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Hm, what would the correct sentence be, any? Ο άνθρωπος αράχνη μιλάει; Important stuff! :-P
1417
You can break all my 8 legs, but i still won't speak! The secret dies with me! Spider's honour!
aráchnē = spider = arachnid
Greek is really cool because of how many English words you find hidden in there (although really it's Greek words hiding in the English =Þ)
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What's the difference between δε and δεν? In another exercise δε was given as an option, and I hadn't seen it before.
No difference in meaning.
δεν is the older form. It is still used before vowels and before some consonants (π τ κ μπ ντ γκ ψ ξ τσ τζ), while the shorter form δε is used before other consonants (β δ γ μ ν λ ρ φ θ χ and any I might have forgotten).
It's a bit like English "an" which got shortened into "a" before consonants -- there's no difference in meaning there, either.
This sentence should be δε μιλάει by current spelling standards, as μ is not one of the consonants where the ν remains. But it's a bit difficult to change the course at this point.
Thank you. DL is just starting to show me δε and I was a little lost. But in English, the a/an difference is simple: before a word starting with a consonant, 'a,' before a vowel, 'an.' I don't see any obvious rule with δε/δεν. One of those things we have to just learn?
Eh? The comment you replied to gave the official rule -- use δεν before α ε ι ο υ η ω π τ κ μπ ντ γκ ψ ξ τσ τζ, otherwise δε.
There are (unfortunately) sentences in this course which don't follow that rule but that's not what it's supposed to be.
I think what Austin_Texas wanted to say is that the pattern when to use δεν resp. δε is not logical.
I think the logic behind it is that you use δεν before vowels and before plosive consonants (b (represented by μπ), d (represented by ντ), g, k, ks (represented by ξ) p, ps (represented by ψ), t and ts (represented by τσ)).
Correct me if I'm wrong, it's just a guess.
So it's δεν before vowels, stops (plosives) and affricates, but δε before fricatives and sonorants? That isn't such a complex rule. An affricate is "really" a stop consonant opened into a fricative, so it makes sense that the τσ and τζ follow the pattern for stops. It is interesting that the vowels follow the pattern of the stop consonants, though.
What about γ when it's pronounced as [j]? I can't think of any verb that begins with γ right now, but surely some exist? Would you negate it with δε or with δεν?
δεν threw me off at first, because Attic Greek (ancient) likes to balance sentences with μεν...δε which is not translated or translatable and the δε is never a negative. Currently, I'm trying to get used to when modern Greek adds a letter to the end with the common words δε and καφέ. The explanation from mizinamo is helpful and can be gotten from a standard grammar, but sometimes the inductive method of just trying to get a feel for when to add a letter to the end can be useful for a beginner. I don't yet have a feel for when to add the letter.
δεν threw me off at first, because Attic Greek (ancient) likes to balance sentences with μεν...δε which is not translated or translatable and the δε is never a negative.
Modern Greek negative δε(ν) is from Ancient ουδέν, I believe.
Roughly "on the one hand ... on the other hand".
It's still used in Modern Greek (as a deliberate loan from Ancient Greek).
For example, οι μεν άντρες είναι πολλοί, οι δε γυναίκες είναι λίγες "the men are many but the women are few / the men (on the one hand) are many; the women (on the other hand) are few".
Am I missing something with the vocabulary? In Animals 1, we learn mouse, dog, cat, turtle, horse, elephant, duck, bird, etc etc and then in Animals 2 we are suddenly asked to translate sentences containing pelicans and spiders! Is there supplementary vocab somewhere I should be looking at first?
There are clearly some glitches. In addition to the one you mentioned, it's just odd to learn the modern Greek word for buffalo.
Yes, I know enough Spanish that its cognates to Greek help me a lot.
