Learn how to use the verb "to do"
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| Γεια, λέγομαι Χρυσή. |
| Hi everybody! I’m Chrissi. |
| Welcome to GreekPod101.com’s “Ελληνικά σε 3 λεπτά”. The fastest, easiest, and most fun way to learn Greek. |
| In the last lesson, we learned how to use the verb πηγαίνω which means "to go" in Greek. |
| In this lesson, we will continue our common Greek verbs series. |
| The second verb is κάνω, which means "to do." |
| So imagine someone asks you Τι κάνεις; |
| which means "What are you doing?" |
| If you were doing your homework, you would say Κάνω τα μαθήματά μου |
| Let’s break down this answer. |
| First we had- |
| Κάνω which is "I am doing." |
| If you don't change anything about the verb, it means it's in the present tense. Like in the previous lesson with πηγαίνω, the personal pronoun is omitted. |
| Next was τα, which is like “the”, a definite neuter article, in plural form. We used the neuter article because the noun after it is also neuter. |
| Next is the noun μαθήματα which literally means “lessons”. But in this expression, which is always plural, it means “my homework”. |
| Finally, we have μου which is the possessive singular pronoun used for "My". |
| Note that in Greek, you can use the present tense to say that you are doing something right now. |
| For example, if someone asks you for help but you're in the bath, you can say Συγνώμη, κάνω μπάνιο. This literally translates to “Sorry, I’m doing bath” but a more natural translation is “I’m taking a bath”. |
| So now, let’s have a broader look at what can you say using κάνω in Greek. This is a very useful verb because it can be used in many different situations! |
| For each of these situations, the meaning of this verb can be quite different. For example: |
| “κάνω φαγητό” means “I am preparing food” |
| “κάνω δουλειά” means “I am working” or “I am being busy” |
| “κάνω ψώνια” means “I am doing shopping” |
| “κάνω υπομονή” means “I am being patient” |
| and “κάνω μάθημα” means “I am teaching”. |
| “μάθημα” here is the singular version of “μαθήματα” which we mentioned before. |
| We also use “κάνω” in the 3rd person singular to express cold or hot weather. In this case, “κάνω” becomes “κάνει”. So if you want to say “It’s cold” you say “κάνει κρύο” and if you want to say “It’s hot” you say “κάνει ζέστη”. |
| In some phrases, “κάνω” can also be expressed in English with the verbs "to make" or "to create", like: |
| κάνω φίλους - “I make friends” |
| or |
| κάνω γλυπτά "I create sculptures" |
| Now it’s time for Chrissi’s Insights. |
| In Greek, we can say Ti kanoume apopse? which means “What are we going to do tonight?” or Kanoume kati apopse? which means “Are we doing anything tonight?” This is a very casual and natural question. Try it the next time you are with Greek friends! |
| In this lesson, we learned about the versatility of the verb kano. |
| Next time we’ll learn another very useful verb - Areso. |
| Check the next “Ελληνικά σε 3 λεπτά” lesson and find out what it means! |
| Geia sas! |
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