[Course Forum] 5000 Important words in Greek

Many thanks for all of those Neal, much appreciated.

I’ve run into some native speakers who would vociferously disagree :wink: They also told me to not use the dialutika in σάντουϊτς, and a few other words… but yes, even if it’s technically incorrect based on current grammar rules, if it’s still in wide popular use, then I’d argue that it’s as good as correct.

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Removed from 113 and replaced with:
ο φορολογούμενος taxpayer noun m. Αντί να φορολογήσουμε τους φορολογούμενους, τώρα θα φορολογήσουμε τα αέρια.

Supermarket removed from 116 and added unspaced version to 53. Replaced in 116 with: η βιομηχανία

Level 116 καλέσω swapped with καλώ

Made χειρουργός an Alt for χειρούργος in 76. Removed from 113 and replaced with: πληρώνω φόρο

I’ve dropped a line to my teacher about ουίσι ή ουϊσκι, although it is probably more correct with ί I’ll defer to her judgement as not only a native speaker, but as a teacher of the language for many years.

That’s all for today, almost finished with your fix list.

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Το ουίσκι είναι σωστό. Βάζουμε διαλυτικά μόνο όταν υπάρχει δίψηφο φωνήεν και θέλουμε να το χωρίσουμε σε δύο φωνές, δηλαδή στα αυ, αι, ει, οι, υι, ου. Εδώ, η λέξη έχει τρία φωνήεντα (ουι) και τα διαλυτικά είναι άχρηστα.

So, you are correct and in light of my teacher’s explanation I’ll actually remove the Alt ουϊσκι.

Thank you so much for all of those Neal! I’ll be in Crete for most of the next fortnight, so I’ll most likely just be maintaining rather than learning anything new, so you probably won’t get much from me for a few weeks. I’ll try and make a concerted crack at the 900-odd words that I’ve got left to learn in about a month’s time.

Yes, RE the διαλυτικά, both Dimitra (a very helpful and knowledgeable Duo mod) and my tutor told me exactly the same thing. However, it’s like the whole το(ν) issue. Of course, the nu should technically always be used - depending on who you ask! - but if lots of people don’t, then it’s best to learn both ways. So I think in cases like that, it’s best to have the grammatically correct spelling as the primary and the common mispelling as an alt.

I think, given the series of reforms since Katharevousa was dropped, that the situation is a bit more fluid than saying that common mispellings in English might as well be correct if lots of people get them wrong.

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Right you are. I swapped the primary and Alt, now weak, skinny

Denoted En primary for μείνω as “to stay (future – μέλλοντας)”

For εξασκήσω I simply changed to what it should have been - ‘εξασκούμαι’.

Level 28 αραιός – I changed to “sparse, thin (watery), rare” - and the context sentence was: Φοβάμαι ότι τα αραιά μου μαλλιά και τα πρόσθετα κιλά μου…

Level 72 ψιλός - leaving as thin with “fine, slender, insignificant” as Alts - context is: Η Αθηνά έχει ψιλή φωνή.

Level 105 λεπτός is now “slim, thin, delicate, refined” - context is (was): Έκοψε μια λεπτή φέτα ζαμπόν.

And with all that, I’m done . . . at least for now :wink:

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Hi Neal,

A few suggestions for changes to definitions in the first 1000 words, some of which need a little more clarification. If you have a moment to look into them, that would be really appreciated.

Level 8
υπέρ – for
This means – ‘for’ in the sense of ‘in favor of’, ‘in support of’, so requires clarification to avoid confusion with ‘για’

Level 13
το καλώδιο – cord
‘cord (electric)’ or ‘cable’ would work better here, to distinguish καλώδιο from a fabric cord (κορδόνι)

Level 19
εντούτοις - although
This means ‘nonetheless’, ‘even so’ etc., rather than ‘although’ (αν και)

Level 22
ξύνω – to rub
ξύνω means ‘to scratch’, rather than ‘to rub’ (τρίβω)

Level 29
αφήνω – to release
It’s hard to cover the meaning of ‘αφήνω’ with one definition, but it is equally used to mean ‘to leave (something)’

απλώνω – to hang (clothes)
This is more generally used in the context of ‘to spread’ or ‘to stretch’

Level 31
το φύλλο – film (thin layer)
The most common equivalent of φύλλο is ‘leaf’

Level 38
περιορίζω – to restrain
Generally: “to limit”, “to restrict”

Level 39
παλεύω – to wrestle
While this does mean ‘wrestle’, the more common meaning is simple ‘to fight’

κρεμάω – to dangle
More commonly used in the sense of ‘to hang’

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Thanks @SilentShuffle for all of these clarifications. I have made all of the suggested changes.

υπέρ - clarified as “for (in favor of)” and either ‘for’ or ‘in favor of’ are acceptable answers.

καλώδιο - agreed, changed to cable, Alts: wire; cord (electric)

εντούτοις - changed to ‘nonetheless’, added αν και to Level 153

ξύνω - Fixed this definition, as well as τρίβω to be rub, with scrub as Alt.

αφήνω currently is defined as leave with release, let go, allow as Alts. The problem is we have to have one primary meaning but I agree leave is probably best.

απλώνω - that was my inclination as well, but my teacher who is from Athens was quite convincing in explaining it is used mostly when hanging clothes. So, I’ll do a little further investigation, perhaps when I’m in Athens in a couple of weeks :slight_smile:

φύλλο - rearranged to make leaf primary with others as Alts (personally I prefer think flaky pasty sheet, especially with honey syrup!)

περιορίζω - now to limit; to confine; to restrict; to restrain

παλεύω - primary now ‘fight’, struggle and wrestle are Alts.

κρεμάω - swapped primary and Alt, now ‘to hang’

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Brilliant job - many thanks for sorting these out so quickly. I won’t argue with your Greek teacher about απλώνω! I want to consult a native speaker at some point about the exact connotations of various words in my own course - I often find that there is little consensus between dictionaries and WordReference etc. and really the only solution is to ask a Greek!

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…and hope they are fluent in English, and don’t just follow the “1 Greek word = 1 English word” dictionary-style model!

See update below!

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I am on 88% of the course and hope to complete it soon, unless it grows in size dramatically. (I do have about 130 words on Ignore, though I might un-Ignore some of them at some point).

Just completed Level 154, now at 3915 words!. New worksheet uploaded:

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B3-ATVs8f9pIemQzSWRWNVhMTzQ

I am taking an extended break while I go to Greece :slight_smile:

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καλό ταξίδι Neal!

Ευχαριστώ πολύ!

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**

Χριστός Ανέστη!

**

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Just finished the course, although if new words are added I will no doubt do those as well. I will check in from time to time to review vocabulary in it, of course.

Thank you for all the excellent work you have done with your mems. They are fun and well illustrated.
I’m now around word 2600 where there are hardly any and it’s far less fun and colourful…

Greetings from a Swiss guy studying in Japan

You’re welcome! I create them for myself, as I learn much quicker with Mems than without, and the latter reaches of the course didn’t have any Mems from other users at all. But if anyone else benefits from them too, that’s absolutely fantastic! I think some of them have some very obscure references that probably only make sense to me though.

I’m not sure if you know already, you might not be seeing any more because of this recent (and very unpopular) change introduced by Memrise. I’m about 3,000 words in, and I think I created a Mem for every word up until then, unless there was already a good one in existence, or if I knew the word already.

Greetings right back from an Australian/Irish/British guy in London who is preparing to move to Crete :wink:

@SteveKaczynski: Congratulations!

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Congratulations @SteveKaczynski ! But just wait until I get back from Greece :slight_smile:

I did add two new words today, το οινοποιείο, η παγοκυψέλη - just a couple useful things I’ve discovered on this trip! In fact I am looking for suggestions on a good English translation for παγοκυψέλη?

I had a few more so there are now 11 new words, practical things from the super market and the trip to the winery in Lefkada!

I hadn’t heard that word before, but a Google Images search brought up a bunch of things, two of which had the English words “ice tray” in the image – and an Images search for that phrase brought up much the same things.