθε (káthe).
John: Third, a feminine proper noun in the accusative meaning "Sunday".
Chrissi: Κυριακή (Kiriakí).
John: Altogether, we have... "We used to play soccer every Sunday."
Chrissi: (Εμείς) παίζαμε ποδόσφαιρο κάθε Κυριακή. ((Emís) pézame podósfero káthe Kiriakí.) [slow] (Εμείς) παίζαμε ποδόσφαιρο κάθε Κυριακή. ((Emís) pézame podósfero káthe Kiriakí.) [normal] (Εμείς) παίζαμε ποδόσφαιρο κάθε Κυριακή. ((Emís) pézame podósfero káthe Kiriakí.)
John: The first element of this pattern is a main clause. A main clause in Greek is a phrase or a part of a sentence that has a complete meaning on its own and doesn't depend on other phrases in order to complete its meaning and make sense.
In Greek, a main clause can be as simple as a single verb, showing that someone is doing or receiving an action, or that he's in a certain state. Since the verb itself shows also the person — either the 1st, 2nd, or 3rd — using a pronoun or any other word as a subject is not necessary to have a complete meaning and therefore a valid main clause.
However, a main clause may also include the subject, if necessary, as well as other elements too — such as an object or a predicate, among others.
Chrissi: Let's move on to the second element of this pattern now which is the indeclinable indefinite pronoun κάθε (káthe) meaning "every."
John: This pronoun is usually used as an adjective to define nouns of any gender and case since it's indeclinable and its form never changes. In this sentence structure, this pronoun indicates that the action of the main clause happens repetitively at specific intervals, so you can use it to describe things such as habits or repetitive actions in general.
John: The third element of this pattern is a definition of time. Since the word before this element is the word for "every", we need to define here how often that particular action we are talking about in the main clause takes place. This definition of time does not require an article and it could be a specific date like "the 4th of July", a day of the week like "Wednesday", a month like "January", a season like "spring" or any noun expressing a certain time period such as the noun "morning", among other things.
John: Finally, Greek word order is relatively flexible, so here you can also swap the first element around, for example, the main clause, and bring it to the end of the sentence pattern after the definition of time, without affecting the meaning of the sentence. For example...
Chrissi: Κάθε Κυριακή (εμείς) παίζαμε ποδόσφαιρο. (Káthe Kiriakí (Emís) pézame podósfero.)
John: "Every Sunday, we used to play soccer." So remember, to discuss one's habits, start with a main clause to express an action and who does it, continue with the indeclinable indefinite pronoun κάθε (káthe) meaning "every," and finish with a definition of time such as a specific date, day of the week, month, or season, among others.
John: Here is another example meaning, "I go on vacation every August." First, we have the main clause meaning "I go on vacation".
Chrissi: Πηγαίνω διακοπές (Piyéno diakopés).
John: Second, we have the indeclinable indefinite pronoun meaning "every".
Chrissi: κάθε (káthe).
John: Third, we have the proper masculine noun in the accusative meaning "August".
Chrissi: Αύγουστο (Ávgusto).
John: Altogether we have...
Chrissi: Πηγαίνω διακοπές κάθε Αύγουστο. (Piyéno diakopés káthe Ávgusto.)
[slow] Πηγαίνω διακοπές κάθε Αύγουστο. (Piyéno diakopés káthe Ávgusto.)
[normal] Πηγαίνω διακοπές κάθε Αύγουστο. (Piyéno diakopés káthe Ávgusto.)
John: "I go on vacation every August."
[pause]
Chrissi: Πηγαίνω διακοπές κάθε Αύγουστο. (Piyéno diakopés káthe Ávgusto.)
John: How do you say — "I swim in the sea every morning."? To give you a hint, "I swim" is...
Chrissi: κολυμπάω (kolimbáo). [slow] κολυμπάω (kolimbáo). [normal] κολυμπάω (kolimbáo).
John: "I swim in the sea every morning."
[pause]
Chrissi: Κολυμπάω στη θάλασσα κάθε πρωί. (Kolimbáo sti thálasa káthe proí.) [slow] Κολυμπάω στη θάλασσα κάθε πρωί. (Kolimbáo sti thálasa káthe proí.) [normal] Κολυμπάω στη θάλασσα κάθε πρωί. (Kolimbáo sti thálasa káthe proí.)
[pause]
Chrissi: Κολυμπάω στη θάλασσα κάθε πρωί. (Kolimbáo sti thálasa káthe proí.)
REVIEW
John: Let's review the sentences from this lesson. I will tell you the English equivalent of the phrase and you are responsible for shouting it out loud in Greek. Here we go.
John: "We used to play soccer every Sunday."
[pause]
Chrissi: (Εμείς) παίζαμε ποδόσφαιρο κάθε Κυριακή. ((Emís) pézame podósfero káthe Kiriakí.)
[pause]
Chrissi: (Εμείς) παίζαμε ποδόσφαιρο κάθε Κυριακή. ((Emís) pézame podósfero káthe Kiriakí.)
John: "I go on vacation every August."
[pause]
Chrissi: Πηγαίνω διακοπές κάθε Αύγουστο. (Piyéno diakopés káthe Ávgusto.)
[pause]
Chrissi: Πηγαίνω διακοπές κάθε Αύγουστο. (Piyéno diakopés káthe Ávgusto.)
John: "I swim in the sea every morning."
[pause]
Chrissi: Κολυμπάω στη θάλασσα κάθε πρωί. (Kolimbáo sti thálasa káthe proí.)
[pause]
Chrissi: Κολυμπάω στη θάλασσα κάθε πρωί. (Kolimbáo sti thálasa káthe proí.)

Outro

John: Okay. That's all for this lesson. You learned a pattern for discussing one's habits, as in...
Chrissi: (Εμείς) παίζαμε ποδόσφαιρο κάθε Κυριακή. ((Emís) pézame podósfero káthe Kiriakí.)
John: meaning "We used to play soccer every Sunday."
John: You can find more vocab or phrases that go with this sentence pattern in the lesson notes. So be sure to check them out on GreekPod101.com. Thanks everyone, see you next time!
Chrissi: Γεια χαρά!

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