World of Classics ~ Courses

Introduction to Classical Greek

A free introductory course in Classical Greek will be presented to interested residents of Groenkloof Retirement Village, from 04 Sep to 02 Oct 2023.

COURSE COMPLETED

• The course is aimed at absolute beginners. No prior knowledge of Greek or an inflected language is assumed.
• Five 1-hour sessions: Monday mornings 10:00 – 11:00, 4 Sep – 2 Oct 2023
• Venue: Nostalgie Restaurant (west wing).
• What to bring: writing materials. (Handouts will be provided as required.)
• Optional activities for consolidation.
• Further courses may be presented if there is sufficient interest.

Course content (provisional)

The course will consist of five sessions, dealing with the following topics:

Session 1 (Mon 4 Sep): [Completed]

Welcome

Why classical Greek?

Greek Alphabet

Breathings and accents

Iota subscript

Punctuation marks

Reading Greek words

Word list

Click here to listen to Homer – Iliad Book 1 – lines 1–7 (normal speed)

Click here to listen to Homer – Iliad Book 1 – lines 1–7 (SLOWER)

Click here to listen to Sophocles – Antigone – lines 1–6 (normal speed)

Click here to listen to Sophocles – Antigone – lines 1–6 (SLOWER)

Session 2 (Mon 11 Sep): [Completed]

Activity review

Parts of speech (nouns, verbs, adjectives, prepositions, etc.)

Gender and case (nominative, vocative, accusative, genitive, dative)

Definite article ὁ, ἡ, τό

1st declension (χώρα land, τίμη honour, θαλαττα sea, κριτής judge, νεανιας young man)

2nd declension (λόγος word, βίβλος book, δῶρον gift)

3rd declension (λέων lion, φύλαξ guard, ἀνήρ man, πατήρ father, βασιλεύς king,
πόλις city, γυνή woman, ἐλπίς hope, σῶμα body, γένος race)

Word list

Session 3 (Mon 18 Sep): [Completed]

Activity  review

Adjectives – 1st, 2nd and 3rd declensions (regular only)

Adverbs – how formed, with examples

Verb εἰμί I am (present, imperfect and future tenses, infinitives)

Word list

Session 4 (Mon 25 Sep): [Completed]

Activity  review

Verbs in Ω (λύω I loose), active indicative only: present, future, imperfect, first aorist, second aorist (λειπω I leave), perfect; imperatives; infinitives

Connection of sentences (conjunctions / particles)

Dative of instrument

Word list; principal parts

Session 5 (Mon 9 Oct): [Completed]

Activity  review

Cardinal numerals 1–10

Irregular adjectives: μέγας great, πολύς much / many, πᾶς all / every

Personal & possessive pronouns: ἐγω (I), συ (you), αὐτος (he, she, it, them)

Word list

Short Greek extracts – solutions per email Tue 17 Oct [Done]

Closing.

___________________________________

Note: The Greek characters appearing on this page were created on a standard keyboard, by making use of the TypeGreek website: www.typegreek.com.

___________________________________