Athonite Grammar

• Although Modern Greek is the official language of the Monastic Republic, the citizens have their own dialect.
• It developed from their contact with their Turkish conquerors and shows some Turkish influence in grammar and vocabulary.
• It is written with the Greek alphabet, but for ease I'm rendering it here in the Latin alphabet.

Orthography and Pronunciation

• The name of the language is Athonite (Αþωνίτ).
• A spelling reform has standardized the orthography so that it is more consistent with the pronunciation.
• Double letters have been eliminated.
• An acute accent is placed over the accented vowel.

Greek	Latin	Pronunciation
α	a ä	father when accented but otherwise
αι	e	bed
αυ	af before voiceless consonants av otherwise
β	v	vine
γ	g	Sp. vagar
γγ	ng	sing
γκ	g	go
γξ	nks	lynx
γχ	nkh	new + Ger. ich
δ	ð	that
ε	e	bet
ει	i	feet
ɛυ	ef before voiceless consonants ev otherwise
ζ	z	zoo
η	i	feet
θ	þ	thin
ι	i	bee
κ	k	kin
λ	l	long
μ	m	mat
μπ	b	bat
ν	n	nap
ντ	d	dot
ξ	x	ax
ο	ø	awe
οι	i	feet
ου	u	boot
π	p	pit
ρ	r	Sp. pero
ς	s	zoo before voiceless consonants sue otherwise
τ	t	tap
τζ	dz	reads
υ	i	bee
φ	f	fun
χ	kh	Ger. ich
ψ	ps	lips
ω	o	boat

Grammar

Nouns

• Nouns are divided into three classes known as masculine, feminine, and neuter.
• Masculine nouns are those preceded by the definite article ø, e.g., ø ánþrop, the man; ø pätér, the father. The indefinite article is en, e.g., en kíp, a garden.
• Feminine nouns are those preceded by the definite article i, e.g., i pørt, the door; i ginék, the woman. The indefinite article is éni, e.g., én' istørí.
• Neuter nouns are those preceded by the definite article tø, e.g., tø gräfí, the office; tø péð, the child. The indefinite article is énä, e.g., éna ðømáti.
• The final vowel is elided when it is the same as the initial vowel of the word following, e.g., én' istrí; én' amáx.

The Genitive Case

• The genitive case is indicated by a change in the form of the article.
• The singular definite article:
  • ø þi, the uncle > tu þi, of the uncle
  • i þi, the aunt > tis þi, of the aunt
  • tø pøð, the foot > tu pøð, of the foot
• The singular indefinite article:
  • en þi, an uncle > énos þi, of an uncle
  • éni þi, an aunt > énis þi, of an aunt
  • énä pøð, a foot > énäs pøð, of the foot
• The plural definite article:
  • ø þis, the uncles > ton þis, of the uncles
  • i þis, the aunts > ton þis, of the aunts
  • tø pøðs, the feet > ton pøðs, of the feet
• The plural indefinite article:
  • en þi, some uncles > énon þis, of some uncles
  • éni þi, some aunts > énon þis, of some aunts
  • énä pøð, some feet > énon pøðs, of some feet
• The genitive case is used to express possession of appurtenance
  • T' ǿnøm tu pätér mu Vasíl in, the name of my father is Basil.
  • Ø äðélf mu en fil tu Giórgu in, my brother is a friend of George.
  • I pørt tu spít mu mávr in, the door of my house is black.

The Accusative Case

• The accusative case is indicated by a change in the form of the article.
• The singular definite article:
  • ø þi, the uncle > tøn þi, the uncle
  • i þi, the aunt > tin þi, the aunt
  • tø pøð, the foot > tøn pøð, the foot
• The singular indefinite article:
  • en þi, an uncle > énøn þi, an uncle
  • éni þi, an aunt > énin þi, an aunt
  • énä pøð, a foot > énän pøð, the foot
• The plural definite article:
  • ø þis, the uncles > ta þis, the uncles
  • i þis, the aunts > ta þis, the aunts
  • tø pøðs, the feet > ta pøðs, the feet
• The plural indefinite article:
  • en þi, some uncles > énøn þis, some uncles
  • éni þi, some aunts > énin þis, some aunts
  • énä pøð, some feet > énän pøðs, some feet
• The accusative case is used:
  • After the prepositions se, me, páno se, kontá se, mésä se, äpǿ, páno äpǿ, káto äpǿ, giá, etc.
  • As the direct object of verbs, e.g., Go énon ánþrop vlep, I see a man.

Adjectives

• Adjectives precede the noun they modify.
  • ø käl ánþrop, the good man
  • i käl ginék, the good woman
  • tø käl péð, the good child
  • ø megál kip, the large garden
  • i megál pørt, the large door
  • tø megál ðomáti, the large room
• The adjectives äft, 'this' and ekín, 'that' precede the definite article.
  • äft ø ánþrop, this man
  • äft ø kip, this garden
  • äft i ginék, this woman
  • äf' tø ped, this child
  • äf' tø ämáx, this cart
  • ekín ø ergát, that worker
  • ekín i nikht, that night
  • ekín tø ðomáti, that room
• Negation is expressed by putting the negative particle ðen in front of the verb.
  • tø proín étim in, breakfast is ready.
  • tø proín étim ðen in, breakfast is not ready.
  • tø bar gemát ðen in, the bar is not full.
  • äft i pørt megál ðen in, this door is not big.

The Possessive Adjectives

	singular	plural
1.	mu, my	mäs, our
2.	su, your	säs, your
3.	tu, his tis, her tu, its	tus, their

• These adjectives are put after the nouns they modify. The nouns are preceded by the definite article.
  • tø spit, the house; tø spit mu, my house
  • ø fil, the friend; ø fil mu, my friend
  • tø kher mu, my hand
  • ø pätér su, your father
  • i mitér tis, her mother
  • ø kip mäs, our garden
  • ø kips mäs, our gardens
  • tø lept säs, your money
• The possessive adjectives are enclitics. They have no accent of their own but add a syllable to the word, so that the accent of the preceding word is drawn to them.
  • t' ǿnøm, the name; t' ønǿm mu, my name
  • i ikøgéni, the family; i ikøgení mu, my family
• When the nouns are preceded by an adjective the possessive adjective is put after the noun.
  • tø ämáx, the cart; tø kenúri ämáx, the new cart; tø kenúri ämáx mu, my new cart
  • ø käl fíl mäs, our good friend

Comparison of Adjectives

• Adjectives form the comparative degree by placing the word piǿ in front them. They are then followed by apǿ and the accusative.
• Piǿ is an enclitic and causes an accent on the following adjective if it doesn't already have one.
  • Ø Mikhál plúsi in, Michael is rich.
  • Ø äðélf mu piǿ dinát pǿ tø äðélf su in, my brother is stronger than your brother.
  • Ø Gián piø ftókh äpǿ tǿn Kóstäs in, John is poorer than Costas.
  • Af' to spit piø kál ap' ekín, This house is better than that one.
  • Af' to äftokínet polí pio khír äpǿ tøn áløn in, This automobile much worse than the other.
• Adjectives form the superlative degree by using the definite article before the comparative form and the preposition se after it.
  • Ø André ø piø kál mäþít støn tax tu, Andrew is the best pupil in his class.
  • Ø pätér tis ø piø plúsi stin Äþín in, Her father is the richest man in Athens.
  • I Elén i piø oré ginék stin Elláð it, Helen was the most beautiful woman in Greece.

Plural

• Nouns form their plurals by adding -s to the word.
• -is is added if the noun ends in -s.
  • ø ánþrops, the men
  • ø ándris, the men
  • ø ergáts, the men
  • i ädélfs, the sisters
  • i mers, the days
  • i léxis, the words
  • i sképsis, the thoughts
  • tø tsigárs, the cigarettes
  • tø ämáxis, the carts
  • Irregular plurals:
    • tø khróma, the color; tø khrómats, the colors
    • tø fos, the light; tø fóts, the colors

The Possessive Pronouns

• The personal possessive pronouns are formed by prefixing the adjective ðik to the possessive adjectives.

	singular	plural
1.	ðíkmu, my	ðíkmäs, our
2.	ðíksu, your	ðíksäs, your
3.	ðíktu, his ðíktis, her ðíktu, its	ðíktus, their

Telling Time

• The hour is put first followed by ke, plus, or pärá, minus, and then the appropriate fraction or number of minutes, e.g.,
  • Ti or in; What time is it?
  • Tris in, It is three o'clock.
  • I or tris ke tris lept in, It is three minutes past three.
  • Ti or in päräkäló, What time is it, please?
  • Tórä tris ke tétärt in, , Now it is a quartrer past three.
  • Okhi, tris ke tétärt ðen in, tris pärá tétärt in, No, it is not quarter past three, it is quarter to three.
  • tórä pendé misi in, It is half past five.
  • Ðóðekä pärá pénde leptá, It is five to twelve.
  • Éntekä ke pénde in, It is five past eleven.
  • O Gián stin pénde irþ, John came at five.
  • Ekätó lept éni or ke särándä lept in, A hundred minutes is one hour and forty minutes.