Questions about Greek

Moderator:Dark_Horse

User avatar
Michael
Posts:7126
Joined:2009-07-21, 3:07
Real Name:Mike
Gender:male
Location:Oak Park, IL
Country:USUnited States (United States)
Re: Questions about Greek

Postby Michael » 2012-04-07, 23:17

Λοιπόν, ποιο είναι σωστό, οι έλληνες φίλοι ή οι ελληνικοί φίλοι; Επειδή διόρθωσα το λάθος ενός φίλου μου που επίσης μαθαίνει ελληνικά, μα μου είπε ότι την πρώην είναι και σωστή. Του είπα πως δεν μπορεί να υπάρχει οι Έλληνες φίλους γιατί δεν επιτρέπεται το ουσιαστικό Έλληνας πριν από άλλο ουσιαστικό έτσι, μα είπε που έκανα λάθος εγώ. Άρα, πλέον διαφωνούμε. :?
Last edited by Michael on 2012-04-08, 2:01, edited 1 time in total.
American English (en-us) Neapolitan from Molise (nap) N Italian (it) B2 Spanish (es) Portuguese (pt) French (fr) Greek (el) Albanian (sq) B1 Polish (pl) Romanian (ro) A2 Azerbaijani (az) Turkish (tr) Old English (en_old) A1
„Çdo njeri është peng i veprave të veta.‟
Every human being is hostage to their own deeds.

User avatar
md0
Posts:8188
Joined:2010-08-08, 19:56
Country:DEGermany (Deutschland)
Contact:

Re: Questions about Greek

Postby md0 » 2012-04-08, 1:38

Ο φίλος σου είχε δίκιο. Πρέπει να πεις έλληνες φίλους. Ο έλληνας λειτουργεί και σαν επίθετο (και σε αυτή την περίτωση συνήθως γράφεται με μικρό έ, αλλά στα ελληνικά η κατάσταση με τα κεφαλαια είναι γενικά φλου).
"If you like your clause structure, you can keep your clause structure"
Stable: Cypriot Greek (el-cy)Standard Modern Greek (el)English (en) Current: Standard German (de)
Legacy: France French (fr)Japanese (ja)Standard Turkish (tr)Elementary Finnish (fi)Netherlands Dutch (nl)

dimos
Posts:303
Joined:2008-10-24, 15:24
Real Name:Δημήτρης
Gender:male
Location:Thessaloniki
Country:GRGreece (Ελλάς)

Re: Questions about Greek

Postby dimos » 2012-04-09, 17:47

Το Έλληνες ούτε είναι ούτε λειτουργεί σαν ουσιαστικό.
Στην ελληνική υπάρχουν περιπτώσεις που μπορείς να βάλεις ένα ουσιαστικό δίπλα σε άλλο ουσιαστικό (ομοιόπτωτος ονοματικός προσδιορισμός)
πχ. έλληνας πολίτης, επαγγελματίας καλλιτέχνης κλπ.

User avatar
translation_gr
Posts:105
Joined:2012-01-27, 13:10
Gender:male
Location:Rhodes
Country:GRGreece (Ελλάς)

Re: Questions about Greek

Postby translation_gr » 2012-04-20, 21:20

Shadad wrote:Does βαριέμαι mean to be lazy to do something or to be bored? :hmm:


It means both. It can mean either don't feel like/not in the mood/be lazy to do something or to be bored.

Example 1
-Φέρε μου ένα ποτήρι νερό. (Bring me a glass of water.)
-Βαριέμαι. (I don't feel like it.)
If we expanded the above answer, we would get: "Βαριέμαι να σου φέρω ένα ποτήρι νερό." (I don't feel like bringing you a glass of water.)

Example 2
"Δεν έχω κάποιον για να παίξω και τώρα βαριέμαι." (There's no one to play with now, and I'm bored.
The meaning of βαριέμαι here is that I have nothing to do, so I'm bored.

Example 3
1. Βαρέθηκα αυτό το παιχνίδι! (I've grown tired/bored of this game!)
2. Σας βαρέθηκα! (I'm fed up with you/sick and tired of you!)

Βαριέμαι can also mean that I can't stand someone/something any more!

Well, that's all my knowledge on this topic.
Hope it helped you! :D
[flag]el[/flag] Native
[flag]en[/flag] Advanced (C1)
[flag]fr[/flag] Beginner

User avatar
Saim
Posts:5740
Joined:2011-01-22, 5:44
Location:Brisbane
Country:DEGermany (Deutschland)

Re: Questions about Greek

Postby Saim » 2012-11-13, 8:09

Hey everyone, just started doing some study for my Greek class at uni, so I've been translating some songs. I've been having trouble with what I think is a colloquial usage, as the song title is "κάν'το σωστά". Am I correct in thinking "κάν'το" is a colloquial contraction? Does it come from "κάνω"? If not, what is the meaning? Thanks.

Here's the song:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7spiUA_ug3w

And here's my TAC thread where I'm writing my notes:

viewtopic.php?f=119&t=36072&p=827157#p827157

modus.irrealis
Posts:3677
Joined:2007-10-04, 20:41
Gender:male
Country:DEGermany (Deutschland)

Re: Questions about Greek

Postby modus.irrealis » 2012-11-13, 8:51

Saim wrote:Hey everyone, just started doing some study for my Greek class at uni, so I've been translating some songs. I've been having trouble with what I think is a colloquial usage, as the song title is "κάν'το σωστά". Am I correct in thinking "κάν'το" is a colloquial contraction? Does it come from "κάνω"? If not, what is the meaning? Thanks.

It's a contraction but of the imperative, so κάν' το = κάνε το = "do it!". (Just for future reference, you may sometimes see some phonetic changes too, e.g. κόφ' το = κόψ΄ το = κόψε το = "cut it".)

User avatar
Meneghis
Posts:88
Joined:2011-01-10, 20:40
Gender:male
Country:DEGermany (Deutschland)

Re: Questions about Greek

Postby Meneghis » 2013-03-08, 19:47

During a trip to London last week I bought "Teach Yourself Modern Greek". I hope it will help me to understand and read some articles in Greek about Byzantine warfare, because I am preparing an exam about Byzantine domination in Italy, and another one about Byzantine warfare.
My question is: what are the main differences between Medieval and Modern Greek? Knowing the latter helps with the former (given that, at the moment, it isn't essential for me knowing the Medieval forms, but it would be nice in the future)?
Corrections are welcome

modus.irrealis
Posts:3677
Joined:2007-10-04, 20:41
Gender:male
Country:DEGermany (Deutschland)

Re: Questions about Greek

Postby modus.irrealis » 2013-03-09, 12:37

Do you mean Medieval Greek as in the Greek that people spoke in Medieval times, or the Greek that they wrote in? Because the latter is essentially Ancient Greek, and if you're interested for example in the military manuals that were written by Byzantines, it's Ancient Greek that's really necessary. There are some works in Medieval Greek and there the language is quite close to Modern Greek, but it depends on what works you're interested in.

User avatar
Meneghis
Posts:88
Joined:2011-01-10, 20:40
Gender:male
Country:DEGermany (Deutschland)

Re: Questions about Greek

Postby Meneghis » 2013-03-09, 14:23

Well, I am basically interested in both things: but I've studied the "Strategikon" as a primary source, for instance.
Corrections are welcome

Noreviking

Re: Questions about Greek

Postby Noreviking » 2013-08-22, 12:16

Today, I went to philosophy class, and the teacher kept referring to ancient Greek texts. Now, I've started gaining an interest in both ancient and modern Greek. How have other learners here started learning Greek? Any tips? :D

User avatar
Babelfish
Posts:4444
Joined:2005-07-21, 12:00
Gender:male
Location:רחובות
Country:ILIsrael (ישראל / إسرائيل)
Contact:

Re: Questions about Greek

Postby Babelfish » 2013-08-23, 15:57

I went through a few courses and introductory pages on the Internet, and relied a little on my knowledge of Greek words used in scientific terms 8-) This was for Modern Greek, though. It should probably not be too difficult to find introductory materials for Ancient Greek as well - and in fact, many Greek words in scientific terms were used in Ancient Greek but replaced in the Modern :? OTHT, Ancient Greek is much more complicated...

Καλοσόρισες! That is, welcome!
Native languages: Hebrew (he) & English (en)
My language pages: http://babelfish.50webs.com/

מן המקום בו אנו צודקים לא יפרחו לעולם פרחים באביב (יהודה עמיחי)
From the place where we are in the right, flowers will never grow in the spring (Yhuda Amihay)

User avatar
md0
Posts:8188
Joined:2010-08-08, 19:56
Country:DEGermany (Deutschland)
Contact:

Re: Questions about Greek

Postby md0 » 2013-11-02, 13:24

Can anyone explain to me the usage of Past Perfect in Greece's Standard Greek?
I am drawing a blank here, I can only think of the Cypriot usage ("Την Δευτέρα έχουν γίνει αλλαγές στο πρόγραμμα")
"If you like your clause structure, you can keep your clause structure"
Stable: Cypriot Greek (el-cy)Standard Modern Greek (el)English (en) Current: Standard German (de)
Legacy: France French (fr)Japanese (ja)Standard Turkish (tr)Elementary Finnish (fi)Netherlands Dutch (nl)

User avatar
Psi-Lord
Posts:10081
Joined:2002-08-18, 7:02
Real Name:Marcel Q.
Gender:male
Location:Cândido Mota
Country:BRBrazil (Brasil)
Contact:

Re: Questions about Greek

Postby Psi-Lord » 2013-11-02, 19:39

meidei wrote:Can anyone explain to me the usage of Past Perfect in Greece's Standard Greek?
I am drawing a blank here, I can only think of the Cypriot usage ("Την Δευτέρα έχουν γίνει αλλαγές στο πρόγραμμα")

May I quote a bit from my grammar book? (It’s so much fun to check it after all these years!)

According to it, the past perfect (= pluperfect) describes an action or state as having been completed in the past with consequences relevant to another, subsequent point in time, also in the past, which is either explicitly specified or implied:

a) Την περασμένη Δευτέρα δεν είχα ακόμη στείλει το γράμμα.

It may be replaced by a simple past, but only very rarely.

It’s also used in the conditional clause of a counterfactual conditional construction:

b) Αν είχα δει το Γιώργο θα του το έλεγα/θα του το είχα πει.

It’s also used instead of the simple past in sentences containing adverbs referring to a point of time in the past:

c) Πέρσι το καλοκαίρι είχα πάει στην Κρήτη.
português do Brasil (pt-BR)British English (en-GB) galego (gl) português (pt) •• العربية (ar) български (bg) Cymraeg (cy) Deutsch (de)  r n km.t (egy) español rioplatense (es-AR) 日本語 (ja) 한국어 (ko) lingua Latina (la) ••• Esperanto (eo) (grc) français (fr) (hi) magyar (hu) italiano (it) polski (pl) Türkçe (tr) 普通話 (zh-CN)

dimos
Posts:303
Joined:2008-10-24, 15:24
Real Name:Δημήτρης
Gender:male
Location:Thessaloniki
Country:GRGreece (Ελλάς)

Re: Questions about Greek

Postby dimos » 2013-11-05, 10:41

meidei wrote:Can anyone explain to me the usage of Past Perfect in Greece's Standard Greek?
I am drawing a blank here, I can only think of the Cypriot usage ("Την Δευτέρα έχουν γίνει αλλαγές στο πρόγραμμα")


You should consult a grammar book.
I hope this will help you:
http://ebooks.edu.gr/modules/ebook/show.php/DSGYM-A112/621/4007,17983/

User avatar
Iván
Language Forum Moderator
Posts:990
Joined:2012-04-07, 12:35
Real Name:Iván
Gender:male
Country:DEGermany (Deutschland)

Re: Questions about Greek

Postby Iván » 2013-12-12, 22:34

Hi!

A girl from my class just got a tattoo and it's apparently written in Greek. Can you guys tell me what it means if I provide you a photo of it?

Thanks in advance!

Image
Minkä nuorena oppii, sen vanhana taitaa.

IpseDixit

Re: Questions about Greek

Postby IpseDixit » 2013-12-12, 22:42

Not sure, but I think it means always three.

But it's better if you wait for a native speaker :) .

User avatar
md0
Posts:8188
Joined:2010-08-08, 19:56
Country:DEGermany (Deutschland)
Contact:

Re: Questions about Greek

Postby md0 » 2013-12-12, 23:13

Yep, "always three".
With some slight stretch of imagination you can also read it as "forever three", although that's usually expressed as "για πάντα τρία", or if it refers to age, as I somehow suspect, "για πάντα τριών", with the number in the genitive case, to modify the dropped "ετών" 'years (old)'.
"If you like your clause structure, you can keep your clause structure"
Stable: Cypriot Greek (el-cy)Standard Modern Greek (el)English (en) Current: Standard German (de)
Legacy: France French (fr)Japanese (ja)Standard Turkish (tr)Elementary Finnish (fi)Netherlands Dutch (nl)

User avatar
Multiturquoise
Language Forum Moderator
Posts:4169
Joined:2011-10-10, 17:12

Re: Questions about Greek

Postby Multiturquoise » 2013-12-18, 22:17

Καλώς ορίσατε σε αυτό το θέμα!
Έχω μια ερώτηση για τη νεοελληνική γραμματική.

If "it isn't the man" is "δεν είναι ο άντρας", should "not the man" be "όχι τον άντρα"?
native: (tr)
advanced: (en) (el)
intermediate: (fr) (ka)
focus: (de) (sl) (hr)

User avatar
md0
Posts:8188
Joined:2010-08-08, 19:56
Country:DEGermany (Deutschland)
Contact:

Re: Questions about Greek

Postby md0 » 2013-12-18, 22:22

We can't tell without context, because the elliptic English phrase you provide doesn't make it clear if "man" is the subject (so nominative in Greek) or the object (so the accusative in Greek).
"If you like your clause structure, you can keep your clause structure"
Stable: Cypriot Greek (el-cy)Standard Modern Greek (el)English (en) Current: Standard German (de)
Legacy: France French (fr)Japanese (ja)Standard Turkish (tr)Elementary Finnish (fi)Netherlands Dutch (nl)

User avatar
Levike
Posts:6153
Joined:2013-04-22, 19:26
Real Name:Levi
Gender:male
Location:Budapest
Country:HUHungary (Magyarország)

Re: Questions about Greek

Postby Levike » 2013-12-20, 15:00

Could you recommend a good website for Greek grammar. :doggy:

Or language in general, even that would be great.

By the way the word κύριοι
is read like kirii with two i's at the end or like kiri with a longer i?

Or does it depend on how fast/drunk the speaker is?


Return to “Greek (Ελληνικά)”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 5 guests