So, I'm doing my Greek courses and they are going well. I am around a week and half in, nearing 2 weeks in so very much so early in the process and I am actually finding it fairly ok. I have a solid grasp of the letters now and weirdly it helps if I listen to techno (I don't usually like techno). However, one thing has left me a little stumped. I'm trying to figure out how it would be correct to say "He is wearing a shirt" would it be:

"Φοράει πουκάμισο" or "Αυτός είναι φοράει ένα πουκάμισο"

Is it correct to put the 'Αυτός είναι' and the 'ένα' in the sentence or in Greek is it not necessary?

I found this book with 7 others that look like a set in my attic. (The previous owners of my house are Greek). I'm having trouble identifying what it is since I don't speak or read Greek. Google searches aren't very helpful and just keeps showing me websites where I can buy Greek children's books. Any insight would be helpful.

I'm having a hard time understanding this, pls help

This is a slightly niche project that took quite a while to make. It doesn't quite pertain to Greek language learning per se, but it does address the occasional questions people have about dialects and texts/audio they find from older forms of the language. Plus I believe this will be somewhat interesting/informative even for native speakers.

In my (admittedly limited) academic reading of Greek linguistics I couldn't come across a comprehensive genealogical tree for modern Greek varieties, so I decided to combine some more specific or less detailed classifications from the literature to make a more complete hands-on tree. My main sources are listed in the image, but there's always the possibility I missed something more contemporary.

The classifications in various families as a step right after Medieval/Byzantine Greek are to an extent speculative since we don't have much evidence for many of these intermediate steps. They are best seen as hypothetical steps that branch out to more specific modern varieties we know for a fact belong to these different groups.

The classifications are made along 6 criteria:

1. High vowel loss (predominant in Northern varieties)

2. Ypsilon > /u/ shift

3. Palatalisation of velars

4. Tsitakismos (slightly different from the above, even though Greek literature has historically somewhat conflated the two)

5. Geminate consonants (retention of double consonant pronunciation and/or creation of new gemination effects)

6. Final /n/ retention from older varieties of Greek (e.g. in the neuter singular nominative case or the singular accusative case more broadly)

The various groups have some of the characteristics which distinguish them from each other. Some other varieties (denoted with second lines connected to them) exhibit characteristics from other groups as well, which suggests either historical contact or some novel evolution that makes them belong to both categories to a variant degree.

There are two notable cases to mention explicitly. Firstly, Calabrian Greek has disputed origins (and some argue the same for other Italiot varieties, but it's dubious). It has some stark archaisms that point towards possible Doric influence, but it generally is still closer to other Italiot Greek varieties than it is to Tsakonian which is a direct descendant of Doric. Secondly, Standard Modern Greek is the fusion of Katharevousa (a constructed archaic form of modern Greek) and Demotic Greek.

P.S.: The image has a rather high resolution, so it might appear a bit obscured in the phone app. It is best read on desktop if the image is expanded. I'll include a temporary link where the image can be seen and downloaded in the original resolution.

I am learning Greek, I am still a beginner but I would like to listen to some Greek music but not the traditional kind or something like Adonis Remos. I listen to alternative music like metal, rock, grunge, punkish so I wanted to ask if someone could recommend something in that genre?

And if someone knows some good Greek shows that would also be amazing ☺️

I am currently developing the lessons on a Greek textbook by Assimil.

I had to translate the words "το καλό ταξίδι" and "το καλό πλοίο", I translated them into "the good trip" and "the good ship" but the book corrects this translation into "the beautiful trip" and "the beautiful ship". Who is right? I knew beautiful was όμορφος.

My father who is a farmer found this (which I think is a gravestone) while working in his field, I tried to find what it means I think it is written in Greek so I wanted to ask you guys.

Μπορώ να βρω το βιβλίο του Παντελή Πρεβελάκη ~Το Δέντρο σε PDF;

H, όλα τα τρία βιβλία, Ο Κρητικός, σε PDF.

Δεν τα βρίσκω..

So, I find it on a wall in my town (Szeged, Hungary). Honestly, I'm not quite sure that it is greek, but the letters seems to me so. I'm just corious what is the meaning of this. Unfortunately i Cant speak greek. So I would be really thankful for you, if somebody write me down what it is.

Please could someone translate :

To Grandad,

Happy Birthday

Love from ….

So, I’ve been studying Greek for a bit and have a decent vocabulary, and can even have simple conversations with people in Greece, but I embarrassingly don’t understand many of the Greek articles.

I understand the basics:

Η the, feminine. Η Αθήνα = the Athens Ο the, masculine. Ο καφές = the coffee Το the, neuter. Το βιβλίο = the book

Where I get tripped up is the meaning behind

Την, τον, στην στον, etc.

For example, when I say “είμαι από την Αμερική» am I saying I am from “I am from in the America”?

Is there an easy way to remember when to use these and what their rough meanings would be?

I’ve been learning Greek for a year, and Greek alphabet for a couple of months. Any suggestions on bettering my handwriting/cursive? Σας ευχαριστώ πολύ!

(greek)

Έβλεπα ένα παλιό τσελεμεντέ της γιαγιάς μου, και μου έκανε εντύπωση που έγραφε το κοτόπουλο με δύο τ. Δεν ήταν μεμονωμένο τυπογραφικό, το έγραφε με τον ίδιο τρόπο κάθε φορά.

Μου έκανε εντύπωση γιατί δε το είχα ακούσει ποτέ σαν παλιό τρόπο γραφής, και πράγματι με μια γρήγορη αναζήτηση δεν βρήκα αναφορά σε κάτι τέτοιο. Υπήρχε όντως σαν εναλλακτικός τρόπος γραφής? Ή έτυχε η συγκεκριμένη να το έγραφε με αυτό τον τρόπο?

I have always been wanting to have a Greek writing for a tattoo on my thigh, but as a non-Greek speaker I had to make sure I am putting the right thing on my body. When i found this writing, I just felt its spoke to me as someone suffering with anxiety. I was wondering if this phrase would be good? if not, i’d greatly appreciate if you can recommend any other good phrases or sayings that’s nice or mean something to you? Thanks so much!

I got them at a pastry sale but I forgot what they’re all called. They taste incredible

Large box

1. One has delicate stringy flakes all over it. It’s very wet and is like a roll. It has a honey taste I think?
2. The spiral roll in top middle is baklava I think
3. Is a cookie with almonds on it
4. The powdered sugar one also has an almond taste with finely chopped almonds in it
5. The one next to it tastes like pfefferneuse maybe

Box with custard:

1. I don’t know how to describe it other than a flakey custard
2. It’s like the other one but has cinnamon

Tiny box:

Its chewy and has a jelly filling on top

So, for example, I want to look up "intelligent" -

In an english-only thesaurus, I'd get "smart" "brainy" "clever" etc.

I am looking for a resource online where I can type in "intelligent" in English, and receive, in transliterated Greek (i.e. written in the latin alphabet, not in greek), "éxypnos" "noímon" "gnorízon" etc.

Google translate is ok in that I'll get synonyms but they'll be in the greek alphabet. Which would be ok if I could read Greek, but I can't

(the purpose here is for naming something in "English", so being written in the Greek alphabet is what's the issue)

I'd like to hear any Greek idioms, sayings, all the weird stuff that doesn't make sense to a learner (or google translate)! I've ran across some while reading but I'd like to make a little list.

For example: Ούτε γάτα ούτε ζημιά: No harm's done!

Καλά κρασιά: "Good luck" (sarcastic)

I'd be extra grateful if you can tell me the literal translation or the story of how a specific idiom came to be. I could find some on google but I'm sure there are lots more. Thank you!

Hey everyone - I am writing a novel set in Ancient Greece. I use Greek words sometimes (moró mou - my baby, words for Greek pastries and garments, etc.).

I am currently writing a scene where the love interest calls the (male) MC by an endearing/joking nickname.

I was thinking of something like "honey-head", as it would refer to the character's hair color, but also be a loving way of... calling him a little dense lol. (It makes sense in the context of the scene, I promise!)

Now - I am not a native Greek speaker, and since this is basically creating a "new word", I was wondering if someone could help me with translating it?

Would méliképhalos work (the literal translation)? (I don't mind if it's a neologism, because the MC himself reacts to the name with surprise, since he has never heard it before. I'm mostly wondering about grammar etc :)

My greek is not very strong but I listen to a lot of older Greek music that seems to romanticize about being an Αλήτη.

Google translate says it means "bum, roughneck, tramp", which doesn't make much sense to me.

Is it better to think of an αλήτη as a bad ass who roams around? Sort of like a John Wick? Or maybe since it's a more dated term, like the cool tough "greasers" you see in movies from the 1960s?

Am I close or very far off?

Edit: 2 songs that come to mind

Εγώ το Θεό μου τον θέλω αλήτη - Terzis

Μ’ Εχεις Κάνει Αλήτη - Karras