Adjectives

 
We covered a few new adjectives in class to which I've added a few more ones that may be useful. I have given the masculine forms - remember in greek the adjective ending has to match both the gender and number on the noun it goes with. So, although the word for small is μικρόσ/ΜΙΚΡΟΣ, the singular masculine ος/ΟΣ ending will change in the plural to οι/ΟΙ (e.g "the small dog" which is ο μικρος σκύλος/Ο ΜΙΚΡΟΣ ΣΚΙΛΟΣ becomes in the plural οι μικροί σκύλοι/ΟΙ ΜΙΚΡΟΙ ΣΚΙΛΟΙ), and thence to η/Η and ες/ΕΣ for a feminine noun (e.g. "the small spider" is η μικρη αράχνη/Η ΜΙΚΡΗ ΑΡΑΧΝΗ and "the small spiders" becomes οι μικρες αράχωες/ΟΙ ΜΙΚΡΕΣ ΑΡΑΧΝΕΣ), and to ο/Ο and α/Α for a neuter noun (e.g. "the small rabbit" is το μικρό κουνέλι/ΤΟ ΜΙΚΡΟ ΚΟΥΝΕΛΙ and "the small rabbits" becomes τα μικρά κουνέλια/ΤΑ ΜΙΚΡΑ ΚΟΥΝΕΛΙΑ). These endings are by far the most common, but as usual there will be exceptions which you'll just have to learn as they come up.
English Lower Upper English Lower Upper
expensive ακριβός ΑΚΡΙΒΟΣ cheap φθηνός ΦΘΗΝΟΣ
big μεγάλος ΜΕΓΑΛΟΣ small μικρός ΜΙΚΡΟΣ
near* κοντινός ΚΟΝΤΙΝΟΣ far* μακριβός ΜΑΚΡΙΒΟΣ
hot ζεστός ΖΕΣΤΟΣ cold κρύος ΚΡΥΟΣ
clean καθαρός ΚΑΘΑΡΟΣ dirty βρώμικος ΒΡΩΜΙΚΟΣ
heavy βαρύς ΒΑΡΥΣ light ελαφρός ΕΛΑΦΡΟΣ
old (thing) παλιός ΠΑΛΙΟΣ new καινούργιος ΚΑΙΝΟΥΡΓΙΟΣ
old (person) γέρος ΓΕΡΟΣ young νέος ΝΕΟΣ
good καλός ΚΑΛΟΣ bad κακός ΚΑΚΟΣ
better καλύτερος ΚΑΛΥΤΕΡΟΣ worse χειρότερος ΧΕΙΡΟΤΕΡΟΣ
quick γρήγορος ΓΡΗΓΟΡΟΣ slow αργός ΑΡΓΟΣ
easy εύκολος ΕΥΚΟΛΟΣ difficult δύσκολος ΔΥΣΚΟΛΟΣ
open ανοικτός ΑΝΟΙΚΤΟΣ κλειστός shut SHUT
right σοστός ΣΟΣΤΟΣ wrong λάθος ΛΑΘΟΣ

* In the table above I have given the adjective forms of the words for near and far just to be consistant, so they are really more accurately translated as "nearby" and "far off". Τhe words we used in class are probably more useful. They were κοντά/ΚΟΝΤΑ (near) and μακρυά/ΜΑΚΡΥΑ (far) and athough look very similar are in fact adverbs rather than adjectives but this is a fairly fine point of grammar which you can probably ignore. Perhaps one of the most common phrases you might use would be:
υπάρχει ενα τράπεζα εδώ κοντά;/ΥΠΑΡΧΕΙ ΕΝΑ ΤΡΑΠΕΖΑ ΕΔΩ ΚΟΝΤΑ;
which means "is there a bank near here?" - For those interested in the grammatical bit, near is an adverb in this case as it's refering to how the bank exists (υπάρχει/ΥΠΑΡΧΕΙ being the verb "to exist" in Greek) , rather than a characteristic of the bank itself.