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THE (NOMINATIVE / SUBJECT)

Singular masculine	ο	ο άντρας = the man
Plural masculine	οι	οι άντρες = the men
Singular feminine	η	η γυναίκα = the woman
Plural feminine	οι	οι γυναίκες = the women
Singular neuter	το	το παιδί = the child
Plural neuter	τα	τα παιδιά = the children

 

CASES

Nominative	The Subject of the sentence	She
Genitive	Possessive	His
Accusative	The Object of the sentence	Him
Vocative	Calling someone	Calling someone

 

A/AN/ONE

	MASCULINE	FEMININE	NEUTER
NOMINATIVE	ένας	μία or μια	ένα
GENITIVE	ενός	μίας or μιας	ενός
ACCUSATIVE	ένα or έναν	μία or μια	ένα

 

THE – CASES

	MASCULINE	FEMININE	NEUTER
Nominative singular	ο άντρας = the man	η γυναίκα = the woman	το παιδί = the child
Genitive singular	του άντρα = of the man	της γυναίκας = of the woman	του παιδιού = of the child
Accusative singular	τον άντρα = the man	τη γυναίκα = the woman	το παιδί = the child
Vocative singular	άντρα = man	γυναίκα = woman	παιδί = child
Nominative Plural	οι άντρες = the men	οι γυναίκες = the women	τα παιδιά = the children
Genitive plural	των αντρών = of the men	των γυναικών = of the women	των παιδιών= of the children
Accusative Plural	τους άντρες = the men	τις γυναίκες = the women	τα παιδιά = the children
Vocative Plural	άντρες=men	γυναίκες=women	παιδιά = children

 

SOME

	MASCULINE	FEMININE	NEUTER
NOMINATIVE	μερικοί	μερικές	μερικά
GENITIVE	μερικών	μερικών	μερικών
ACCUSATIVE	μερικούς	μερικές	μερικά
VOCATIVE	μερικοί	μερικές	μερικά

 

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PHRASES

Καλημέρα	Good Morning
Καληνύχτα / Καλό βράδυ	Good night
Καλησπέρα	Good evening
Όχι	No
Ναι	Yes
Ευχαριστώ	Thanks / Thank you
Παρακαλώ	Please / You are welcome
Λυπάμαι	I am sorry
Συγνώμη	Sorry / Excuse me
Αντίο	Goodbye
Σ’ αγαπώ / Σε αγαπώ	I love you
Γεια	Hi / Hello
Τι κάνεις;	How are you? / What are you doing?
Πόσο κάνει; / Πόσο κοστίζει;	How much does it cost?
Εγώ είμαι ο / η …..	I am ….
Εγώ ζω (or μένω) στον / στην / στο ….	I live in …..

 

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PRONOUNS

If “they” refers to a group all males or male and female or its gender composition is unknown, αυτοί is used.

Εγώ	I
Εσύ	you (singular)
Εσείς	you (plural)
Εμείς	we
Αυτός	he
αυτή	she
αυτό	it
Αυτοί	they (male)
αυτές	they (female)
αυτά	they (neuter)

TO BE

Important note: the pronoun (Εγώ, εσύ) …is not always needed.

Εγώ είμαι	I am
Εσύ είσαι	you (singular) are
Εσείς είσαστε	you (plural) are (or είστε)
Εμείς είμαστε	we are
αυτή είναι	she is (or he, or it)
αυτές είναι	they (female) are

TO HAVE

	Singular	Plural
First Person	I have – έχω (“echo”)	we have – έχουμε, έχομε
Second Person	you have – έχεις	you have – έχετε
Third Person	she has – έχει	they (f) have – έχουν, έχουνε

First Conjugation Verbs

Many Greek verbs fall into this same pattern for changing their endings (or conjugating.)

We call this group of verbs the first conjugation verbs.

Here are a few more of them, given, as always, in the first person form:

I see	βλέπω
I buy	αγοράζω
I drink	πίνω
I know	ξέρω
I take	παίρνω
I give	δίνω
I eat	τρώω

POSSESSIVE PRONOUNS:

Person	Pronoun (own one thing)	Pronoun (own many things)
1st person singular	(Δικός/Δική/Δικό) μου	(Δικοί/Δικές/Δικά) μου
2nd person singular	(Δικός/Δική/Δικό) σου	(Δικοί/Δικές/Δικά) σου
3rd person singular (masculine)	(Δικός/Δική/Δικό) του	(Δικοί/Δικές/Δικά) του
3rd person singular (feminine)	(Δικός/Δική/Δικό) της	(Δικοί/Δικές/Δικά) της
3rd person singular (neuter)	(Δικός/Δική/Δικό) του	(Δικοί/Δικές/Δικά) του
1st person plural	(Δικός/Δική/Δικό) μας	(Δικοί/Δικές/Δικά) μας
2nd person plural	(Δικός/Δική/Δικό) σας	(Δικοί/Δικές/Δικά) σας
3rd person plural	(Δικός/Δική/Δικό) τους	(Δικοί/Δικές/Δικά) τους
	(masc/fem/neuter)	(masc/fem/neuter)

EXAMPLES:

Ο άντρας μου=My husband 

Ο δικός μου άντρας= My own husband (emphatic).

WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN Δικός, δική, δικό?

Δικός is used if the owned object is of masculine gender: Ο άντρας είναι δικός μου=The man is mine. 

Δικός becomes δικοί when the owned object of masculine gender is in plural. 

So, οι άντρες είναι δικοί μου=the men are mine.

Δική is used if the owned object is of feminine gender: Η γυναίκα είναι δική μου=The woman is mine. 

Δική becomes δικές when the owned object of feminine gender is in plural. 

So, οι γυναίκες είναι δικές μου=the women are mine.

Δικό is used if the owned object is of neuter gender: Το παιδί είναι δικό μου=The kid is mine. 

Δικό becomes δικά when the owned object of neuter gender is in plural. 

So, τα παιδιά είναι δικά μου=the children are mine.

THE DOUBLE ACCENT RULE

When μου,σου,του,της,μας,σας,τους comes after a word that is accented on the antepenult (second syllable from the end e.g. αυτοκίνητο), then it is accented also on the last syllable.

Example: 

το αυτοκίνητό μου=my car 

το ραδιόφωνό της= her radio 

η τσάντα του=his bag (no double accent here because the word τσάντα is not accented on the antepenult!)

I’ve been learning Greek!

This is one in a series of cheatsheets. Full list here.

Alphabet

Α-α	Άλφα	Alpha	A as in Ant
Β-β	Βήτα	Veeta	V as in Vase
Γ-γ	Γάμμα (Γάμα)	Gama	g as in Good, or y as in Yellow
Δ-δ	Δέλτα	Delta	TH as in THe
Ε-ε	Εψίλον	Epsilon	E as in Element
Ζ-ζ	Ζήτα	Ζeeta	Z as in Zoo
Η-η*	Ήτα	Eeta	EE as in sEE
Θ-θ	Θήτα	theta	th as in Thing
Ι-ι*	Ιώτα (γιώτα)	Iota	EE as in sEE
Κ-κ	Κάππα (κάπα)	Kapa	K as in Kitten
Λ-λ	Λάμδα	Lambda	L as in Lemon
Μ-μ	Μυ (μι)	Mee	M as in Mother
Ν-ν	Νυ (Νι)	Nee	N as in North
Ξ-ξ	Ξει (Ξι)	Ksee	X as in foX
Ο-ο*	Όμικρον	Omicron	O as in Organ
Π-π	Πει (Πι)	Pee	P as in Pet
Ρ-ρ	Ρω (ρο)	Row	R as in Rhapsody
Σ-σ/ς*	Σίγμα	Sigma	S as in Sit
Τ-τ	Ταυ	Taf	T as in Table
Υ-υ*	Ύψιλον	Ypsilon	EE as in sEE
Φ-φ	Φει (φι)	Fee	F as in Fun
Χ-χ	Χει (Χι)	Chee / Hee	H as in Hurry
Ψ-ψ	ψει (ψι)	Psee	PS as in liPStick
Ω-ω*	Ωμέγα	Omega	O as in Organ

 

Η-η, Ι-ι and Υ-υ have the same pronunciation (“ee”)

Ο-ο and Ω-ω have the same pronunciation (“o”)

Sigma has 2 types in lower case: Start of or inside word = σ, but end of word = ς

 

Diphthongs

ΑΙ αι	sounds like E-ε, or “eh” as in element
ΕΙ ει	sounds like Η-η, Ι-ι, Υ-υ or like ee
ΟΙ οι	sounds like Η-η, Ι-ι, Υ-υ or like ee
ΥΙ υι	sounds like Η-η, Ι-ι, Υ-υ or like ee
ΑΥ αυ	sounds like “av” or “af”
ΕΥ ευ	sounds like “ev” or “ef”
ΟΥ ου	sounds like “u” as in “soup” .

 

Double consonants

ΜΠ μπ	sounds like b
ΝΤ ντ	sounds like d
ΓΚ γκ	sounds like g
ΓΓ γγ	sounds like ng
ΤΣ τσ	sounds like ts
ΤΖ τζ	sounds like tz

 

Accents

Modern Greek has only ONE accent.

It is placed above the accented vowels, like this: ά, έ, ή, ί, ό, ύ, ώ.

The accent goes on one of the three last syllables.

Accents help you give emphasis to the right syllable.

E.g. “βιβλίο” (veevLEEo), ”μιλώ” (meeLO) etc.

 

Punctuation Marks

The Period, or full stop, the comma and the exclamation mark are the same as English.

The Greek question mark looks just like the English semi colon ;

I’ve been learning Greek!

I’ve been using DuoLingo, which is great in some ways, but utterly bewildering in others. The app asks you to remember random sentences and words with no apparent attempt to explain any basic grammatical rules or word endings. In fact that info is available on the DuoLingo website, but is still a bit haphazard even there, so I’ve created some cheat sheets with some useful basic rules:

The Alphabet

Some, a, the (Cases, definite articles, indefinite articles)

I (you, she etc) am, have (auxiliary verbs and pronouns, conjugation)

Phrases

Don’t confuse the genitive definite article with the possessive pronoun