How words are made: -ση, -τής, -ικός
Half of the unfamiliar Greek words need not be memorized — they can be taken apart: a known root plus a suffix with a single job. For example: “Η επισκευή θα πάρει τρεις μέρες” — The repair will take three days. A rule from the Greek course: worked out on examples, not memorized as a wording.
How it works
Half of the unfamiliar Greek words need not be memorized — they can be taken apart: a known root plus a suffix with a single job.
A deed out of a verb — the suffixes -ση and -μα, both neuter or feminine. επισκευάζω (to repair) → η επισκευή (i episkeví); ρυθμίζω (to adjust) → η ρύθμιση; ράγισα (it cracked) → το ράγισμα (to ráyizma). The difference between them is fine: -ση leans toward the action as a process, -μα toward its mark, the result.
A person out of a deed — -τής, with -τρια for a woman: πωλώ → ο πωλητής (o politís), η πωλήτρια (i polítria); μαθαίνω (mathéno) → ο μαθητής (o mathitís), η μαθήτρια (i mathítria). Beside them a bookish set in -έας (ο συγγραφέας (o singraféas) — author), whose female form is the same.
A quality out of a noun — -ικός: η πόλη (i póli) → πολιτικός (politikós), το σπίτι (to spíti) → σπιτικός (spitikós), ο άνθρωπος (o ánthropos) → ανθρώπινος. This is the very suffix English borrowed wholesale: "politic", "classic", "electric" — the endings of science vocabulary.
And the diminutive — -άκι, which gets its own note further on.
Use all this for reading, not for speaking: recognizing η εγκατάσταση from the known εγκαθιστώ (engathistó) is safe; minting a new word by the pattern is a gamble. The language accepts not every combination, and which ones — only the dictionary knows.
Table
| suffix | what it makes | example |
|---|---|---|
| -ση | a deed out of a verb | ρυθμίζω → η ρύθμιση |
| -μα | the mark of a deed | ραγίζω → το ράγισμα |
| -τής, -τρια | a person out of a deed | πωλώ → ο πωλητής, η πωλήτρια |
| -ικός | a quality out of a noun | η πόλη → πολιτικός |
| -άκι | a diminutive | το παιδί → το παιδάκι |
By example
- Η επισκευή θα πάρει τρεις μέρεςi episkeví tha pári tris méresThe repair will take three days
- Η πωλήτρια μου έδειξε άλλο χρώμαi polítria mu édikse álo khrómaThe shop assistant showed me another color
- Είναι σπιτικό γλυκό, όχι αγοραστόíne spitikó glikó, ókhi agorastóThis is a homemade dessert, not a store-bought one
How the rule settles in your head
A rule is not memorized from an explanation. It is memorized from an attempt to use it and a mistake — that is why the app delivers it mixed in with words, not as a separate lesson: it resurfaces exactly where you forgot it.
Frequently asked
How words are made: how does it work in Greek?
Half of the unfamiliar Greek words need not be memorized — they can be taken apart: a known root plus a suffix with a single job.
What does it look like in an example sentence Greek?
“Η επισκευή θα πάρει τρεις μέρες” (i episkeví tha pári tris méres) — The repair will take three days. A rule is easier to test on sentences like this than to memorize as a wording: what surfaces in conversation is the sentence.