The auxiliary είμαι

The auxiliary verb ‘to be‘ (in Greek, είμαι) is quite irregular in many languages. In English, we say I am, you are, (s)he/it is, we are, etc.

Fortunately, the Greek auxiliary has some useful patterns to help us learn it.

You’re already familiar with είμαι (I am) as in Είμαι από την Ελλάδα. ‘We are‘ is είμαστε.

And with είσαι (you are) as in Από πού είσαι; For you (plural), we use είσαστε.

For (s)he/it, we use the similar είναι. This is also used for the plural (they are).

*Can be shortened to είστε

Notice the relationships between these words:

• all of the singular forms end with –αι
• we and you (plural) end with –αστε.
• the first person (I/we) forms contain μ (like με/μας)
• the second person (you s./p.) forms contain σ (like σε/σας)
• the third person ((s)he/it/they) contain ν

I am, are you?

To ask a yes/no (ναι/όχι) question in Greek, all you have to do is use a rising intonation, that is, make it sound like a question using your voice. There is no need to change the order of the words, as in English.

e.g. Είσαστε από την Ελλάδα. (You are from Greece)

vs. Είσαστε από την Ελλάδα; (Are you from Greece?)

When you ask someone Είσαστε/Είστε από την Ελλάδα; there are two possible answers.

1. If you are using the plural form to one person out of politeness, you will hear a response using είμαι:

Ναι, είμαι από την Ελλάδα.

2. If you are using the plural form to address multiple people, you will hear a response using είμαστε:

Ναι, είμαστε από την Ελλάδα.

You can practice these questions and answers on page 22 of Ελληνικά Τώρα/Ellinika Tora (Greek Now) 1.

This Crazy for Greek video has a great overview of the auxiliary verb είμαι, with a short dialogue:

Note that the pronouns used in this video are optional in Greek, and only used for emphasis. You don’t need to remember them at this point, just focus on the verbs.