6.5 Shopping at the Laïkí — Epoché
What you will be able to do Buy by weight, which is how almost everything at a Greek street market is sold. Ask what things cost and say you will take some: Πόσο κάνει ένα μήλο; , Θα αγοράσω ένα. , Θα πάρω το πράσινο. . Say how many you want, with the numbers of 3.13 and the neuter plurals of 3.5: Πόσα μήλα έχεις; , Πόσα μήλα; . Say what you want to buy: Θέλω να αγοράσω ένα βιβλίο. , Θέλω να αγοράσω κάτι να φάω. . Ask for something to be handed to you politely: Δώστε μου έναν καφέ, σας παρακαλώ. , Δώσε μου έναν καφέ, σε παρακαλώ. . Prerequisites : 6.4 — asking the way. Read 6.4 Conversation first; this lesson is where the numbers of 3.13 finally get used at speed. The laïkí is the weekly street market, and it is set up in a different street of each neighbourhood on a fixed day. It is louder than a shop, the sellers call their prices continuously, and the exchange is about quantity rather than about a single object. It is also the cheapest place in Greece to buy fruit and vegetables and the best place to practise numbers, because you will hear the same twenty of them for an hour. The grammar is nothing new. What is new is speed and a unit: nearly everything is sold by the kilo, and the price you hear shouted is the price per kilo, not the price of what is in front of you. The dialogue A visitor at a fruit stall. The seller uses the plural, as sellers do, and everything is counted. Πόσο κάνει ένα μήλο; [1] How much is an apple? Πόσα μήλα; [2] How many apples are there? Θα αγοράσω ένα. [3] I'll buy one. Θέλετε τίποτα άλλο; [4] Do you want anything else? Κρέας, παρακαλώ. [5] Meat, please. Ευχαριστώ πολύ! [6] Thanks a lot! The second line is the seller's question and it is the one to expect: the interrogative adjective for how many , in the neuter plural, agreeing with what is being counted. Lesson 3.11 said that Greek question words often announce the gender of the answer, and here is that fact doing real work — you know before the noun arrives that a neuter plural is coming. The third line is what you say when you have decided: the future marker, the verb for buying, and a number. Notice that the number for one has three genders and that the corpus gives all three, because what you are buying decides which you say. The second dialogue A visitor who wants something specific and does not know the word for it. This is the commoner situation. Θέλω να αγοράσω κάτι να φάω. [7] I want to buy something to eat. Τι έχετε; [8] What do you have? Θα πάρω το πράσινο. [9] I'll take the yellow one. Πόσο κάνει αυτό το καπέλο; [10] How much is this hat? Δώστε μου έναν καφέ, σας παρακαλώ. [11] Give me a coffee, please. Ευχαριστώ, τώρα καταλαβαίνω. [12] Thanks, I understand now. The first line is the sentence that solves the vocabulary problem. It says what you want to do rather than what you want, and it leaves the object vague — literally something to eat . A seller will then show you things, and pointing is allowed. The third line is the pointing sentence in words: the future marker, the verb for taking, and an adjective with an article and no noun. Lesson 3.7 said that an adjective with an article and no noun is a noun; this is that construction in its most useful form, and it means the green one . The pattern Quantity in Greek needs three things and they always come in the same order: the number, the unit, the thing. Greek English What to notice Πόσα μήλα έχεις; [13] How many apples do you have? the question word agrees with the neuter plural noun Πόσα μήλα; [2] How many apples are there? the same with the noun and no verb Έχω πέντε φίλους. [14] I have five friends. a number and an accusative plural, with no article Θα αγοράσω ένα. [3] I'll buy one. the neuter form of the number for one, standing alone Θα αγοράσω μία. [15] I'll buy one. the feminine form of the same number, for a feminine noun The second pattern is the polite imperative, which you have met only in passing. The corpus gives both the singular and the plural, and the difference is the same one you have been making since 6.1. Greek English To whom Δώσε μου έναν καφέ, σε παρακαλώ. [16] Please give me a coffee. to somebody you know Δώστε μου έναν καφέ, σας παρακαλώ. [11] Give me a coffee, please. to a stranger, which is what a seller is Both have the word for please at the end and both have a weak pronoun in the genitive in front of the object, exactly as lesson 3.10 described. The imperative itself is the subject of a lesson in the second phase; learn these two whole. Saying it politely Bargaining is not done at a laïkí. The price is the price, it is shouted, and it drops in the last half hour because the seller wants to go home rather than because you have negotiated. Asking for a discount will get you a shrug. What is normal is to ask for a smaller quantity, to ask for the ones at the back, and to reject what is put in the bag. Rejecting is where politeness matters and where English speakers go wrong by being too gentle. A Greek says the equivalent of not that one, this one and points, and nobody is offended; an English speaker who says if it's not too much trouble, I wonder whether perhaps will be handed the same tomato. The adjective with an article from the second dialogue is the tool: name the colour, the size or the position and point. The word for please at the end of a request softens it more than the same word at the beginning, and the plural of the verb does the rest. Those two together are the whole of market politeness, and they take no longer to say than the blunt form. New words Word (with article) Meaning Notes λαϊκή el laikí the laïkí, the weekly street market Part of speech / class noun, feminine How it differs from English built on the word for the people, which is also the lai- of laity κιλό el kiló kilo Part of speech / class noun, neuter How it differs from English the unit almost everything is sold in; the shouted price is the price per kilo το ευρώ el to evró euro Part of speech / class noun, neuter, indeclinable How it