# Dates



## adber010

Hello again!

I'm a bit embarrassed to ask since it is kind of basic, but I wonder how you say the dates and years. I usually just read greek and it is always written with numbers. Do you say "γεννήθηκα την δέκατη-όγδοη σεπτεμβρίου χίλια εννιακόσια ενενήντα δυο"? Because sometimes I come across it as *στις* 18 Σεπτεμβρίου 1942 and not *την*. How do one say that? 

Thanks in advance!


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## Tassos

For the dates there are three ways (that I can remember right now):

1a) accusative of the female ordinal number of the date + genitive of the name of the month (slightly more formal)
      (your example)
1b) accusative of the female ordinal number of the date + genitive of the male ordinal number of the month (less frequent, mainly used for days 1 to 9 of each month)
_Αυτο συνέβει την πρώτη τρίτου του 1876._

2a) στις + the cardinal number of the date + genitive of the name of the month (slightly less formal)
_Πότε παντρεύεσαι; Στις 10 (δέκα) Μαΐου!_
2b) στις + the cardinal number of the date + genitive of the male ordinal number of the month (less frequent, but more frequent than 1b, can be used for all the days of the month)
_Στις 18 (δεκαοκτώ) δεκάτου του 1942 ...._

NB: *never* use the article του for the genitive of the month.

3) στις + the cardinal number of the date + *του μηνός* (very frequent but it always refers to the _current _month, sometimes *μηνός *is omitted)_
Πότε φεύγετε; Στις 22 (είκοσι-δύο) του μηνός.
Αυτό το μήνα θα πληρωθούμε στις 27 (εικοσι επτά) _(μηνός here is redundant)

Exceptions to the previous:
(regarding (2) and (3))
NB1: for the numbers 3 and 4 and all the numbers ending in 3 or 4 we use *τρεις* and *τέσσερις* instead of τρία and τέσσερα.
_Του Αγίου Βαλεντίνου πέφτει στις 14 (δεκατέσσε*ρις*) Φεβρουαρίου.
_NB2: for the first day of the month we try to avoid (2) and (3) and always use (1).
_Τα γενέθλια του πέφτουν την πρώτη Μαρτίου _(the best way to express it)
_Τα γενέθλιά του πέφτουν στη/τη μία Μαρτίου_ (you may hear each of these in the colloquial speech but they sound all ungrammatical)

For the years

1) They are always written as ordinal numbers.
2a) When written alone and define a point in time they are introduced by the article το.
2b) When written alone and define a noun they are introduced by the article του.
3) When written in dates they are introduced by the article του, which can be omitted.

_2a) Γεννήθηκα *το* 1973 (χίλια εννιακόσια εβδομήντα τρία)
2b) Η επανάσταση *του* 1821 (χίλια οκτακόσια είκοσι ένα)
3) Γεννήθηκα στις 26 (είκοσι-έξι) Ιουνίου *(του)* 1973 (χίλια εννιακόσια εβδομήντα τρία)_

ΝΒ: As a marker of colloquial speech (and ONLY for the 20th century) we may omit the χίλια εννιακόσια, but if we do so we cannot omit the του.

_Γεννήθηκα *το* 73. (εβδομήντα τρία)
__Η γενιά *του* 68. (εξήντα οκτώ)

_


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## adber010

Very enlightening! Thank you so much! 

In swedish we can say that someone, for instance, born in 1992 a "92er". Can you do that in greek aswell?

Cheers!


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## Tassos

No. 
When we use the Greek equivalent of what you mentioned, we mean the age of someone and not the year he was born.
So, a 32ρης is not someone born in 1932 but a 32-year-old.


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## adber010

Ah, ok!

Just to be clear on the pronounciation, is it τριανταδυόρης? And how about if you are for exemple 20 or 33? Εικοσιάρης? Τριαντατριάρης?


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## Tassos

For the male
If the cardinal number ends in -α just add -ρης and move the accent on the penultimate syllable. 
_εξηντά *ρης* , τριαντατεσσά*ρης* etc
_If the cardinal number ends in any other vowel remove it, then add -αρης and move the accent on the penultimate syllable.
_εικοσ*άρης*, εικοσιδυ*άρης*, εξηνταπεντ*άρης* etc

_The female suffix is *-ρα* and the neutral is *-ρι*.


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## shawnee

There is also the alternative ....... χρόνος. I think I prefer it in some instances ie εικοσάχρονος. Where it concerns twenty and thirty something the choice is variable, depending on how much of a mouthfull it is I suppose.


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## Tassos

shawnee said:


> There is also the alternative ....... χρόνος. I think I prefer it in some instances ie εικοσάχρονος. Where it concerns twenty and thirty something the choice is variable, depending on how much of a mouthfull it is I suppose.


To summarize the differences between the two:
1) -χρονός, is better sounding, very precise and it is used _only_ for expressing the age of a person. It is also formal and _very_ frequently used in newpaper articles and TV news journals. In colloquial speech it is used mostly for the ages 2 to 20 and sometimes we use the neuter (regardless if it's a boy or a girl) to make it more "slangy". Note also that if the number is 4 or ends in 4 we use -*τετρά*χρονος/η/ο.
2) -άρης sounds very colloquial and "slangy" and is mostly used for ages over 20. Depending on the context, it can also carry an element of approximation (when you say that someone is εβδομηντάρης you may imply that he is "around" 70). As an adjective it can also be used in other instances besides expressing the age of a person.


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## adber010

Thanks so much for clearing this up! 

All the best!

/adber010


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## shawnee

I also thank Tassos for those detailed clarifications.


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## Fred_C

Κι εγώ ευχαριστώ τον Τάσσο για αυτές τις ακριβείς εξηγήσεις με πολλές λεπτομέρειες !


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## modus.irrealis

Tassos said:


> NB: *never* use the article του for the genitive of the month.


But this is only when you the formal names of the months. You would say e.g. στις 10 του Μάη, right?


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## Tassos

modus.irrealis said:


> But this is only when you the formal names of the months. You would say e.g. στις 10 του Μάη, right?



Yes and yes.
This way of expressing a date is considered a very "demotic" thing and was popularized by the political slogans and speeches of the 80's.


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