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.

Wednesday, February 28, 2007

Tell me why? Δεν μ'αρεσουν οι δευτερες!

Those of you who remember The Boomtown Rats should be able to work out the title! This topic is describing how to express your likes and dislikes in Greek. To make things complicated Greek doesn't seem to have a verb "to like" but rather they use a verb which would be more literally translated as "to be liked" so instead of saying "I like it" you have to turn the phrase around and say "By me, it is liked". Of course the Greek condenses all those words into just one and a bit words:
By me becomes just Μ' which is short for ΜΟΥ, and
it is liked becomes just αρέσει/ΑΡΕΣΕΙ (3rd person singular of the verb αρέσω/ΑΡΕΣΩ)
Similarly if it's "you" doing the liking then ΣΟΥ is shortened to just Σ' (unless it's plural or formal in which case ΣΑΣ remains in full)
So together this looks like:
EnglishLowerUpper
I like ...[he/she/it]μ'[ου] αρέσει...Μ'[ΟΥ] ΑΡΕΣΕΙ
I like …[them]μ'[ου] αρέσουν...Μ'[ΟΥ] ΑΡΕΣΟΥΝ
[Do] you like …[he/she/it]?σ'[ου] αρέσει ...;Σ'[ΟΥ] ΑΡΕΣΕΙ;
[Do] you like …[them]?σ'[ου] αρέσουν ...;Σ'[ΟΥ] ΑΡΕΣΟΥΝ;
and by deduction:
I like youμ'[ου] αρέσειςΜ'[ΟΥ] ΑΡΕΣΕΙΣ
[Do] you like me?σ'[ου] αρέσω;Σ'[ΟΥ] ΑΡΕΣΩ;
And to go with these phrases you can use use "δεν/ΔΕΝ" in front to say you don't like something or at the end you can add "πολύ/ΠΟΛΥ" or "πάρα πολύ/ΠΑΡΑ ΠΟΛΥ" at the end to say you like it "a lot" or "very much".
Of course when asked if you like something you can just reply "ναι" or "οχι" - you don't have to repeat the whole "μ'αρέσει".
Remember in Greek that the articles get used all the time (where we would drop the article - "I like wine" as it means something slightly different to "I like the wine") so here are a few examples:
EnglishLowerUpper
I like wineμ' αρέσει το κρασίΜ' ΑΡΕΣΕΙ ΤΟ ΚΡΑΣΙ
I like winesμ' αρέσουν τα κράσιαΜ' ΑΡΕΣΟΥΝ ΤΑ ΚΡΑΣΙΑ
Do you like red cars?σ' αρέσουν τα κόκκινα αυτοκίνητα;Σ' ΑΡΕΣΟΥΝ ΤΑ ΚΟΚΚΙΝΑ ΑΥΤΟΚΙΝΗΤΑ;
Do you like Greece?σ' αρέσει η ΕλλαδαΣ' ΑΡΕΣΕΙ Η ΕΛΛΑΔΑ
I don't like green olivesδεν μ' αρέσουν οι πρασινες ελλιεςΔΕΝ Μ' ΑΡΕΣΟΥΝ ΟΙ ΠΡΑΣΙΝΕΣ ΕΛΛΙΕΣ
I like coffee very muchμ' αρέσει ο κεφες πάρα πολύΜ' ΑΡΕΣΕΙ Ο ΚΕΦΕΣ ΠΑΡΑ ΠΟΛΥ
I like tea a littleμ' αρέσει το τσαι λίγοΜ' ΑΡΕΣΕΙ ΤΟ ΤΣΑΙ ΛΙΓΟ
Don't you like beers much?δεν σ'αρέσουν οι μπίρες πολύ;ΔΕΝ Σ'ΑΡΕΣΟΥΝ ΟΙ ΜΠΙΡΕΣ ΠΟΛΥ;
Another word worth mentioning on this topic is the verb προτιμώ/ΠΡΟΤΙΜΩ meaning "I prefer" which allows a few distinctions to be made - "Do you like white wine?"/"I prefer red" - "Σ'αρέσει το λευκο κρασί;"/"Προτιμώ κόκκινο" ("Σ'ΑΡΕΣΕΙ ΤΟ ΛΕΥΚΟ ΚΡΑΣΙ;"/"ΠΡΟΤΙΜΩ ΚΟΚΚΙΝΟ" for the capital hungry of you).
To finish, for comepleteness here is how anyone and everyone likes things:
EnglishLowerUpper
I like itμ'[ου] αρέσειΜ'[ΟΥ] ΑΡΕΣΕΙ
You like itσ'[ου] αρέσειΣ'[ΟΥ] ΑΡΕΣΕΙ
He/it likes itτου αρέσειΤΟΥ ΑΡΕΣΕΙ
She likes itτης αρέσειΤΗΣ ΑΡΕΣΕΙ
we like itμας αρέσειΜΑΣ ΑΡΕΣΕΙ
You like it (pl. or formal)σας αρέσειΣΑΣ ΑΡΕΣΕΙ
They like itτους αρέσειΤΟΥΣ ΑΡΕΣΕΙ
And replace "αρέσει" with "αρέσουν" as before to like plural things

1 comment:

GreedyGreen said...

One little phrase that might be useful is the greek way of saying "whether you like it or not" which is simply:

σ'αρέσει δε'σ'αρέσει
Σ'ΑΡΕΣΕΙ ΔΕ'Σ'ΑΡΕΣΕΙ