αριστερά
“αριστερά” (aristerá) — left in Greek. Noun, level A1, topic — asking the way. the partner of deksiá and it behaves the same: one word for 'to the left' and 'on the left'. In a live sentence: “Το φαρμακείο είναι αριστερά” — The pharmacy is on the left. You can hear how it sounds right here. Written with the characters α, ρ, ι, σ, τ, ε, ρ. One of 18 words in the set “asking the way” in the Greek course.
In short
| Written in Greek | αριστερά |
| Read in Latin letters | aristerá |
| Translation | left |
| Part of speech | noun |
| Level | A1 |
- αριστεράaristeráleft
Why it looks that way
the partner of deksiá and it behaves the same: one word for 'to the left' and 'on the left'
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.
- Το φαρμακείο είναι αριστεράto farmakío íne aristeráThe pharmacy is on the left
Nearby words: asking the way
Right, left, straight on, how far. You ask the way rarely — and always at the moment when there is no time to work it out.
- Πού είναι;pu íne?where is?literally 'where is': the linking verb is obligatory. Poú with the accent asks; pou without it means 'that' — one little stroke flips the meaning
- δεξιάdeksiárightan adverb in Greek, not a noun: deksiá covers both 'to the right' and 'on the right', with no second word needed
- ευθείαefthíastraight aheadev before the th reads ef. Literally along the straight; on the street you will most often hear pighénete efthía — go straight
- κοντάkondáclosethe inner nt is nd: kon-DA. Close to something demands se: kondá sto metró
- μακριάmakriáfarfrom makrýs, long — the same root as 'macro-'. The partner of kondá
- εδώedóhereboth 'here' and 'to here': direction gets no separate word. The partner of ekí, there
- εκείekítherethe final ei reads ee: e-KEE. Like edó it works for both place and direction
- πώς πάωpos páohow do I get there?literally 'how do I walk': Greeks ask the way in the present tense. What follows is se with an article
- καταφθάνωkatafthánoget tothe reinforced brother of ftáno, which the course knows: not just to arrive but to make it after a journey. The fth spells ft
- στην απέναντι μεριάstin apénandi meriáacross the waymeriá is the conversational side; the bookish plevrá is already familiar. Apenandi means opposite
Test yourself
Five questions from the same set — “asking the way”. Recalling a spelling from meaning is harder than knowing a familiar word on sight, and therefore more useful.
- How do you say “left” in Greek?
the partner of deksiá and it behaves the same: one word for 'to the left' and 'on the left'
- How do you say “there” in Greek?
the final ei reads ee: e-KEE. Like edó it works for both place and direction
- How do you say “straight ahead” in Greek?
ev before the th reads ef. Literally along the straight; on the street you will most often hear pighénete efthía — go straight
- How do you say “across the way” in Greek?
meriá is the conversational side; the bookish plevrá is already familiar. Apenandi means opposite
- How do you say “here” in Greek?
both 'here' and 'to here': direction gets no separate word. The partner of ekí, there
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 “left” in Greek?
«αριστερά», read “aristerá”. In a live sentence: “Το φαρμακείο είναι αριστερά” — The pharmacy is on the left. You can hear how it sounds right on this page. Noun, level A1, from the set “asking the way”; written with the characters α, ρ, ι, σ, τ, ε, ρ.
How is “αριστερά” written in Latin letters?
aristerá. 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 partner of deksiá and it behaves the same: one word for 'to the left' and 'on the left'. 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.