Day 10 | More Numbers

Looks like I've brought the continental snow from Germany with me all the way back to the south of England (note the birds are preferring the white stuff to the asphalt).  Lets hope the cold temperatures continue to drop and the downpour of snow intensifies before tomorrow morning ("working" from home).

I got a very welcomed response from the last post explaining how nouns are altered and why it was that αδελφός would change for what seemed no apparented reason.  I'm unashamedly plaigarising by pasting the explanation below which has definitely shone a light for me at least:

Nominative (subject of the sentence): ο αδελφός μου είναι έδω. My brother is here.
Accusative (object of the sentence): αυτός είναι ο αδελφό μου. This is my brother.
Genitive (showing possession): αύτο είναι το σπίτι του αδελφού μου. This is my brother’s house.
Vocative (calling out to someone): γεια σου, αδελφέ! Hello, brother!

This looks very annoying, having to learn 4 words instead of just one (assuming this is the case for all nouns).  Nevertheless, thanks for picking me up on this, I hope it adds value to everyone else's learning also.  OK, back to the original topic which is Numbers.  I briefly picked this up on the Day 7 entry but only up to 10.  I'm now going to make it possible for someone to count all the way up to 100 without as much effort as you think based on an advantage in how Greeks say numbers.  To remind us of the 1 to 10, look here:

1 ένα (ehnah), 2 δύο (theeoh), 3 τρία (treeah), 4 τέσσερα (tehsserah), 5 πέντε (pendeh), 6 έζι (ehxee), 7 επτά (eptah), 8 οκτώ (oktoh), 9 εννέα (enneeah), 10 δέκα (thehkah)

So as alluded in the Day 7 post we only have to add these to the end of the decimal numbers (10, 20, 30 etc) which will help you reach 100 without any difficulty.  On this then you should only need to learn 20 words (0 to 9 and the 10 decimals).  Lets try:

10	δέκα	thekah
20	είκοσι	eekohsee
30	τριάντα	treeandah
40	σαράντα	sarandah
50	πενήντα	peneendah
60	εξήντα	ekseendah
70	εβδομήντα	evdomeendah
80	ογδόντα	orghthondah
90	ενενήντα	eneneentah
100	εκατό	ekatoh

So there isn't much to do other than reciting these by memory and gluing the 1, 2, 3 etc to the end in order to start telling the time or counting beans!  However, as with everything else with this langauge there are exceptions.  For numbers this deviant is the integers 11 and 12.  So where you would expect everything to read off as δέκα τρία or δέκα οκτώ etc (13 and 18), the 11 and 12 are actually written as έντεκα and δώδεκα (no decimal-number format).  If you're expecting me to explain this nuance you are going to be left wanting as I haven't got the foggiest.  However, I think learning the above 10 numbers with those outlined in Day 7 is a powerful tool to have when conferring in the Greek language so spend some time on it.

Again thanks for the comments (all are welcome!).  On that note I wish everyone καλησπέρα


Written by JuiceSoup.com

Day 9 | Knowing me, Knowing you

2 hour FIFA marathon over, lets get back to the Greek!  Earlier tonight I was looking at introductions since I thought it would reiterate the "to be" verbs which I sometimes still struggle with.  If you want to introduce someone the sentance begins with Να σου συστήσω (nah soo seestehsoh).  However you're unlikely to be so formal so instead you could just say "this is my brother" or ask about someone's mother's age.  Examples of these comments can be found here to tease out the patterns and behaviours of the Greek grammar.

Χαίρο πολύ (kehro poly) nice to meet you (always a good start!)
αυτός είναι ο αδελφός μου (aftos eeneh oh adelfos moo) this is my brother
αυτη είναι η αδελφή μου (aftee eneeh ee adelfee moo) this is my sister
Πόσο κρονών είναι ο πατέρας σού (poso chronon eeneh oh patehras) How old is your father?
έχω και εγώ έναν αδελφό (ehro kay enan adelfoh) I also have a brother
η ματέρα είναν δέκα χρονών (Ee matehra eenan dehka chronon) my mother is 10 years old(!)

Some points to note.  You'll see that where you expect αυ to sound like ah-ee in the He and She (αυτός and αυτη) it actually sounds like "af", which isn't very intuitive.  Also to bear in mind is when you are talking about someone that belongs to you (i.e. "this is my sister") the words are actually ordered as "this is sister my" or in Greek: αυτη είναι η αδελφή μου.  Something more peculiar though which I am still none the wiser about is how the spelling of αδελφος turns into αδελφό when I say "I also have a brother" (please advise why έχο και εγώ έναν αδελφόσ is wrong).  

To break this up a bit, it helped me to look at the interrogative words.  These are the 5 W's (and 1 H) which I'm replicating below for your entertainment: 

Who	Ποιος	pooios
Where	Ποu	poo
What	Τι	tee
Why	Υιατί	Yeeatee
When	πότε	poteh
How	πως	pos

OK, before I get picked up on this you'll notice that the "How" in the above table is different from that used in the "How old is your..." sentance earlier on.  This is because there are two different types of "How".  One for a quantitative translation (how many years, how much money etc) which will be articulated as πόσο (at the top of this post) but when you are asking how someone is for example, it is is read as just πως (for example: ποσ εισαι;).  This complication aside these 6 words can be used as sentances in themselves (Who? What? When? you get the jist), but more importantly understand the point of the sentance being asked!

Thats enough for tonight, Καληνύχτα!

Written by JuiceSoup.com