3.2 To Be, and the Pronoun You Leave Out — Epoché
What you will be able to do Say the six forms of the verb to be and recognise that two of them are the same word: είμαι , είσαι , είναι , είμαστε , είστε , είναι . Build a whole sentence out of a verb and nothing else, as in Είμαι εδώ. and Πού είμαστε; . Negate any of them by putting one short word in front: Δεν είμαι εδώ. . Read είστε correctly as either a polite singular or a plain plural, and use the ending of the following adjective to tell which. Leave out the pronoun, which Greek normally does, and know what it means when a speaker puts it back: Εγώ είμαι! . Prerequisites : 3.1 — the three genders and the article. Read 3.1 Grammar first; the adjectives in this lesson change their endings to match the gender you learned there. Greek does have a present-tense verb meaning to be , which is worth saying at the start, because several languages in this library do not. What Greek does instead is stranger and more useful: it usually leaves out the word for I , you or we , because the verb has already said it. The ending carries the person, so a Greek sentence can be one word long and still be complete. This verb is irregular, as the verb to be is in English, in French, in German and in almost every language that has one. Irregular verbs are irregular because they are used so often that they escape the levelling that would otherwise tidy them up. That is a consolation: the paradigm is short, you will meet it several hundred times in the next ten lessons, and it will be in place long before you are conscious of having learned it. The pattern Six slots, five distinct forms. The third person singular and the third person plural are the same word, and Greek never distinguishes them in this verb. Person Greek Transliteration English I είμαι íme I am you, one person είσαι íse you are he, she, it είναι íne he is, she is, it is we είμαστε ímaste we are you, more than one, or one politely είστε íste you are they είναι íne they are Two things in that table deserve to be noticed rather than merely read. The first is that the third person has one form for one person and for many. Είναι μόνος. is about a man; Είναι φίλοι. is about a group; the verb is identical, and only what stands beside it tells you which. English makes the same collapse in the past tense of most of its verbs and nobody finds it confusing, so this is less trouble than it looks. The second is the fifth row. Greek, like French and Russian and unlike modern English, uses the plural you to address one person politely. Είστε έτοιμος. can be said to a room full of people or to one stranger. When it is said to one person the adjective after it goes singular, and that is how you tell: Είστε όμορφη. is being said to one woman, politely, because the adjective is feminine singular. A group of women would need a plural adjective. So the verb is ambiguous and the adjective resolves it, which is a pattern worth expecting throughout Greek. Negation is the easiest thing in this lesson. One word goes in front of the verb and nothing else moves: Δεν είμαι εδώ. , Δεν είστε έτοιμος. , Δεν είναι εδώ. . There is no auxiliary to find, no word order to change, and no contraction to learn. How English says it English cannot drop its subject. Am here is not an English sentence; I am here is. The pronoun is obligatory even when it carries no information at all, which is why English has the dummy it in it is raining . Greek has no such requirement, because the verb ending does the work that the English pronoun does. So the normal Greek sentence has one fewer word, and an English speaker's first hundred Greek sentences tend to have one word too many. That has a consequence which is easy to miss and expensive to miss. Because the pronoun is not required, putting it in is a deliberate act, and Greek uses it for contrast and emphasis. Εγώ είμαι! is not a neutral way of saying I am ; it is it is me , with the weight on the speaker. Εγώ είμαι έτοιμος, εσύ; uses the pronoun twice, once for each side of a comparison. And Ποιος είσαι εσύ; adds the pronoun to a question that would be complete without it, which gives the effect of English and who are you . The rule to carry away is short: leave the pronoun out unless you would stress it in English. The politeness plural is the other place where English offers no help. English lost its own polite form of you three centuries ago, so English speakers have no instinct at all about when to use the Greek one. The practical rule for a visitor is simple and it errs on the safe side: use the plural with anyone you do not know, anyone older than you, and anyone behind a counter. Use the singular with friends, with children and with people who have used the singular to you first. Being too polite in Greek is a small social cost; being too familiar is a larger one. Real sentences Twenty lines from the public corpus, grouped by person. Read the Greek aloud, say which person the verb ending is announcing, and only then read across. Greek English What the ending tells you Εγώ είμαι! [1] It's me! first person singular, with the pronoun put in for weight Είμαι εδώ. [2] I am here. first person singular, no pronoun, two words Είμαι στο σπίτι. [3] I'm at home. first person singular; the last two words are the article fused with a preposition Δεν είμαι εδώ. [4] I'm not here. the same sentence negated by one word in front Πού είσαι; [5] Where are you? second person singular, in a question Είσαι καλά; [6] Are you OK? second person singular; the question mark is the Greek semicolon Ποιος είσαι εσύ; [7] Who are you? second person singular with the pronoun added for challenge Εγώ είμαι έτοιμος, εσύ; [8] I'm ready, and you? both pronouns present, because the sentence is a comparison Είναι όμορφη. [9] She is beautiful. third person; the feminine adjective says it is a woman Είναι άρρωστος. [10] He is sick. third person; the masculine adjective says it is a man Είναι μόνος. [11] He is alone. third person singular, one man Πού είμαστε; [12] Where are