το σκαλοπάτι
“το σκαλοπάτι” (to skalopáti) — step in Greek. Noun, level A1, topic — the city and its places. one step of a staircase; the whole staircase is i skála, which the course knows. Stress on the third syllable. In a live sentence: “Πρόσεχε το σκαλοπάτι” — Careful, there's a step. You can hear how it sounds right here. Written with the characters τ, ο, σ, κ, α, λ, ο, π, τ, ι.
In short
| Written in Greek | το σκαλοπάτι |
| Read in Latin letters | to skalopáti |
| Translation | step |
| Part of speech | noun |
| Level | A1 |
- το σκαλοπάτιto skalopátistep
Why it looks that way
one step of a staircase; the whole staircase is i skála, which the course knows. Stress on the third syllable
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.
- Πρόσεχε το σκαλοπάτιprósekhe to skalopátiCareful, there's a step
Nearby words: the city and its places
Street, square, pharmacy, bank. An address is built out of these, and an address is something you have to both say and understand.
- καφετέριαkafetériacaféa place where people sit with one cup for hours: a Greek café is about conversation, not takeaway. The old-fashioned mens-only kind has a different name, kafenío
- πόληpólicitythe same root as in 'metropolis' and 'cosmopolitan' — and in city names like Minneapolis. Feminine: i póli
- δρόμοςdrómosstreetone word for street, road and way. The same dromos runs in 'aerodrome', 'hippodrome' and 'velodrome' — places for running
- μαγαζίmagazíshopthe word travelled from Arabic through Italian; English 'magazine' started life the same way, as a storehouse. Neuter: to magazí
- αγοράagorámarketthe very agora — the gathering square of ancient Athens. Today it is also a purchase: káno agorés — I do the shopping
- φαρμακείοfarmakíopharmacyfármako, medicine, plus -ío, a place. The same scheme built grafeío, an office, and vivliopolío, a bookshop
- τράπεζαtrápezabankliterally 'table': the money changers worked at one. The same table gave the geometry term 'trapezoid'
- σταθμόςstathmósstationthe same word serves the metro stop and the bus terminal: stathmós metró, stathmós leoforíon
- θάλασσαthálasaseathe word is older than Greek itself — the Greeks took it from whoever lived here before them. The double σσ sounds as one s
- νησίnisíislandneuter: to nisí. Greece counts more than two thousand islands, about two hundred of them inhabited
Test yourself
Five questions from the same set — “the city and its places”. Recalling a spelling from meaning is harder than knowing a familiar word on sight, and therefore more useful.
- How do you say “step” in Greek?
one step of a staircase; the whole staircase is i skála, which the course knows. Stress on the third syllable
- How do you say “bank” in Greek?
literally 'table': the money changers worked at one. The same table gave the geometry term 'trapezoid'
- How do you say “street” in Greek?
one word for street, road and way. The same dromos runs in 'aerodrome', 'hippodrome' and 'velodrome' — places for running
- How do you say “island” in Greek?
neuter: to nisí. Greece counts more than two thousand islands, about two hundred of them inhabited
- How do you say “pharmacy” in Greek?
fármako, medicine, plus -ío, a place. The same scheme built grafeío, an office, and vivliopolío, a bookshop
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 “step” in Greek?
«το σκαλοπάτι», read “to skalopáti”. In a live sentence: “Πρόσεχε το σκαλοπάτι” — Careful, there's a step. You can hear how it sounds right on this page. Noun, level A1, from the set “the city and its places”; written with the characters τ, ο, σ, κ, α, λ, ο, π, τ, ι.
How is “το σκαλοπάτι” written in Latin letters?
to skalopáti. 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?
one step of a staircase; the whole staircase is i skála, which the course knows. Stress on the third syllable. 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.