Skip to content

Latest commit

 

History

History
257 lines (192 loc) · 10.4 KB

grammar.md

File metadata and controls

257 lines (192 loc) · 10.4 KB
Raw

Grammar (Γραμματική)

Morphology

Morpheme - the smallest meaningful unit in a language..

  1. Free Morphemes - stand alone as individual words.

    Name Examples Open
    1. Lexical Nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs ✔️
    2. Functional Prepositions, conjunctions, articles, pronouns ❌

  2. Bound Morphemes - cannot stand alone as individual words.

    Affixes:

    • prefixes
    • suffixes
    • infixes
    • circumfixes
    Name Description Example
    1. Derivational Create new words, and can change lexical category. pre + determine = predetermine, teach + er = teacher
    2. Inflectional Serve a grammatical role. Don't create new words or change the lexical category. Plural -s, possesive -'s, past tense -ed

Source: YouTube: Morphology (part 1)

Syntax

  • Predominant word order is SVO (subject–verb–object).
  • Word order is quite freely variable, with VSO and other orders as frequent alternatives.
  • Within the noun phrase:
    • adjectives precede the noun (for example, το μεγάλο σπίτι, [to meˈɣalo ˈspiti], 'the big house')
    • while possessors follow it (for example, το σπίτι μου, [to ˈspiti mu], 'my house'; το σπίτι του Νίκου 'Nick's house').
    • Alternative constructions involving the opposite order of constituents are possible (e.g. το σπίτι το μεγάλο 'the big house'; του Νίκου το σπίτι 'Nick's house')

Parts of Speech

Two main parts:

  1. Inflected - Modified (mostly their endings) depending upon their position or usage in a sentence.
  2. Non-inflected - Never change their form.
Inflected (Κλιτά) Non-inflected (Άκλιτα)
1. article (άρθρο) 7. adverb (επίρρλμα)
2. noun (ουσιαστικό) 8. preposition (πρόθεση)
3. adjective (επίθετο) 9. conjunction (σύνδεσμος)
4. pronoun (αντωνυμία) 10. interjection (επιφώνημα)
5. verb (ρήμα)
6. participle (μετοχή)

* Greek also has "particles" or function words (also called functors), but they are not considered a part of speech.

Inflection (Declension & Conjugation)

Inflection of articles, nouns, adjectives, pronouns, and passive voice participles is called declension.

Inflection of verbs is called conjugation.

3 Characteristics of Declension (Κλίση)

  1. Case
  2. Gender
    1. masculine (αρσενικό)
    2. feminine (θηλυκό)
    3. neuter (ουδέτερο)
  3. Number
    1. Singular
    2. Plural

Which parts of speech are declinable?

  • Nouns
  • Adjectives
  • Articles
  • Prounouns (most of them)
  • Participles (passive)

4 Cases (Πτώσεις)

Cases exist in order to indiate relationships among the words of a sentence like the subject, verb, object, and more.

  1. Nominative (Ονομαστική)
  2. Genitive (Γενική)
    • denoting possession, quality, time, location, etc.
  3. Accusative (Αιτιατική)
    • for the object (direct & indirect) of the verb
    • preposition + accusative
  4. Vocative (Κλητική)
    • for calling or to address somebody.

Direct cases:

  1. Nominative
  2. Vocative

Oblique cases:

  1. Genitive
  2. Accusative

Source: Learn Greek: Οι πτώσεις | The Cases: Use and Syntax

article (άρθρο)

  1. Το οριστικό άρθρο (the definite article).

    • ο, η, το

  2. το αόριστο άρθρο (the indefinite article).

    • ένας, μια, ένα

pronoun (αντωνυμία)

A word that substitutes for a noun or noun phrase.

Pronouns have the following categories:

  1. personal (προσωπικές)
  2. possessive (κτητικές)
  3. demonstrative (δεικτικές)
  4. relative (αναφορικές)
  5. indefinite (αόριστες)
  6. reflexive (αυτοπαθείς)
  7. interrogative (ερωτηματικές)
  8. definite (οριστικές)

personal (προσωπικές)

Personal pronouns are short substitute words for the proper name of a person.

Greek has strong and weak forms:

  1. strong - for emphasis and can stand alone in a sentence.
  2. weak - more common. Not for emphasis.

Source: Introduction to Greek Personal Pronouns - Προσωπικές αντωνυμίες

verb (ρήμα)

Two groups:

  1. 1st Conjugation (Group A)
    • last syllable isn't stressed (διαβάζω)
    • end with -ω in active voice.
    • end with -ομαι in passive voice.
  2. 2nd Conjugation (Group B)
    • last syllable is stressed (αγαπώ)
    • end with -ώ in active voice.
    • end with -ιέμαι in passive voice (1st class)
    • end with -ούμαι, άμαι, or -ώμαι in passive voice (2nd class)

Two grammatical aspects:

  1. Perfective - closed (complete)
    • Future Simple
    • Past Simple
  2. Imperfective - open (continuous)
    • Present Simple
Imperfective -> Perfective

  • If the last letter of verb stem ends with:

    • vowel, ν, θ, or ζ

  • Then replace with:

    • σ

  • Examples:

    • ακούω -> θα ακούσω (listen)
    • κλείνω -> θα κλείσω (close)
    • διαβάζω -> θα διαωάσω (read)

  • If the last letter of verb stem ends with:

    • κ, γ, χ, or χν

  • Then replace with:

    • ξ

  • Examples:

    • πλένω -> θα πλέξω (knit)
    • ανοίγω -> θα ανοίξω (open)
    • προσέχω -> θα προσέξω (take care)
    • φτιάχνω -> θα φτιάξω (make)

  • If the last letter of verb stem ends with:

    • π, πτ, β, φ, or ευ

  • Then replace with:

    • ψ

  • Examples:

    • βλάπτω -> θα βλάψω (harm)
    • κρύβω -> θα κρύψω (hide)
    • γράφω -> θα γράψω (write)
    • δουλεύω -> θα δουλέψω (work)
A Conjugation

κάν-ω κάν-εις κάν-ει κάν-ουμε κάν-ετε κάν-ουν(ε)

Sources:

Tenses (Χρόνος)
  1. Present (Ενεστώτας) (no distinction between simple and continuous present)
    • I love / I'm loving (αγαπώ)
  2. Past continuous (Imperfect) (Παρατατικός)
    • I was loving (αγαπούσα)
  3. Simple past (or aorist) (Αόριστος)
    • I loved (αγάπησα)
  4. Future continuous (Εξακολουθητικός μέλλοντας)
    • I will be loving (θα αγαπώ)
  5. Simple future (Στιγμιαίος μέλλοντας)
    • I will love (θα αγαπήσω)
  6. Perfect (Present Perfect) (Παρακείμενος)
    • I have loved (έχω αγαπήδει)
  7. Past perfect (Pluperfect) (Υπερσυντέλικος)
    • I had loved (είχα αγαπήδει)
  8. Future perfect (Συντελεσμένος μέλλοντας)
    • I will have loved (θα έχω αγαπήσει)

YouTube Videos

Books

Websites

Articles