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Words with double meaning in Greek Posted by on Jan 14, 2015 in Vocabulary

by Nemodus photos under a CC license on Flickr

by Nemodus photos under a CC license on Flickr

In every language there are words that have more than one meanings and Greek is not an exception. Below, there are some common words with two meanings but there are more.

 

Πώς (pos,used in direct or indirect questions)
how
Γεια σου. Πώς πάνε τα πράγματα; (Yeia sou. Pos pane ta pragmata?)
Hi. How things are going?
Πως
that (conjunction)
Η Εύα είπε πως θα έρθει αύριο. (Ee Eva eepe pos tha erthee avrio)
Eva said (that) she will come tomorrow.

 

Πού (pou)
where
Πού είναι η Μαρία; (Pou eenai ee Maria?)
Where is Maria?
Που (pou)
who,that (relative pronoun)
Αυτοί που αγόρασαν το σπίτι είναι από τη Θεσσαλονίκη.  (Aftee pou agorasan to spetee eenai apo tee Thessaloniki)
The people who bought the house come from Thessaliniki.

 
Ότι (otee)
that (conjunction)
Άκουσα ότι είδες την Ελένη. (Akousa otee eedes teen Elenee)
I heard that you saw Eleni.
Ό,τι
any, anything, whatever (relative pronoun)
Θα κάνουμε ό,τι θέλετε. (Tha kanoume otee thelete)
We’ll do anything you like.

 
Καιρός (Kairos)
weather
Ο καιρός είναι πολύ καλός σήμερα. (O kairos eenai pole kalos seemera)
The weather is very good today.
time
«Θέλεις να πάμε σινεμά;» «Δεν έχω καιρό.» (Thelees na pame cinema? Den eho kairo)
“Do you want to go to the movies?” “I have no time.”

 
Κίνηση (keeneesee)
traffic
Άργησα γιατί είχε πολλή κίνηση. (Argeesa yatee eehe pole keeneesee)
I was late because there was a lot of traffic.
move
Ο παίκτης έκανε μία κακή κίνηση. (O paiktees ekane mia kakee keeneesee)
The player made a bad move.

 
Σημασία (seemaseea)
meaning
Η Στέλλα βρήκε τη σημασία των άγνωστων λέξεων στο λεξικό. (Ee Stella vreeke tee seemaseea ton agnoston lekseon)
Stella found the meaning of the unknown words in the dictionary.
importance
Δεν έχει σημασία τι έγινε. (Den ehee seemaseea tee eyeene)
It doesn’t matter what happened.

 
Τιμή (teemee)
price
Ποια είναι η τιμή του πετρελαίου σήμερα; (peea eenai ee teemee tou petrelaiou seemera?)
What is the price of oil today?
honor
Μας έκανε την τιμή να μας καλέσει στο σπίτι του. (Mas ekane teen teemee na mas kalesee sto speetee tou)
Lit: He made us the honor of inviting us to his house.

 
Χρόνος (hronos)
year
Πέρασε κιόλας ένας χρόνος από τη γέννηση του γιου τους. (Perase kiolas kiolas enas hronos apo tee yeneesee tou yiou tous)
It’s been already a year since their son was born.
time
Η Ειρήνη δεν παίζει ποτέ παιχνίδια. Είναι χάσιμο χρόνου. (Ee Eereene den paizee pote paihneedeea. Eenai hasimo hronou)
Eirini never plays games. It’s a waste of time.

 
Φανταστικός (fantastikos)
imaginary
Έφτιαξε μία φανταστική ιστορία για να δικαιολογηθεί στη γυναίκα του. (Eftiakse mia fantasteekee eestoreea yia deekaiologeethee stee yeenaika tou)
He made up an imaginary story in order to excuse himself to his wife.
fantastic
Ο Νίκος είχε μια φανταστική ιδέα. (O Neekos eehe mia fantasteekee idea)
Nikos had a fantastic idea.

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About the Author: Ourania

Ourania lives in Athens. She holds a degree in French Literature and a Master’s degree in Special Education for Children. Since 2008, she has been teaching Greek to foreigners.


Comments:

  1. Delia Stamate:

    Great blog! It helps me a lot to learn Greek, I have been studying it since july and this blog is just perfect to enlarge my knowledge in Greek; great language!

  2. Simon Ellis:

    I think another one is ‘dunatos’ which can mean strong or possible. Great blog by the way.

  3. mikki:

    I apologize for this being the wrong forum, but can anyone tell me why it is Στα ελληνικά and not Στην ελληνικά?

    • Ourania:

      @mikki Hello,
      Τα ελληνικά (neuter, plural). Σε + τα = στα