March 25th Greek National Day signifies the time when the Greeks declared the beginning of their Independence War against the Ottomans. The Greek Revolution, after several years of military confrontation and sacrifices, resulted in the destruction of the Ottoman Empire and Greece’s freedom. Below are the most frequent questions asked on this issue, and their answers in Greek. The dialogue is between Maria, Μαρία (M) and Petros, Πέτρος (Π).
Μ: Στις είκοσι πέντε Μαρτίου γιορτάζουμε την Επανάσταση του ’21 (είκοσι ένα), δηλαδή του χίλια οκτακόσια είκοσι ένα.
Pronunciation
STEES ikosiPEnte maRTEEoo yioRTAzoome TEEN epaNAstasi TOO eikosiEna, dilaDEE TOO HEElia oktaKOsia ikosiEna.
Meaning
On March 25th we celebrate the revolution of ’21, that is of 1821.
Π: Με ποιους πολέμησαν τότε οι Έλληνες;
Pronunciation
ME piOOS poLEmisan TOte EE Elines?
Meaning
Against whom did Greeks fight?
Μ: Οι Έλληνες πολέμησαν με τους Τούρκους.
Pronunciation
EE Elines poLEmisan ME toos TOOrkoos.
Π: Γιατί πολέμησαν;
Pronunciation
yiaTEE poLEmisan?
Meaning
Why did they fight?
Μ: Πολέμησαν για την ελευθερία.
Pronunciation
poLEmisan yiA TEEN eleftheREEa.
Meaning
They fought for the freedom.
Π: Οι Έλληνες δεν ήταν ελεύθεροι;
Pronunciation
EE Elines DEN EEtan eLEftheri?
Meaning
Greeks were not free?
Μ: Όχι, ήταν 400 (τετρακόσια) χρόνια σκλάβοι των Τούρκων.
Pronunciation
Ohi, EEtan tetraKOsia HROnia SKLAvi TON TOOrkon.
Meaning
No, for 400 years they were slaves under the Turks.
Π: Νίκησαν οι Έλληνες;
Pronunciation
NEEkisan EE Elines?
Meaning
Did Greeks win?
Μ: Οι Έλληνες δεν είχαν στρατό, ούτε πολλά όπλα. Όμως πολέμησαν ηρωικά και νίκησαν τους Τούρκους.
Pronunciation
EE Elines DEN EEhan straTO, OOte Opla. Omos poLEmisan iroiKA KE NEEkisan Toos TOOrkoos.
Meaning
Greeks didn’t have army nor weapons. But they fought heroically and they beat the Turks.
BASIC VOCABULARY
Greek word Pronunciation Meaning
Στις 25 Μαρτίου STEES EEkosiPEnte marTEEoo on March 25th
Γιορτάζουμε yioRTAzoome we celebrate
Η επανάσταση EE epaNAstasi revolution (nom.)
Την επανάσταση TEEN epaNAstasi revolution (acc.)
Χίλια HIlia thousand
Οκτακόσια oktaKOsia eight hundred
Είκοσι EEkosi twenty
Πέντε PEnte five
Ένα Ena one
Τότε Tote then
Οι Έλληνες EE Elines Greeks
Οι Τούρκοι EE TOOrki Turks (nom.)
Τους Τούρκους TOOS TOOrkoos Turks (acc.)
Πολέμησαν poLEmisan fought
Νίκησαν NEEkisan beat
Ήταν EEtan were
Είχαν EEhan had
Γιατί; yiaTEE? Why?
Δεν DEN not
Με ME with
Η ελευθερία EE eleftheREEa freedom (nom.)
Την ελευθερία TEEN eleftheREEa freedom (acc.)
Ο ελεύθερος, -η, -ο O eLEftheros, -I, -o free (sing.)
Οι ελεύθεροι EE eLEftheri free (plural)
Οι σκλάβοι EE SKLAvi slavesΜε ποιους ME piOOS with whom
Με τους ME TOOS with the (acc.)
Ο στρατός O straTOS army (nom.)
Το στρατό TO straTO army (acc.)
Τα όπλα TA Opla guns, weapons
Όμως Omos but
Ο ήρωας O EEroas hero
Ηρωικά iroiKA heroic, heroically
GREEK WORDS IN ENGLISH
The noun that comes from the verb νικάω (νίκησαν) is νίκη, which means victory in Greek and is familiar to the world from the sport shoes brand Nike.
Στρατός means army in Greek. The English word strategy, strategical come from this Greek word. Ήρωας is the root of the English word hero, and heroic is ηρωικά.
BASIC GRAMMAR MADE EASY
The third person’s plural (they +verb) ending in the simple past tense for the regular verbs is –σαν: Πολέμη–σαν, νίκη–σαν. Ήταν (=they were) and είχαν (they had) are irregular verbs and end in –αν.
WORD CLUSTERS
Greek word Pronunciation Meaning
Η ελευθερία EE eleftheREEa Freedom
Ο ελεύθερος–η, –ο O eLEftheros, -i, -o free (adjective singular)
Οι ελεύθεροι EE elEftheri free (adjective, plural)
Ο ήρωας O EEroas (hero)
Ηρωικά iroiKA heroic (adverb)
PRONUNCIATION KEY
i (idiom), ee (needle), e (energy), o (organism), oo (boot), y (yes), h (helium), th (theory), d (the). The capitalized syllables are accented.
The post Our Everyday Greek: Let’s Talk in Greek about the Greek Independence Day (Part 2) appeared first on The National Herald.