Greetings: Γεια σου, τι κάνεις;

‘Hello’ and ‘goodbye’ are some of the first words most of us learn in a new language.

But we don’t often take the time to really analyse them.

Let’s take a look at these words in Modern Greek:

Γεια σου/σας (Hello)

You may have heard that ‘hello’ in Greek is ‘yassou’ or ‘yassas’. Some people even shorten it to just ‘ya’.

Which one should you use?

The first thing to know is that ‘hello’ is a phrase rather than a single word in Greek: γεια σου (ya su) or γεια σας (ya sas).

The first word, γεια (ya) comes from the Ancient Greek ὑγίεια, meaning ‘health’. This word is also related to the English word hygiene (healthy).

The second word, σου (su) or σας (sas) means ‘your’. Generally, σου is used to refer to one person, and σας is used when speaking to several people (or to one person you really respect).

So, when you say γεια σου or γεια σας, you’re not just saying hello, you’re saying to your health! For this reason, this greeting is also used to mean ‘cheers’ (γεια μας is ‘(to) our health!’)

Put it all together, and you have three different levels of formality:

Αντίο σου/σας (Goodbye)

The standard way to say goodbye in Modern Greek is αντίο (adio).

If you speak Italian, this may sound familiar. Greek borrowed ‘adio’ from the Italian ‘addio’!

Just like ‘hello’, there are three different ways of saying bye, with different levels of formality:

You can learn how to pronounce these, and other greetings, in One Day Greek.

In addition to γεια and αντιο, it’s useful to know how to greet people at specific times of day:

Καλημέρα

The greeting for mornings is ‘kalimera’. It literally means good day (μέρα is a shortened form of ημέρα, day).

Καλησπέρα

The greeting for evenings is ‘kalispera’. It literally means good evening (σπέρα is a shortened form of εσπέρα, evening).

Καληνύχτα

The greeting for night is ‘kalinichta’. It literally means good night (νύχτα). The Ancient Greek version of this word is related to ‘nocturnal’.

Notice how each word begins with καλη (kali) meaning ‘good’ or ‘well’.

A version of καλή is also commonly used in answering the question ‘How are you?’

Τι κάνεις/κάνετε;

Like saying hello or goodbye, there are different ways of asking ‘how are you?’ in Modern Greek based on how many people you are talking to, and politeness.

To ask ‘how are you?’ in Greek, the first word is always τι (ti).

This multi-purpose question word can mean ‘what’ or ‘how’.

The second word, κάνεις (kanis) or κάνετε (kanete) means ‘you doing’.

So to ask ‘how are you?’ in Greek, you literally ask ‘how you doing?’

Just like σου/σας, the difference between κάνεις and κάνετε is that the first is for a singular you, and the second is plural.

Notice that Greek tends not to use the Latin question mark ?, but instead uses a special Greek question mark which looks like a semi-colon ;

These verb endings (~εις and ~ετε) are used in many sentences, so it’s a good idea to memorise these phrases.

You can hear lots of examples of sentences in the casual/singular and polite/plural forms on the Nostos website. Make sure to complete activity A on each of pages 18 and 19 in Ελληνικά Τώρα/Ellinika Tora (Greek Now) 1.

Πολύ καλά, ευχαριστώ

A common way to answer Τι κάνεις; or Τι κάνετε; is very well, thank you: Πολύ καλά, ευχαριστώ .

You might recognise ‘poly‘ as a common Greek root used in English words, like polychromatic (many-coloured), polygon (many-cornered), or polygamous (many-women). Πολύ (poly) means ‘very’, ‘much’, or ‘many’.

You might also recognise a form of ‘kala‘ in words like calligraphy (beautiful-writing) or calisthenics (beautiful-strength). Καλά (kala) means ‘beautiful’, ‘good’, or ‘well’.

Put together, πολύ καλά gives us the first section of this response: ‘very well’. In casual conversations, you might just answer πολύ καλά and leave it at that. But in polite conversation, you may want to add a thank you: ευχαριστώ.

You may be familiar with the word ‘eucharist‘ from religious contexts, meaning thanksgiving. It’s related to the Greek ευχαριστώ, which is a verb literally meaning ‘I thank’. Note that, although ‘eucharist’ was borrowed from Ancient Greek, and is pronounced ‘yoo-ka-rist’, Modern Greek pronounces the ευ combination in this word as ‘ef‘: ‘ef-ka-ris-to’.

Ευχαριστώ is a very useful word, as you can use to thank people for all sorts of things. And you can say ευχαριστώ πολύ for ‘thank you very much’!

You can learn how to pronounce these, and other greetings, in One Day Greek.

You’ll find some more creative (and natural) ways to respond to τι κάνεις in activity 3 on page 5 of Λοιπόν, τι λες;/Lipon, Ti Les (Well, what do you say?).

Find out why the words ‘υεια’ and ‘καλά’ are some of the most useful words you can learn, and some more casual ways of saying ‘see you’ and asking ‘what’s up?’ with Crazy for Greek:

Grammar Focus:

In Greek, verbs consist of a root + an ending. This ending shows us who is doing the verb:

In English, it is necessary to use a pronoun like ‘I’ or ‘you’ to show who is doing the action. In Greek, the ending ~ω shows us that ‘I’ am the one performing the action.

Notice how, like κάνω (I do), ευχαριστώ (I thank) also ends with ~ω?

What is the root of each of these verbs?