in Greek texts
Short in Greek texts with a translation alongside and comprehension questions. Levels A1–A2: a stock of two or three hundred everyday words is already enough. The translation stands next to it whole, not word by word — a dictionary is still too early at this level: stopping at every other word tears the sentence apart.
All texts
- 📖Morning in AthensA1 · Good morning. My name is Anna. I live in Athens. In the morning I drink coffee and eat…
- 📖At the marketA2 · On Saturdays we go to the market. The market is close — ten minutes on foot. There are…
- 📖The Saturday shoppingA2 · On Saturdays I go to the supermarket with a small basket. I always look at the price tag…
- 📖The new apartmentA2 · My apartment is on the third floor, and the elevator has not worked since January. The…
- 📖A bad weekA2 · On Monday I woke up with a temperature, and my throat hurt. I went to the pharmacy and…
- 📖August in AthensA2 · In August Athens empties. It is very hot, forty degrees at noon, and the shops in the…
- 📖The first day at the officeA2 · The first day at the new office was hard. The boss showed me my desk and gave me the…
- 📖The lost suitcaseA2 · My suitcase didn't arrive in Athens. At the lost and found they told me to wait two days.…
- 📖The morning at the beachA2 · In the morning the beach is empty. The sand is still cold, and the waves are small. I…
- 📖The black coatA2 · I wanted a black coat, but my size was out. The shop assistant showed me a grey one and a…
- 📖My neighborA2 · My neighbor is calm and very polite. He never argues, even when the house is noisy. His…
- 📖The Sunday mealA2 · On Sundays my mother cooks from the morning. She boils beans, fries potatoes and bakes…
- 📖A hundred messagesA2 · In the morning I found a hundred messages on my phone. Half were from work, and the rest…
- 📖The computer at the workshopA2 · My laptop wouldn't switch on, and I took it to the workshop on the corner. The technician…
- 📖The concert in the parkA2 · On Sunday there was a concert in the park, with no tickets. A child was playing the…
- 📖Before the feastA2 · My grandmother fasts for forty days before the great feast. Every morning she goes to…
- 📖Grandfather's yardA2 · My grandfather's house has a red roof and a big yard. There is a gate in the fence that…
- 📖ChemistryA2 · This year I passed all my exams except chemistry. I prepared every evening, but in the…
- 📖The notebook of expensesA2 · Every month I write my expenses in a notebook. The rent and the bills go out at once, and…
- 📖A week with the fluA2 · On Tuesday I woke up with chills and a high temperature. The physician gave me a referral…
- 📖Twelve job adsA2 · I sent my resume to twelve job ads and got three replies. At the first interview they…
- 📖The empty apartmentA2 · The new apartment was empty and cold. On the first day we painted the walls and hung the…
- 📖The room with a viewA2 · The room was small, but with a view of the sea. Breakfast was included in the price, and…
- 📖News or rumor?A2 · Every morning I read the headlines, but rarely open a whole article. Yesterday I saw a…
- 📖The application for a residence permitA2 · I filed an application for a residence permit in March. They asked for a copy of the…
- 📖A colleague disagreedA2 · At the meeting everyone agreed except one colleague. He said that the plan depended on…
- 📖In orderA2 · First we booked the hotel, and then looked for tickets. In advance we checked whether a…
- 📖The colleague they listen toA2 · My colleague is tall, slim and grey-haired. He speaks little, but when he speaks…
- 📖Three days of silenceA2 · We quarreled over a foolishness and didn't speak for three days. I waited for him to call…
- 📖The grandmother's eggplantsA2 · My grandmother cooked eggplants every Sunday. She peeled them, salted them and left them…
- 📖The shirt on offerA2 · I bought a shirt on sale and didn't try it on. At home I saw that the size didn't fit me.…
- 📖The washing machine not worth fixingA2 · The washing machine began to make noise and then stopped. A technician came, checked the…
- 📖August without rainA2 · In August there wasn't a single rain, and the ground cracked. The leaves on the trees…
- 📖I missed my stopA2 · My stop is across from the bank, next to the traffic light. In the morning, at rush hour…
- 📖The first film without subtitlesA2 · I signed up for a Greek course, because I wasn't making progress on my own. Reading, I…
- 📖Three hundred residentsA2 · I was born in a village of three hundred residents. As a child we played on the path…
- 📖Two phrases that solve the problemA2 · Over the phone I hear badly and feel shy about asking again. I learned two phrases that…
- 📖The Friday reportA2 · Every Friday I report to my boss on the whole week. This time I didn't manage, because I…
- 📖The scammer's callA2 · A stranger called me and said that I had a debt with the tax office. He asked for my card…
- 📖The roommate from CreteA2 · My roommate is from Crete, and we take turns cooking. In the first week he showed me the…
- 📖The neighborhood choirA2 · Our neighborhood has a choir that sings every Wednesday at the school. You don't need to…
- 📖A draw in the last minuteA2 · In the city championship our team was losing two nil. In the second half the fans began…
- 📖The 'about' doesn't always workA2 · The recipe said three hundred grams of flour, but I had no scales. I measured with a cup…
- 📖Two weeks of coughA2 · For two weeks I had a cough, and I thought it was an ordinary cold. The doctor asked for…
- 📖My first Greek feastA2 · At my first Greek celebration I didn't know what to bring. I asked, and they said…
- 📖Two opinionsA2 · At the meeting we had two opinions, and nobody gave in. The argument rested on a survey…
- 📖A plan for every eventualityA2 · I knew the trip might fall through, and I kept a plan just in case. Provided the visa…
- 📖The shelf in three partsA2 · The shelf arrived in three parts and a little bag of screws. The instructions were almost…
- 📖Four entrancesA2 · We agreed to meet on the square, but the square has four entrances. I stood at one, he at…
- 📖Five kilos for twentyA2 · For the table I counted five kilograms of food for twenty people. Fifteen came, and…
- 📖Two days lostA2 · The project dragged on, because the scanner broke down halfway. Two days went to waste…
- 📖Three measurementsA2 · A colleague claimed that the method works always. He had three measurements, all with the…
- 📖Five yearsA2 · I have been living in Greece for five years, and only now have I stopped translating in…
- 📖The river changed colorA2 · The river by the village changed color within a week. The grown-ups said the factory was…
- 📖The cargo that was lateA2 · The order was due on Tuesday and came on Friday. There was a breakdown on the production…
- 📖Voices on the squareA2 · I was walking across the square and suddenly heard shouting. Two people were quarreling…
- 📖He neither came nor calledA2 · My friend promised to come, and he neither came nor called. I got angry, because it…
How to read a text in a language you barely know
First pass — all the way through, without peeking at the translation. The goal is not to understand but to catch familiar words: there will be more of them than you expect, and that feeling matters more than any rule.
Second pass — with the translation beside you. Now it becomes clear what exactly was in the way: an unknown word, a construction you did not get, or just reading speed.
Third pass — all the way through again. The second pass brings noticeably more, and this step is what makes reading useful: it turns analysis into recognition.
Frequently asked
What level do you need to read texts in Greek?
A1–A2: you know the letters and have a stock of everyday words — about two or three hundred. The translation sits next to it, so an unknown word does not stop the reading.
How many times should you reread the text?
Three times: without the translation, with it, and without it again. The third pass is what all of this is for — the second time you recognize noticeably more.