Essential Modern Greek Grammar

I loved this slim, carefully written volume by Douglas Q. Adams, but it is not for the grammatically faint of heart, and you should know going into it that it is an overview of the Greek language and its grammar, not an exercise book.

Essential Modern Greek Grammar lasts a mere 77 pages (diminutive ones at that!), excluding a brief glossary that explains some grammar terminology for those who need it. There is lots of white space, and it has a gratifyingly minimalist aesthetic. If you find hard-core grammatical explanations intimidating, this might not be the book for you, what with the discussion of things I had never heard of before, such as deponent verbs and aorist passive.

It is in any case definitely best for people who already know something about Greek. I didn’t know enough, but I still loved it anyway.

The marketing copy on the back says, “Written primarily for the tourist or business traveler with limited learning time, this concise, well-organized grammar provides a clear-cut system for learning to communicate, in both speech and writing, in simple everyday Greek.”

Ignore that. I don’t think I could learn to communicate well from it, and I didn’t perceive a “system.” But I do like Essential Modern Greek Grammar as a companion piece to my other materials. 

The fun part was being able to read and understand examples in Greek. Greek just looks cool!