What School Is Like

School in Greek

This topic is about school. Every word comes with its Greek script, a transliteration in brackets to help you say it, and the English meaning. Greek is written left to right in its own alphabet.

Classroom words in Greek

Learn these school words:

Match each Greek word to its English meaning

The Greek word for a teacher

Which Greek word means 'a teacher'?

• δάσκαλος (daskalos)
• μαθητής (mathitis)
• βιβλίο (vivlio)
• τάξη (taxi)

How the script works

Two things about Greek script. First, Greek uses its own alphabet (alpha α, beta β, gamma γ...), the ancestor of our Latin one, written left to right. Second, a small accent called a tonos marks the stressed syllable, as in μάθημα (mathima). Learn each word with its transliteration to help you say it.

School words

Select the TWO words connected with school.

• μάθημα (mathima)
• εξέταση (exetasi)
• θάλασσα (thalassa)
• μητέρα (mitera)

Match each Greek word to how it is said

How do you say it?

The school σχολείο is said _____. The teacher δάσκαλος is said _____. A book βιβλίο is said _____. A lesson μάθημα is said _____.

Order the school day

Put a school day in a sensible order.

• Go to school (σχολείο, scholeio)
• Sit in the class (τάξη, taxi)
• Study a lesson (μάθημα, mathima)
• Do your homework (εργασία, ergasia)

The Greek word for an exam

Which Greek word means 'an exam'?

• εξέταση (exetasi)
• στυλό (stylo)
• τάξη (taxi)
• μαθητής (mathitis)

Saying the school words in Greek

At school σχολείο (said _____), a student μαθητής (said _____) studies a lesson μάθημα (said _____) with a teacher δάσκαλος (said _____).

Greek merges the preposition with the article

The school words become sentences with είμαι (I am) and είναι (is). Note that σε merges with the article that follows it: - Είμαι μαθητής στο σχολείο = "I am a pupil at the school". σχολείο takes το, so σε + το becomes στο. A female speaker says Είμαι μαθήτρια, because the word for pupil changes too. - Ο δάσκαλος είναι στο σχολείο = "the teacher is at the school". The same merge, this time with είναι (is) rather than είμαι (I am). Greek picks a different form of the verb for each person.

Greek uses a different form of "to be" for each person

Greek uses a different form of "to be" for each person. Which of these says "I am a pupil at the school"?

• Είμαι μαθητής στο σχολείο
• Είναι μαθητής στο σχολείο
• Είμαι μαθητής σε το σχολείο
• Ο δάσκαλος είναι στο σχολείο

A school day

Choose the right Greek word for each school situation.

• You want to say 'a book'. You choose:
• You need the word for 'a teacher'. You choose:
• To say 'homework', you choose:

Use what you know

Use what you know about Greek to make each choice.

• Greek is written in which direction?
• The Greek writing system is...
• 'A school' in Greek is:

Well done

You have met the key Greek school words: σχολείο (scholeio, school), δάσκαλος (daskalos, teacher), μαθητής (mathitis, student), μάθημα (mathima, lesson), βιβλίο (vivlio, book) and εξέταση (exetasi, exam). Keep practising the alphabet and the transliteration together.