Grammar Explanation
We want to say, “The days of the week are:” in Greek. This page gives a lengthy explanation of exactly how
Οι ημέρες της εβδομάδας είναι:
was formed.
First, let’s identify the parts of the sentence. “The days” is the subject—and it’s plural, because we’re talking about more than one day. This means we need the nominative plural form.
In Greek, “the day” is η ημέρα, so the plural would be:
οι ημέρες
The words “of the week” are possessive (the days belong to the week). Since were talking about only one week, we’ll use the genitive singular form.
“The week” is η εβδομάδα. The singular genitive form is:
της εβδομάδας
Finally, we come to the verb “are.” We need the third person plural (they) form, since the subject is feminine plural. The correct form is:
είναι
Put them all together, and we get:
Οι ημέρες της εβδομάδας είναι:
Please don’t freak out!
I know what you’re thinking. “Will I have to go through all that just to say every simple sentence?!”
The answer is, “Mostly no.” Much of the time, you’ll be able to insert appropriate words into some stock phrases that you’ve memorized, and your meaning will come across wonderfully well. This will probably be sufficient for most of your basic travel needs in Greece. Knowing the grammar will be nice, but not necessary.
However, when you first start creating your own original sentences in Greek, you may have to consciously put them together one piece at a time, and that’s where knowing the grammar will be very useful. After you use the grammar rules often enough, they’ll become almost automatic, and you'll use them without even thinking about it. [I know you don’t believe me right now. Trust me. It’ll happen.]
| Days of the week |