η εθνική γιορτή
- η εθνική γιορτήi ethnikí yortínational holiday
“η εθνική γιορτή” (i ethnikí yortí) — national holiday in Greek. Noun, level B1. Greece has two: March 25 and October 28, both with parades. In a live sentence: “Η εθνική γιορτή είναι στις 25 Μαρτίου” (i ethnikí yortí íne stis 25 Martíu) — The national holiday is on March 25. You can hear how it sounds right here. Written with the characters η, ε, θ, ν, ι, κ, ή, γ, ι, ο, ρ, τ… A word from the everyday Greek course, level B1.
In short
| Written in Greek | η εθνική γιορτή (i ethnikí yortí) |
| Read in Latin letters | i ethnikí yortí |
| Translation | national holiday |
| Part of speech | noun |
| Level | B1 |
Why it looks that way
Greece has two: March 25 and October 28, both with parades
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.
- Η εθνική γιορτή είναι στις 25 Μαρτίουi ethnikí yortí íne stis 25 MartíuThe national holiday is on March 25
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 “national holiday” in Greek?
«η εθνική γιορτή» (i ethnikí yortí), read “i ethnikí yortí”. In a live sentence: “Η εθνική γιορτή είναι στις 25 Μαρτίου” (i ethnikí yortí íne stis 25 Martíu) — The national holiday is on March 25. You can hear how it sounds right on this page. Noun, level B1; written with the characters η, ε, θ, ν, ι, κ, ή, γ, ι, ο, ρ, τ…
How is “η εθνική γιορτή” (i ethnikí yortí) written in Latin letters?
i ethnikí yortí. 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?
Greece has two: March 25 and October 28, both with parades. 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 this 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.