Meeting People

Grammar Notes

1. The verb είμαι (I am), like most verbs in the Greek language, is (unlike other languages) used with no personal pronoun preceding it. The subject (I,you,he,etc.) is denoted by the (so-called) person (πρόσωπο) in which the verb appears. Thus

   I am	είμαι	*Ime*
   you are	είσαι	*Ise*
   he/she/it is	είναι	*Ine*
   we are	είμαστε	*Imaste*
   you are	είστε	*Iste*
   they are	είναι	*Ine*

   There is a complete table of all the conjugation forms of the verb "to be" in the auxiliary verbs section.

   The personal pronouns εγώ (I), εσύ (you, sing.), εμείς (we), εσείς (you, plur.), are used only when we want to emphasize the subject. For example,

   Q : Ποιος είναι ο Άγγελος; (Who is Angelos?)
   A : Εγώ είμαι ο Άγγελος. (I am Angelos.)
2. Note that the definite article (ο, η, το) is required before proper names. In general,
   • the article is required if the noun or adjective that follows the verb είμαι is a specific person/item/notion, e.g.,
     είμαι ο Άγγελος = I am Angelos
     είμαι η αγάπη = I am the Love
     είναι το κράτος = it is the State
   • the article should be omitted if the noun or adjective that follows the verb είμαι describes a quality or attribute of the subject, e.g.,
     είμαι κακός = I am bad
     είναι όμορφη = she is beautiful
     είσαι βλάκας = you are stupid
3. The nouns and (as well as other parts of speech) appear in more than one forms, knows as cases (πτώσεις). The case that has to be used is determined by the context and especially the way the noun is involved in the action described by the verb. There are four cases in Modern Greek,

   Nominative	Ονομαστική	*onomastik'I*
   Genitive	Γενική	*gh'enik'I*
   Accusative	Αιτιατική	*etiatik'I*
   Vocative	Κλητική	*klitik'I*

   The noun should be in the nominative case if it performs the action (is the subject) or is in the state described by the verb είμαι. Thus,
   Ο Βασίλης τρέχει = Vassilis is running
   Η Μαρία είναι όμορφη = Maria is beautiful
   Είμαι ο Άγγελος = I am Angelos
   Ο Θεός είναι αγάπη = God is love
   Accusative is used whenever the noun is the object, namely the recipient of the action described by the verb. Thus,
   Με λένε Βασίλη = (lit.) They call me Vassilis
   Θέλω τον Άγγελο = I want Angelos
   Whenever you address or call someone, you use the vocative case. Compare
   Γεια σου, Άγγελε! = Hi, Angelos!
   Θεέ μου! = My God!
   Τι κάνεις, Βασίλη; = (lit.) What are you doing, Vassilis?
   The genitive case does not appear anywhere in our text, so we will examine it later. In short, it is used to denote the owner or, in some instances, to replace a preposition+accusative form. For example,
   Το σπίτι του Βασίλη = Vassilis's house
   Λέω του Άγγελου = I say to Angelos
   You can find more on how to conjugate nouns in the noun section.

Remarks

• Καλημέρα actually means "good day" but is only used in the morning. In the afternoon one says καλησπέρα (good afternoon).
• The conjunction και, which means "and" and is pronounced *k'E* (just like the Spanish "que"), is transformed into κι if the next word starts with a vowel. Thus,
  Ο Βασίλης κι ο Άγγελος = Vassilis and Angelos
  Εσύ κι εγώ = You and I
  but
  • Είναι όμορφη και νέα = She is beautiful and young
  • Χτες και σήμερα = Yesterday and today
  It wouldn't be wrong, however, to write και εγώ. But in that case one would read *k'E eghO*.
• There are a number of seemingly meaningless expressions in our text.
  Γεια σου is a typical salutation. It comes from the word υγεία (*igh'Ia*) or υγειά (*igh'A*), which means "health", and could be translated as "health to you" or "may you have health", but it actually doesn't mean more than a "hello", "salute", "hola". In its short version it is a simple γεια. Sometimes γεια σου is used to say "goodbye" as well.
  Χάρηκα, which literally means "I was glad/happy", is used in place of the American "nice/glad to meet you".
  Γεια χαρά is the most meaningless of all. It literally translates as "health happiness", but it is just one way to say "goodbye" (not that "goodbye" is more meaningful in English).
  Αντίο is the Italian "addio" (French "adieu", Spanish "adios"). Modern Greek has borrowed several words from foreign languages, mainly as a result of centuries of foreign occupation (Venitian, French, Ottoman, etc).

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