Questions: Πώς;

Whenever you’re learning a new language, it’s important to be able to ask what something is called in that language. In Greek, this is quite similar to asking someone’s name:

Πώς σε λένε; (What’s your name/lit. how do they call you?)

If you want to ask someone else’s name, simply change σε to the appropriate pronoun.

Πώς την λένε; (What’s her name/lit. how do they call her?)

Πώς τον λένε; (What’s his name/lit. how do they call him?)

Notice how these pronouns are the same as the articles used for country names:

Είμαι από την Ελλάδα (feminine), Είμαι από τον Καναδά (masculine).

What is the neuter article?

Είμαι από το Βέλγιο (neuter).

To ask ‘What is this called in Greek?’, we literally say ‘How do they call it, this thing in Greek?’

Πώς το λένε αυτό στα ελληνικά;

Let’s break it down: Πώς το λένε; means ‘How do they call it?’ just like Πώς την λένε; means ‘How do they call her’ and Πώς τον λένε; means ‘How do they call him?’ We use the neuter το (it) because we don’t know the name of the object in Greek, and hence, we don’t know what gender it is.

Αυτό means ‘this (thing)’. You might want to point at or hold up whatever it is you’re talking about.

Στα ελληνικά means ‘in Greek’. Note that in Greek, the names of languages are not capitalized.

The Greek language

You may remember from the phrase Μένω στην Αθήνα that the Greek word for ‘in’ is σε, which is often shortened to σ when it’s combined with an article like την: στην.

The same thing is going on here: στα in στα ελληνικά is a combination of σε + the article τα, which is used for neuter plural words. All languages in Greek are neuter plural.

You don’t need to worry about memorizing this just yet. But having a broad overview of what’s going on in a phrase like Πώς το λένε αυτό στα ελληνικά; can help you remember (and use) it.

You can hear all of these questions, and their responses, on the Nostos website. Make sure to complete the accompanying activities on page 23 of Ελληνικά Τώρα (Greek Now) 1.

Of course, Πώς το λένε can also be used just like we say ‘What’s it called?’ in English.

Here’s a song with that name: