8 Comments
"αυτο" translates to "that" and "it" so technically either could be correct.
1252
They are not the same. That/those = εκείνο/εκείνα while this/these = αυτό/αυτά.
What is the difference in Greek between "this" and "that"? Isn't Αντό just the neuter personal pronoun?
- 1252
Usually it is a matter of "distance"
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This is my book = Αυτό είναι το βιβλίο μου (I have the book in my hands or it is somewhere close where one can see it)
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I liked that book = Μου άρεσε εκείνο το βιβλίο (the book might be anywhere in the world)
Regarding it is and this is in Greek is the same as in English. The first is personal pronoun and the second is a demonstrative pronoun. In a written text maybe you don't always understand the difference but in a speech, yes.
Let me know if it makes sense.
Okay, so the way your use "this" and "that" is the same as English.
What I am asking is this:
Can Αντό here be translated as "This" or "That"? Or is it strictly "it"?
I may be asking this because Hebrew is my second language, and this/that/it often are all correct translations due to the lack of a neuter gender.
- 1252
In English that has various explanations when it's used as a pronoun and one that I can find is: referring to a specific thing previously mentioned, known, or understood: that's a good idea | what are we going to do about that?
In Greek this phenomenon doesn't exist as we would use mainly αυτό: *αυτή είναι μια καλή ιδέα | τί θα κάνουμε γι'αυτό; *
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Αυτό είναι ένα φόρεμα = It is / This is a dress
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Εκείνο είναι ένα φόρεμα = That is a dress
In Spanish the rhyme "this and these have the ts, that and those do not" helps to remember the distinction between este and eso, and the rhyme might work for Greek for αυτό and εκείνο.
"Αυτό" should be translated as "this", "that" could be translated (not literally) to "το άλλο"
