5.1 The First Forty — Epoché
What you will be able to do Recognise the forty commonest words of Modern Greek, counted rather than chosen. Say which of them you already know: twenty-one of the forty came out of the grammar volume. Use the five new function words that do most of the work in a Greek sentence: να , θα , ότι , πρέπει , μπορώ . Read a sentence made entirely of high-frequency words without looking anything up: Τι μπορώ να κάνω; , Δε θέλω να κάνω τίποτα. . Explain why a frequency list of Greek is mostly grammar and why that is good news. Prerequisites : 3.14 — the verbs of existing and having. Read 3.14 Grammar first; the grammar volume is finished and this is the first lesson of the vocabulary volume. This volume is chosen by counting. The corpus behind this course holds 28,507 Greek sentences with English translations beside them, and the word lists of the next eight lessons are taken from the top of its frequency table rather than from anybody's idea of what a beginner ought to know. That is a deliberate policy and it has one immediate consequence, which this lesson is about. The consequence is that the top of the list is almost entirely grammar. Of the forty commonest word forms in the corpus, the great majority are articles, pronouns, particles and forms of the two or three commonest verbs. There is exactly one ordinary noun in the top fifty. A learner who spent his first month on nouns for food and furniture would have learned almost nothing that appears in the top forty of a real Greek text. That is good news rather than bad, because those words are short, they repeat constantly, and you have been using most of them for fourteen lessons. The honest summary of this lesson is that you already know twenty-one of the forty, and that the rest are five particles, four verbs and a handful of adverbs. The count Band What is in it How many of the forty articles the six forms you met in lesson 3.1 and their fused forms with a preposition eleven pronouns, weak and strong the set from lesson 3.10, plus the demonstrative nine forms of the verb to be four of the six from lesson 3.2, including the past four particles and conjunctions the negative, and the five new words of this lesson eight prepositions the three from lesson 3.6 three other verbs the verbs for having, wanting and being pleasing four adverbs and everything else the word for here , the word for very one The five new function words are the whole of the real work. να is the commonest word in the language, and it is the particle Greek uses where English uses to in front of a verb, because Greek has no infinitive; the second phase gives it a lesson of its own. θα marks the future. ότι introduces a clause after a verb of saying or thinking. πρέπει means must and has no subject at all. μπορώ means can . Three of those five are followed by the first of them, which is why you will hear the commonest word in the language several times in a single sentence: Τι μπορώ να κάνω; has it once, Δε θέλω να κάνω τίποτα. has it once and a negative besides. Expect it everywhere and do not try to translate it as a word. Word list The forty commonest words, with their rank in the corpus count. Words marked as already known are here for completeness; the notes on those are short. Word (with article) Meaning Notes να el na to (in front of a verb); that Part of speech / class particle, rank 1 How it differs from English the commonest word in the language; Greek has no infinitive, so this stands where English puts to Τι μπορώ να κάνω; What can I do? Δε θέλω να κάνω τίποτα. I don't want to do anything. Μου αρέσει να γράφω. I like to write. το el to the (neuter); it Part of speech / class article and weak pronoun, rank 2 How it differs from English already known: in front of a noun an article, in front of a verb a pronoun Το θέλω. I want it. είναι el is; are Part of speech / class verb, rank 3 How it differs from English already known: one form for the third person singular and plural Τι είναι; What is this? Δεν είναι εδώ. They aren't here. ο el o the (masculine) Part of speech / class article, rank 4 How it differs from English already known δεν el den not Part of speech / class particle, rank 5 How it differs from English already known: negates statements Δεν είμαι εδώ. I'm not here. Δεν μπορώ. I can't. μου el mou to me; my Part of speech / class weak pronoun, rank 7 How it differs from English already known: in front of a verb, to me; after a noun, my Μου αρέσει. I like it. Μου αρέσει να γράφω. I like to write. θα el tha will, shall Part of speech / class particle, rank 8 How it differs from English marks the future and goes in front of the verb; no other word changes Θα είμαι εδώ. I'll be here. Θα σου αρέσει. You'll like it. η el i the (feminine) Part of speech / class article, rank 9 How it differs from English already known τα el ta the (neuter plural); them Part of speech / class article and weak pronoun, rank 10 How it differs from English already known του el tou of the; his Part of speech / class article and weak pronoun, rank 11 How it differs from English already known: the genitive article, and the possessive after a noun Είναι του Τομ. It's Tom's. τον el ton the (masculine accusative); him Part of speech / class article and weak pronoun, rank 12 How it differs from English already known αυτό el avtó this; it Part of speech / class demonstrative pronoun, rank 13 How it differs from English already known: neuter, and the commonest way to point at something Τι είναι αυτό; What's this? με el me with; me Part of speech / class preposition and weak pronoun, rank 14 How it differs from English the same two letters are a preposition meaning with and a pronoun meaning me την el tin the (feminine accusative); her Part of speech / class article and weak pronoun, rank 15 How it differs from English already known ότι el óti that Part of speech / class conjunction, rank 16 How it differs from English introduces a clause after a verb of saying or thinking; an unaccented look-alik