A few greek phrases to help you communicating in Greee

Some essential Greek phrases and words can be very useful for people that are visiting Greece. Of course almost in every tourist area of Greece in a hotel, in a restaurant, cafeteria or shop almost everyone speaks English some perfect and some quite enough to understand you, but some words and small phrases will help you more in some cases that you will find some difficulty in communication.
This is not going to be a full Greek learning lesson but a few essential things that can help you a lot whilst travelling in Greece.

I have divided that small lesson in some categories and places that are important for every traveller like restaurants, accommodation, travel by boat or by bus, ordering in a cafe and other basic words that can be used in a conversation.
Lets start with some generic words and phrases, first it will be the English word or phrase and next to it the Greek translation and pronunciation.

Important is to now that the right pronounce of the Greek i is pronounced like the i in the words India or it or is or inside, this is important because we have three i‘s in Greece (iota, eta, epsilon) that all pronounced the same –i-. The letter e pronounced like Eric or Emily and the Greek letter X pronounced like the English H – Hurricane, have, Harry. The combination of T and H makes the Greek letter Theta pronounced like th (Throne or Thorne) , the Greek letter Delta actually is pronounced again like th but as you pronouncing it in the English words (this , that, they ) and not like D (disco, dish etc.)

Now lets see some generic and very useful words when you travel:
I like – mou aresi, I want – Thelo, I have- Eho, Thank you- Efharisto, Good morning- Kalimera, Good night- Kalinichta, tommorow- Avrio, today-simera, My name is- Me lene How are you- ti kanete, Where is – pou ine, Police- Astinomia, Port- Limani, Boat- plio or karavi, airport- aerodromio, tourist police- Touristiki Astinomia, Port Authorities- Limenarhio, bus-leoforio, bus stop-stasi leoforiou, station-stathmos

Some Greek words useful in the restaurant
How much does it costs- poso kani
What is this- ti ine afto
Without oil-horis ladi
A bottle of wine- ena boukali krasi
I don’t eat meat- then troo kreas
Do you have vegetarian food- ehete fagito gia hortofagous
Some water please-ligo nero parakalo
a glass of water- ena potiri nero
A forck – ena pirouni
A knife – ena maheri
A spoon- ena koutali
Wine- krasi
Bread- psomi
Salad- salata
tomato- ntomata
potatoes-patates
cucumber- agouri
vinegar-ksidi
cheese – tiri
salt, alati
pepper, piperi
the bill please- ton logariasmo parakalo

In a cafe or cafeterisa
The Greeks are not used as much as most Europeans in the filter coffe and because they have many different kinds is good to know what to ask.
If you want filter coffee you should ask – kafe filtro, If you want a Greek coffe you can say -ena kafe elliniko, because the Greek coffee is made with the sugar inside you should ask the way you want it like, without sugar- horis zahari or sketos, medium- metrios, sweet- glykos. The same as above occurs when you order a caffe frappe the Greek ice coffee, if you want milk in your coffee you should say – me gala- (with milk)

In a hotel or other accommodation especially in self catering apartments, studios and rooms.
Apartment-diamerisma
I want a room- Thelo ena domatio
A single room- ena mono domation
A double room- ena diplo domatio
Does it have a bath- ehi banio
Does it have air conditioning- ehi klimatismo
does it have a refrigerator-ehi psigio
does it have a kitchen-ehi kouzina
Do you do breakfast- kanete proino
Do you have a baby’s cot – ehete krevataki gia moro
is it near the beach- ine konta i paralia
How much do you charge per night- poso kostisi i dianikterefsi
Is that price per person or for the room- ine i time gia kathe atomo i gia to domatio
Electric fan-anemistiras
toilette paper-harti toualetas
a bath towel – mia petseta baniou
a sheet-ena sentoni
a pillow- ena maxilari
camping gas-gazaki
pay in advance-prokatavoli

In the port
I want a ticket- thelo ena isitirio
When does the boat lives- pote fevgi to plio
When does the boat arives-pote erhete to plio
On the ship
ship or boat- karavi or plio
ferry boat- same as in English
I want a cabin- thelo mia kampina
Deck-katastroma
Bow- plori (the front of the ship)
stern-primi (the back of the ship)
Garage- same as in English
Engine room- Mihani
Stewart- kamarotos
Sailor-naftis
Captain- Kapetanios

I wont put any Greek words or phrases that you can use in an airport because most of the key phrases like check in , control et cetera , are the same every where but a couple of Greek words are useful here like passport-diavatirio, sutcase-valitsa, departure- anahorisi, arival-afiksi.
(PS) This article is written by a Greek …