Getting to Know People

	Greek Text	Phonetic Pronunciation	English Translation
A :	!	*kalispEra!*	Goodafternoon!
	;	*pOs se lEne?*	What's your name?
B :	.	*me lEne bhAna*	My name is Vana!
A :	, ;	*apO pU Ise, bhAna?*	Where are you from, Vana?
B :	.	*Ime apO tin amerik'I.*	I am from America.
	,	*Ime amerikAna,*	I am American,
		*alA o patEraz mu*	but my father
	.	*Ine Elinas.*	is Greek.
A	;	*tI dhul'A kAnis?*	What's your occupation?
B :	.	*Ime phitItria.*	I am a student.
		*spudhAzo istorIa.*	I study history.
A :	.	*k' eghO to Idgh'o.*	Same for me.
		*pOso tha mInis*	How long will you stay
	;	*stin elAdha?*	in Greece?
B :	.	*dhIo khrOn'a.*	Two years.
		*metA tha pAo*	Then I will go
	.	*pIso stin amerik'I.*	back to America.

Grammar Notes

1. 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.
2. A couple of prepositions appear in this text. "" is (almost always) used in place of the English "from". The most useful preposition in Greek is "". Whenever in doubt (which preposition to use) "" is probably the right one to use. If "" precedes an article starting with the letter the two merge together (kind of like the German in - dem -> im). Thus
   - =
   - =
   - =
   - =
   - =
   - =
   - =
   - =
   - =
3. This lesson was intended more towards presenting some expressions in a dialog context. The subsequent lessons will have more grammar.

Remarks

• " ;" literally translates as "How do they call you?". Similarly, " ..." actually means "They call me...", that's why it is followed by the accusative of the name. For example
  .
  .
  .
  "" and "" are short forms of personal pronouns. We will (hopefully) see them in detail later.
• Note the word order in the question " ;". 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 " ", not " " (unlike the English "from Amerika"), and before nouns that refer to a specific person, e.g. " " instead of plain " " 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 " " and " ", again unlike the English "I am a student". Finally, since the definite article precedes proper names, the expressions "in Greece" and "to America" are " " and " " respectively, instead of " " and " ". 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.
• " ;" translates verbatim as "what job/work do you do?".
• "" is female for "student". The male noun is "".
• The verb "" (I study/am studying) may be followed either by the field of study or the job title. For instance,
  . = I study (to become an) engineer.
  (). = I study (to become a) doctor.
  but also
  . = I study mathematics.
  . = I study medicine.
• " " actually means "And I/I, too, (study) the same".

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