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Deconstructing Greek Posted by Ourania on Sep 24, 2014
Most language learners ask their teacher how long will it take them to learn X language and most teachers reply “it depends”. According to Tim Ferriss’ article How to Learn (But Not Master ) Any Language in 1 Hour (Plus: A Favor) deconstructing a language helps the learners have a better idea on how…
Back to the future! Greek irregular verbs you must know Posted by Ourania on Sep 17, 2014
A few months ago I posted a list of common irregular verbs in the Past Simple tense (Αόριστος, aoristos). The same verbs have an irregular form in the Simple Future tense (Στιγμιαίος Μέλλοντας, (stigmiaios melontas): Ενεστώτας(Enestotas) Present Transliteration Definition Μέλλοντας(Melontas) Future Simple Transliteration είμαι ime to be θα είμαι tha eimai έχω eho to…
How to be polite in Greek Posted by Ourania on Sep 9, 2014
One of the first topics Greek students have to learn is the use of the polite form. It is a relatively “new” element, as it did not exist in ancient Greek, and has its origins in French. It is formed by the second plural person. E.g. «Τι κάνετε κύριε Δήμου;» (Tee kanete keerie Demou?) How…
Tzatziki recipe Posted by Ourania on Sep 4, 2014
Tzatziki (τζατζίκι) is related to souvlaki, the most famous Greek fast food and Greeks have a love-hate relationship with it: we love it because it’s creamy, fresh and piquant and we hate it because the garlic smell can turn a romantic moment to a disaster. Some people claim that consuming cinnamon or mint after eating…
Weights and Measures in Greek Posted by Ourania on Aug 20, 2014
In Greece, we follow the Metric System for weights and measures. It refers to the units we use in order to measure distance, length and speed, weight, volume and areas, as well as any other set of units used to specify anything that we can measure. Internationally, we often use as units of measurement the…
A farewell to Robin Williams Posted by Ourania on Aug 12, 2014
In the early nineties, one of our most favorite movies was “Dead poets’ society” (“Ο Κύκλος των Χαμένων Ποιητών”, o kiklos ton hamenon peeeeton) . Tears were dropped, long discussions were made and a new perspective on life was surfaced. John Keating was the inspirational teacher all Greek students wanted to have at school…
Funny color names in Greek Posted by Ourania on Aug 4, 2014
Besides the “mainstream” color names that we know there are shades of colors which are used in oral speech only. They derive from nouns and some of them are used in a humoristic way and denote bad taste. They end in –ι with accent and are indeclinable. Below there is a list of colors with…