Adapting Loanwords | Greek Grammar

Modern Greek continually absorbs words from other languages, but borrowing is not simple copying. A loan may remain indeclinable, acquire an article and gender, enter a Greek declension, or take a Greek verbal ending. The result depends on the individual word, its age, its sound shape, and current usage.

Three degrees of noun integration

An article can mark gender and case even when the borrowed noun itself never changes. New object-denoting loans are often neuter, as in το ίντερνετ and commonly το σέλφι, but this is a tendency rather than a rule without exceptions.

Loan	Typical treatment	Current usage
το ίντερνετ	neuter, indeclinable	very common and neutral
το σέλφι	usually neuter, indeclinable	informal/neutral; feminine η σέλφι also occurs
ο σέρβερ	usually masculine, indeclinable	technical; neuter το σέρβερ is also heard
η μπίρα	feminine, fully declined	neutral: της μπίρας, οι μπίρες

Έστειλα το σέλφι στην αδελφή μου πριν φύγουμε.

éstila to sélfi stin adhelfí mu prin fíghume.

I sent the selfie to my sister before we left. (informal)

Ο σέρβερ έπεσε ξανά και η εφαρμογή δεν ανοίγει.

o sérver épese ksaná ke i efarmoyí dhen aníyi.

The server went down again, and the app won't open. (technical/informal)

Βάλε τις μπίρες στο ψυγείο πριν έρθουν οι φίλοι.

vále tis bíres sto psiyío prin érthun i fíli.

Put the beers in the refrigerator before our friends arrive. (informal)

The varying το/η σέλφι and ο/το σέρβερ show why gender cannot be predicted from English. English has no grammatical gender here; Greek speakers assign one through analogy and convention, and competing analogies can coexist. The dedicated pages on loanword gender and indeclinable nouns treat the full system.

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Learn a borrowed noun with its article and an actual plural: η μπίρα — οι μπίρες, but το ίντερνετ. The article is grammatical information, not optional decoration.

Loan verbs in -άρω

Greek often turns a borrowed base into a verb with -άρω: παρκάρω, σκανάρω, σερφάρω, ποστάρω, τσεκάρω. The ending makes the item conjugable: παρκάρω, παρκάρεις, παρκάρουμε. This differs from English, where a noun can often become a verb with no visible ending.

Σκανάρω την απόδειξη και σου τη στέλνω αμέσως.

skanáro tin apódhiksi ke su ti stélno amésos.

I'll scan the receipt and send it to you right away. (informal)

Πριν αγοράσω κάτι, τσεκάρω πάντα τις κριτικές.

prin aghoráso káti, tsekáro pánda tis kritikés.

Before I buy something, I always check the reviews. (informal)

Η εταιρεία πόσταρε την ανακοίνωση στα κοινωνικά δίκτυα.

i etería póstare tin anakínosi sta kinoniká dhíktia.

The company posted the announcement on social media. (informal/digital)

These verbs are productive enough to help comprehension, but their perfective forms are lexical. Παρκάρω is especially instructive:

Form	Greek	Status
present	παρκάρω	neutral everyday form
core aorist	πάρκαρα	widespread and established
alternative aorist	παρκάρισα	also current
perfect	έχω παρκάρει	current result-relevant form

Χθες πάρκαρα μακριά επειδή το κέντρο ήταν κλειστό.

chthes párkara makriá epidhí to kéndro ítan klistó.

Yesterday I parked far away because the city center was closed.

Τελικά παρκάρισα δίπλα στην είσοδο του ξενοδοχείου.

teliká parkárisa dhípla stin ísodho tu ksenodhochíu.

In the end, I parked next to the hotel entrance.

Έχω παρκάρει απέναντι από το φαρμακείο.

écho parkári apénandi apó to farmakío.

I've parked across from the pharmacy.

Do not extend either aorist mechanically to every -άρω verb. Frequency, age, and speaker preference determine which principal parts become established; verb formation gives the broader comparison.

Calques: borrowing a structure, not its sound

Greek also borrows by translating the pieces of a foreign expression. Σκληρός δίσκος “hard disk,” κοινωνικό δίκτυο “social network,” and ηλεκτρονικό ταχυδρομείο “electronic mail” use Greek material but reflect international concepts. These are calques, unlike sound-based loans such as σέρβερ.

Ο τεχνικός αντικατέστησε τον σκληρό δίσκο του υπολογιστή.

o technikós andikatéstise ton skliró dhísko tu ipoloyistí.

The technician replaced the computer's hard drive. (technical)

Ακολουθήστε μας στα κοινωνικά δίκτυα για νεότερα.

akoluthíste mas sta kinoniká dhíktia ya neótera.

Η επιβεβαίωση στάλθηκε μέσω ηλεκτρονικού ταχυδρομείου.

i epivevéosi stálthike méso ilektronikú tachidhromíu.

The confirmation was sent by email. (formal)

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A loan does not have to sound foreign. A calque uses Greek words but reproduces the structure of an imported concept; recognizing that helps explain combinations such as σκληρός δίσκος.

Register and competing choices

A loan can be ordinary in conversation but less suitable in an official text. Παρκάρω is normal everyday Greek, whereas σταθμεύω is common on signs and in official prose. Ποστάρω is informal/digital; αναρτώ is the careful or formal alternative. This is register choice, not evidence that the loan is “bad Greek.”

Η στάθμευση απαγορεύεται μπροστά στην είσοδο κινδύνου.

i státhmefsi apaghorévete brostá stin ísodho kindhínu.

Parking is prohibited in front of the emergency entrance. (official)

Θα αναρτήσουμε τα αποτελέσματα στην ιστοσελίδα αύριο.

tha anartísume ta apotelézmata stin istoselídha ávrio.

We will post the results on the website tomorrow. (formal/neutral)

Because technology vocabulary changes quickly, current convention matters more than an imagined universal rule. A newly heard English word does not automatically receive neuter gender or a predictable Greek plural.

Common Mistakes

Omitting the article because English has none

Greek still needs normal article and case syntax around an indeclinable loan.

Δεν μπορώ να συνδεθώ στο ίντερνετ του ξενοδοχείου.

dhen boró na sindhethó sto índernet tu ksenodhochíu.

I can't connect to the hotel's internet.

Assuming every object loan is neuter

Gender is conventional: the established everyday form is η μπίρα.

Η μπίρα που παρήγγειλες είναι ήδη στο τραπέζι.

i bíra pu paríyiles íne ídhi sto trapézi.

The beer you ordered is already on the table.

Inventing an inflected ending for a frozen loan

The article carries the case when the noun is indeclinable.

Η ταχύτητα του ίντερνετ μειώθηκε το βράδυ.

i tachítita tu índernet mióthike to vrádhi.

The internet speed dropped in the evening.

Giving every -άρω verb the same aorist

Store the principal parts that speakers actually use.

Για το παρκάρω έχω ακούσει και πάρκαρα και παρκάρισα.

ya to parkáro écho akúsi ke párkara ke parkárisa.

For παρκάρω, I have heard both πάρκαρα and παρκάρισα.

Key Takeaways

Many recent noun loans are indeclinable, and their articles carry gender and case.
Neuter is a strong tendency for new object loans, not an exceptionless rule.
-άρω integrates borrowed bases as verbs, but each verb has its own established perfective forms.
Greek can borrow a sound-based form or translate a concept as a calque.
Loanwords range from neutral everyday vocabulary to informal or technical choices; register must be learned with the word.

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