LESSON 2

Today you'll have your first encounter with verbs. But first you'll need to learn the personal pronouns. The form of personal nouns we shall be discussing today is that used as the subject of the verbs (the nominative).

Singular

εγώ = Ι
εσύ = you
αυτός = he (the αυ is pronounced as af)
αυτή = she (same as above)
αυτό = it (same as above)

Plural

εμείς = we
εσείς = you
αυτοί = they (masc.) (the αυ is pronounced as af)
αυτές = they (fem.) (same as above)
αυτά = they (neuter) (same as above)

Note that the plural form εσείς is used in the place of εσύ when the polite plural is appropriate. The polite plural is used when you are addressing someone you're not familiar with or when you want to show respect, like to someone much older than you. We shall see examples of this later on.

The verb είμαι (I am)

In Greek, verbs have two numbers - singular and plural - and three persons - first, second and third. The verb είμαι in the present tense is as follows:

Singular

εγώ είμαι = I am
εσύ είσαι = you are
αυτός/αυτή/αυτό είναι = he/she/it is

Plural

εμείς είμαστε = we are
εσείς είσαστε = you are
αυτοί/αυτές/αυτά είναι = they are

Είμαι is an irregular verb.

The verb έχω (I have)

The basic form of regular Greek verbs ends in ω. Regular verbs fall into 2 broad categories: those with an accent on the penultimate syllable like the verb έχω (I have) and those with an accent on the last syllable like αγαπώ (I love). The verb έχω is typical of the first category and its present tense in the active voice is:

Singular

εγώ έχω = I have
εσύ έχεις = you have
αυτός/αυτή/αυτό έχει = he/she/it has

Plural

εμείς έχουμε = we have
εσείς έχετε = you have
αυτοί/αυτές/αυτά έχουν = they have

In Greek the present tense is used to describe both a habitual action - equivalent to the English simple present (I have) - and an action taking place now - equivalent to the English present continuous (I am having).

Another verb that conjugates like έχω is γράφω (I write):

Singular

εγώ γράφω = I write
εσύ γράφεις = you write
αυτός/αυτή/αυτό γράφει = he/she/it writes

Plural

εμείς γράφουμε = we write
εσείς γράφετε = you write
αυτοί/αυτές/αυτά γράφουν = they write

So you can see that a general rule for conjugating regular verbs is this: You change only the last letters (-ω, -εις, -ει, -ουμε, -ετε, -ουν) and you keep the rest of the verb (έχ-, γράφ-)

Vocabulary

Greetings:
καλημέρα = good morming
καλησπέρα = good evening
καληνύχτα = good night
γειά σου/σας = hello, bye
χαίρετε = hello, bye (χαίρετε is a more formal version of γειά)
αντίο = goodbye

Here are some widely used first names:
Γεώργιος or Γιώργος = George
Ιωάννης or Γιάννης = John
Χρήστος = Chris

Βασίλειος or Βασίλης = Bill
Νικόλαος or Νίκος = Nick
Δημήτριος or Δημήτρης = Jim
Αντώνιος or Αντώνης = Anthony
Μιχαήλ or Μιχάλης = Michael
Αλέξανδρος or Αλέξης = Alexander or Alex
Ελένη = Helen
Μαίρη or Μαρία = Mary or Maria
Αικατερίνη or Κατερίνα = Catherine
Άννα = Anne

The first type is the formal one (the name that is given during the Christening and used in formal documents, like an ID) while the second type is the pet-name. There are other popular Greek names but these are the ones that can be translated directly in English.

The days of the week:

Δευτέρα = Monday (The ευ in this word is pronounced as εφ (ef))

Τρίτη = Tuesday

Τετάρτη = Wednesday

Πέμπτη = Thursday (The μπτ (bt) is really pronounced as μτ (mt), that means that the "b" sound of μπ is ommited, one of the few cases when this happens)

Παρασκευή = Friday (The ευ in this word is pronounced as εβ (ev))

Σάββατο = Saturday

Κυριακή = Sunday

All the days are of feminine gender with the exception of Σάββατο which is of neuter gender.