Hi there, This resource was for anyone who was interested in learning Modern Greek, but was primarily used as a repository for classnotes for a first year Modern Greek evening class.
Although this blog site will remain here, it has now been superceeded by a a regular website www.allgreek2me.com which contains all the referance material available on this blog. Additionally all future Year 2 referance notes will only appear on the new website.

Monday, January 29, 2007

What time is it? - Τι ώρα είναι;

Given a grasp of the numbers from 1 to 12 and a few other words, understanding the time in Greek is fairly simple. To say the time, always state the hour first and then the minutes last, in the form of "hour" plus or minus "minutes". Only if the number of minutes is not divisible by five do you need to use the word for "minutes", otherwise just the number will do. So at 10:23 you would say "δέκα καί είκοσι τρείς λεπτά" (ΔΕΚΑ ΚΑΙ ΕΙΚΟΣΙ ΤΡΕΙΣ ΛΕΠΤΑ) but for 10:25 you would just say "δέκα καί είκοσι πέντε" (ΔΕΚΑ ΚΑΙ ΕΙΚΟΣΙ ΠΕΝΤΕ). Also, just as in english you can use the words for quarter and half, but still the Greek way round using hour first and either quarter or half second. So here are the words you need:
EnglishLowerUpper
What time is it?τι ώρα είναι;ΤΙ ΩΡΑ ΕΙΝΑΙ;
before (minus)παράΠΑΡΑ
and (plus)καίΚΑΙ
quarterτέταρτοΤΕΤΑΡΤΟ
halfμισήΜΙΣΗ
the morningτο πρωίΤΟ ΠΡΩΙ
the eveningτο βράδυΤΟ ΒΡΑΔΥ
the afternoonτο μεσημέριΤΟ ΜΕΣΗΜΕΡΙ
minutesλεπτάΛΕΠΤΑ
secondsδευτερόλεπταΔΕΥΤΕΡΟΛΕΠΤΑ
almostσχεδόνΣΧΕΔΟΝ
aboutπερίπουΠΕΡΙΠΟΥ
exactlyακριβώςΑΚΡΙΒΩΣ

The morning in Greece can refer to when you get up tothe middle of our afternoon - basically until you go back to sleep for the afternoon nap! The evening is then from after siesta until going back to bed which could be in the small hours of the next day. "το μεσημέρι" (ΤΟ ΜΕΣΗΜΕΡΙ) only really gets used to distinguish afternoon from early hours if it would otherwise be confusing.
So putting all this together, here are examples of the time in Greek:
EnglishLowerUpper
1:15pmμιά καί τέταρτο το πρωίΜΙΑ ΚΑΙ ΤΕΤΑΡΤΟ ΤΟ ΠΡΩΙ
2:25amδύο καί είκοσι πέντε το βράδυΔΥΟ ΚΑΙ ΕΙΚΟΣΙ ΠΕΝΤΕ ΤΟ ΒΡΑΔΥ
6:30pmέξη καί μισή το βράδυΕΞΗ ΚΑΙ ΜΙΣΗ ΤΟ ΒΡΑΔΥ
9:45amδέκα παρά τέταρτο το πρωίΔΕΚΑ ΠΑΡΑ ΤΕΤΑΡΤΟ ΤΟ ΠΡΩΙ
11:55pmδώδεκα παρά πέντε το βράδυΔΩΔΕΚΑ ΠΑΡΑ ΠΕΝΤΕ ΤΟ ΒΡΑΔΥ
4:10pmτέσσερεις καί δέκα το μεσημέριΤΕΣΣΕΡΕΙΣ ΚΑΙ ΔΕΚΑ ΤΟ ΜΕΣΗΜΕΡΙ
2 exactlyδύο ακριβώοςΔΥΟ ΑΚΡΙΒΩΣ
7 o'clockεφτά η ώραΕΦΤΑ Η ΩΡΑ
about 5amπερίπου πέντε το πρωίΠΕΡΙΠΟΥ ΠΕΝΤΕ ΤΟ ΠΡΩΙ

Notice in the above examples the numbers for one and four take their feminine forms. Three also changes to in the feminine:
EnglishLowerUpper
1μιάΜΙΑ
3τρείςΤΡΕΙΣ
4τέσσερειςΤΕΣΣΕΡΕΙΣ

NB On timetables you will see the use of "π.μ." & "π.π." (Π.Μ. & Π.Π.) to mean AM and PM. Be carefull however as it is "π.μ." that equates to AM and "π.π." that equates to PM. The use of these is just the same as in Britain distinguishing between midnight to midday and midday to midnight, rather than the more vague definitions the Greeks have of morning and evening.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Apologies for having ΩΡΑ spelt incorrectly on this post yesterday. I had used an "O" rather than an "Ω" in boh the word "ΩΡΑ" and "ΔΩΔΕΚΑ".