Getting to Know People

	Greek Text	Phonetic Pronunciation	English Translation
A :	Καλησπέρα!	kalispEra!	Goodafternoon!
	Πώς σε λένε;	pOs se lEne?	What's your name?
B :	Με λένε Βάνα.	me lEne bhAna	My name is Vana!
A :	Από πού είσαι, Βάνα;	apO pU Ise, bhAna?	Where are you from, Vana?
B :	Είμαι από την Αμερική.	Ime apO tin amerik'I.	I am from America.
	Είμαι Αμερικάνα,	Ime amerikAna,	I am American,
	αλλά ο πατέρας μου	alA o patEraz mu	but my father
	είναι Έλληνας.	Ine Elinas.	is Greek.
A	Τι δουλειά κάνεις;	tI dhul'A kAnis?	What's your occupation?
B :	Είμαι φοιτήτρια.	Ime phitItria.	I am a student.
	Σπουδάζω ιστορία	spudhAzo istorIa.	I study history.
A :	Κι εγώ το ίδιο.	k' eghO to Idgh'o.	Same for me.
	Πόσο θα μείνεις	pOso tha mInis	How long will you stay
	στην Ελλάδα;	stin elAdha?	in Greece?
B :	Δύο χρόνια.	dhIo khrOn'a.	Two years.
	Μετά θα πάω	metA tha pAo	Then I will go
	πίσω στην Αμερική.	pIso stin amerik'I.	back to America.

Grammar Notes

Not much new grammar in this lesson. Notice that the female name Vana does not change in the vocative. Consult the noun page for more.
A couple of prepositions appear in this text. "Από" is (almost always) used in place of the English "from". The most useful preposition in Greek is "σε". Whenever in doubt (which preposition to use) "σε" is probably the right one to use. If "σε" precedes an article starting with the letter τ the two merge together (kind of like the German in + dem -> im). Thus
This lesson was intended more towards presenting some expressions in a dialog context. The subsequent lessons will have more grammar.

Remarks

"Πώς σε λένε;" literally translates as "How do they call you?". Similarly, "Με λένε..." actually means "They call me...", that's why it is followed by the accusative of the name. For example
"Με" and "σε" are short forms of personal pronouns. We will (hopefully) see them in detail later.
Note the word order in the question "Από πού είσαι;". It actually translates as "From where are you?". The preposition (e.g. from, to, etc.) is always in the beggining of a question in Greek, unlike English.
Also, note that the definite article is always used before proper names, so one should say "από την Αμερική", not "από Αμερική" (unlike the English "from Amerika"), and before nouns that refer to a specific person, e.g. "ο πατέρας μου" instead of plain "πατέρας μου" which would be a direct translation of the English "my father". In contrast, no article is used when the noun or adjective is a more general notion, for example "είμαι Αμερικάνα" and "είμαι φοιτήτρια", again unlike the English "I am a student". Finally, since the definite article precedes proper names, the expressions "in Greece" and "to America" are "στην Ελλάδα" and "στην Αμερική" respectively, instead of "σε Ελλάδα" and "σε Αμερική". More details about when to use and when not to use the article can be found in the article page.
Most country names are female. You can find a list of country names in the country page along with the nationality nouns.
"Τι δουλειά κάνεις;" translates verbatim as "what job/work do you do?".
"Φοιτήτρια" is female for "student". The male noun is "φοιτητής".
The verb "σπουδάζω" (I study/am studying) may be followed either by the field of study or the job title. For instance,
but also
"Κι εγώ το ίδιο" actually means "And I/I, too, (study) the same".

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