Will it snow again? Kostas (K) and Maria (M) discuss in Greek about the snowforecast.

DIALOGUE

K: Μαρία, τι καιρό κάνει       maREEa, TEE keRO KAni             What’s the weather

σήμερα; SEEmera? today?

M: Χιονίζει.    hioNEEzi.      Itsnows.

K: Πάλι; Ρίχνει πολύ χιόνι;  PAli? REEhni poLEE hiOni?        Again? Does it snow a lot?

M: Ναι, πολύ NE, poLEE,   Yes, a lot,

καικάνειπολύκρύο.   KE KAni poLEE KREEo.    and it is very cold.

Κ: Θα χιονίζει και αύριο;      THA hioNEEzi KE Avrio?   Will it snow again tomorrow?

Μ: Αύριοδενθαρίξει  Avrio DEN THA REExi Tomorrow it won’t snow

πολύχιόνι.      poLEE hiONi. a lot.

Θα χιονίσει λίγο το πρωί. THA hioNEEsi LEEyo TO proEE. It will snow a little in the morning.

BASIC VOCABULARY

Greek word    Pronunciation          Meaning

Τι         TEE    what

Οκαιρός         keROS           weather

Κάνει  KAni   does, is

Σήμερα           SEEmera       today

Αύριο  Avrio   tomorrow

Τοκρύο                       ΤΟ KREEo    cold

Τοχιόνι                       TO hiONi       snow

Χιονίζει.          hioNEEzi.      It is snowing.

Θαχιονίζει.     THA hioNEEzi.         It will be snowing.

Θαχιονίσει.    THA hioNEEsi.         It will snow.

Δενχιονίζει.    DEN hioNEEzi.        It doesn’t snow.

Δενθαχιονίσει.           DEN THA hioNEEsi.           It won’t snow.

Ρίχνειχιόνι.    REEhni hiOni.          It snows.

Δενρίχνειχιόνι.          DEN REEhni hiOni.            It doesn’t snow.

Θαρίξειχιόνι.  THA REExi hiOni.                It will snow.

Δενθαρίξειχιόνι.        DEN THA REExi hiOni.      It won’t snow.

Όλημέρα        Oli MEra         all day

Τοπρωί                      TO proEE       morning

BASIC GRAMMAR

In Greek in order to describe the weather, we use the third person singular of the appropriate verb: χιονίζει, it snows, or ρίχνει χιόνι, which verbatim means it drops snow.

To form the Future Tense, we add the word θα in front of the verb. Θα χιονίσει. Like in English, in Greek we have Continuous Future Tense and Simple Future Tense. In order to form the Continuous Future Tense, we just add θα, will, in front of the verb’s Present Tense: αύριοθαχιονίζειόλημέρα (= tomorrow it will snow all day). We use the Continuous Future Tense if we want to say that it will snow for a long period of time. For a short period of time we use the Simple Future Tense. In order to form the Simple Future Tense, we add θα, will, in front of the verb and we change the ending in -σειor -ξει: αύριοτοπρωίθαχιονίσει, θαρίξειχιόνι (= tomorrow morning it will snow).

To form a question about the weather, we keep the word order and we just add the question mark at the end of the sentence. Θαχιονίσεισήμερα. ΘΑχιονίσεισήμερα; -Ναι, θαχιονίσει.- Όχι, δενθα χιονίσει.

To form the negative of the verb, we just put the word δεν in front of it. Δεν θαχιονίσει. Δενθαρίξειχιόνι.

We omit the article before weather nouns:Θαρίξειχιόνι.

EXERCISES

Match the Greek phrases with their translation in English.

Τι καιρό κάνει σήμερα; What is the weather today?

1.Χιονίζει πολύ. 1. It snows heavily.

2. Ρίχνει λίγοχιόνι. 2. It doesn’t snow a lot.
3. Δε χιονίζει πολύ. 3. It snows a little.

Τι καιρό θα κάνει αύριο; What will be the weather tomorrow?

1.Θα χιονίζει όλη μέρα.        1. It will snow in the morning.

2.Θα χιονίσει το πρωί.         2. It will be snowing all day.

3. Θα χιονίσει λίγο. 3. It will snow a little.

PRONUNCIATION KEY

i (ill), ee (beer), e (ever), o (organ), oo (boot), y (yes), h (helium), th (theory), d (the). The capitalized syllables are accented.