"Πόσες γάτες έχει;"

Translation: How many cats does he have?

[CobaltOakTree]

What part of the sentence implies there is a he? I don't understand.

[mizinamo]

None of them implies specifically "he", but it has to be either "he, she, it" because the verb form έχει is for third person singular.

It's probably either "he" or "she", because things that we refer to as "it" in English (inanimate objects, mostly) generally don't own things.

(But all three are accepted. Some people might refer to a young child as "it", for example, and it might own a cat.)

[CobaltOakTree]

I see. Thanks!

[PauloMuffato]

Εγώ έχω. Εσύ έχεις, Αυτός/Αυτή/Αυτό έχει... Εμείς έχουμε. Εσείς έχετε. Αυτοί/Αυτές/Αυτά έχουν.

[Snekre]

And this makes sense how? Like an animal shelter?

[Theo_Matrakas]

Yes!!! Or just referring to a person who has many cats as pets :)

[Broian]

why he have not he has?

[mizinamo]

"does he have" -- the -s for "he" goes onto the "do" helping verb in this question.

Generally, when there are two verbs in a sentence, only one of them gets the -s ending for "he, she, it", or a past tense ending, or other change, and the other one is in the dictionary form.

[sutozsombor]

So you have to conjugate πόση the same way as δίκη or αυτή?

[troll1995]

Yes. The same for masculine and neuter.

[Blunder9]

Mind blown!
Why does this sentence suggest "he" instead of "you"?

[jaye16]

Because when you use "έχει" it means "he, she, or it has"

Check out the conjugation of the verb "έχω" in the TIPS & NOTES section of tht Basic 1 or use the resources shown here.

https://forum.duolingo.com/topic/936

[kruvismile]

3 words in Greek -V- 6 words in English. This is the part I like Greek

[ErikdenB]

In a previous EN-EL question, the suggested translation on hover for "how many cats" was Πόσους γάτους. What is the difference and which is correct here?

[ChrysiCh.]

Both are correct. Ο γάτος - οι γάτοι is the masculine noun and it is usually reserved for male cats. Η γάτα - οι γάτες is the feminine noun and it can be used for all cats. For all cats as well, can be used the neutral noun το γατί - τα γατιά.

[Stefanie-Doris]

I wrote: How many cats are there? and got it wrong.
How would you say this in Greek?

[troll1995]

That would be: Πόσες γάτες υπάρχουν; or Πόσες γάτες είναι εκεί;

[crisjuan12]

he + has and no he + have

[jaye16]

It is

"he has"

but

DOES he HAVE
"
When there is the helping verb DOES then you use HAVE because the "S" is on DOES.

You can find this in the Tips & notes for Basic 1.

See here for how to find that and more helpful links.

TIPS TO HELP YOU LEARN + HOW TO REPORT A PROBLEM

https://forum.duolingo.com/comment/22424028

And check out the Greek Forum here with more links.
https://forum.duolingo.com/topic/936

[Nicholas32721]

Interesting, it accepted πόσες γάτες έχεις. Which would be 'How many cays do you have?' but it didnt say i typoed or anything?

[G.Georgopoulos]

The grading system is too lenient sometimes, we're not sure how it works from time to time.

[AlexG1208]

is "How many cats do they have?" not acceptable? They as in the genderless person not the plural.

[jaye16]

Good catch. It has been added.