In short

Every Greek noun belongs to one of three genders - masculine, feminine or neuter - and in almost every case you can read the gender straight off the ending of the dictionary form: -ος, -ας, -ης are masculine, -α, -η are feminine, -ο, -ι, -μα are neuter. The ending also tells you how the plural is built, so the two facts are learned together: ο δρόμος -> οι δρόμοι, η ώρα -> οι ώρες, το βιβλίο -> τα βιβλία. Learn each noun with its article attached - not δρόμος but ο δρόμος - and you have learned its gender for free.

The rule

English marks number on the noun (book -> books) and nothing else. Greek marks gender and number on the noun and on the article, and later on every adjective that goes with it, so gender is not a decorative label: it decides which words in the sentence change shape.

Three things follow the ending:

1. The article. Masculine ο, feminine η, neuter το in the singular; οι for both masculine and feminine in the plural, τα for neuter.
2. The plural of the noun. Each ending has one plural ending: -ος -> -οι, -ας/-ης -> -ες, -α/-η -> -ες, -ο -> -α, -ι -> -ια, -μα -> -ματα.
3. The accusative singular of masculines. Masculine nouns end in -ς in the nominative singular and lose that -ς when they are the object: ο δρόμος -> τον δρόμο. Feminine and neuter nouns keep the same form in both cases.

Gender is grammatical, not biological. It is a property of the word, not of the thing the word names. Most obviously, το παιδί “child”, το κορίτσι “girl” and το αγόρι “boy” are all neuter, because -ι is a neuter ending - Greek is describing the shape of the word, not the person. In the same way η θάλασσα “sea” and ο ήλιος “sun” are feminine and masculine without anything feminine or masculine being involved. For people the ending and the natural gender usually agree anyway (ο άντρας, η γυναίκα), but where they clash the ending still wins - the diminutive-shaped words for young people stay neuter.

One small family is worth naming now: names of languages are neuter plurals - τα ελληνικά, τα αγγλικά, τα γαλλικά, τα ισπανικά. They behave like ordinary neuter plurals (τα ελληνικά είναι ωραία), and after a verb of speaking they usually appear with no article at all: μιλάω ελληνικά.

This lesson stays inside the nominative and the accusative, the two cases you have met so far. The genitive, the full four-case declension of each class, the stress that moves in longer words and the nouns that add a syllable in the plural are the business of lessons 27 to 33.

Forms & patterns

The gender-by-ending table. Nominative and accusative, singular and plural.

The same information as bare endings. This is the part to memorise.

More nouns in each class, so that the pattern is a pattern and not three memorised words:

*ο χάρτης belongs to the -ης class; it is listed here only to show that -ας and -ης share the plural ending -ες.

Neuter -ι and the stressed plural. The plural ending is -ια. When the singular is stressed on the final -ί, the plural keeps the stress on the ending and is written -ιά:

Neuter -μα: the plural adds -τ-. The real stem ends in -ματ-, and every plural form shows it:

Languages, as neuter plurals: τα ελληνικά, τα αγγλικά, τα γαλλικά, τα γερμανικά, τα ισπανικά, τα ιταλικά, τα ρωσικά.

Examples

Common mistakes

• η δρόμος -> ο δρόμος - the ending -ος is masculine; the article must match the ending, not your intuition about the meaning.
• ο κορίτσι, η κορίτσι -> το κορίτσι - “girl” ends in -ι, so it is neuter, and so are το αγόρι and το παιδί. Grammatical gender wins over natural gender here.
• οι δρόμα -> οι δρόμοι - -α is the neuter plural ending; masculine -ος nouns take -οι.
• τα μαθήμα, τα μαθήμας -> τα μαθήματα - the -μα class has a hidden -τ- in the stem, and the plural is always -ματα.
• ο παιδί, τον παιδί -> το παιδί, plural τα παιδιά - το παιδί is neuter and never takes ο/τον.
• βλέπω τον μαθητής -> βλέπω τον μαθητή - masculine nouns drop the final -ς in the accusative singular.
• η ώρες -> οι ώρες - the article pluralises together with the noun: η -> οι.
• το ελληνικό είναι δύσκολο -> τα ελληνικά είναι δύσκολα - names of languages are neuter plurals, and everything agreeing with them goes plural too.

Tips

• Never store a noun bare. Store it as ο δρόμος, η ώρα, το βιβλίο - article first, gender solved forever.
• Read the ending, not the meaning. Ask “what does this word end in?” before you ask “what does it mean?”
• Final -ς in the dictionary form almost always means masculine. No feminine or neuter noun of these eight classes ends in -ς in the nominative singular, so -ος, -ας, -ης are a reliable masculine signal.
• The plural article is a shortcut in itself: hearing οι narrows the noun to masculine or feminine, hearing τα guarantees neuter.
• The neuter endings -ι and -μα are the safest of all - practically every noun in -ι or -μα is neuter. A handful of nouns in -ος are feminine (η οδός, η είσοδος) and a small group is neuter (το λάθος, το μέρος, plural τα λάθη, τα μέρη); they are rare at this level and come back with the later declension lessons.
• Longer words can move their stress in some plural forms: ο άνθρωπος, τον άνθρωπο, οι άνθρωποι, but τους ανθρώπους. Do not try to derive it yet - it follows one simple rule, covered in the three-syllable-rule lesson.
• When a weak possessive follows a word stressed on the third syllable from the end, write the second accent: το μάθημά μας, το όνομά σου, ο δάσκαλός μου.

In short

Greek “a/an” is ένας for masculine nouns, μία (usually written μια) for feminine, ένα for neuter. It agrees with its noun in gender and case, exactly like the definite article, and in the accusative the masculine becomes έναν.

Two things surprise English speakers. First, there is no plural of the indefinite article: where English says “some books”, Greek simply drops the article and says βιβλία. Second, Greek uses no article at all in a predicate that names a profession, a nationality, a religion or a role after είμαι and γίνομαι: Είμαι δάσκαλος, not Είμαι ένας δάσκαλος.

The rule

1. Agreement. ένας/μία/ένα stands in front of the noun and takes the gender and the case of that noun: ένας φοιτητής (subject), έναν φοιτητή (object), μία ερώτηση, ένα παιδί. The genitive forms ενός/μιας/ενός exist and you will meet them, but at A1 you only need to recognise them; the genitive gets its own lesson later.

2. First mention against known mention. ένας/μία/ένα introduces something into the conversation for the first time; once it is known, the definite article takes over:

• Ένας άντρας μπήκε στο μαγαζί. → Ο άντρας ζήτησε καφέ.
• Ένας φίλος μου δουλεύει εκεί. → Ο φίλος μου δουλεύει εκεί. (a friend of mine → my friend, someone you already know about)

3. No plural indefinite article. ένας/μία/ένα is singular only. English “some books”, “flowers”, “friends of mine” is expressed by the bare noun in the plural:

• Αγόρασα βιβλία. — I bought (some) books.
• Στο τραπέζι υπάρχουν λουλούδια. — There are flowers on the table.

Writing ένα βιβλία is a grammatical error, not a stylistic one: a singular article cannot stand in front of a plural noun.

4. No article in predicate nouns. After είμαι (“be”) and γίνομαι (“become”), a noun that classifies the subject — a job, a nationality, a religion, a role, a family relation — appears bare, with neither the definite nor the indefinite article:

• Είμαι δάσκαλος. — I am a teacher.
• Ο Νίκος είναι φοιτητής. — Nikos is a student.
• Η Άννα είναι Ελληνίδα. — Anna is Greek.
• Θέλω να γίνω γιατρός. — I want to become a doctor.

English forces “a” here; Greek leaves it out. Think of the bare noun as an adjective-like label rather than as a countable thing.

Forms & patterns

The indefinite article, all cases. It has no vocative (you do not call out to “a man”) and, crucially, no plural at all.

μια and μία are the same word: μια is the everyday one-syllable pronunciation (one syllable, therefore no accent), μία is the two-syllable form, used when you want to stress “one”. The same holds for μιας / μίας.

The article with a noun, nominative and accusative:

Only the masculine changes shape between the two cases, and that is exactly why the -ν of έναν matters: it is the one signal that tells έναν φίλο (masculine object) apart from a neuter ένα.

Singular against plural — the article simply disappears:

Examples

Common mistakes

• Είμαι ένας δάσκαλος. -> Είμαι δάσκαλος. — after είμαι a noun of profession takes no article; English “a” has no equivalent here.
• Η Άννα είναι μία Ελληνίδα. -> Η Άννα είναι Ελληνίδα. — the same rule covers nationality, religion and role.
• Θέλω να γίνω ένας γιατρός. -> Θέλω να γίνω γιατρός. — γίνομαι behaves exactly like είμαι.
• Αγόρασα ένα βιβλία. -> Αγόρασα βιβλία. — there is no plural indefinite article; a singular article cannot stand before a plural noun.
• Είδα ένα άντρα. -> Είδα έναν άντρα. — masculine accusative singular is έναν; ένα would make it look neuter.
• Έχω ένα ερώτηση. -> Έχω μία ερώτηση. — η ερώτηση is feminine, so the article must be feminine too.
• Ένας φίλος μου ήρθε χθες. Ένας φίλος μου έφερε δώρο. -> Ένας φίλος μου ήρθε χθες. Ο φίλος μου έφερε δώρο. — the second mention is already known, so it goes definite.

Tips

• Learn the article together with the noun as one block: ένας φοιτητής, μια φίλη, ένα παιδί. The article is your fastest reminder of the gender.
• Keep the -ν of έναν in every position. Unlike την, which drops it before most consonants, the masculine τον and έναν always hold on to it, because it is the only thing distinguishing masculine from neuter.
• When you want to say “some” in the plural, say nothing: μόνο το ουσιαστικό. If you feel the urge to translate “some” word by word, that is the moment to leave it out.
• Before answering “What do you do?”, rehearse the bare pattern: Είμαι μηχανικός. Είμαι φοιτήτρια. Είμαι μαθήτρια. No article, ever.
• The bare predicate rule bends once the noun carries a descriptive adjective: Είμαι δάσκαλος, but Είναι ένας εξαιρετικός δάσκαλος (“he is an outstanding teacher”), where ένας adds a note of appraisal rather than counting.
• Remember the second accent when a weak possessive follows a word stressed on its third syllable from the end: ένας δάσκαλός μου, ένα μάθημά μας.
• ένας/μία/ένα is also the number “one”. Context decides; when you really mean the quantity, stress it in speech and use the full μία.

In short

Greek has two verbs you will use in almost every sentence from day one: είμαι “I am” and έχω “I have”. Both are irregular, and both are worth learning as complete six-person tables before you learn any regular verb. With είμαι you say who you are, where you are from, how you feel and how old you are. With έχω you say what you own, what you carry and what family you have. Learn the twelve forms on this page and you can already introduce yourself.

The rule

είμαι is the copula: it links a subject to a name, a noun, an adjective, an adverb or a place phrase. Its endings look strange because they echo the endings of the mediopassive conjugation you will meet much later (-μαι, -σαι, -μαστε, -στε/-σαστε), even though είμαι has no active counterpart and no passive meaning at all — and its third person είναι does not follow the mediopassive -ται / -νται either. Do not try to derive it from anything; memorise it.

Two things about είμαι matter immediately:

• The third person is the same in the singular and the plural: είναι means both “he/ she/it is” and “they are”. Only context and the subject tell you which.
• After είμαι, an adjective agrees with the subject in gender, number and case (nominative): Είμαι κουρασμένος if you are male, Είμαι κουρασμένη if you are female. An adverb does not change at all: Είμαι καλά “I’m fine / I’m well”.

έχω is the ordinary verb of possession, and it is regular-looking in the present: it takes the normal first-conjugation endings -ω, -εις, -ει, -ουμε, -ετε, -ουν. It is irregular elsewhere in the language, not here. In speech you will often hear the longer third-person plural έχουνε alongside έχουν — both are correct, έχουνε is more colloquial.

Neither verb has an aspect contrast. Greek verbs normally come in two stems, a continuous one and a simple one, and you choose between them for the future and the subjunctive. είμαι and έχω do not: there is one stem each, so θα είμαι and θα έχω are the only futures available. This is a relief now and a genuine exception later.

Age is expressed with είμαι plus χρονών, never with έχω: Είμαι τριάντα χρονών, literally “I am of thirty years”. χρονών is a fixed genitive plural and never changes. In formal or written Greek the same slot takes ετών, the genitive plural of έτος: Είμαι τριάντα ετών.

Forms & patterns

είμαι — ενεστώτας (present)

είστε and είσαστε are the same form; είστε is the everyday one, είσαστε is a common variant. Note that the accent never leaves the same syllable, the εί- of the stem: it is the penultimate in είμαι, είσαι, είναι, είστε and the antepenultimate in είμαστε, είσαστε.

έχω — ενεστώτας (present)

Adjective agreement after είμαι (nominative, the dictionary form):

Age with χρονών — one fixed shape for every person:

Examples

Common mistakes

• Έχω τριάντα χρόνια. -> Είμαι τριάντα χρονών. — Greek states age with είμαι and the fixed genitive χρονών, not with έχω — έχω τριάντα χρόνια would mean you possess a thirty-year period of something.
• Είμαι καλός. (meaning “I’m fine”) -> Είμαι καλά. — καλά is the adverb and answers Τι κάνεις;. The adjective καλός says you are a good person, which is a different claim.
• Είμαι κουρασμένος. said by a woman -> Είμαι κουρασμένη. — after είμαι the adjective agrees with the subject, so the speaker’s own gender decides the ending.
• Αυτοί είναι κουρασμένος. -> Αυτοί είναι κουρασμένοι. — είναι is both singular and plural, so the number is carried by the adjective, not by the verb.
• Εμείς είστε φοιτητές. -> Εμείς είμαστε φοιτητές. — είμαστε is “we are”; είστε is “you are”. The two are easy to swap because both are long.
• Εσείς είμαστε από την Αθήνα; -> Εσείς είστε από την Αθήνα; — same swap in the other direction; and note the Greek question mark «;».
• Έχουμε ένα σπίτι μεγάλο κήπο. -> Έχουμε ένα σπίτι με μεγάλο κήπο. — έχω takes a single object in the accusative; a second noun needs a preposition.

Tips

• Drill the two tables out loud as a pair, first person to third plural, until είμαστε and είστε come out without hesitation. They are the two forms learners mix up most.
• Remember that είναι does double duty. When you need to make the number clear, put the subject in: Ο φίλος μου είναι… vs Οι φίλοι μου είναι….
• Ask yourself “adjective or adverb?” after είμαι. Feeling states use adjectives (χαρούμενος, πεινασμένη, άρρωστο) and agree; how-are-you answers use adverbs (καλά, μια χαρά, χάλια) and never change.
• With έχω, the object is usually bare when it is a category rather than a specific item: Έχει αυτοκίνητο “He owns a car” — no article needed, exactly as in lesson 3.
• Use είστε and έχετε as your default with strangers, shopkeepers and officials; save είσαι and έχεις for friends, family and children.
• Learn the phrase Πόσων χρονών είσαι; “How old are you?” as a fixed unit — the answer is simply a number plus χρονών.
• Do not look for a “continuous” or “simple” version of these two verbs. One stem each means one present, one future with θα, one subjunctive with να.

In short

Greek verb endings already say who is doing the action, so the subject pronoun is normally left out. Μένω στην Αθήνα is the everyday way to say “I live in Athens” - the -ω ending is the “I”. You add εγώ, εσύ, αυτός only when you want to point at the person: for contrast, for emphasis, in one-word answers, and after και or ούτε. A pronoun in front of every verb, English-style, sounds insistent and unnatural.

The rule

Greek is a pro-drop (null-subject) language. Each of the six person endings is distinct enough that the pronoun adds no information, so the unmarked sentence has no subject pronoun at all:

• Είμαι Ρώσος. - “I am Russian.”
• Έχεις χρόνο; - “Do you have time?”
• Είναι Έλληνας. - “He is Greek.”

Because the pronoun is not needed, using it becomes a signal. Greek reserves the nominative pronoun for these situations:

1. Contrast - two subjects are set against each other: Εγώ μένω εδώ, εσύ πού μένεις;
2. Emphasis / insistence - one subject is singled out: Εγώ το είπα, όχι αυτός.
3. One-word answers, where there is no verb to carry the ending: Ποιος θέλει καφέ; - Εγώ.
4. After και and ούτε, where the pronoun is the whole reply: Κι εγώ. / Ούτε εμείς.
5. Third-person disambiguation - είναι is the same for “he”, “she”, “it” and “they”, so αυτός, αυτή, αυτοί, αυτές step in when the context does not make it clear: Αυτή είναι δασκάλα, αυτός είναι γιατρός.

Two further points matter from the very start. First, only the nominative forms in the table below can be a subject: εμένα, εσένα, αυτόν are accusative and can never stand in for “I”, “you”, “he”. Second, Greek has no dummy subject: English “it” in “it is raining”, “it is cold”, “it is late” has no counterpart at all - Βρέχει. Κάνει κρύο. Είναι αργά. Adding αυτό there is wrong.

Forms & patterns

The nominative (subject) forms of the personal pronoun. The third person distinguishes gender in both numbers.

Compare the full paradigm of a verb: the ending alone identifies the person, which is why the pronoun column is optional in real speech.

Note the two cells where the ending is not unique: είναι covers both 3rd singular and 3rd plural. That is exactly where a pronoun most often earns its place.

Nominative against the other forms - only the first column can be a subject:

The object columns are here only so that you do not confuse them with the subject; they are taught in lesson 10.

Examples

Common mistakes

• Εγώ είμαι από την Ελλάδα και εγώ μένω στη Θεσσαλονίκη. -> Είμαι από την Ελλάδα και μένω στη Θεσσαλονίκη. - one pronoun per clause, English-style, is the commonest giveaway; drop it unless something is being contrasted.
• Εμένα μένω στην Πάτρα. -> Μένω στην Πάτρα. (emphatic: Εγώ μένω στην Πάτρα.) - εμένα is accusative and can never be the subject.
• Εσένα τι κάνεις; -> Εσύ τι κάνεις; - same error in the second person: subject εσύ, object εσένα.
• Αυτό βρέχει. -> Βρέχει. - Greek has no dummy “it”; weather and time verbs stand alone.
• Αυτό είναι αργά. -> Είναι αργά. - likewise for “it is late”, “it is cold”, “it is difficult”.
• Ποιος θέλει τσάι; - Με. -> Ποιος θέλει τσάι; - Εγώ. - a one-word answer is a subject, so it takes the nominative.
• Και εγώ θέλω. (as a bare reply) -> Κι εγώ. - before a vowel και normally becomes κι, and the short reply needs no verb.
• Αυτός γάτα είναι μαύρη. -> Η γάτα είναι μαύρη. - αυτός is not an article; do not use it to translate the English “it/the” of a thing.

Tips

• Ask yourself before writing a pronoun: am I setting this person against someone else? If not, delete it. The default Greek sentence begins with the verb.
• The ending is the pronoun. When you learn a new verb, learn the six endings, not the six pronoun-plus-verb pairs.
• είναι is the one form that is genuinely ambiguous (3rd singular and 3rd plural, all three genders). If your listener could not tell who you mean, add αυτός, αυτή, αυτοί, αυτές.
• Note the accents: εγώ, εσύ, εμείς, εσείς and every form of αυτός - αυτή, αυτό, αυτοί, αυτές, αυτά - are stressed on the last syllable, without exception. What needs care is the final vowel, not the place of the accent: αυτό is “it”, αυτά is “they (neuter)”.
• Contrast pairs are the natural home of these pronouns, so practise them in twos: εγώ … εσύ …, εμείς … εσείς …, αυτός … αυτή ….
• Remember that Greek questions end in ; - Εσύ πού μένεις; - and that πού “where” keeps its accent to separate it from the relative που.
• Do not translate the English “it” of “it is raining” or “it is nice here”. There is no word for it in Greek, and inserting αυτό changes the meaning to “this thing”.

In short

Greek verbs fall into two groups, and the dictionary form (the 1st person singular, not an infinitive - Greek has none) tells you which. If the accent sits before the last syllable, the verb is α΄ συζυγία: γράφω, γράφεις, γράφει, γράφουμε, γράφετε, γράφουν. If the accent sits on the last syllable, it is β΄ συζυγία, which comes in two flavours: αγαπάω/αγαπώ and μπορώ. Learn the six endings of each group and you can run almost any Greek verb in the present. One and the same form covers both “I write” and “I am writing”.

The rule

Two conjugations, told apart by stress. Every present-tense verb in this lesson ends in -ω in the 1st person singular. What differs is where the word is stressed and what follows:

• α΄ συζυγία - the stem carries the accent, and it never moves: γρά-φω, γρά-φεις, γρά-φου-με. The endings themselves are unstressed: -ω, -εις, -ει, -ουμε, -ετε, -ουν(ε).
• β΄ συζυγία - the ending carries the accent in all six persons: α-γα-πώ, μπο-ρείς, μπο-ρού-με. Within β΄ there are two sets, traditionally called β1 (the -άω type: αγαπάω, μιλάω, ρωτάω) and β2 (the -ώ type: μπορώ, οδηγώ, ευχαριστώ).

Nothing in the meaning of a verb predicts its group; you learn the group with the word. That is why vocabulary lists always give the 1st person singular.

β1 has two parallel sets of forms. The long, “uncontracted” set (αγαπάω, αγαπάει, αγαπάνε) is the everyday spoken norm; the contracted set (αγαπώ, αγαπά, αγαπούν) is more formal and more common in writing. Both are standard. Note that 2nd sg. αγαπάς and 2nd pl. αγαπάτε are the same in either set.

One present, three jobs. Greek has no separate progressive tense, so γράφω is both “I write” and “I am writing”. The same form expresses:

• a habit or a general truth: Διαβάζω εφημερίδα κάθε πρωί.
• something happening right now: Τι κάνεις; - Ακούω μουσική.
• a fixed, scheduled future: Αύριο φεύγω για την Αθήνα.

Because the ending already marks the person, the subject pronoun is normally left out; you add it only for contrast or emphasis (see lesson 5).

Four very common verbs - πάω, λέω, τρώω, ακούω - look like α΄ verbs in the 1st and 3rd person singular but contract everywhere else (πας, πάμε, λέτε, τρώνε). Treat them as a memorised block.

Forms & patterns

α΄ συζυγία - stem-stressed

The same six endings run δουλεύω, θέλω, ξέρω, αρχίζω, ανοίγω and hundreds more. The accent stays on the same syllable of the stem throughout: ξέρω, ξέρεις, ξέρουμε.

β1 - the -άω type, ending-stressed

β2 - the -ώ type, ending-stressed

The three sets of endings side by side

Contracted β1 borrows two endings from β2, -ούμε and -ούν(ε); everything else keeps the groups apart.

Four common irregulars

πας, λες and τρως are single syllables, so they take no accent at all.

Examples

Common mistakes

• μιλάεις -> μιλάς - β1 verbs never take the α΄ ending -εις; the 2nd person singular is simply -άς.
• μιλάουμε -> μιλάμε - the 1st person plural of β1 is -άμε (or contracted -ούμε), not the α΄ ending -ουμε stuck onto the -α-.
• μποράμε -> μπορούμε - μπορώ is β2, so its plural is -ούμε, -είτε, -ούν; the -α- of β1 belongs to a different verb type.
• οδηγάς -> οδηγείς - οδηγώ is β2 as well; only the dictionary entry tells you whether a stressed -ώ verb follows αγαπάω or μπορώ.
• αγαπείς -> αγαπάς - β1 keeps its -α- in every person, so it never borrows the β2 vowel.
• ξερώ, γραφούμε -> ξέρω, γράφουμε - moving the accent onto the ending turns an α΄ verb into something that does not exist; the stem keeps the stress in all six persons.
• γραφω, μενουμε -> γράφω, μένουμε - a word of two or more syllables must carry its accent; leaving it off is a spelling error, not an informal option.
• είμαι γράφω -> γράφω - there is no “to be + -ing” construction; the single present form already means “I am writing”.
• αυτοί γράφει -> αυτοί γράφουν - the ending must agree with the subject, and a plural subject can never take a singular ending.

Tips

• Learn every verb in its 1st person singular form. That one word encodes the whole paradigm: γράφω (α΄), αγαπάω/αγαπώ (β1), μπορώ (β2).
• Use your ear for the accent: unstressed final syllable in the dictionary form means α΄, stressed final syllable means β΄. Then only the β1/β2 choice is left to memorise.
• For β1, pick a register and stay consistent inside a sentence: the long set (μιλάω, μιλάει, μιλάνε) sounds conversational, the contracted set (μιλώ, μιλά, μιλούν) sounds more formal.
• The extra -ε in the 3rd person plural (γράφουνε, μπορούνε, αγαπούνε) is optional and colloquial; it changes nothing but the flavour.
• Since the ending shows the person, drop the pronoun by default - εγώ, εσύ and the others are for contrast.
• The 2nd person plural does double duty: real plural “you all” and the polite singular εσείς (Μιλάτε αγγλικά; to a stranger).
• Do not try to build a future or an “I have written” from this lesson’s forms: those need the second verb stem and the particle θα, which come later in the path.

In short

Greek has two negative words and they do different jobs. To say that a whole sentence is not the case, put δεν directly in front of the verb: δεν είμαι, δεν έχω, δεν μιλάω, δεν καταλαβαίνω. To answer “no”, or to cross out one single word rather than the whole sentence, use όχι: Όχι, δεν είμαι εδώ. Όχι εγώ. Όχι σήμερα.

The good news for an English speaker is that Greek negation needs no helper verb. English has to import do the moment it negates (I speak → I do not speak); Greek simply slides δεν in front of the verb it already has. There is no Greek counterpart of do at all, so a form such as δεν κάνω μιλάω is not a mistake in style — it is not a sentence.

A third negative word, μη(ν), exists but does not belong to this lesson: it is the negation used in να-clauses and in commands (να μην πας, μην ανησυχείς). Ordinary statements in the present take δεν and only δεν.

The rule

1. δεν negates the sentence, and stands immediately before the verb.

The order is fixed: δεν + verb. No subject, no adverb, no object noun and no auxiliary may be squeezed between them. Whatever else the sentence contains goes either before δεν or after the verb.

• Εγώ δεν καταλαβαίνω. / Δεν καταλαβαίνω εγώ.
• Σήμερα δεν δουλεύω. / Δεν δουλεύω σήμερα.

2. δεν never answers a question by itself.

δεν is glued to a verb; it cannot stand on its own the way English not can in “Not me” or “Certainly not”. The stand-alone negative word is όχι. The pair to learn is ναι / όχι.

3. όχι negates one constituent, not the sentence.

Put όχι directly in front of the word or phrase you are crossing out — a pronoun, a time word, a place word, a whole noun phrase. The verb is left untouched:

• Όχι εγώ. — Not me.
• Όχι σήμερα. — Not today.
• Όχι εδώ, εκεί. — Not here, over there.

4. The two combine in the natural answer.

Greek questions are usually marked by intonation alone, with no word order change: Είσαι Έλληνας; The full answer stacks the two negatives in their own roles — όχι answers the question, δεν negates the verb: Όχι, δεν είμαι.

5. δε or δεν?

You will meet both spellings, δεν and δε. This is the same word: the final -ν is kept or dropped according to the sound that follows, by the general final -ν rule of Greek, which the next lesson sets out. Until then, write δεν everywhere — it is always acceptable and never wrong.

Forms & patterns

The present tense of the four verbs of this lesson — two irregular (είμαι, έχω), one first-conjugation (καταλαβαίνω), one second-conjugation (μιλάω).

The negative is the same table with δεν in front. Nothing else changes: no ending moves, no accent moves, no helper verb appears.

Short answers to an intonation question:

And the two negators side by side:

Examples

Common mistakes

• Όχι μιλάω ελληνικά. -> Δεν μιλάω ελληνικά. — όχι never negates a verb; a verb is negated only by δεν.
• Είσαι Έλληνας; — Δεν. -> Είσαι Έλληνας; — Όχι. (or Όχι, δεν είμαι.) — δεν cannot stand alone; the answer word is όχι.
• Δεν κάνω μιλάω ελληνικά. -> Δεν μιλάω ελληνικά. — Greek has no auxiliary do; δεν attaches straight to the verb you already have.
• Καταλαβαίνω δεν. / Είμαι δεν εδώ. -> Δεν καταλαβαίνω. / Δεν είμαι εδώ. — the negator goes before the verb, never after it.
• Δεν εγώ καταλαβαίνω. -> Εγώ δεν καταλαβαίνω. — nothing separates δεν from its verb; the subject goes in front of δεν or after the verb.
• Δεν σήμερα, αύριο. -> Όχι σήμερα, αύριο. — when you cross out a single word and there is no verb to negate, use όχι.
• Ναι, δεν είμαι. -> Όχι, δεν είμαι. — a negative sentence is introduced by όχι; ναι and δεν do not pair up.

Tips

• Think of δεν as a prefix on the verb rather than a separate word: δενείμαι, δενέχω (a mental image only — in writing they stay two words: δεν είμαι, δεν έχω). That mental glue stops you from parking anything in the gap.
• English forces you to add do before not; Greek forces you to add nothing at all. If your Greek sentence has grown an extra verb, delete it.
• όχι is what you say with your head, δεν is what you say with your verb. A full answer usually needs both: Όχι, δεν έχω.
• όχι can also stand in front of a noun phrase, an adverb or a pronoun, and this is how Greek does contrast: καφέ, όχι τσάι.
• Write δεν until you have done the final -ν rule; δε is the same word with the -ν dropped before certain sounds, and you lose nothing by not using it yet.
• Later you will see two things that do slip between δεν and the verb: the future particle θα, as in δεν θα έρθω, and the weak (unstressed) pronouns, as in δεν το ξέρω (both together: δεν θα το ξέρω). Everything else stays outside.
• When you meet να-clauses and commands, the negator switches to μη(ν) — να μην αργήσεις, μην ξεχάσεις. Keep δεν for plain statements.

In short

Greek nouns change their form according to their job in the sentence. Modern Greek has four cases - ονομαστική (nominative), γενική (genitive), αιτιατική (accusative), κλητική (vocative) - and there is no dative. This lesson takes the two you need first: the nominative marks the subject, the accusative marks the direct object. Because the ending and the article carry that information, word order is free: both Ο Νίκος βλέπει τον Γιώργο and Τον Γιώργο βλέπει ο Νίκος mean that Nikos is doing the seeing.

The second half is a spelling habit that goes with the accusative: the little words τη(ν), μια(ν), δε(ν), μη(ν) keep their final -ν before a vowel and before κ, π, τ, ξ, ψ, μπ, ντ, γκ, τσ, τζ, and drop it elsewhere - τη Δευτέρα but την Τρίτη.

The rule

Four cases, no dative. Every noun, article, adjective and pronoun has four forms per number. The nominative names the subject, the genitive shows possession (lesson 31), the accusative marks the direct object and follows almost every preposition (lesson 15), and the vocative is for calling someone (lesson 21). The ancient dative is gone; it survives only in frozen expressions such as εν τω μεταξύ (“in the meantime”), εντάξει (“all right”) and δόξα τω Θεώ (“thank God”), which are fossils, not a living case - learn them as single words.

The nominative is the subject. Ο σκύλος τρώει means “the dog is eating”. The article ο and the ending -ος together say “this is the one doing it”.

The accusative is the direct object. Βλέπω τον σκύλο - “I see the dog”. The masculine article changes ο -> τον and the noun loses its final -ς: ο σκύλος -> τον σκύλο. The feminine article changes η -> τη(ν) but the noun itself does not change in the singular: η Μαρία -> τη Μαρία. Neuter nouns look identical in both cases: το παιδί is subject and object alike, so the verb and the context tell you which.

Case beats word order. English relies on position (“the dog bites the man” is not “the man bites the dog”). Greek relies on the form, so the object may be moved to the front for emphasis without any change of meaning:

• Ο Νίκος βλέπει τον Γιώργο. - Nikos sees Giorgos. (neutral)
• Τον Γιώργο βλέπει ο Νίκος. - It is Giorgos that Nikos sees. (Giorgos in focus)

In both, τον Γιώργο is accusative and ο Νίκος is nominative, so the roles never move. Read the article first, not the position.

After είμαι, the complement stays nominative. είμαι, γίνομαι and similar verbs do not take an object; they link two nominatives. Η Μαρία είναι δασκάλα, Ο Κώστας είναι καλός μαθητής. Professions and nationalities usually come with no article at all after είμαι (lesson 3).

Time phrases with no preposition are accusative. Where English says “on Monday” or “in the morning”, Greek uses a bare accusative: τη Δευτέρα, την Τρίτη, το πρωί, το βράδυ, τις Κυριακές, αυτή την εβδομάδα.

The final -ν rule (ο κανόνας του τελικού ν). Four small words end in -ν only when the next word begins with a sound that “welcomes” it:

• the feminine accusative article τη(ν) and the weak pronoun τη(ν) (“her, it”)
• the feminine indefinite μια(ν) (the -ν here is optional in practice)
• the negatives δε(ν) and μη(ν)

They keep -ν before a vowel and before κ, π, τ, ξ, ψ, μπ, ντ, γκ, τσ, τζ. They drop it before every other consonant: β, γ, δ, ζ, θ, λ, μ, ν, ρ, σ, φ, χ. The reason is pronunciation - that -ν voices the stop that follows it, so την Τρίτη is heard as if the second word began with ντ, and δεν πάω as if it began with μπ.

The masculine words are an exception by convention. Modern school grammar writes the masculine accusative τον, έναν and αυτόν always with -ν, whatever follows, so that they are never confused with the neuter το or the feminine τη: τον φίλο, τον δρόμο, έναν καφέ, έναν χάρτη. So the rule you actually have to think about is the feminine one.

Forms & patterns

The definite article - all four cases

The vocative takes no article at all in Modern Greek: Μαρία!, Γιώργο!, παιδιά!

The indefinite article (singular only - there is no plural form)

Article plus noun, the two cases side by side

τη φίλη drops the -ν because φ is not in the keep-list; την Πέμπτη keeps it because π is.

Full paradigm, masculine: ο άνθρωπος (watch the accent move to the second syllable in both genitives and in the accusative plural)

Full paradigm, feminine: η θάλασσα (the accent moves to the ending in the genitive plural)

Full paradigm, neuter: το παιδί (nominative and accusative are identical)

The final -ν in practice

Examples

Common mistakes

• Βλέπω ο Γιώργος. -> Βλέπω τον Γιώργο. - the direct object is accusative; ο is only ever a subject.
• Η Μαρία ρωτάει η Άννα. -> Η Μαρία ρωτάει την Άννα. - two nominatives leave the sentence with no object at all.
• Τον Γιώργο βλέπει τον Νίκο. -> Τον Γιώργο βλέπει ο Νίκος. - fronting the object does not turn the subject into an accusative.
• Είμαι τον δάσκαλο. -> Είμαι δάσκαλος. - είμαι links two nominatives and takes no object.
• την Δευτέρα -> τη Δευτέρα - δ is not in the keep-list, so the -ν goes.
• τη Τρίτη -> την Τρίτη - τ is in the keep-list, so the -ν stays.
• τη ώρα -> την ώρα - before any vowel the -ν always stays.
• Αγοράζω ένα καφέ. -> Αγοράζω έναν καφέ. - masculine accusative is έναν; ένα here would make it neuter.
• Δε μπορώ σήμερα. -> Δεν μπορώ σήμερα. - μπ keeps the -ν.
• Μη ανησυχείς! -> Μην ανησυχείς! - a following vowel keeps the -ν.
• Στη Ελλάδα. -> Στην Ελλάδα. - στη(ν) is σε + τη(ν) and follows the same rule.

Tips

• Read the article, not the position. ο/η/οι/τα in the nominative slots, τον/τη/τους/τις in the accusative - once you see τον, you know that word is not the subject, wherever it sits.
• Learn every new noun with its article (ο δρόμος, η πόρτα, το τραπέζι). The article is what you will actually have to change, and it is where the -ν rule lives.
• A memory hook for the keep-list: they are the stops and the affricates - κ, π, τ, their compounds ξ (= κ+σ) and ψ (= π+σ), and the digraphs μπ, ντ, γκ, τσ, τζ. Everything you can hum or hiss (β, γ, δ, ζ, θ, λ, μ, ν, ρ, σ, φ, χ) takes no -ν.
• The days of the week are a free daily drill: τη Δευτέρα, την Τρίτη, την Τετάρτη, την Πέμπτη, την Παρασκευή, το Σάββατο, την Κυριακή.
• Do not hunt for a preposition in time phrases - “on Monday” is just τη Δευτέρα, bare accusative.
• Say it out loud before you write it. If the -ν turns the following κ, π, τ into a γκ, μπ, ντ sound (την Τρίτη, δεν πάω), it belongs there; if the words run on smoothly (τη θάλασσα, δε φεύγω), it does not.
• Do not worry about masculine τον and έναν: write them with -ν every single time. You will also see δεν and την written with -ν everywhere in informal texts and online - that is common practice, but the rule above is what is expected in careful writing.

In short

Some of the most ordinary Greek verbs do not end in -ω. They end in -ομαι or -άμαι: έρχομαι “I come”, κάθομαι “I sit”, θυμάμαι “I remember”. This second set of endings is called the mediopassive voice (μεσοπαθητική φωνή), and grammatically it is the same machinery Greek later uses to build passives. But with these particular verbs the form means nothing passive at all. Έρχομαι does not mean “I am come” - it just means “I come”. Verbs like this, which exist only in the mediopassive shape, are called deponent verbs (αποθετικά ρήματα).

At A1 the practical consequence is simple: learn the six endings, and learn that a handful of very frequent verbs take them. There is no active twin to fall back on. You cannot say *έρχω, *κάθω or *θυμώ - those forms do not exist in Greek.

The rule

In lesson 6 you learned the active present: γράφω, γράφεις, γράφει, γράφουμε, γράφετε, γράφουν. The mediopassive is a second, parallel set of endings that attaches to the same kind of stem.

1. Two main classes. Which endings a verb takes depends on where the stress sits in the 1st person singular.

• -ομαι class (stress on the stem): έρχομαι, γίνομαι, σκέφτομαι, χρειάζομαι, δέχομαι, κάθομαι. This is by far the larger group.
• -άμαι / -ούμαι class (stress on the ending): θυμάμαι, κοιμάμαι, φοβάμαι, λυπάμαι. A small closed set, but every member is high-frequency.

There is a third class, -ιέμαι (αγαπιέμαι “I am loved”, ζητιέμαι), which belongs to the contracted verbs of lesson 6. Recognise the shape; you do not have to produce it yet.

2. Passive form, active meaning. Do not read -ομαι as “something is done to me”. Some mediopassive verbs really are passive in meaning, and you will meet those in lesson 48. The verbs in this lesson are deponents: they wear the passive coat but behave like plain active verbs, and many of them take a normal object.

So the verb’s shape tells you which endings to use, and nothing else. Meaning has to be learned with the word.

3. Stress moves in the 1st person plural. In the -ομαι class the stress sits on the stem in five of the six persons, but jumps one syllable to the right in the “we” form: έρχομαι, έρχεσαι, έρχεται, ερχόμαστε, έρχεστε, έρχονται. Same with κάθομαι → καθόμαστε, σκέφτομαι → σκεφτόμαστε, γίνομαι → γινόμαστε. Write ερχόμαστε with the accent on -ό-, never έρχομαστε.

4. Negation and word order are unchanged. Δεν goes in front exactly as in lesson 7: δεν έρχομαι, δεν θυμάμαι, δεν κάθεσαι. Subject pronouns stay optional (lesson 5): the ending already says who.

Forms & patterns

The -ομαι class: έρχομαι “I come”

The endings alone: -ομαι, -εσαι, -εται, -όμαστε, -εστε, -ονται.

Same endings, four more verbs

Δέχομαι “I accept” runs identically: δέχομαι, δέχεσαι, δέχεται, δεχόμαστε, δέχεστε, δέχονται.

The -άμαι class: θυμάμαι “I remember”

The endings alone: -άμαι, -άσαι, -άται, -όμαστε, -άστε, -ούνται. Note that only the “they” form has -ούνται, and that the “we” form θυμόμαστε has the same -όμαστε ending as the other class.

Same endings, three more verbs

Set against the active endings of lesson 6

For recognition only: the -ιέμαι class

Examples

Common mistakes

• Εγώ έρχω αύριο. -> Εγώ έρχομαι αύριο. Έρχομαι is a deponent: there is no active form *έρχω to build from.
• Κάθω στο τραπέζι. -> Κάθομαι στο τραπέζι. Same reason - *κάθω does not exist in Modern Greek.
• Θυμώ το τηλέφωνό σου. -> Θυμάμαι το τηλέφωνό σου. Θυμάμαι belongs to the -άμαι class; there is no *θυμώ.
• Εσύ έρχεις; -> Εσύ έρχεσαι; The 2nd singular mediopassive is -εσαι, not the active -εις; the two look similar but belong to different sets.
• Αυτοί θυμάνται. -> Αυτοί θυμούνται. The 3rd plural of the -άμαι class is -ούνται, never *-άνται.
• Εμείς έρχομαστε. -> Εμείς ερχόμαστε. The stress shifts one syllable right in the 1st plural: ερχόμαστε, καθόμαστε, σκεφτόμαστε.
• Εσείς κοιμάστε καλά; written κοιμαστε -> Εσείς κοιμάστε καλά; Every polysyllable needs its accent, and here it also shows where the stress falls - κοιμάστε, on the -ά-, not on the stem.
• Δεν γίνεσαι κουρασμένος. -> Δεν κουράζεσαι. / Δεν γίνεσαι δάσκαλος σε μία μέρα. Γίνομαι means “become, happen”; do not use it as a general auxiliary the way English uses “get”.

Tips

• Memorise the six endings as a chant, not as a rule: -ομαι, -εσαι, -εται, -όμαστε, -εστε, -ονται. Every verb of the big class follows it; the only variation you will hear is a more colloquial 2nd plural in -όσαστε (ερχόσαστε) beside -εστε.
• Learn each new verb in its dictionary form. If the entry ends in -ομαι or -άμαι, that is the only shape it has - do not go looking for an active version.
• The -άμαι class is small enough to memorise as a list: θυμάμαι, κοιμάμαι, φοβάμαι, λυπάμαι. Add them as a set of four and you have covered most of what you will meet at A1.
• Watch the pair έρχεστε (you, plural or polite) against ερχόμαστε (we). One syllable and one accent apart, and beginners swap them constantly.
• Both classes share the 1st plural ending -όμαστε (ερχόμαστε, θυμόμαστε), so that one form is free once you know either paradigm.
• Κάθομαι does double duty: “I am sitting” and, with a place, “I live / I’m staying”. Πού κάθεσαι; is a normal way to ask where someone lives.
• Do not try to add “by someone” (από + accusative) to these verbs. Deponents have no agent because they are not really passive; agents belong to the true passives of lesson 48.

In short

Greek has two sets of object pronouns, and they are not interchangeable. The weak (unstressed) forms — με, σε, τον, την, το, μας, σας, τους, τις, τα — are the everyday ones: they carry no stress of their own, they lean on the verb, and they stand immediately before it: Σε βλέπω. Τον ξέρω. Δεν το θέλω.

The strong (stressed) forms — εμένα, εσένα, αυτόν, αυτήν, αυτό, εμάς, εσάς, αυτούς, αυτές, αυτά — are used only when the pronoun has to be heard: for emphasis and contrast (Εσένα ρωτάω, όχι αυτόν), and after a preposition (για μένα, με αυτόν).

So English “I see him” and “I see HIM, not her” are two different Greek sentences: Τον βλέπω vs Αυτόν βλέπω, όχι αυτήν.

The rule

1. The weak form is the default object. If the object of the verb is just a pronoun and nothing special is happening, use the weak form. It goes directly in front of the finite verb, with nothing in between:

• Με ακούς; — “Do you hear me?”
• Σας περιμένουμε. — “We are waiting for you.”

Nothing may be inserted between the weak pronoun and its verb — no adverb, no subject, nothing. *Σε πάντα βλέπω is impossible; you say Πάντα σε βλέπω.

2. After δεν, the weak form still hugs the verb. The negator comes first, then the pronoun, then the verb: δεν + pronoun + verb.

• Δεν τον ξέρω. — “I don’t know him.”
• Δεν μας ακούνε. — “They don’t hear us.”

The same holds for the question word: Γιατί δεν με ρωτάς; The pronoun never gets separated from the verb.

3. The third person agrees with the gender of the thing referred to, not with any English notion of animacy. Greek has no “it” that covers everything: a book is neuter (το), a bag is feminine (την), a coffee is masculine (τον).

• Το βιβλίο; Το διαβάζω. — “The book? I’m reading it.”
• Την τσάντα; Την παίρνω. — “The bag? I’m taking it.”
• Τον καφέ; Τον πίνω. — “The coffee? I’m drinking it.”

4. The final -ν of τον and την follows the usual rule (see lesson 8): it is kept before a vowel and before κ, π, τ, γκ, μπ, ντ, τσ, τζ, ξ, ψ, and it drops before the other consonants. So τον ξέρω, την παίρνω, τον ακούω keep it, but τη βλέπω, τη θέλω, τη φωνάζω lose it. Masculine τον, however, is normally kept everywhere in practice, because dropping it would make it look like the neuter το: το βλέπω “I see it” vs τον βλέπω “I see him”.

5. The strong form is used in exactly two situations.

(a) Emphasis and contrast. When the pronoun is the point of the sentence — it is being singled out, corrected, or set against something else — the strong form appears, typically at the front:

• Εσένα ρωτάω, όχι αυτόν. — “It’s you I’m asking, not him.”
• Εμένα δεν με πειράζει. — “It doesn’t bother me.” (strong + weak together, see the note below)

(b) After a preposition. A preposition can never be followed by a weak form:

• για μένα, σε εμάς, με αυτόν, από εσένα, χωρίς αυτήν.

After the very frequent prepositions για, με, σε, από, the first- and second-person strong forms often drop their initial ε- in speech and writing: για μένα, με σένα, από μας. Both για εμένα and για μένα are correct.

6. A strong form at the front is usually echoed by a weak one. When you front a strong object for emphasis, Greek very often keeps the weak pronoun on the verb as well: Εμένα με ρωτάς; “Are you asking me?” This doubling is normal and native; it is treated properly in lesson 59.

Note the boundary of this lesson: these are accusative (direct-object) pronouns. The genitive weak forms μου, σου, του — used for possession and for the indirect object — are lesson 13 and lesson 34, and what happens when two weak pronouns meet (μου το, σου τον) is lesson 42.

Forms & patterns

Weak (unstressed) accusative forms — used before the verb

Strong (stressed) accusative forms — after prepositions, and for emphasis

The third person in full — the strong third person is simply the demonstrative αυτός, which declines like an adjective. Here is the whole paradigm, so that you can see where the accusative sits (lesson 11 takes it further):

Only the αιτιατική row is an object pronoun. The ονομαστική row (αυτός, αυτή, αυτό) is the subject — never put it after a preposition.

The two sets in one sentence frame, so you can hear the difference:

Placement in a negative sentence

Examples

Common mistakes

• Βλέπω τον. -> Τον βλέπω. The weak pronoun cannot follow the verb in a statement; it always stands immediately before it. (After a positive imperative it does follow — that is lesson 26.)
• Ξέρω αυτόν. -> Τον ξέρω. A plain, unemphatic object takes the weak form. Αυτόν ξέρω is grammatical but means “it’s him I know”, which is not what you meant.
• Για αυτός. / Με εσύ. -> Για αυτόν. / Με σένα. A preposition governs the accusative, so the nominative αυτός, εσύ, εμείς can never follow it.
• Με με λένε Άννα. / Για με. -> Με λένε Άννα. / Για μένα. The weak form με never follows a preposition; the strong form is (ε)μένα.
• Σε πάντα περιμένω. -> Πάντα σε περιμένω. Nothing may come between the weak pronoun and its verb — move the adverb outside the pair.
• Τον δεν ξέρω. -> Δεν τον ξέρω. Δεν comes first, then the pronoun, then the verb.
• Το τσάντα την παίρνω. / Το εφημερίδα τη διαβάζω. -> Την τσάντα την παίρνω. / Την εφημερίδα τη διαβάζω. The third-person weak pronoun copies the gender of its antecedent, and so does the article; a feminine noun never takes το.
• Σας ευχαριστώ εσάς πολύ (as a neutral thank-you) -> Σας ευχαριστώ πολύ. Add the strong form only if you really are contrasting: Εσάς ευχαριστώ, όχι αυτούς.

Tips

• Learn the weak forms as part of the verb, not as separate words: σεβλέπω, τονξέρω, δεντονξέρω. They have no stress of their own and they lean on the verb like a prefix — that is exactly how they sound in speech.
• The weak third-person forms are exactly the accusative forms of the definite article: τον, την, το, τους, τις, τα. If you know the article (lesson 1), you already know these — not one of the six differs.
• Use a simple test for which set you need: if you could shout the pronoun in English (“I’m asking YOU”), use the strong form; otherwise use the weak one.
• After any preposition, switch to the strong set automatically. It helps to memorise them as fixed chunks: για μένα, με σένα, από αυτόν, χωρίς εσάς.
• Choose the third-person form by the gender of the Greek noun, not by the English translation. English “it” hides three different Greek pronouns: τον (καφές), την (τσάντα), το (βιβλίο).
• Keep the -ν of την before a vowel or κ, π, τ, μπ, ντ, γκ, τσ, τζ, ξ, ψ, and drop it elsewhere (την ακούω but τη βλέπω). With masculine τον, keep it — it is what tells your listener “him” and not “it”.
• Do not be surprised by Εμένα με ρωτάς; — the doubled pronoun is correct and very common; the strong form supplies the emphasis and the weak one stays with the verb.

In short

Greek has two everyday pointing words: αυτός for what is near (“this”) and εκείνος for what is far (“that”). They inflect like ordinary adjectives in -ος, -η, -ο, and they agree with their noun in gender, number and case.

The one thing that surprises English speakers is the article. English says this book with no article; Greek keeps the definite article and puts the demonstrative outside it: αυτό το βιβλίο (or το βιβλίο αυτό), never αυτό βιβλίο, and never το αυτό βιβλίο.

The very same words do a second job with no article at all: they are the strong third-person pronouns, “he / she / it / they” when you need to stress, contrast or point. Αυτός είναι ο Νίκος. Εκείνον ξέρω.

The rule

1. Agreement. The demonstrative copies the noun’s gender, number and case: αυτός ο φίλος, αυτή η φίλη, αυτό το παιδί, αυτούς τους φίλους.
2. The article is obligatory and the demonstrative stands outside it. Two orders are possible and both are normal: αυτό το βιβλίο (neutral) and το βιβλίο αυτό (a little more emphatic, common in writing). What is impossible is the article-less αυτό βιβλίο and the sandwich το αυτό βιβλίο (the learned ο αυτός / το αυτό does exist, but it means “the same”, not “this”).
3. Case runs through all three words. Once the phrase is an object, every element moves to the accusative: Ξέρω αυτόν τον άντρα. Βλέπω εκείνα τα παιδιά.
4. Near and far pair up with the place adverbs εδώ “here” and εκεί “there”: αυτό εδώ ↔ εκείνο εκεί. Adding the adverb is the usual way to make the contrast visible.
5. Same words, no article = pronoun. Standing alone, αυτός/αυτή/αυτό and εκείνος/εκείνη/εκείνο replace a noun phrase and serve as the strong third-person pronouns of lesson 10: Αυτή είναι η δασκάλα μου. Εκείνους δεν τους ξέρω.
6. Genitive forms exist (αυτού, αυτής, αυτών) and are shown below for completeness, but the genitive case as a system waits for lesson 31. At A1 you need the nominative and the accusative.

Forms & patterns

αυτός, αυτή, αυτό — “this” (near)

Singular:

Plural:

Demonstratives have no vocative — you point at things, you do not call them.

εκείνος, εκείνη, εκείνο — “that” (far)

Singular:

Plural:

The feminine accusative αυτή(ν) / εκείνη(ν) follows the final -ν rule of lesson 8: the -ν is normally written when the word stands alone as a pronoun (Εκείνην είδα) and before a vowel or κ, π, τ, μπ, ντ, γκ, τσ, τζ, ξ, ψ.

The whole phrase: demonstrative + article + noun

This is the pattern to memorise as one block.

εκείνος behaves identically: εκείνη η γυναίκα, εκείνην τη γυναίκα, εκείνες οι γυναίκες, εκείνες τις γυναίκες.

The postposed order simply moves the demonstrative behind the noun, article included: το παιδί αυτό, η γυναίκα εκείνη, τα βιβλία αυτά.

τέτοιος and τόσος

τέτοιος “such, this/that kind of” and τόσος “so much, so many” are demonstratives of quality and of quantity. They inflect like adjectives too (τέτοιος keeps the feminine in -α: τέτοια, τέτοιας), but they do not take the definite article the way αυτός does: τέτοιος άνθρωπος, ένα τέτοιο σπίτι, τόσος κόσμος.

Να — the pointing word

να (not the να of να + subjunctive) presents something on the spot, like French voilà: Να ο Γιάννης! Να το σπίτι μας! With a weak pronoun it makes the short forms Να τος! “There he is!”, Να τη!, Να το!, Να τοι! / Να τες! / Να τα!

τούτος — recognition only

τούτος, τούτη, τούτο is an emphatic “this one right here”, much less common than αυτός and at home in colloquial speech, songs, proverbs and set phrases (τούτο εδώ, τούτη τη φορά κι όχι την άλλη). Recognise it; say αυτός.

Examples

Common mistakes

• αυτό βιβλίο -> αυτό το βιβλίο — the article never drops; Greek says literally “this the book”.
• το αυτό βιβλίο -> αυτό το βιβλίο / το βιβλίο αυτό — the demonstrative stands outside the article, never between article and noun.
• εκείνο η γυναίκα -> εκείνη η γυναίκα — the demonstrative takes the noun’s gender, so a feminine noun needs the feminine form.
• Αυτό είναι η δασκάλα -> Αυτή είναι η δασκάλα — pointing at a person, the pronoun takes that person’s gender; neuter αυτό is for things and ideas (Αυτό είναι το πρόβλημα).
• Ξέρω αυτός ο άντρας -> Ξέρω αυτόν τον άντρα — an object puts all three words in the accusative, not just the noun.
• αυτά τα καρέκλες -> αυτές οι καρέκλες — gender and case must match right across the phrase, article included.
• Αυτό τα βιβλία -> Αυτά τα βιβλία — number agreement: plural noun, plural demonstrative.
• ο τέτοιος άνθρωπος -> τέτοιος άνθρωπος / ένας τέτοιος άνθρωπος — τέτοιος does not take the definite article the way αυτός does.

Tips

• Learn the phrase, not the word: drill αυτό το + neuter noun, αυτή η + feminine noun, αυτός ο + masculine noun as three fixed blocks. The article is part of the demonstrative for you.
• The endings are exactly those of an adjective in -ος, -η, -ο, so anything you know about καλός, καλή, καλό transfers straight over — including the accusative -ν on αυτόν, εκείνον.
• Pin each word to its adverb: αυτός goes with εδώ, εκείνος literally contains εκεί. That is a free mnemonic built into the spelling.
• With no article after it, the demonstrative is a pronoun; with an article after it, it is a modifier. That single test tells you which job the word is doing in the sentence.
• When you identify a person, let the pronoun agree with the person, not with the English “this”: Αυτή είναι η Μαρία, αυτός είναι ο Κώστας.
• In a shop or at a market you can survive on the neuter alone: Αυτό, παρακαλώ. Πόσο κάνει εκείνο; Θέλω αυτά εδώ.
• Do not worry about the genitive αυτού / αυτής / αυτών yet — you will hardly need it before lesson 31.

In short

Asking a yes/no question in Greek costs you nothing at all: you say the statement, you let your voice rise at the end, and you write the Greek question mark «;». Nothing moves, and nothing is added - there is no inversion and no equivalent of English “do”. Μιλάς ελληνικά. is “You speak Greek.” and Μιλάς ελληνικά; is “Do you speak Greek?”

For open questions Greek has a small closed set of question words. Four are invariable adverbs - πού, πότε, πώς, γιατί - and τι is an invariable pronoun. Two more are pronouns that behave like adjectives and agree with what they ask about: ποιος, ποια, ποιο (“which, who”) and πόσος, πόση, πόσο (“how much, how many”). Whichever you use, it stands first in the clause, the verb normally comes straight after it, and the subject, if you name one, comes last: Τι κάνει ο Γιάννης;

The rule

1. Yes/no questions. Keep the word order of the statement and change only two things: the intonation (a rise on the last stressed syllable) and the final punctuation mark.

• Ο καφές είναι ζεστός. -> Ο καφές είναι ζεστός;
• Μένετε στην Αθήνα. -> Μένετε στην Αθήνα;

Do not look for an auxiliary to move to the front. English builds do you speak, are you speaking, have you spoken; Greek builds nothing. The one-word answers are ναι and όχι, and a natural fuller answer repeats the verb rather than the auxiliary: Μιλάς ελληνικά; - Ναι, μιλάω λίγο.

2. The question mark is «;». It looks like an English semicolon and sits on the same key. Every Greek question ends with it, direct and short alike: Τι ώρα είναι; Πόσο κάνει; An English «?» at the end of a Greek sentence is a spelling error.

3. Open questions: the question word goes first. The order is

question word - verb - (subject) - (rest)

• Πού μένει η Μαρία;
• Πότε φεύγει το τρένο;
• Τι θέλουν τα παιδιά;

Note the subject after the verb. English says “Where does Maria live?”; Greek simply lets the subject follow, because the question word has taken the front position. And since Greek drops pronoun subjects (lesson 5), most questions have no subject at all: Πού μένεις; The one question word that also tolerates a subject in front of the verb is γιατί: Γιατί ο Γιάννης δεν ήρθε; is as good as Γιατί δεν ήρθε ο Γιάννης;

4. Invariable versus declined. τι, πού, πότε, πώς and γιατί never change their form. ποιος and πόσος are pronouns with endings and must agree in gender, number and case with the noun they stand for or accompany:

• Ποιος μιλάει; (a man, subject -> masculine nominative)
• Ποιον ρωτάς; (a man, object -> masculine accusative)
• Ποια βιβλία διαβάζεις; (neuter plural)
• Πόσα αδέλφια έχεις; (neuter plural)

The genitive forms of these pronouns (ποιου and ποιανού, πόσου - plus the formal τίνος, which belongs to the learned τις) come with the genitive case in lesson 31; here you need the nominative for subjects and the accusative for objects and for the noun after a preposition.

5. τι against ποιο. τι asks an open question - the field of possible answers is unlimited. ποιος/ποια/ποιο asks you to pick out of a set that both speakers already have in mind.

• Τι θέλεις; = What do you want? (anything at all)
• Ποιο θέλεις; = Which one do you want? (of these, on the table, in the photo)

6. πόσος and the adverb πόσο. As a pronoun πόσος agrees: Πόσες μέρες; Πόσοι φοιτητές; The neuter πόσο also works as a plain adverb of degree, and that is the form frozen into the shopping question Πόσο κάνει; (“How much is it?”), plural Πόσο κάνουν;

7. The tag έτσι δεν είναι; English tags copy the verb (“you’re Greek, aren’t you?”; “she came, didn’t she?”). Greek has one fixed tag for all of them: έτσι δεν είναι; Colloquially a bare ε; does the same job.

Forms & patterns

The invariable question words

τι is used for both subject and object without changing: Τι έγινε; (subject) - Τι είδες; (object).

ποιος, ποια, ποιο - “who / which”

Ενικός (singular):

Πληθυντικός (plural):

Every cell here is a single syllable - ποι- is pronounced as one sound - so none of them takes an accent. The masculine accusative singular keeps a final -ν (ποιον) exactly as the article τον does, by the rule you met in lesson 8; the plural ποιους has no -ν to keep.

πόσος, πόση, πόσο - “how much, how many”

Ενικός (singular):

Πληθυντικός (plural):

The singular asks about quantity of an uncountable thing (Πόση ζάχαρη;), the plural about a number of countable things (Πόσα ευρώ;).

Statement, yes/no question, open question

Examples

Common mistakes

• Κάνεις τι; -> Τι κάνεις; - the question word opens the clause; leaving it at the end sounds like a startled echo, not a normal question.
• Κάνεις μιλάς ελληνικά; -> Μιλάς ελληνικά; - there is no “do” auxiliary to borrow. The verb κάνω means “do/make” as a real action, never as a question helper.
• Μιλάς ελληνικά? -> Μιλάς ελληνικά; - the Greek question mark is «;», not «?».
• Που μένεις; -> Πού μένεις; - the interrogative πού carries an accent; the unaccented που is the relative “who/which/that” (the pronunciation guide’s lesson on punctuation and the disambiguating accent sets out the whole pair).
• Πως σε λένε; -> Πώς σε λένε; - same pair: πώς asks “how?”, πως introduces “that”.
• Ποιος θέλεις; -> Ποιον θέλεις; - the person asked about is the object of θέλω, so the pronoun goes into the accusative.
• Ποια είναι το πρόβλημα; -> Ποιο είναι το πρόβλημα; - ποιος agrees with the noun it refers to, and πρόβλημα is neuter.
• Πόσο αδέλφια έχεις; -> Πόσα αδέλφια έχεις; - πόσος is a full adjective-like pronoun; with a countable neuter plural it is πόσα.
• Ποιο θέλεις; with nothing in view -> Τι θέλεις; - ποιο presupposes a set both speakers already have in mind; with the field wide open the question word is τι. Once the options are actually named, either one is normal Greek: Τι θέλεις, τσάι ή καφέ;
• Πού είναι ο Γιάννης πηγαίνει; -> Πού πηγαίνει ο Γιάννης; - one verb, straight after the question word, with the subject behind it.

Tips

• Practise the melody, not just the words. In a yes/no question the pitch climbs on the last stressed syllable and stays up; in the matching statement it falls. With no inversion and no auxiliary, intonation is the only thing your listener has to go on.
• On a keyboard, the Greek question mark is simply the semicolon key while you are in the Greek layout. If your text shows «?» at the end of Greek sentences, your layout slipped.
• Answer with the verb, not with an auxiliary: Ήρθες; - Ναι, ήρθα. A bare ναι is fine too, but “Yes, I did” has no Greek translation of that shape.
• A quick test for τι against ποιο: if you could point at the choices, use ποιο (and make it agree). If the answer could be anything in the world, use τι.
• Learn Πώς σε λένε; and Πόσο κάνει; as whole units. Greek uses “how” where English uses “what” for names, and the frozen neuter πόσο for prices.
• γιατί does double duty: it asks “why?” and it answers “because”. Γιατί άργησες; - Γιατί έχασα το λεωφορείο.
• έτσι δεν είναι; never changes, whatever the verb of the main clause was. That makes it easier than the English tag system, so use it freely.

In short

Greek has no everyday adjective like “my”, “your”, “her”. It uses a tiny unstressed pronoun that comes after the noun and leans on it: το σπίτι μου “my house”, literally “the house of-me”. Three things follow from that:

• The article stays. It is “the house of-me”, never “house of-me”.
• The little word is an enclitic - it has no accent of its own, so if the noun before it is stressed on the third-from-last syllable, the noun grows a second accent: το όνομα -> το όνομά μου.
• For emphasis or contrast (“my car, not yours”) Greek switches to δικός μου, an adjective that agrees with the thing owned and can stand between the article and the noun, or on its own after είμαι.

The rule

1. The forms. The possessives are simply the weak (unstressed) genitive forms of the personal pronoun you met in lesson 10: μου, σου, του / της / του, μας, σας, τους. They never change for the noun they belong to - only for the owner. το βιβλίο μου, τα βιβλία μου, της αδελφής μου: μου is μου throughout.

2. Position: after the noun, article kept. The neutral possessive phrase is article + noun + clitic:

• ο φίλος μου, η δουλειά σου, το τηλέφωνό της, οι γονείς μας, τα παιδιά τους.

The clitic cannot open the phrase (never μου το σπίτι) and the article cannot be dropped (never σπίτι μου in ordinary statements). An indefinite article works the same way and gives English “of mine”: ένας φίλος μου “a friend of mine”.

3. Third person agrees with the owner, not the thing owned. του = a male (or neuter) owner, της = a female owner, τους = several owners of any gender. η μητέρα του is “his mother”; η μητέρα της is “her mother”. The noun μητέρα is feminine either way - it plays no part in the choice.

4. The second accent (δεύτερος τόνος). A Greek word may not be stressed further back than the third-from-last syllable. Since the enclitic has no stress, the group noun + clitic is pronounced as one word, and a noun already stressed on its third-from-last syllable would end up stressed too far back. Greek repairs this by writing an extra accent on the last syllable of the noun:

• το όνομα -> το όνομά μου, ο δάσκαλος -> ο δάσκαλός μας, τα μαθήματα -> τα μαθήματά τους, το αυτοκίνητο -> το αυτοκίνητό της.

Nouns stressed on the last or second-to-last syllable need no repair: το σπίτι μου, η γιαγιά μου, ο αδελφός σου. This is obligatory spelling, not decoration.

5. With an adjective. When an adjective precedes the noun, the clitic may lean on the adjective or sit at the end of the phrase. Both are correct and both are common; the second accent rule applies to whichever word the clitic follows.

• η νέα μου φίλη = η νέα φίλη μου “my new friend”
• ο καλύτερός μου φίλος = ο καλύτερος φίλος μου “my best friend” (καλύτερος is proparoxytone, so it takes the second accent when the clitic follows it)

6. Emphatic δικός μου. To contrast owners, or to say “mine” with no noun at all, use δικός, δική, δικό + the same clitic. δικός is a normal adjective in -ός, -ή, -ό: it agrees in gender, number and case with the thing possessed, while the clitic still marks the owner.

• Predicative: Αυτό το βιβλίο είναι δικό μου. “This book is mine.”
• Attributive, inside the article: το δικό μου αυτοκίνητο “my car (as opposed to another)”.

Unemphatic sentences do not use δικός: “my car is red” is simply το αυτοκίνητό μου είναι κόκκινο.

7. Not covered here. The same little words μου, σου, της also serve as indirect objects (“he told me”). That is a different job and waits for lesson 34.

Forms & patterns

The weak possessives

The article stays, whatever the noun

Where the second accent appears

δικός μου - the full declension (the clitic can be any of μου, σου, του, της, μας, σας, τους)

The vocative cells are listed for completeness; in practice you meet them only in warm address such as δικέ μου φίλε. δικός is stressed on its last syllable, so it never needs a second accent.

The possessive patterns

Examples

Common mistakes

• μου το σπίτι -> το σπίτι μου - the possessive is an enclitic: it leans backwards on the noun and can never open the phrase.
• Σπίτι μου είναι μικρό. -> Το σπίτι μου είναι μικρό. - the definite article never disappears; Greek says “the house of-me”.
• το όνομα μου -> το όνομά μου - a host stressed on its third-from-last syllable must take the second accent before a clitic.
• ο δάσκαλος μας -> ο δάσκαλός μας - same rule; the missing accent is a spelling error, exactly like a missing accent anywhere else.
• το σπίτί μου -> το σπίτι μου - do not add a second accent to a noun that is not stressed three syllables back.
• Η μητέρα του δουλεύει (meaning “her mother”) -> Η μητέρα της δουλεύει - the third-person clitic agrees with the owner, not with the feminine noun μητέρα.
• το μου αυτοκίνητο -> το αυτοκίνητό μου / το δικό μου αυτοκίνητο - only δικός μου may stand between the article and the noun.
• Αυτό είναι δικός μου. -> Αυτό είναι δικό μου. - δικός agrees with the thing possessed (αυτό is neuter), never with the owner.
• Δικό μου δωμάτιο έχει μπαλκόνι. -> Το δικό μου δωμάτιο έχει μπαλκόνι. - the attributive δικός μου sits inside the article, it does not replace it.
• Το αυτοκίνητό μου είναι δικό μου κόκκινο. -> Το αυτοκίνητό μου είναι κόκκινο. - use δικός only where you really contrast owners.

Tips

• Pronounce the group as a single word - [τοσπίτιμου], [τοόνομάμου]. Hearing it that way makes both the fixed word order and the second accent feel inevitable.
• Quick test for the second accent: count three syllables back from the end of the noun. If the accent is sitting there, write one more on the final syllable. Otherwise change nothing.
• Learn the third person as a pair: του = his, της = her. English speakers reach for the noun’s gender; Greek asks only who the owner is.
• Direct address drops the article, because a vocative has none: Αγάπη μου, παιδί μου, Θεέ μου. That is not an exception to memorise separately.
• In a δικός μου phrase two agreements run at once: δικός matches the possessed noun, the clitic matches the owner - η δική τους κόρη “their daughter”.
• Answer “whose?” with δικός alone, in the right gender: Δικό μου, Δική μου, Δικά μας.
• A clitic that looks possessive but carries its own accent is doing another job: «Ο πατέρας μού είπε…» means “my father told me”, not “my father”. You meet that use in lesson 34.

In short

A Greek adjective is never a fixed word. It copies three things from the noun it describes: gender, number and case. English says a good friend, good friends, I see the good friend with one unchanging form; Greek says ο καλός φίλος, οι καλοί φίλοι, βλέπω τον καλό φίλο. The largest and most regular family ends in -ος (masculine), -η (feminine), -ο (neuter): καλός, καλή, καλό. After a vowel the feminine is -α instead: ωραίος, ωραία, ωραίο. Agreement holds both inside the noun phrase (το ωραίο σπίτι) and after είμαι (Το σπίτι είναι ωραίο).

The rule

1. Three genders, one adjective. Every adjective has a full set of forms. You choose the one that matches the noun:

• masculine noun → masculine adjective: ο μεγάλος κήπος
• feminine noun → feminine adjective: η μεγάλη πόλη
• neuter noun → neuter adjective: το μεγάλο σπίτι

The noun decides. Nothing about the meaning of big changes; only the ending does.

2. Number and case travel with gender. Agreement is not just gender. If the noun is plural, the adjective is plural; if the noun is in the accusative, the adjective is in the accusative too. In practice this means the article, the adjective and the noun move together as a block:

Notice that all three words change at once. A useful check: the adjective usually rhymes with the article — ο…ός, τον…ό, οι…οί, τους…ούς.

3. Two positions, same agreement.

• Attributive — the adjective stands between the article and the noun: ο νέος δάσκαλος, τα μεγάλα παιδιά, βλέπω την ωραία θάλασσα.
• Predicative — the adjective stands after είμαι (or a similar verb) and has no article of its own: Ο δάσκαλος είναι νέος. Τα παιδιά είναι μεγάλα. Η θάλασσα είναι ωραία.

The predicative adjective still agrees, and after είμαι it is in the nominative, because it describes the subject.

4. The -ος / -α / -ο subtype. When the ending -ος follows a vowel (or the letter ρ in a few words), the feminine is -α, not -η:

• ωραίος → ωραία (after ι)
• νέος → νέα (after ε)
• πλούσιος → πλούσια (after ι)
• άδειος → άδεια (after ι)

The masculine and neuter are unaffected: ωραίος / ωραίο, νέος / νέο. The plurals are identical to the -η type, the feminine included — the ending is -ες either way: ωραίες, νέες.

5. Beware μικρός. After ρ the feminine is sometimes -α (καθαρός → καθαρή is the exception-free type; γλυκός is a different class). For the words in this lesson, remember the simple fact: μικρός → μικρή, not *μικρά in the singular. Also ακριβός → ακριβή, κακός → κακή, εύκολος → εύκολη. Only the four listed above (ωραίος, νέος, πλούσιος, άδειος) take -α here.

6. Stress does not move. In this adjective class the accent stays on the same syllable throughout the paradigm: εύκολος, εύκολη, εύκολο, εύκολοι, εύκολες, εύκολα — always on the ευ. Likewise καλός, καλή, καλό, καλοί, καλές, καλά — always on the ending.

Forms & patterns

καλός, καλή, καλό — the -ος / -η / -ο type

Singular:

Plural:

The bare endings, without the article:

ωραίος, ωραία, ωραίο — the -ος / -α / -ο subtype (after a vowel)

Singular:

Plural:

Only the feminine singular differs from the καλός type (-α instead of -η). Everything else is the same.

The adjective with its noun — a full noun phrase

μεγάλος + κήπος (masc.), μεγάλη + πόλη (fem.), μεγάλο + παιδί (neut.):

The eight adjectives of this lesson

And two more of the -α subtype, for practice:

Examples

Common mistakes

• ο καλός φίλος, η καλός φίλη -> ο καλός φίλος, η καλή φίλη — the adjective must change gender with the noun; it is not a fixed word.
• το σπίτι είναι μεγάλος -> το σπίτι είναι μεγάλο — after είμαι the adjective still agrees, here with the neuter subject το σπίτι.
• βλέπω τον καλός φίλο -> βλέπω τον καλό φίλο — an accusative noun takes an accusative adjective; τον καλός mixes two cases.
• η ωραίη θάλασσα -> η ωραία θάλασσα — after a vowel (ωραί-) the feminine ending is -α, not -η.
• η μικρά πόλη -> η μικρή πόλη — μικρός is a plain -η adjective; do not extend the -α rule to it.
• τα παιδιά είναι μεγάλες -> τα παιδιά είναι μεγάλα — neuter plural is -α; -ες is feminine.
• οι καλές φίλοι -> οι καλοί φίλοι — masculine plural nominative is -οι; -ες belongs to the feminine.
• βλέπω τους μεγάλοι κήπους -> βλέπω τους μεγάλους κήπους — masculine plural accusative is -ους, matching the article τους.

Tips

• Learn every new adjective as a trio: καλός, καλή, καλό. Learning only the masculine leaves you guessing at two thirds of the word.
• Use the rhyme check: in the masculine, article and adjective end alike — ο…ός, τον…ό, οι…οί, τους…ούς. If they clash, one of them is wrong.
• The neuter is the lazy gender: -ο in the singular, -α in the plural, and the nominative and accusative are identical. Το ωραίο σπίτι — βλέπω το ωραίο σπίτι.
• To decide between -η and -α in the feminine, look at the letter just before -ος: a vowel (ωραί-ος, νέ-ος, πλούσι-ος, άδει-ος) gives -α; a consonant (καλ-ός, μικρ-ός, εύκολ-ος) gives -η.
• After είμαι the adjective is in the nominative and takes no article: Η δουλειά είναι εύκολη — not *η εύκολη.
• When one adjective describes two nouns of different gender, use the neuter plural for things and the masculine plural for people: Το βιβλίο και η εφημερίδα είναι καινούρια. Ο Γιάννης και η Μαρία είναι καλοί.
• Practise by taking one noun phrase through the four boxes: ο μεγάλος κήπος → τον μεγάλο κήπο → οι μεγάλοι κήποι → τους μεγάλους κήπους. Four forms, one meaning.

In short

Modern Greek prepositions are easy in one respect and fussy in another. The easy part: the everyday ones — σε, από, για, με, χωρίς — all take the accusative, so there is only one case to learn. The fussy part: σε never stands alone in front of a definite article. It fuses with it into one written word: σε + τον → στον, σε + τη(ν) → στη(ν), σε + το → στο, σε + τους → στους, σε + τις → στις, σε + τα → στα. Writing σε το σπίτι is simply not Greek; you must write στο σπίτι.

Two more habits to build now. First, Greek keeps the definite article where English drops it: στην Ελλάδα, στην Αθήνα, not σε Ελλάδα, σε Αθήνα. Second, after a preposition you use the strong pronoun, never the weak clitic: για σένα, με μένα, σ’ αυτόν — never με με.

The rule

1. The accusative after the preposition. Every noun phrase governed by σε, από, για, με or χωρίς goes into the accusative case (L10). For masculine nouns this means the visible change ο φίλος → τον φίλο, ο δρόμος → τον δρόμο. Feminines and neuters look the same as the nominative in the singular, but the article still shows the case: η θάλασσα → τη θάλασσα, το τρένο → το τρένο.

2. σε fuses with the definite article. The fused forms are obligatory in writing and in speech. There is no optional “unfused” variant with the definite article. (σε does stay separate before the indefinite article: σε ένα εστιατόριο, and before a bare noun without an article: σε λίγο.)

3. The final -ν inside the fusion. στη / στην and στον follow exactly the final -ν rule you met in L10. Keep the -ν before a vowel and before κ, π, τ, γκ, μπ, ντ, τσ, τζ, ξ, ψ; drop it before the other consonants. So: στην Αθήνα, στην πόλη, στην καρέκλα — but στη θάλασσα, στη δουλειά, στη Γαλλία. The masculine στον normally keeps its -ν in careful writing (στον δρόμο, στον Γιάννη), because it is what distinguishes masculine from neuter: στον κήπο “in the garden” keeps the masculine visible, while στο κήπο loses it (στο is the neuter form, as in στο χωριό).

4. σε covers both “in/at” and “to”. Greek does not split location from destination the way English splits in from to. The verb does that job: Είμαι στο σχολείο “I am at school” · Πάω στο σχολείο “I am going to school”. Same preposition, same form.

5. με covers both company and instrument. Με τον Νίκο “with Nikos” (company) and με το λεωφορείο “by bus” (instrument, literally “with the bus”). Greek says με το αυτοκίνητο, με το τρένο, με τα πόδια “on foot”.

6. από = origin, source, “from”. από την Ελλάδα, από τη δουλειά, από τον πατέρα μου. It elides freely before a vowel or before το/τη in fast, informal writing: απ’ το σπίτι, απ’ την αρχή.

7. Strong pronouns after prepositions. Prepositions never take the weak clitics με, σε, τον, της. They take the strong series εμένα/μένα, εσένα/σένα, αυτόν, αυτήν, αυτό, εμάς/μας… in their strong shape: για μένα, από σένα, με αυτόν (usually elided to μ’ αυτόν, μ’ αυτήν; likewise σε αυτόν → σ’ αυτόν).

8. χωρίς = “without”, also with the accusative: χωρίς ζάχαρη, χωρίς εσένα, χωρίς παρέα. Its less common synonym δίχως takes the accusative too and behaves identically (the formal, learned equivalent is άνευ, which takes the genitive — L67).

Forms & patterns

σε + the definite article (accusative) — the full fusion table

The same table with a noun, so you see the case

Full accusative of a noun phrase after a preposition — all four cases shown so you can locate the accusative row:

So: στον καλό δρόμο, στη μεγάλη πλατεία, στο μικρό παιδί, στους καλούς δρόμους, στις μεγάλες πλατείες, στα μικρά παιδιά.

The strong pronoun after a preposition — all six persons

The five prepositions at a glance

Examples

Common mistakes

• σε το σπίτι -> στο σπίτι — σε and the definite article always fuse into one word; there is no unfused option.
• σε τους φίλους μου -> στους φίλους μου — the plural fuses too: σε + τους → στους, σε + τις → στις, σε + τα → στα.
• σε Αθήνα, σε Ελλάδα -> στην Αθήνα, στην Ελλάδα — Greek keeps the definite article with countries and cities, even where English drops it.
• στη Αθήνα -> στην Αθήνα — the -ν stays before a vowel (and before κ, π, τ, γκ, μπ, ντ, τσ, τζ, ξ, ψ); it drops in στη θάλασσα, στη Γαλλία (L10).
• στον κήπο written as στο κήπο -> στον κήπο — dropping the masculine -ν makes the phrase look neuter; keep it in writing.
• με ο φίλος μου -> με τον φίλο μου — after a preposition the noun goes into the accusative, never the nominative.
• από η δουλειά -> από τη δουλειά — same rule: article and noun both in the accusative.
• με με, για με -> με μένα, για μένα — prepositions take the strong pronoun (εμένα/μένα), never the weak clitic με.
• για τον (meaning “for him”) -> γι’ αυτόν — τον is a weak object clitic; the strong αυτόν is what a preposition needs.
• Πάω σε το σχολείο -> Πάω στο σχολείο — σε alone covers “to”; do not add a second word for the English to.
• Πάω με πόδια -> Πάω με τα πόδια — this instrument phrase is fixed with the article.

Tips

• Learn the fusion as six single words, not as a sum: στον, στη(ν), στο, στους, στις, στα. They are the highest-frequency words in the language after the article itself.
• Notice that στις, στην, στον all end in the very letters that mark the case and gender. Reading them slowly out loud (στους κήπους, στις πόλεις, στα χωριά) fixes the plural agreement fast.
• A quick test for στον vs στο: if you can put ο in front of the noun on its own (ο κήπος), you need στον. If it takes το (το χωριό), you need στο.
• σε stays separate only when there is no definite article: σε ένα ξενοδοχείο, σε πολλές πόλεις, σε λίγο. As soon as a definite article appears, it fuses.
• When you learn a city or country, learn it with its article — η Αθήνα, η Ελλάδα, η Θεσσαλονίκη, το Παρίσι, το Λονδίνο — and στην/στο falls out automatically.
• The elisions απ’, σ’, γι’, μ’ are normal and very common; write them with a straight apostrophe: απ’ το σπίτι, σ’ αυτόν, γι’ αυτό, μ’ εμένα.
• If you catch yourself about to say a weak pronoun after a preposition, stop and reach for the εμένα/εσένα/αυτόν series — that alarm bell alone will fix most pronoun errors at A1.

In short

Almost every Greek number is a fixed, unchanging word: πέντε is πέντε whatever you count. Only a small, closed set bends to the noun beside it — 1, 3, 4, the hundreds from 200 up, and 1000. Those agree in gender (and in case), exactly like adjectives: τρεις άντρες but τρία παιδιά, διακόσιοι άντρες but διακόσιες γυναίκες.

The ordinals (πρώτος, δεύτερος, τρίτος…) are ordinary adjectives in -ος, -η, -ο and normally take the definite article: ο πρώτος όροφος, η δεύτερη φορά.

For everyday life you need three habits: prices use the indeclinable ευρώ (δύο ευρώ), the clock is feminine because ώρα is understood (στις τρεις, μία η ώρα), and dates use plain cardinals after στις — except the first of the month, which is the ordinal πρώτη.

The rule

1. Most cardinals never change. δύο, πέντε, δέκα, είκοσι, τριάντα, εκατό and every compound that ends in one of them are indeclinable. You put them in front of the noun and forget about them: πέντε βιβλία, με πέντε βιβλία, των πέντε βιβλίων.

2. Four items inflect for gender.

• ένας / μία / ένα — “one”, identical to the indefinite article.
• τρεις / τρία — “three” (one form for masculine and feminine, one for neuter).
• τέσσερις / τέσσερα — “four” (same split).
• The hundreds 200–900 and χίλιοι “1000” — full three-gender adjectives in -οι, -ες, -α.

3. They also inflect for case. After a preposition they must be accusative (με έναν φίλο, για τρεις μέρες, με διακόσιους ανθρώπους); before a genitive noun they must be genitive (η τιμή τριών εισιτηρίων, ο μισθός τριακοσίων εργαζομένων).

4. Compounds keep the agreement on their last element. είκοσι ένα βιβλία (21 books, neuter ένα), είκοσι μία μέρες (21 days, feminine μία), τριάντα τρεις άντρες, δεκατέσσερα παιδιά. Note that the noun stays plural even when the number ends in “one”: τριάντα ένα παιδιά.

5. εκατό vs εκατόν. Standing alone, “100” is εκατό. As soon as something follows it inside the same number, it becomes εκατόν: εκατόν πέντε (105), εκατόν είκοσι τρία (123). The same -ν appears in χίλια εκατόν πενήντα.

6. Thousands above one. χίλιοι/-ες/-α covers 1000 and every number up to 1999, and agrees (χίλια ευρώ, χίλιες μέρες, χίλια πεντακόσια βιβλία). From 2000 on you count the feminine noun χιλιάδα: δύο χιλιάδες, πέντε χιλιάδες ευρώ. Likewise ένα εκατομμύριο, δύο εκατομμύρια.

7. Ordinals are adjectives. πρώτος, δεύτερος, τρίτος… decline like καλός, καλή, καλό and, unlike in English, are almost always used with the article: Μένω στον τρίτο όροφο (not “on third floor”).

8. Time, prices, dates.

• Clock: the numeral is feminine (η ώρα is understood) — Είναι τρεις και μισή, Είναι μία η ώρα, στις εφτά, στη μία. Fractions of the hour: και τέταρτο, και μισή, παρά τέταρτο, παρά δέκα.
• Prices: ευρώ and λεπτά — δύο ευρώ, τρία ευρώ και πενήντα λεπτά. ευρώ never changes its form.
• Dates: στις + cardinal + month in the genitive — στις πέντε Μαρτίου, στις δεκαοχτώ Ιουνίου. The first of the month is the exception: η πρώτη Μαΐου, την πρώτη Ιανουαρίου.

Forms & patterns

The cardinal numbers 0–1.000.000

Everything from πέντε to ενενήντα is indeclinable on its own, and so is εκατό. Only the paradigms below bend — plus any compound whose last element is 1, 3 or 4 (δεκατρείς, δεκατέσσερα, είκοσι μία).

ένας, μία, ένα (no plural)

The accusative masculine keeps its -ν: έναν καφέ, έναν φίλο. That final -ν is what tells the listener the word is masculine and not neuter, so keep it even before a consonant. The feminine accusative is plain μία / μια: ΛΚΝ gives no -ν form for the numeral, and records μιαν only as a spoken or literary variant of the indefinite article.

τρεις, τρία (plural only)

τέσσερις, τέσσερα (plural only)

Watch the stress shift in the genitive: τέσσερις → τεσσάρων.

The hundreds: διακόσιοι, διακόσιες, διακόσια (plural only)

τριακόσιοι, τετρακόσιοι, πεντακόσιοι and the rest follow this table exactly. The genitive again moves the stress: διακόσιοι → διακοσίων.

χίλιοι, χίλιες, χίλια (plural only)

Unlike the hundreds, χίλιοι keeps an unshifted genitive as well: ΛΚΝ classes both with ωραίος and gives χίλιων beside χιλίων, while for the hundreds only the shifted διακοσίων is listed.

The ordinals

Note that εικοστός is stressed on the ending, so it is written 20ός when abbreviated. For four of these ΛΚΝ records a learned (λόγ.) feminine beside the everyday one — δευτέρα, εβδόμη, ογδόη, ενάτη — but the -η forms in the table are the ordinary ones.

πρώτος declined in full (all -ος ordinals follow it)

εικοστός shifts its stress like any ending-stressed adjective: εικοστός, εικοστού, εικοστό, εικοστοί, εικοστών, εικοστούς.

Recognition only (do not drill yet)

Proportional numerals in -πλάσιος (διπλάσιος “double”, τριπλάσιος “triple”; the multiplicatives proper are διπλός, τριπλός), approximative and collective nouns (καμιά δεκαριά “about ten”, μια δωδεκάδα “a dozen”) and fractions (μισός/μισή/μισό “half”, ένα τέταρτο “a quarter”, δύο τρίτα “two thirds”) are worth recognising now and learning properly later.

Examples

Common mistakes

• τρεις βιβλία -> τρία βιβλία - βιβλίο is neuter, and “three” has a separate neuter form τρία.
• τέσσερις παιδιά -> τέσσερα παιδιά - same split: τέσσερις for masculine and feminine only.
• τριακόσια γυναίκες -> τριακόσιες γυναίκες - the hundreds are three-gender adjectives, so a feminine noun pulls the -ες ending.
• με διακόσια ανθρώπους -> με διακόσιους ανθρώπους - after a preposition the numeral must be accusative, and masculine plural accusative is -ους.
• Έχω ένα αδερφό. -> Έχω έναν αδερφό. - the masculine accusative keeps its -ν; ένα here would make the noun sound neuter.
• εκατό πέντε -> εκατόν πέντε - εκατό only stands alone; inside a bigger number it takes -ν.
• δύο χίλια ευρώ -> δύο χιλιάδες ευρώ - above 1000 you count the noun χιλιάδα, not χίλια.
• Είναι τρία και μισή. -> Είναι τρεις και μισή. - the clock counts the feminine noun ώρα, so the numeral is feminine.
• στις μία Μαΐου -> την πρώτη Μαΐου - dates take cardinals, but the first of the month is the ordinal πρώτη.
• Μένω σε τρίτο όροφο. -> Μένω στον τρίτο όροφο. - Greek ordinals normally need the definite article.
• είκοσι ένα βιβλίο -> είκοσι ένα βιβλία - the noun stays plural after a compound ending in “one”.

Tips

• Learn the numbers in two piles: the huge indeclinable pile you can ignore, and the four-item pile (1, 3, 4, hundreds, 1000) you must check against the noun’s gender every time.
• A quick self-test before you speak: ask “what gender is the thing I am counting?” only if the number ends in 1, 3, 4, hundred or thousand. Otherwise just say it.
• The neuter forms τρία and τέσσερα are the ones learners forget, and neuter nouns (παιδί, βιβλίο, ευρώ, λεπτό, αυτοκίνητο) are everywhere - drill those pairs first.
• ευρώ is a foreign word and never changes: ένα ευρώ, δύο ευρώ, εκατό ευρώ, χίλια ευρώ.
• For the clock, think “η ώρα” silently: that is why it is Είναι δύο, Είναι τρεις και είκοσι, στη μία, στις έντεκα.
• In writing, Greek separates thousands with a dot and decimals with a comma: 1.500 = χίλια πεντακόσια, 3,50 ευρώ = τρία ευρώ και πενήντα λεπτά.
• When a numeral is written as a digit, read it in the gender the noun demands: “3 μέρες” is read τρεις μέρες, “3 βιβλία” is read τρία βιβλία.

In short

Coordination (παρατακτική σύνδεση) glues together two elements of equal rank: two words, two phrases or two whole clauses. Greek does it with a very short list of words — και “and” (written κι before a vowel), ή “or”, αλλά / όμως / μα “but”, and ούτε “nor, not even”. Two of them also come in pairs: και… και “both… and” and ούτε… ούτε “neither… nor”.

Three things trip up English speakers. First, και does not itself mark a contrast — it only links, so an explicit “but” needs αλλά, όμως or μα (a bare και is read as a contrast only when the two halves clash by themselves: Εγώ κλαίω και αυτός γελάει). Second, ή “or” must carry its accent, because the same letter without one, η, is the feminine article. Third, ούτε is itself a negative: placed in front of the verb it does the job of δεν and replaces it, but placed after the verb it needs δεν standing there as well.

The rule

και / κι. και joins anything with anything: nouns (ψωμί και τυρί), adjectives (μικρό και ζεστό), verbs (τρώω και πίνω), whole sentences (Ήρθα και έφυγα). Before a word beginning with a vowel it is regularly shortened to κι: κι εγώ, κι ο Νίκος, κι αύριο. Before a consonant only και is possible — κι μετά does not exist.

Additive και = “too, also, even”. When και stands immediately in front of a single word rather than between two elements, it adds that word to something already understood: Ήρθε και ο Νίκος “Nikos came too”. Compare Ήρθε ο Νίκος και ο Πέτρος “Nikos and Peter came”. The position, not the form, tells you which και you are looking at.

ή and είτε… είτε. ή offers an alternative: Καφέ ή τσάι; When the choice is being spelled out symmetrically, Greek repeats the conjunction — either ή… ή (Ή σήμερα ή αύριο) or the pair είτε… είτε “either… or”: Είτε σήμερα είτε αύριο.

αλλά, όμως, μα. All three mark contrast. αλλά is the neutral one and sits at the joint between the two clauses. μα is the same thing in a lighter, more colloquial voice, and also sits at the joint. όμως is different: it means “however” and is much freer — it can open the second clause, come after the first word or two, or land at the end. Ήθελα να έρθω, όμως δεν μπορούσα. / Ήθελα να έρθω, δεν μπορούσα όμως.

ούτε. ούτε is “and not / nor / not even”. Its interaction with δεν is the heart of the lesson:

• ούτε before the verb replaces δεν. Ούτε ήρθε ούτε τηλεφώνησε. Adding δεν here (ούτε δεν ήρθε) is wrong.
• ούτε after the verb co-occurs with δεν. Δεν θέλω ούτε καφέ. Δεν ξέρει ούτε αγγλικά ούτε γαλλικά. Dropping δεν here (θέλω ούτε καφέ) is wrong.
• Alone, ούτε often translates as “not even”: Δεν είπε ούτε μία λέξη.

Agreement across a coordination. Two rules, both automatic in Greek and both easy to forget in English-shaped sentences:

1. Coordinated nouns share one case — whichever case the sentence assigns them. If the verb takes an accusative object, both halves are accusative, article included: Βλέπω τον δάσκαλο και τον μαθητή.
2. Coordinated subjects take a plural verb, even when each one is singular: Ο Γιώργος και η Ελένη δουλεύουν μαζί. If the persons differ, the lower person wins: εγώ και εσύ → 1st plural (πάμε), εσύ και ο Νίκος → 2nd plural (πάτε).

Forms & patterns

The coordinators of this lesson:

Correlative pairs at work:

ούτε against δεν:

Coordinated nouns share one case — the whole paradigm of ο δάσκαλος και ο μαθητής. Note that the stress shifts inside δάσκαλος in the genitive and the accusative plural (ο δάσκαλος → του δασκάλου, τους δασκάλους):

Examples

Common mistakes

• Είναι φτηνό και δεν είναι καλό. -> Είναι φτηνό αλλά δεν είναι καλό. — και only links the two halves; to mark the contrast you need αλλά, όμως or μα.
• Καφέ η τσάι; -> Καφέ ή τσάι; — “or” is ή with its accent; unaccented η is the feminine article (the pronunciation guide covers this pair under punctuation and the disambiguating accent).
• Βλέπω τον δάσκαλο και ο μαθητής. -> Βλέπω τον δάσκαλο και τον μαθητή. — both halves of a coordination take the case the sentence assigns, article included.
• Ο Γιώργος και η Ελένη δουλεύει μαζί. -> Ο Γιώργος και η Ελένη δουλεύουν μαζί. — two singular subjects joined by και take a plural verb.
• Ούτε δεν ήρθε ούτε τηλεφώνησε. -> Ούτε ήρθε ούτε τηλεφώνησε. — ούτε in front of the verb already negates it, so δεν would be a second, redundant marker.
• Θέλω ούτε καφέ ούτε τσάι. -> Δεν θέλω ούτε καφέ ούτε τσάι. — when ούτε follows the verb, δεν must still be there.
• Πάμε κι μετά στο σπίτι. -> Πάμε και μετά στο σπίτι. — κι appears only before a vowel.

Tips

• Say the article twice. Repeating it (τον… και τον…, της… και της…) is the cheapest way to keep the case of the second noun from drifting into the nominative.
• και and κι are the same word: use κι only when the next word starts with a vowel, and remember that και there is never wrong either.
• Test with “both”: if English could say “both X and Y”, Greek says και X και Y. If it could say “neither… nor”, Greek says ούτε… ούτε.
• Read ούτε as “and not”. That one gloss predicts everything: “and not” already carries a negation, so it either supplies the δεν or joins one that is already in the sentence.
• Watch where και sits. Between two elements it is “and”; parked in front of one element it is “too / even”.
• Treat όμως as movable and αλλά / μα as fixed. If you want the contrast word later in the sentence, it has to be όμως.
• The accent on ή is not decoration — it is the whole spelling. Write it every single time.

In short

To say that one thing is more something than another, Greek puts the little word πιο in front of the adjective and από in front of what you compare with:

πιο + adjective + από + accusative

Ο Νίκος είναι πιο ψηλός από τον Γιάννη. — “Nikos is taller than Yannis.”

That single pattern covers every adjective in the language, short or long, so you can start comparing things today. Two details make it work: the adjective still agrees with its noun in gender, number and case, and whatever follows από goes into the accusative — από μένα, από τον Γιάννη, never από εγώ.

A handful of very common adjectives are compared with a special one-word form instead: καλύτερος “better”, μεγαλύτερος “bigger/older”. Learn those six as vocabulary and reach for them instead of πιο + adjective.

The rule

1. The analytic comparative: πιο + adjective. πιο is invariable — it never changes for gender, number or case. Everything that changes happens on the adjective, exactly as in lesson 14:

• ένας πιο μεγάλος δρόμος (masc. nom. sg.)
• μια πιο μεγάλη πόλη (fem. nom. sg.)
• ένα πιο μεγάλο σπίτι (neut. nom. sg.)
• τους πιο μεγάλους δρόμους (masc. acc. pl.)

With a definite article the order is article + πιο + adjective + noun: η πιο μεγάλη αδελφή μου “my oldest sister” — with the article the phrase is already a superlative (lesson 19).

2. The standard of comparison: από + accusative. από is an ordinary preposition, and like all the prepositions of lesson 15 it takes the accusative:

• από τον Γιάννη, από την Άννα, από το παιδί
• από μένα, από σένα, από αυτόν, από εμάς (strong pronoun forms, lesson 10)

Before the article, από very often elides in speech and in relaxed writing: απ’ τον Γιάννη, απ’ την Άννα, απ’ το σπίτι. Keep the straight apostrophe.

3. The set forms. Six high-frequency adjectives have an inherited one-word comparative in -τερος, -τερη, -τερο. They decline like any adjective in -ος, -η, -ο and they normally stand without πιο:

καλύτερος, χειρότερος, μεγαλύτερος, μικρότερος, λιγότερος, περισσότερος.

Ο καιρός σήμερα είναι καλύτερος από χθες.

4. Equality: τόσο… όσο and σαν. For “as … as” Greek uses τόσο … όσο, and for “like” it uses σαν + accusative:

Είμαι τόσο ψηλός όσο ο αδελφός μου. / Είναι ψηλός σαν τον πατέρα του.

5. Recognition only. When the second half of the comparison is a whole clause, από becomes από ό,τι: Είναι πιο δύσκολο από ό,τι νομίζεις. And adjectives in -ος may in careful or written style take a synthetic ending in -ότερος: ωραίος → ωραιότερος, ψηλός → ψηλότερος. Understand these; keep producing πιο + adjective.

Forms & patterns

πιο + adjective — the adjective agrees, πιο never changes. Full paradigm of πιο μεγάλος:

The set forms — learn as vocabulary, never with πιο:

They decline exactly like μεγάλος. A sample, καλύτερος:

What follows από — accusative only:

Elision before the article: από τον → απ’ τον, από την → απ’ την, από το → απ’ το, από τους → απ’ τους, από τα → απ’ τα.

Comparing equals: τόσο + adjective + όσο (+ noun phrase), or σαν + accusative.

Examples

Common mistakes

• πιο καλός (heard in speech) -> καλύτερος — καλός, κακός, μεγάλος, μικρός, λίγος and πολύς have set one-word comparatives; those are the forms to use.
• πιο καλύτερος -> καλύτερος — καλύτερος is already a comparative; adding πιο marks it twice.
• από εγώ -> από μένα — από always takes the accusative, so the strong pronoun must be μένα/σένα/αυτόν, never the nominative.
• πιο ψηλός από ο Γιάννης -> πιο ψηλός από τον Γιάννη — the noun phrase after από goes into the accusative, article included.
• η πιο μεγάλος αδελφή -> η πιο μεγάλη αδελφή — πιο does not freeze the adjective; it still agrees in gender, number and case.
• πια ψηλός -> πιο ψηλός — πιο “more” is spelled with ο; πια means “any more, no longer” and is a different word.
• πιο ψηλός που τον Γιάννη -> πιο ψηλός από τον Γιάννη — Greek does not use που to introduce the standard of comparison.
• Είμαι τόσο ψηλός σαν εσένα -> Είμαι τόσο ψηλός όσο εσύ — τόσο pairs with όσο; σαν stands alone, without τόσο.
• έχω πιο πολλή δουλειά από σένα (avoid in writing) -> έχω περισσότερη δουλειά από σένα — πιο πολύς is heard in speech, but περισσότερος is the standard form.

Tips

• Learn the frame as one chunk — πιο … από … — and slot words into it. It never fails you, whatever the adjective.
• Say the six set forms aloud until they are automatic: καλύτερος, χειρότερος, μεγαλύτερος, μικρότερος, λιγότερος, περισσότερος. They are among the most frequent words in the language.
• Careful: μεγάλος and μικρός in Greek cover both size and age, so ο μεγαλύτερος αδελφός μου normally means “my older brother”, not the taller one.
• After από, ask yourself “accusative?” every time. The giveaway is the article: τον, την, το, τους, τις, τα — never ο or η.
• απ’ is not sloppy speech, it is the normal spoken form. Write it with a straight apostrophe and no space: απ’ τον, απ’ την, απ’ το.
• You will meet -ότερος forms (ωραιότερος, ψηλότερος, νεότερος) in newspapers and formal writing. Recognise them and move on; πιο is what you say.
• When the second half of the comparison is a verb clause, reach for από ό,τι: πιο εύκολο από ό,τι φαίνεται. Note the comma in ό,τι — it distinguishes it from the conjunction ότι “that”.

In short

Greek has two “top” degrees, and they do different jobs.

The relative superlative (σχετικός υπερθετικός) picks one item out of a set: the best friend, the tallest mountain in Greece. You build it exactly like the comparative of lesson 18 and then add the definite article: πιο καλός “better” → ο πιο καλός “the best”. The article is the only thing you add — that is the whole rule.

The elative (απόλυτος υπερθετικός) compares with nothing at all: it just says very, extremely. Everyday Greek does it with πολύ and πάρα πολύ before the adjective; a set of adjectives also has a one-word form in -ότατος: ωραιότατος “absolutely lovely”, ακριβότατος “terribly expensive”, νοστιμότατος “delicious”. Beware: ωραιότατος does not mean “the loveliest”.

The rule

1. Relative superlative = article + comparative.

The article agrees with the noun in gender, number and case, as always: ο πιο καλός φίλος, η πιο καλή φίλη, το πιο καλό βιβλίο. πιο itself never changes; the adjective still agrees with the noun.

2. Two word orders, one meaning. The adjective phrase can sit between article and noun, or follow the noun with its own repeated article:

• ο πιο καλός φίλος
• ο φίλος ο πιο καλός

Both are correct. The first is the neutral, most frequent order; the second puts the spotlight on the quality and is common in speech and in lists (πάρε το δωμάτιο το πιο ήσυχο).

3. The set: από + accusative, or a genitive. Say what the item is best of:

• από όλους / απ’ όλους (masc.), απ’ όλες (fem.), απ’ όλα (neut.): Είναι ο πιο γρήγορος απ’ όλους.
• a genitive noun phrase: ο πιο έξυπνος μαθητής της τάξης, το πιο ψηλό βουνό της Ελλάδας.
• nothing at all, when the set is obvious: Αυτό είναι το πιο φθηνό.

4. The irregular comparatives of lesson 18 become superlatives by taking the article — nothing else changes. καλύτερος “better” → ο καλύτερος “the best”. This is the point to hold on to: in Greek the difference between comparative and superlative is one little word, the article.

5. Elative with πολύ. πολύ + adjective = “very”; πάρα πολύ + adjective = “extremely, really very”. πάρα never stands alone in front of an adjective — it only intensifies πολύ.

6. Elative in -ότατος. Take an adjective in -ος, drop the ending, add -ότατος, -ότατη, -ότατο, and decline it like any ordinary -ος, -η, -ο adjective (lesson 14). It means “extremely X”, never “the most X”. It is one register step above πολύ: warm, slightly emphatic, very common in compliments about food, places and prices. Adjectives in -ύς make the form in -ύτατος (βαρύς → βαρύτατος).

7. Intensifying prefixes — recognition only. A closed set of prefixes fuses with particular adjectives to give an elative: ολο-, κατα-, θεο-, πεντα-. These are fixed lexical combinations, so learn the ones you meet and do not build new ones yourself.

Forms & patterns

The relative superlative with πιο — full declension of ο πιο καλός

Singular:

Plural:

The vocative drops the article (Greek never uses one in the vocative) and is rare with a superlative; the other three cases are what you will actually use.

Irregular comparatives (lesson 18) turned into superlatives by the article

The elative in -ότατος — how it is formed

Note the stress: it lands on the vowel of the suffix -ότατος (and on the -ύ- of -ύτατος in βαρύτατος), even when the base adjective was stressed elsewhere (όμορφος → ομορφότατος, γρήγορος → γρηγορότατος).

Full declension of the elative ωραιότατος

Singular:

Plural:

Intensifying prefixes — for recognition

Examples

Common mistakes

• Είναι πιο καλός μαθητής της τάξης. -> Είναι ο πιο καλός μαθητής της τάξης. — Without the article you have only said “a better pupil”; the article is what turns it into “the best”.
• ο πιο καλύτερος φίλος -> ο πιο καλός φίλος / ο καλύτερος φίλος — καλύτερος already carries the comparison; never stack πιο on a form in -ότερος. Pick one of the two.
• Το ξενοδοχείο είναι ακριβότατο της πόλης. -> Το ξενοδοχείο είναι το πιο ακριβό της πόλης. — -ότατος means “extremely”, so it cannot pick one item out of a set; use article + πιο for that.
• η πιο ακριβός ταβέρνα -> η πιο ακριβή ταβέρνα — πιο is invariable, but the adjective still agrees with its noun in gender, number and case.
• ο πιο γρήγορος από όλοι -> ο πιο γρήγορος απ’ όλους — από always takes the accusative.
• Το φαγητό είναι πάρα νόστιμο. -> Το φαγητό είναι πάρα πολύ νόστιμο. — πάρα intensifies πολύ; it never stands directly before the adjective.
• ο καλύτερος μου φίλος -> ο καλύτερός μου φίλος — a word stressed on the third syllable from the end takes a second accent on its last syllable when a weak pronoun follows.

Tips

• One-line summary of lessons 18 and 21 together: πιο καλός = better, ο πιο καλός = the best. The article does all the work, so never let it drop.
• Test whether you need the superlative at all: if you can add “of all / in the class / in Greece”, you need article + πιο. If you only mean “very”, you need πολύ or -ότατος.
• ο φίλος ο πιο καλός is not a mistake or a poetic licence — it is the same phrase with the article repeated after the noun, slightly more emphatic. Both orders are worth being able to hear.
• -ότατος is a compliment, not a ranking. A safe check: if replacing it with πολύ still makes sense, you have used it correctly (νοστιμότατο ≈ πολύ νόστιμο).
• In speech, πολύ and πάρα πολύ carry almost all the elative traffic. Keep a handful of -ότατος forms active (ωραιότατος, νοστιμότατος, ακριβότατος) and simply recognise the rest.
• Treat ολο-, κατα-, θεο-, πεντα- as vocabulary, not as a rule: πεντακάθαρος exists, but you cannot invent *πεντακαλός. Learn each combination as a word.
• The article in ένα ωραιότατο σπίτι / το ωραιότατο σπίτι σου belongs to the noun, not to the adjective — it does not turn the elative into a superlative.

In short

Greek builds most manner adverbs from adjectives with a single ending: -α. Take the adjective, put on -α, and you have the adverb — καλός “good” gives καλά “well”, γρήγορος “fast” gives γρήγορα “quickly”. The form looks exactly like the neuter plural of the adjective, and that is not a coincidence: it is the neuter plural, frozen into an adverb.

Adverbs never change: no gender, no number, no case. Once you have καλά, that is the only form there is.

On top of that you learn four small closed lists that you simply memorise — where (εδώ, έξω, κοντά), when (τώρα, αύριο, ποτέ), how (καλά, μαζί, έτσι) and how much (πολύ, λίγο, καθόλου). Adverbs also compare, with the same two strategies you met for adjectives: πιο γρήγορα or γρηγορότερα “faster”.

The rule

1. Formation: adjective + -α. From any adjective in -ος, -η/-α, -ο take the stem and add -α. The stress stays where the adjective had it:

• ήσυχος → ήσυχα “quietly”
• εύκολος → εύκολα “easily”
• ωραίος → ωραία “nicely”
• ακριβός → ακριβά “expensively”

2. The -α / -ως doublets. A number of adverbs also have a second form in -ως, inherited from the older written language. Three things can happen:

• The two forms mean the same and -ως is just more formal: βέβαια / βεβαίως “of course”, τελικά / τελικώς “finally”, σπάνια / σπανίως “rarely”.
• Only the -ως form survives in everyday speech: αμέσως “immediately”, ευτυχώς “fortunately”, δυστυχώς “unfortunately”.
• The two forms mean different things and you must keep them apart: ακριβά “expensively” vs ακριβώς “exactly”; άμεσα “directly” vs αμέσως “immediately”; απλά “in a simple way” vs απλώς “merely, just”.

Note that the -ως form does not keep the adjective’s stress, and it is not always stressed on the ending: ακριβώς, απλώς, τελικώς, ευτυχώς, δυστυχώς carry the accent on -ώς, but αμέσως (from άμεσος) and βεβαίως (from βέβαιος) keep it one syllable earlier.

3. The four types. Adverbs are grouped by the question they answer: πού; (place), πότε; (time), πώς; (manner), πόσο; (degree). The lists below are the A1 core.

4. Position. Degree adverbs stand before the word they modify: πολύ καλά, αρκετά μεγάλο, λίγο κουρασμένος. Manner adverbs normally come after the verb: Μιλάει καλά. Time and place adverbs are mobile — Σήμερα δουλεύω and Δουλεύω σήμερα are both fine; putting them first highlights them.

5. Comparison. Adverbs compare exactly like adjectives, but the comparative ends in -ότερα instead of -ότερος:

• analytic: πιο + adverb — πιο ωραία, πιο γρήγορα
• synthetic: adverb in -ότερα — ωραιότερα, γρηγορότερα
• elative (“very …”): πολύ + adverb, or the form in -ότατα — πολύ ωραία / ωραιότατα

“Than” is από + accusative: Τρέχει πιο γρήγορα από μένα.

A few high-frequency adverbs compare irregularly: καλά → καλύτερα, άσχημα → χειρότερα, πολύ → περισσότερο, λίγο → λιγότερο.

6. ποτέ and καθόλου need δεν. Greek uses double negation. A negative adverb does not negate the sentence by itself — the verb still carries δεν: Δεν πάω ποτέ. Δεν κάνει καθόλου κρύο.

Forms & patterns

Adjective → adverb. The adverb is identical to the neuter plural:

σιγά “slowly, softly” belongs here in meaning but is learnt as a ready-made word (the adjective is σιγανός).

The -α / -ως doublets:

The four types:

Comparison:

Examples

Common mistakes

• Μιλάει καλός. -> Μιλάει καλά. — A verb is modified by an adverb, not by an adjective; καλός would have to agree with a noun.
• Πώς είσαι; — Είμαι καλός. -> Είμαι καλά. — With είμαι, καλά means “fine, in good health”; Είναι καλός means “he is a good/kind person” — a statement about character, not about how he is doing.
• Είναι πολλή ωραία. -> Είναι πολύ ωραία. — Adverbial πολύ “very” never changes. πολλή is the feminine adjective “much” (πολλή δουλειά), a different word with a different spelling.
• Πηγαίνω ποτέ εκεί. -> Δεν πηγαίνω ποτέ εκεί. — ποτέ needs δεν on the verb; without it the sentence is not negative.
• Είναι καθόλου κρύο. -> Δεν είναι καθόλου κρύο. — Same rule: καθόλου “at all” only works under negation.
• Το εισιτήριο κοστίζει ακριβώς. -> Το εισιτήριο κοστίζει ακριβά. — ακριβώς means “exactly”; the manner adverb “expensively” is ακριβά.
• Τρέχει πιο γρηγορότερα. -> Τρέχει πιο γρήγορα. / Τρέχει γρηγορότερα. — Choose one comparative; never stack πιο on a form already in -ότερα.
• Είναι καλύτερα από εγώ. -> Είναι καλύτερα από μένα. — από takes the accusative, so the strong pronoun is μένα.

Tips

• One rule covers most of it: adjective in -ος → adverb in -α, spelled and stressed like the neuter plural. If you can say τα καλά παιδιά, you already know the adverb καλά.
• Keep the pair ακριβά / ακριβώς in your head as a warning label: the -ως form is not automatically “the same word, more formal”.
• πολύ (adverb, “very / a lot”) and πολλή (feminine adjective, “much”) sound alike but are spelled differently. If the word next to it is a verb, an adjective or another adverb, write πολύ.
• Learn ποτέ and καθόλου together with δεν, as chunks: δεν … ποτέ, δεν … καθόλου. That way you can’t drop the δεν.
• Degree adverbs stack naturally: πάρα πολύ καλά “extremely well”, λίγο πιο γρήγορα “a bit faster”.
• In speech the analytic comparative πιο + adverb is by far the commonest; -ότερα forms sound a touch more written, except for καλύτερα and χειρότερα, which are everyday.
• Watch out for the -α adverb that doubles as a neuter plural adjective: Τα ελληνικά είναι εύκολα (adjective, agreeing) vs Μαθαίνω εύκολα (adverb). The words are identical; only the sentence tells you which one it is.

In short

When you call someone by name in Greek, the name changes shape. You talk about Γιώργος, but you talk to Γιώργο. That fourth case is the κλητική (vocative), and it is the only case that is never introduced by an article: never ο Γιάννη, just Γιάννη.

The work is small and almost entirely masculine. Feminine and neuter nouns look exactly the same when you address them (Μαρία, κυρία, παιδί). Masculine nouns in -ος take -ε (φίλε, κύριε, γιατρέ), except short first names, which take -ο (Γιώργο, Νίκο, Πέτρο). Masculine nouns in -ας and -ης simply drop the final -ς (Κώστα, Γιάννη, Μανώλη).

The second half of politeness is the pronoun. Greek has an ordinary T/V distinction: εσύ with second-person-singular verbs for people you are close to, and εσείς with second-person-plural verbs for strangers, officials and older people. Note one detail English speakers regularly miss: with polite εσείς the verb is plural but a predicate adjective describing one person stays singular — Είστε κουρασμένος;

The rule

1. The vocative is a case, and it has no article. Greek nominals have four cases: ονομαστική, γενική, αιτιατική, κλητική. The first three appear with the article (ο φίλος, του φίλου, τον φίλο); the vocative appears bare, usually set off by a comma or an exclamation mark: Φίλε, τι κάνεις; A word like ο Γιάννη is simply not Greek — the article and the vocative cannot coexist.

2. Masculine -ος → -ε. Common nouns, professions and titles in -ος form the vocative in -ε: ο φίλος → φίλε, ο κύριος → κύριε, ο δάσκαλος → δάσκαλε, ο άνθρωπος → άνθρωπε. Oxytone nouns behave the same: ο γιατρός → γιατρέ, ο αδερφός → αδερφέ.

3. But short first names in -ος → -ο. Everyday personal names drop the -ς and end in -ο, which makes the vocative look identical to the accusative: Γιώργος → Γιώργο, Νίκος → Νίκο, Πέτρος → Πέτρο, Χρήστος → Χρήστο, Θάνος → Θάνο. Long or learned names keep the regular -ε (Αλέξανδρος → Αλέξανδρε), and so do surnames in -ος: κύριε Παπαδόπουλε, κύριε Νικολόπουλε.

4. Masculine -ας and -ης just lose the -ς. ο Κώστας → Κώστα, ο άντρας → άντρα, ο Γιάννης → Γιάννη, ο Μανώλης → Μανώλη, ο μαθητής → μαθητή. Nothing else moves: the accent stays where the nominative had it.

5. Feminine and neuter: no change at all. η Μαρία → Μαρία, η κυρία → κυρία, η Ελένη → Ελένη, το παιδί → παιδί, το αγόρι → αγόρι. Only the missing article tells you it is a vocative. In the plural too, the vocative is identical to the nominative for every gender: φίλοι, κυρίες, παιδιά.

6. Titles agree with the name. Both the title and the surname go into the vocative when both are masculine: κύριε Παπαδόπουλε. Feminine surnames in Greek are genitive in form and do not change at all, so the title alone carries the address: κυρία Παπαδοπούλου. Masculine surnames that are themselves genitive-shaped are likewise unchanged: κύριε Δημητρίου, κύριε Αντωνίου.

7. εσύ or εσείς. Use εσύ (verb in the 2nd singular, σου) with family, friends, children, classmates and anyone who has offered it. Use εσείς (verb in the 2nd plural, σας) with strangers on the street, shop and office staff, doctors, teachers, officials, and people noticeably older than you. εσείς is also the plain plural, so the same form covers two situations; the context makes it clear.

8. Plural verb, singular adjective. When εσείς is polite but the person is one, the verb is plural and everything describing that one person is singular and agrees in gender: Είστε κουρασμένος; (to a man) · Είστε κουρασμένη; (to a woman) · Είστε κουρασμένοι; (to several people). The same holds for nouns: Είστε ο κύριος Αντωνίου;

9. Greetings split the same way. Γεια σου / Γεια σας, Τι κάνεις; / Τι κάνετε;, Πώς είσαι; / Πώς είστε; Καλημέρα is the exception: it usually stands on its own, and when it does take a pronoun that pronoun is normally the plural — Καλημέρα σας! The greeting Χαίρετε is polite by itself and is a safe opening with someone you do not know. Do not mix registers inside one sentence: Γεια σας, κύριε Παπαδόπουλε, not Γεια σου, κύριε Παπαδόπουλε.

Forms & patterns

Masculine in -ος: common noun — ο φίλος

Masculine in -ος with a moving accent — ο άνθρωπος

Masculine in -ός: a profession you will call out — ο γιατρός

Masculine in -ας — ο άντρας

Masculine in -ης — ο μαθητής

Feminine: nothing changes — η κυρία

Neuter: nothing changes — το παιδί

First names and surnames (names have no everyday plural, so only the singular is given)

εσύ against εσείς — the verb είμαι and a predicate adjective

Examples

Common mistakes

• Γιώργος, πού είσαι; -> Γιώργο, πού είσαι; — a short first name in -ος has the vocative in -ο; the nominative is only for talking about him.
• Κύριος Παπαδόπουλος, καλημέρα! -> Κύριε Παπαδόπουλε, καλημέρα! — both the title and a surname in -ος take the vocative -ε.
• Ο Γιάννη, τι κάνεις; -> Γιάννη, τι κάνεις; — the vocative never takes an article.
• Φίλο μου, δεν έχεις δίκιο. -> Φίλε μου, δεν έχεις δίκιο. — the -ο vocative belongs to short names only; ordinary nouns in -ος end in -ε.
• Κυρία Παπαδοπούλε! -> Κυρία Παπαδοπούλου! — feminine surnames are genitive in form and never change.
• Μαρίε! / Μαρίο! -> Μαρία! — feminine and neuter nouns have no separate vocative.
• Κύριε, πού μένεις; -> Κύριε, πού μένετε; — a stranger you address as κύριε gets εσείς, not εσύ.
• Είστε κουρασμένοι; (to one person) -> Είστε κουρασμένος; — polite εσείς takes a plural verb but a singular adjective agreeing with that one person.
• Είστε κουρασμένος; (to two friends) -> Είστε κουρασμένοι; — with a real plural the adjective is plural too.
• Γεια σου, κύριε Παπαδόπουλε. -> Γεια σας, κύριε Παπαδόπουλε. — do not mix a polite title with an informal greeting.

Tips

• Learn the vocative as one small habit, not a paradigm: masculine nouns in -ος end in -ε, short masculine names end in -ο, everything else in -ας/-ης loses its -ς, and feminines and neuters stay put.
• If a form makes you hesitate, remember that the vocative of a short name is identical to the accusative: you already know τον Γιώργο, so you already know Γιώργο!
• Watch for the missing article. Hearing a bare noun at the start or end of a sentence is the clearest signal that someone is being addressed.
• When in doubt about the pronoun, start with εσείς. Being slightly too formal is invisible; being too familiar with a stranger is not.
• κύριε and κυρία are far more current in Greek than “sir” and “madam” are in English — they are the normal way to open a question to a stranger, a waiter or a clerk.
• Keep the second accent when a weak pronoun follows a word stressed on its third-from-last syllable: το όνομά σας, το τηλέφωνό σου, ο δάσκαλός μας.
• Greek questions end in the ερωτηματικό «;» — Πώς είστε; Τι κάνετε; — even though it looks like a semicolon.

In short

English builds its verb system out of tenses; Greek builds it out of two stems. Nearly every Greek verb keeps a continuous stem (εξακολουθητικό θέμα, as in γράφ-ω) and a simple stem (συνοπτικό θέμα, as in γράψ-ω). The choice between them is called το ποιόν ενέργειας, and it is not about when something happens but about how you frame it: as one bounded, complete act, or as something ongoing, repeated or habitual.

This is the single most important decision in Greek verb morphology, because almost every tense and mood you will meet from now on is just one of these two stems plus a small marker. Learn each new verb as a pair, the way you learn a noun with its article.

The rule

1. Two stems, one verb. γράφω and γράψω are not two verbs and not two tenses. They are the same verb seen through two lenses:

• εξακολουθητικό (continuous) — γράφ-, διαβάζ-, δουλεύ-: the action stretches, repeats, or is presented as a habit or a general truth.
• συνοπτικό (simple / perfective) — γράψ-, διαβάσ-, δουλέψ-: the action is taken as a single whole event, one complete occurrence, with no interest in its inner duration.

2. The simple stem never stands alone. This is the rule that saves beginners the most trouble. A form built on the συνοπτικό stem — γράψω, διαβάσεις, πάρουμε, δουν — is never a sentence by itself. It only ever appears after a small word that licenses it:

Because it always depends on such a word, this form is called η εξαρτημένη (the dependent) in modern reference grammars; older school grammars file it under η υποτακτική. If nothing licenses it, use the continuous stem.

3. The present tense has no perfective. You cannot present something as one closed event while it is still going on in front of you, so the present is always built on the εξακολουθητικό stem: γράφω “I write / I am writing / I do write”. Greek makes no separate progressive form at all — one present covers all three English translations.

4. The triggers allow the perfective, they do not force it. After θα, να, όταν and the rest, both stems are possible, and the meaning changes: θα γράψω “I’ll write (one letter, once)” against θα γράφω “I’ll be writing / I’ll write regularly”. This is the aspect contrast in its purest form.

5. είμαι and έχω have no contrast. These two verbs carry only one stem, so θα είμαι, να είμαι, θα έχω, να έχω are simply the forms — nothing to choose. Do not invent *να είμω or *να έχσω.

Forms & patterns

Recognition table: high-frequency pairs (1st person singular)

Learn every verb in this shape from now on.

The first four are regular and predictable; the last five replace the stem outright. Lesson 23 explains where each column comes from.

γράφω — both stems, all six persons

The endings are identical; only the stem changes.

μιλάω — a second-conjugation verb

Note that the perfective column of a second-conjugation verb behaves exactly like γράψω: the two conjugations of lesson 6 differ only in the continuous column.

The four irregular dependents you need first

These are short and very frequent; the monosyllables carry no accent.

πάω is special: the same short forms serve as an everyday continuous present as well (πάω στη δουλειά “I’m going to work”), while πηγαίνω is the fuller continuous form.

The contrast at a glance

Examples

Common mistakes

• Γράψω τώρα. -> Γράφω τώρα. — A perfective form can never head a clause on its own; with nothing to license it, only the continuous stem is possible.
• Δεν διαβάσω αυτό το βιβλίο. -> Δεν διαβάζω αυτό το βιβλίο. — δεν is a negator, not a trigger. To negate a perfective you still need θα or να: δεν θα το διαβάσω, να μην το διαβάσω.
• Θα είδα την ταινία αύριο. -> Θα δω την ταινία αύριο. — The simple stem is not a past tense. δω, πω, φάω point at nothing in time by themselves; θα + simple stem is the ordinary future.
• Θα γράψω κάθε μέρα. -> Θα γράφω κάθε μέρα. — κάθε μέρα is repetition, so the future has to be built on the continuous stem.
• Θέλω να πίνω έναν καφέ τώρα. -> Θέλω να πιω έναν καφέ τώρα. — One single act needs the simple stem. The continuous stem is not the equivalent of English “-ing”: it covers habits too, and it excludes one-off complete events.
• Συνήθως θα πάρω το λεωφορείο. -> Συνήθως παίρνω το λεωφορείο. — A habitual statement about the present takes the plain continuous present, with no θα at all.
• Θέλω να είμω εκεί στις πέντε. -> Θέλω να είμαι εκεί στις πέντε. — είμαι has no second stem; the same form serves both aspects. The same goes for έχω.
• Μόλις τρώω, θα σε πάρω τηλέφωνο. -> Μόλις φάω, θα σε πάρω τηλέφωνο. — “As soon as I’ve eaten” is one completed event, so μόλις here licenses the simple stem.

Tips

• Store every new verb as a pair in your notes — γράφω / γράψω, παίρνω / πάρω — and drill the second column out loud after να. A verb learned in one column only is half learned.
• Before you choose, ask two questions in this order: is there a trigger word (θα, να, ας, αν, όταν, μόλις)? If no, the continuous stem is your only option. If yes, then ask: one whole event, or ongoing/repeated?
• Words like κάθε μέρα, πάντα, συνήθως, συνέχεια pull towards the continuous stem; μια φορά, αμέσως, γρήγορα, τελικά pull towards the simple one.
• Do not translate the English progressive. “I am reading” and “I read” are both διαβάζω; the extra dimension Greek adds is not duration but completeness.
• The simple stem is the gateway form: once you can produce γράψω, you already hold the key to the future (lesson 24), the subjunctive (lesson 25), the imperative (lesson 26) and, with a small change, the past (lesson 32).
• Aspect is a choice, not a rule handed down by the sentence. Both θα σου γράφω and θα σου γράψω are correct Greek; they simply promise different things.
• When you genuinely cannot decide, the continuous stem is the safer guess in a bare clause and the simple stem is the safer guess after να and θα with a one-off action.

In short

Every Greek verb has two stems. You already know the continuous one, because it is the present tense you learned to conjugate: γράφω, αγοράζω, μιλάω. This lesson builds the second one, the perfective (συνοπτικό) stem, which is the form Greek uses when an action is viewed as one whole event.

The machinery is almost entirely mechanical. The perfective stem of a first-conjugation verb ends in -σω, -ξω or -ψω, and which of the three you get is decided by the consonant sitting in front of the present ending: γράφω has a φ, so it becomes γράψω. Second- conjugation verbs take -ήσω, and a small group takes -έσω or -άσω: μιλάω becomes μιλήσω, μπορώ becomes μπορέσω.

Then there is a short list of very common verbs that do not derive their second stem at all: it is either a different word or the same word reshaped past recognition. βλέπω becomes δω, λέω becomes πω, τρώω becomes φάω, βρίσκω becomes βρω, παίρνω becomes πάρω. There are about a dozen of these and you will meet all of them in your first week of speaking, so learn them as pairs from the start.

One warning that governs the whole lesson: none of these forms is a sentence. γράψω on its own means nothing to a Greek ear. It is a building block that waits for a word in front of it, and those words come in the next lessons.

The rule

1. The perfective stem is derived from the present stem, not learned separately. Strip the present ending -ω and look at the last consonant of what remains. That consonant decides the perfective ending.

2. First conjugation, three outcomes.

• A dental or σ-type stem (mostly the verbs in -ζω, plus -θω, -τω) gives -σω: αγοράζω, αγοράσω.
• A labial stem (π, β, φ) gives -ψω, because the labial fuses with the σ: γράφω, γράψω. Everyday verbs in -εύω do the same: δουλεύω, δουλέψω. (A second, equally large group of -εύω verbs keeps the -ευ- and gives -εύσω instead, as in απαγορεύω, απαγορεύσω; none of those are A1 words.)
• A velar stem (κ, γ, χ, and the -χνω verbs) gives -ξω, by the same fusion: ανοίγω, ανοίξω.

There is a real sound law behind this, not just spelling: π/β/φ + σ is written ψ, and κ/γ/χ + σ is written ξ. Greek never writes the two letters side by side, which is why γράφσω is impossible.

3. A group of verbs in -νω drops the -ν-. μαθαίνω, μάθω. φέρνω, φέρω. The perfective here is shorter than the present, not longer. A few verbs of the same shape keep the -ν- and only shorten -αίνω to -άνω, as in πεθαίνω, πεθάνω. (Verbs in -ώνω are not in this group: they behave regularly and give -ώσω, as in πληρώνω, πληρώσω.)

4. Second conjugation takes -ήσω, whichever of the two second-conjugation patterns the verb follows: μιλάω, μιλήσω; αγαπώ, αγαπήσω; οδηγώ, οδηγήσω. A small, high-frequency minority takes -έσω (μπορώ, μπορέσω) or -άσω (περνάω, περάσω). These have to be memorised one by one, but there are only a handful of them.

5. About a dozen everyday verbs have an unpredictable perfective stem. In a few of them it is genuinely suppletive, taken from a different root: βλέπω, δω. λέω, πω. τρώω, φάω. In the rest the root survives but is reshaped past recognition: δίνω, δώσω. πίνω, πιω. παίρνω, πάρω. Either way, no rule will get you there. These are not separate verbs, and a dictionary will not list δω as its own headword; it is the other half of βλέπω, exactly as English “went” is the other half of “go”.

6. The perfective form never stands alone. In this lesson every perfective form is cited bare, as γράψω, δω, μιλήσω, and that bare citation form is called the dependent because it depends on something else. It cannot be a sentence, it cannot be an answer to a question, and it cannot be a command on its own. The words that license it (θα, να, and the endings of the past tense) are the subject of the lessons that follow.

7. Three very common verbs have no perfective stem at all: είμαι, έχω and ξέρω. They describe states, and a state has no natural end point, so there is simply nothing to build. If you find yourself hunting for the perfective of είμαι, stop: it does not exist.

Forms & patterns

First conjugation: the three endings

Note that the -ζω verbs split: most give -σω, but παίζω and αλλάζω give -ξω. That split is lexical and has to be learned with the word.

Verbs in -νω that shorten the stem

Second conjugation

The unpredictable list

πάω is a special case: the same form serves as both stems, so context alone tells you which aspect is meant.

The dependent conjugates in all six persons

The perfective stem is not a frozen word. It carries the ordinary personal endings, the same ones you already use in the present.

The short irregular forms take the same endings, but where the stem is a single syllable the accent falls on the ending in the plural. Two-syllable stems such as πάρω keep the accent where it already is.