Autorentext

Eirini Argyrouli is a Greek language teacher and the founder of the Greek Learning Hub, an international, virtual Greek language school. She has many years of experience teaching students the Greek language.

Inhalt

Introduction 1

About This Book 1

Conventions Used in This book 2

Foolish Assumptions 2

Icons Used in This Book 3

Beyond the Book 4

Where to Go from Here 4

Part 1: Getting Started with Greek 5

Chapter 1: Greek in a Nutshell 7

Introducing the Basics 7

The Greek alphabet 7

Basic and not-so-basic grammar 8

Useful expressions 8

Numbers, dates, and measurements 9

Greek at home 10

Putting Greek into Action 10

Going places 10

Shopping 11

Dining and entertainment 11

Health 11

Business 12

Taking Greek on the Go 12

Planning a trip 12

Transportation 13

Sightseeing 13

Enjoying traditions 13

Chapter 2: Checking Out the Greek Alphabet 15

Meeting the Full Greek Alphabet (Some Letters Will Look Familiar!) 16

I know you! Greek letters that look and sound like English letters 18

Greek letters that look like English letters but sound different 19

Sounding More Greek 19

Vowels 19

Double vowels 20

Consonants 21

Double consonants 22

Getting the Accent Right 23

Breaking the Combinations 24

Knowing the Punctuation Marks 25

Chapter 3: Tackling Basic Grammar 27

Familiarizing Yourself with a Few Basic Nouns 28

Understanding the Genders of Nouns 29

Noun endings 29

The articles 30

Breaking Down the Cases 31

Nominative case 32

Accusative case 34

Genitive case 37

Putting it all together: An overview of the cases 40

What's Mine and What's Yours: Possessive Pronouns 41

Chapter 4: Grammar Beyond the Basics 45

Introducing a Few Basic Greek Verbs 45

Who Does What? The Persons of Greek Verbs 47

The Verb " " (To Be) 49

Breaking Down Verb Types 49

Type A verbs 50

Type B1 and B2 verbs 51

Type AB verbs 52

Type 1 and 2 verbs 53

Nouns and Verbs in the Mix: Forming Sentences 54

Here Come the Adjectives 55

Checking out some basic adjectives 56

Conjugating adjectives 57

Combining nouns and adjectives 58

Talking About the Past 58

Type A and AB verbs 59

Type B1 and B2 verbs 61

Type 1 and 2 verbs 63

Some irregular verbs in the simple past tense 63

Talking About the Future 65

Type A and AB Verbs 65

Type B1 and B2 Verbs 67

Type 1 and 2 verbs 69

Some irregular verbs in the simple future tense 69

Using the Subjunctive 70

Chapter 5: Getting Started with Basic Expressions 75

Greeting People You Know 75

Meeting New People 76

Asking for each other's names 76

Getting acquainted 78

Talking about Countries, Nationalities, and Languages 79

Breaking down different places and languages 80

Asking people about their nationalities and languages 82

Speaking About Your Profession 84

Noting common professions 84

Asking and answering questions 85

Chatting About Your Family 86

Saying Goodbye 89

Chapter 6: Figuring Out Numbers, Dates, and Times 91

Counting Numbers 1 to 1,000 91

From 0 to 10 92

From 11 to 19 92

From 20 to 99 93

From 100 to 999 94

Age is just a number 95

Naming the Days of the Week 96

Listing Months and Years 97

Telling Time 97

The basics 98

Other helpful guidelines 98

Talking About Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow 101

The present 101

The past 101

The future 102

Chapter 7: Speaking Greek at Home 105

Talking About Your Daily Routines 105

The morning 106

The afternoon 106

The evening 107

Naming the Rooms of a House 107

Chatting About Furniture and Fixtures 109

The bedroom 109

The living room 110

The kitchen 112

The bathroom 112

Cleaning Your House 113

Part 2: Greek in Action 117

Chapter 8: Moving Around 119

Asking for Directions 119

Wondering where something is 120

Understanding directions you hear 120

Knowing other helpful words 121

Talking About Means of Transportation 123

Common means of transportation 124

Special means of transportation 125

Asking People Where They're Going 127

Chapter 9: Shopping Made Easy 131

Retail Therapy: Shopping for Clothes 131

Talking with the shop staff 132

Finding the right size 132

Looking for the right style 133

Searching for sales 135

Paying with ease 135

Shopping for Groceries 137

Discovering the supermarket sections 137

Buying fruits and vegetables 138

Meat and fish 139

Other foods 140

Nonfood items 141

Visiting a Greek supermarket 142

Chapter 10: Days and Nights Out 147

Eating Out 147

Knowing the best Greek recipes 148

Looking at types of restaurants 148

Making reservations 149

Ordering food 150

Trying useful phrases in a restaurant 151

Ordering Coffee 153

Enjoying Entertainment 156

Cinema 156

Clubbing 157

Bouzoukia 157

The Greek panigiri 158

Making Plans with Friends 158

Chapter 11: Your Body and Your Health 163

Naming Body Parts 163

Discussing Health 165

Feeling sick 166

Having pain 167

Taking care when you're sick 169

Having an accident 170

Visiting the Doctor's Office 170

Arranging your appointment 171

Speaking with the doctor 172

Going to the Hospital 174

Eating Healthy 175

Fitting in Exercise 178

Chapter 12: Let's Talk About Business 183

Working in an Office 183

Talking About Colleagues 184

Discussing Responsibilities 185

Going for an Interview 187

Part 3: Greek on the Go 193

Chapter 13: Planning a Trip 195

A Tourist's Dream: Traveling to Greece 195

Preparing for Your Trip 196

Booking Your Accommodations 197

Speaking with Locals 200

Using Money in Greece 201

Chapter 14: Getting Around: Planes, Trains, Taxis, and More 205

Flying to Greece 205

Traveling by Train 208

Taxi, Please! 209

Taking the Ferry 211

Chapter 15: Enjoying the Sights 215

Appreciating Ancient Greece 215

Visiting Historical Sites and Landmarks 216

Discovering the Greek Orthodox Christian Tradition 217

Greece for Art Lovers 218

Visiting Museums 219

Going Wine Tasting 220

Chapter 16: Understanding Greek Traditions 225

Having a Big Fat Greek Wedding 225

The wedding day 227

Wedding wishes 227

The wedding reception 228

Celebrating a Name Day 230

Celebrating Greek Orthodox Easter 230

Dancing Like a Greek 233

Part 4: the Part of Tens 235

Chapter 17: Ten Ways to Pick Up Greek Quickly 237

Chapter 18: Ten Popular Greek Words 243

Chapter 19: Ten Greek Expressions About Love 249

Chapter 20: Ten Greek Words That Can't Be Translated 255

Chapter 21: Ten Greek Phrases That Will Make You Sound More Fluent 261

Part 5: Appendixes 267

Appendix A: Mini-Dictionaries 269

Appendix B: Verb Tables 285

Appendix C: Answer Key 289

Index 295