Who?

Learning kit for Modern Greek

First, you need to learn the declension of the pronoun “ποιος” or else it will be unclear whether you are asking “Who?” or “Whom? Whose? With whom?” etc

Note:

In Modern Greek, the pronoun “ποιος” and all its disyllabic (2-syllable) forms are pronounced as one syllable and don’t take an accent.

masculine
singular

(nom) ποιος

(gen) ποιου/ποιανού

(acc) ποιον

(voc) ποιέ!

plural

(nom) ποιοι

(gen) ποιων/ποιανών

(acc) ποιους

(voc) ποιοι!

feminine
singular

(nom) ποια

(gen) ποιας/ποιανής

(acc) ποια

(voc) ποια!

plural

(nom) ποιες

(gen) ποιων/ποιανών

(acc) ποιες

(voc) ποιες!

neutral
singular

(nom) ποιο

(gen) ποιου/ποιανού

(acc) ποιο

(voc) ποιο!

plural

(nom) ποια

(gen) ποιων/ποιανών

(acc) ποια

(voc) ποια!

A. Ποιος; (nominative)

We use the nominative to ask “Who?” and “Which?”.

We ask about the subject of the verb: “Who is speaking?”, “Which book is yours?”, “Who is on the phone?”.

The pronoun must agree in gender and number with the noun, existing or implied.

Examples:

– Ποιος είναι στο τηλέφωνο;
(Who is on the phone?)
– Ποιες είναι οι βαλίτσες σου;
(Which ones are your suitcases?)
– Ποια φαγητά σου αρέσουν;
(Which foods do you like?)
– Ποιος έχει πάει στην Αθήνα;
(Who has been to Athens?)
– Ποιοι χτυπάνε την πόρτα;
(Who are knocking on the door?)
– Ποιος είναι αυτός;
(Who is this?)
– Ποιο γραφείο είναι το δικό σου;
(Which office is yours?)
B. Ποιου/ ποιανού; (genitive)

We use the genitive to ask “Whose?” or “Which + owner”.

We ask about the owner of the noun: ‘Whose bag is this?”, “Whose child are you?”, “Which book’s is this cover?”

The pronoun must agree in gender and number with the owner.

Examples:

– Ποιανού είναι αυτά τα γυαλιά;
(Whose glasses are these?)
– Ποιάς μέρας είναι αυτό το πρόγραμμα;
(Which day’s schedules is this?) (It belongs to what day?)
– Ποιών αυτοκινήτων είναι αυτά τα κλειδιά;
(Which cars’ keys are these?) (they belong to which car?)
“Τίνος” (whose?)

Instead of “ποιανού, ποιανών” etc, we can also use “τίνος”:

– Τίνος είναι αυτό το τηλέφωνο;
(Whose is this phone?)
– Τίνος είσαι εσύ;
(Whose (child) are you?)
C. Ποιον; (accusative)

We use the accusative to ask about the object of the verb. It can be a person, a thing, an idea, a location, a point in time etc: “Who are you talking to?”, “Who are they meeting?”, “Who is this from?”, ” Who are you waiting for?”, “In which city do you live?”.

Examples:

– Με ποιον μιλάς;
(Who are you talking with?)
– Σε ποιους τηλεφωνούν;
(Who are they calling?)
– Ποια περιμένεις;
(Who are you waiting for?)
– Σε ποιο συρτάρι είναι τα κλειδιά;
(In which drawer are the keys?)
– Ποιον πρέπει να ρωτήσω για τα έγγραφα;
(Who shall I ask about the documents?)