History

Greek is the living European language with the longest unbroken written tradition. The main stages of development of Greek until the creation of modern Greek can be summarized as follows:

Interestingly, the form of Greek spoken by most people and known as Demotic (δημοτική - dīmotikí) only gained primary official status in the 1970s. Previously official favour was given to a purist variety called Katherevousa (καθαρεύουσα - katharévousa) that was very different from educated everyday usage.

Today, standard Modern Greek is less standardized than most other European national languages with alternate forms for many grammatical forms. A few examples of the kinds of alterations are as follows.

In the brief overview, only the most widely used endings are given.

Grammar

There are definite articles for both singular and plural while the indefinite articles are the same as the number one and only appear in the singular. Articles are very widely used and appear with possessives, demonstratives and with proper names.

Adjectives agree in case, gender and number with the nouns they modify while many numbers are invariable.

Comparative and superlative forms are made either by adding a suffix which contains the sequence –τερ- (-ter-) before the ending or adding the word πιο (pio, 'more') before the adjective.

Regular (comparative) superlatives are formed by adding the definite article to the comparative.

There is also another superlative, sometimes called the absolute superlative formed with a suffix containing the sequence –τατ- (-tat-). Altogether this produces four degrees of comparison.

Verbs are conjugated in three persons and two numbers. Modern Greek has no infinitive and uses a conjunction and finite verbs, as in προτιμώ να πάω (protimṓ na páō, 'I prefer to go'. lit. I prefer that I go). In dictionaries, verbs are listed by the first person singular present tense form, such as γράφω (gráfō, 'I write') for write.

Modern Greek has two voices, active and medio-passive the later of which serves the function of passive voice as well as having reflexive meanings.

Modern Greek has one present, four past and three future tenses. The distinction between finished and ongoing actions is important in both past and future tenses as in έγραψα (égrapsa, 'I wrote it (I'm finished)') and έγραφα (égrafa, 'I was writing it (and hadn't finished)').

Adverbs are uninflected. Adverbs derived from adjectives have the same form as the neuter plural nominative. Like adjectives comparative forms can be made with an ending or by adding a separate word.