Town, Region and Country

You already know some of this

English has borrowed from Greek for centuries, and it did not stop at long scientific words. metropolis, aerodrome, microscope, megaphone: each of them has a Greek word inside. That is worth more than a fact. Turn it round and it becomes a way of reading: meet an unfamiliar Greek word, look for the English one hiding in it, and you often have the meaning before you have looked anything up.

Where you live

Five words to learn, plus two you can very nearly read already: η πόλη (i poli), the city, which you know from *metropolis*, and το κέντρο (to kentro), the centre.

Match each word to its meaning

Describe the town square

When you describe your town in Greek, name the places you can see. These words are on the Edexcel vocabulary list: ο σταθμός the station, το μαγαζί the shop, το πάρκο the park, το λεωφορείο the bus, η τράπεζα the bank, η καφετέρια the café, ο κινηματογράφος the cinema. Then say where things are: μπροστά από in front of, ανάμεσα between, δίπλα σε next to, πίσω από behind. For example: Η καφετέρια είναι ανάμεσα στην τράπεζα και στον κινηματογράφο.

Find the Greek inside the English

Four English words you already use, each with a Greek word inside it: metropolis holds πόλη (poli), city. aerodrome holds δρόμος (dromos), a road or course. microscope holds μικρός (mikros), small. megaphone holds μεγάλος (megalos), big. So μεγάλη πόλη is a big city and μικρό χωριό is a small village. (The endings change to match the noun, which you have met already; this module is not about that.) Use it the other way round. When a Greek word looks unfamiliar, ask which English word it might be hiding in. It will not work every time, and when it works it saves you.

What does μεγάλη περιοχή mean?

You see the phrase μεγάλη περιοχή (megali periochi). What does it mean?

• A big region
• A small region
• A big country
• A big city

Find the word you already knew

Here is a short sentence. Tap the word that means "big", the one hiding inside the English word megaphone.

• Μένω
• σε μια
• μεγάλη
• πόλη
• .

Same trick, new English words

None of these English words is on the card, yet each one carries a Greek word you have just met. A microphone picks up small, quiet sounds, and it starts with _____. A velodrome is a track that cyclists race round, and it ends with _____. A megastar is a very big name, and it opens with _____. Put two of them together and you can read a phrase nobody taught you: μικρός δρόμος is a _____ road.

Order them by size

Put these four places in order, smallest first.

• το χωριό (to chorio) - village
• η πόλη (i poli) - city
• η περιοχή (i periochi) - region
• η χώρα (i chora) - country

Which hide a Greek word you have met?

Select the TWO English words that contain a Greek word from this module.

• hippodrome
• megalith
• polite
• window

Name the places in Greek

Tap a Greek word, then tap the pin on the place it names.

Use it

Three moments where the strategy earns its keep.

• You meet the Greek word μικρό and have not learned it. What do you try?
• You want to say you live in a big village. Which phrase?
• The strategy fails: you find no English word that matches. What then?

Greek merges the preposition with the article

The place words become sentences with είναι (is) and σε (in), and σε merges with the article in front of the noun: - Ο κήπος είναι στην πόλη = "the garden is in the city". πόλη takes η, so σε + την becomes στην. The gender of the noun decides which merged form you need. - Η πόλη μου είναι μεγάλη = "my city is big". μεγάλη ends in -η because πόλη is feminine. For a masculine noun you would say ο δρόμος μου είναι μεγάλος, and for a neuter one το χωριό μου είναι μεγάλο.

Between two buildings

Tap the place ανάμεσα στην τράπεζα και στον κινηματογράφο.

A Greek adjective changes to match its noun

A Greek adjective changes to match its noun. Which of these says "my country is small"?

• Η χώρα μου είναι μικρή
• Η χώρα μου είναι μικρός
• Η χώρα μου είναι μικρό
• Η χώρα μου είναι μεγάλη

What English took, and what it means

Read across. The English word on the left is one you already use; the Greek on the right is what it was built from.

Village, country and road in Greek

A village is _____ and a country is _____. A region is _____ and a road is _____. And when a Greek word looks unfamiliar, the first thing to try is finding it inside an _____ word you already use.

Where you live, and your reading strategy

Write in English about where you live, and then explain the reading strategy you have met in this module.

• Say whether you live in a village, a town or a city, and give the Greek word for it
• Explain how an English word can contain a Greek one, using two examples from this module
• Give one Greek word from the module and the English word that would help you remember it
• Say what you would do when the strategy does not work, and why that matters