αυτοί
“αυτοί” (aftí) — they in Greek. Pronoun, level A0, topic — pronouns. the plural of aftós; the final oi reads ee. For women it is aftés. In a live sentence: “Αυτοί έρχονται αύριο” — They arrive tomorrow. You can hear how it sounds right here. Written with the characters α, υ, τ, ο. One of 26 words in the set “pronouns” in the Greek course.
In short
| Written in Greek | αυτοί |
| Read in Latin letters | aftí |
| Translation | they |
| Part of speech | pronoun |
| Level | A0 |
- αυτοίaftíthey
Why it looks that way
the plural of aftós; the final oi reads ee. For women it is aftés
A word with a story stays in memory longer than one learned as a “spelling — translation” pair: memory holds on to meaning, not to a string.
In a live sentence
A single word almost never appears alone in conversation. A sentence shows where it fits and what stands next to it.
- Αυτοί έρχονται αύριοaftí érkhonde ávrioThey arrive tomorrow
Nearby words: pronouns
I, you, we, they. There is a handful of them, they turn up in every sentence, and politeness rides on them: most of these languages keep a formal “you” apart from a familiar one, and choosing the wrong one is noticed faster than a mispronounced word.
- εγώegóIalmost always dropped in speech — the verb ending already shows the person. Egó appears only for contrast: as in 'well, I for one...'
- εσύesíyoufor friends, peers and children; a stranger gets esís. Like egó, it usually stays out of the sentence
- εσείςesísyou (plural)one word for the polite 'you' and for several people. Here ei is the ordinary ee sound
- αυτόςaftósheav before the k sound reads af. Gender follows the noun, not the person: coffee (o kafés, masculine) is aftós, a door (i pórta) is aftí, a house (to spíti) is aftó
- εμείςemíswethe partner of egó. Its verbs end in -oume: ménume — we stay, pínume — we drink
- μουmumyplaced after the word and never changes: to spíti mu — my house, literally the house my
- σουsuyourthe same scheme as mu: it follows the word and stays unchanged
- μαςmasourthe same little word also means 'to us' — the slot in the phrase tells you which
- σαςsasyour (plural)both 'your' for several owners and the polite 'your' for one person addressed formally
- του, της, τουςtu, tis, tushis, her, theirthree forms agreeing with the owner in gender and number, not with the thing owned
Test yourself
Five questions from the same set — “pronouns”. Recalling a spelling from meaning is harder than knowing a familiar word on sight, and therefore more useful.
- How do you say “they” in Greek?
the plural of aftós; the final oi reads ee. For women it is aftés
- How do you say “your” in Greek?
the same scheme as mu: it follows the word and stays unchanged
- How do you say “you (plural)” in Greek?
one word for the polite 'you' and for several people. Here ei is the ordinary ee sound
- How do you say “his, her, their” in Greek?
three forms agreeing with the owner in gender and number, not with the thing owned
- How do you say “my” in Greek?
placed after the word and never changes: to spíti mu — my house, literally the house my
How not to forget this word
Reading a word and remembering it are different jobs. A day later, little survives of a single reading — and that is not bad memory, that is how memory works.
- This has been tested on foreign words too. The difference shows up most when you test yourself a few days later rather than straight away.checked many timesKim & Webb, 2022, Language Learning 72(2) · 48 experiments, 3,411 participants, 98 comparisons.
- Recalling beats re-reading. Covering the translation and trying to remember it does more than reading it ten more times.checked many timesAdesope, Trevisan & Sundararajan, 2017, Review of Educational Research 87(3) · 188 experiments, 272 comparisons. g = 0.61; against plain re-reading 0.51, against passive review 0.93.
- An answer you worked out yourself sticks better than one handed to you.checked many timesBertsch et al., 2007, Memory & Cognition 35(2) · 86 studies, 445 comparisons, d = 0.40.
Frequently asked
How do you say “they” in Greek?
«αυτοί», read “aftí”. In a live sentence: “Αυτοί έρχονται αύριο” — They arrive tomorrow. You can hear how it sounds right on this page. Pronoun, level A0, from the set “pronouns”; written with the characters α, υ, τ, ο.
How is “αυτοί” written in Latin letters?
aftí. This is a practical spelling — you need it to read aloud and be understood, not to meet an academic standard.
Why does this word look the way it does?
the plural of aftós; the final oi reads ee. For women it is aftés. A word with a story stays in memory longer than a “spelling — translation” pair: memory holds on to meaning, not to a string.
Can I hear how it sounds?
Yes, right on this page: click the word and it will play. The sound works on any phone, and nothing needs to be installed.