In our first course we learn how to say hello, how are you, goodmorning etc in greek, the words kala (also kali and kalos) and ego are defined and then we have a brief history of the Greek language.
The Greek language have been spoken thousands of years now but because time changes everything, the Greek language got affected as well.
What we call Ancient Greek is actually the Attican idiom spoken in Athens and in its colonies from about 500BC to 300BC. Then the language was affected vastly by the Macedonian accent (Macedonians had been speaking Greek in a slightly different way) and the “hellenistic” Greek was born.
This variant of the language was spoken by the people in the greek lands during the roman times. It is the language in which the Bible is translated. The people kept speaking the hellenistic Greek throughout the Eastern Roman Empire (Byzantine Empire), while the authorities kept tha Latin as official language. After 1453, when Constaninople was captured by the Ottomans, the people (through the marvelous language-contructive power that each society possesses) started the creation of a new variant of Greek.
This variant was amended by the thinkers at the last years of the Ottoman rule and “katharevusa” (the official language of the first modern Greek state) was born. People started talking more freely without the Ottomans and took a step forward on the language. About 1850 and on katharevusa was spoken only by the authorities and the thinkers, people have been speaking “dimotiki”. Dimotiki went official in 1976.
Language timeline: Ancient Greek-> Hellenistic-> Katharevusa-> Dimotiki (Modern Greek)
Words of the laquage:
| Hello | Ya su | Haire |
| How are you? | Ti kanis? | Pos pees? |
| Fine and you? | Kala, esi? | Kalos, si? |
| Fine too! | Kala k’ego | Kalos episis |
| Goodmorning | Kalimera | Kali imera |
| Goodevening | Kalispera | Kali spera |
| Goodnight | Kalinichta | Kali nichta |
Kalos means good and describes only masculine nouns. Kali is for feminine ones. Kalo is for the neutrals.
Kalos is also the ancient greek adverb for good. In modern greek it is kala.
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