Modern Greek Grammar Lessons

 

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Lesson 13  Nominative Pronouns

In Lesson 3 it was stated that the words for ‘I’, ’you’, ‘he’, ‘she’, ‘it’ etc. do exist in Greek. They are as follows:

εγώ είμαι I am (ε)μείς είμαστε we are
εσύ είσαι you are (ε)σείς είστε you are
αυτός είναι he is αυτοί είναι they are
αυτή είναι she is αυτές είναι they are
αυτό είναι it is αυτά είναι they are

Notice that the pronouns are in italics. This is because they are only used when it is needed to add emphasis.

Below are some examples of their usage:

είμαι από την Αθήνα I am from Athens
εμείς είμαστε από την Κρήτη We are from Crete

θέλω κρασί I want wine
εγώ θέλω μια μπύρα I want a beer

 

αυτοί είναι από την Αθήνα ........... they are from Athens .........
και αυτές είναι από την Κρήτη and they are from Crete

 

σας ευχαριστώ, κύριε* .......... thank you sir.......
κι εγώ ευχαριστώ and I thank (you)

 

It is also used when replying to someone when they ask how you are

τι κάνεις, Γιάννη; how are you John ?
καλά, εσύ; well (and) you?

 

τι κάνετε κύριε* Σμιθ; how are you Mr Smith?
καλά, εσείς; well (and) you?

* This is called the vocative case. You won’t come across it very often but that’s why ‘Mr’ ends in an ‘ε’. We will look at it more closely in a later lesson.

Now try Crosswords 27 & 28