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

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 πόλη mean?

You see the phrase μεγάλη πόλη (megali poli). What does it mean?

• A big city
• A small city
• A big village
• The city centre

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
• .

The strategy

English has borrowed a great deal from Greek, so an unfamiliar Greek word may already be inside an English one you use. metropolis contains _____, the word for city. aerodrome contains _____, a road. microscope contains _____, meaning small, and megaphone contains _____, meaning big. So when a Greek word looks strange, ask which _____ word it might be hiding in.

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.

• megaphone
• aerodrome
• restaurant
• window

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 small 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.

A Greek adjective changes to match its noun

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

• Η πόλη μου είναι μεγάλη
• Η πόλη μου είναι μεγάλος
• Η πόλη μου είναι μεγάλο
• Ο κήπος είναι στην πόλη

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