greece-10-understand-survival.pdf

The Greek language is believed to be one of
the oldest European languages, with an oral
tradition of 4000 years and a written tradi-
tion of approximately 3000 years. Due to
its centuries of infl uence, Greek constitutes
the origin of a large part of the vocabulary
of many Indo-European languages (includ-
ing English), and many of the terms used in
science.
Greek is the offi cial language of Greece
and co-offi cial language of Cyprus (along-
side Turkish), and is spoken by many Greek
migrant communities throughout the world.
The Greek alphabet is explained on the next
page, but if you read the blue pronunciation
guides given with each phrase in this chapter
as if they were English, you’ll be understood.
Note that dh is pronounced as ‘th’ in ‘there’;
gh is a softer, slightly throaty version of ‘g’;
and kh is a throaty sound like the ‘ch’ in the
Scottish ‘loch’. All Greek words of two or more
syllables have an acute accent ( ́), which indi-
cates where the stress falls. In our pronuncia-
tion guides, stressed syllables are in italics.
In Greek, all nouns, articles and adjectives
are either masculine, feminine or neuter – in
this chapter these forms are included where
necessary, separated with a slash and indi-
cated with ‘m/f/n’.

BASICS
Hello. Γειά σας. ya·sas (polite)
Γειά σου. ya·su (informal)
Good morning. Καλή μέρα. ka·li me·ra

Good evening. Καλή σπέρα. ka·li spe·ra

Goodbye. Αντίο. an·di·o
Yes./No. Ναι./Οχι. ne/o·hi

Please. Παρακαλώ. pa·ra·ka·lo

Thank you. Ευχαριστώ. ef·ha·ri·sto

That’s fi ne./ Παρακαλώ. pa·ra·ka·lo

You’re welcome.

Sorry. Συγγνώμη. sigh·no·mi

What’s your name?

Πώς σας λένε; pos sas le·ne

My name is ...

Με λένε ... me le·ne ...

Do you speak English?

Μιλάτε αγγλικά; mi·la·te an·gli·ka

I (don’t) understand.

(Δεν) καταλαβαίνω. (dhen) ka·ta·la·ve·no

ACCOMMODATION

campsite χώρος για kho·ros yia

κάμπινγκ kam·ping

hotel ξενοδοχείο kse·no·dho·khi·o

youth hostel γιουθ χόστελ yuth kho·stel

a ... room ένα ... e·na ...

δωμάτιο dho·ma·ti·o

single μονόκλινο mo·no·kli·no

double δίκλινο dhi·kli·no

How much Πόσο κάνει ...; po·so ka·ni ...

is it ...?

per night τη βραδυά ti vra·dhya

per person το άτομο to a·to·mo

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WANT MORE?

For in-depth language

information and handy

phrases, check out Lonely

Planet’s Greek Phrasebook.

You’ll fi nd it at shop

.lonelyplanet.com, or you

can buy Lonely Planet’s

iPhone phrasebooks at the

Apple App Store.

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