How to Describe Something in Greek - Exercises

Lesson Transcript

Choose the best answer to complete the sentence. Ready?

Αυτοί οι μαθητές είναι αρκετά (pause with a tap of the finger). (Aftí i mathités íne arketá (pause with a tap of the finger).)

ήσυχοι (ísichi)

Αυτοί οι μαθητές είναι αρκετά ήσυχοι. (Aftí i mathités íne arketá ísichi.)

"These students are quite quiet."

We use ήσυχοι (ísichi) in this sentence because it is the correct plural, masculine form of the adjective "quiet" to agree with the noun μαθητές (mathités), meaning "students."

ήσυχη (ísichi) is the feminine singular form, which doesn't match the noun and is grammatically incorrect in this context.

Unscramble the words to make a sentence.

Ready?

Αυτός (Aftós)

Αυτός ο (Aftós o)

Αυτός ο σκύλος (Aftós o skýlos)

Αυτός ο σκύλος είναι (Aftós o skýlos íne)

Αυτός ο σκύλος είναι πολύ (Aftós o skýlos íne polí)

Αυτός ο σκύλος είναι πολύ έξυπνος. (Aftós o skýlos íne polí éksipnos.)

"This dog is very smart."

Αυτός ο σκύλος είναι πολύ έξυπνος. (Aftós o skýlos íne polí éksipnos.)

Choose the best answer to complete the sentence. Ready?

Αυτό το κέικ (δεν είναι or είναι δεν) νόστιμο. (Aftó to kéik (den íne or íne den) nóstimo.)

δεν είναι (den íne)

Αυτό το κέικ δεν είναι νόστιμο. (Aftó to kéik den íne nóstimo.)

"This cake is not tasty."

In Greek, the negative particle δεν always comes directly before the verb. That's why we say δεν είναι "is not," not είναι δεν.

Let's translate some sentences into Greek.

Translate "This movie isn't that interesting." into Greek.

Αυτή (Aftí), the feminine singular demonstrative, meaning "this,"

followed by

η (i), the feminine singular definite article, meaning "the,"

ταινία (tenía), a feminine noun, meaning "movie,"

followed by

δεν είναι (den íne), meaning "is not," with δεν used to negate the verb

τόσο (tóso), an intensifier meaning "that" (as in "that much"),

and finally

ενδιαφέρουσα (endiaférusa), a feminine singular adjective meaning "interesting," which agrees with the feminine noun ταινία.

Αυτή η ταινία δεν είναι τόσο ενδιαφέρουσα. (Aftí i tenía den íne tóso endiaférusa.)

"This movie isn't that interesting."

Listen to me as I speak. Which adjective is used in the sentences?

Αυτές οι φωτογραφίες είναι πολύ ωραίες. (Aftés i fotografíes íne polí orées.)

Let's listen one more time.

Αυτές οι φωτογραφίες είναι πολύ ωραίες. (Aftés i fotografíes íne polí orées.)

Did you hear, ωραίες (orées)? ωραίες, meaning "beautiful," is the feminine plural form of the adjective.

We use it here because φωτογραφίες is a feminine plural noun, and the adjective must agree in gender and number.

How about...?

Αυτό το δωμάτιο είναι αρκετά καθαρό. (Aftó to domátio íne arketá katharó.)

Let's listen one more time.

Αυτό το δωμάτιο είναι αρκετά καθαρό. (Aftó to domátio íne arketá katharó.)

Did you hear, καθαρό (katharó)? καθαρό, meaning "clean," is the neuter singular form of the adjective.

We use it here because δωμάτιο is a neuter singular noun, and the adjective agrees with it in form.

Next…

Αυτός ο δρόμος δεν είναι καθόλου ασφαλής. (Aftós o drómos den íne kathólu asfalís.)

One more time.

Αυτός ο δρόμος δεν είναι καθόλου ασφαλής. (Aftós o drómos den íne kathólu asfalís.)

Did you hear, ασφαλής (asfalís)? ασφαλής, meaning "safe," it has the same form for masculine and feminine singular.

It's used here because δρόμος is a masculine singular noun.

Next...

Αυτή η καρέκλα είναι πολύ άνετη. (Aftí i karékla íne polí áneti.)

One more time.

Αυτή η καρέκλα είναι πολύ άνετη. (Aftí i karékla íne polí áneti.)

Did you hear, άνετη (áneti)? άνετη, meaning "comfortable," is the feminine singular form of the adjective.

It matches καρέκλα, a feminine singular noun.

And...

Αυτά τα ρούχα είναι πολύ φτηνά. (Aftá ta rúcha íne polí ftiná.)

One more time.

Αυτά τα ρούχα είναι πολύ φτηνά. (Aftá ta rúcha íne polí ftiná.)

Did you hear, φτηνά (ftiná)? φτηνά, meaning "cheap," is the neuter plural form of the adjective.

We use this form because ρούχα is a neuter plural noun, and adjectives must always agree with the noun in gender and number.

Thank you for watching.

Now you know how to describe something in terms of its qualities in Greek.

...and now you can move on to the next lesson in the pathway on GreekPod101.com

Αντίο. (Adío.)

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