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- Topic: Greek >
- "Η κοπέλα πήρε το πτυχίο."
19 Comments
Alex we don't use the verb "take" in this case. Take means to go and get something or bring something to another place. In this case, the certificate is being given to the girl. This is one of those areas where the Greek translation doesn't work word for word.
You can "take" an exam, or a course...but agreed, it's not the right word here. "Take a degree" sounds just about ok to my ear, but it implies the whole process of doing the course that leads to the degree, not just finally getting the award, which is what πήρε refers to here.
Certificate is already included but never hesitate to add your input it's always appreciated.
The girl got her degree? Just when I see πήρε it's like take or got, but received is έλαβε right?
303
I took a degree in nuclear physics. It was not given to me, believe me ... I said ýoung woman' and was marked wrong, in favour of ´young lady´ . Back to the 1950s - ?
Yes, "young woman" will be included in the correct answers. I don't understand what you are referring to with: "took a degree and it was not given to you". The answer shown above in this exercise is "The girl received the degree." Is there something you do not agree with. Please be specific so we can understand the issue. Is it because "receive a degree" is American English. If you would like us to add another form just let us know we try to embrace all varieties of English.
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Sorry, Jaye - it was a frivolous reaction to your comment above about not using ´take´ here, although ´take´/´took´ is the precise translation of πήρε. For what it´s worth I´m Canadian and live in the UK, and in my experience the expression ´took a degree´ is in common use in both countries. But I wasn´t complaining.
- 1385
Jaye, I didn't see Walt's reaction as frivolous at all, in his response to your comment to Alex, "Take means to go and get something or bring something to another place. In this case, the certificate is being given to the girl." I've regularly heard/read (in the U.S.), "he took a degree in psychology/nutrition," etc. -- So I can't agree that "This is one of those areas where the Greek translation doesn't work word for word." I think it does (and, most certainly so, if "earned" was deemed an acceptable translation).
I put "The girl received her degree" and was marked incorrect. Honestly "The girl received the degree" is one of these duolingo-translations. When testing language skills literal translation is simpler to check for, but "receiving the degree" is a formulation that is heard MUCH less often.
We try to be as precise as possible in this language learning procedure. We don't want people to think that "το πτυχίο" means "her degree" because they might get all this possessives thing wrong. It's easier to write a sentence in English, but we see some basic mistakes when some learners attempt to write a sentence in Greek from time to time , so we'd like to be as precise as possible. This is not the case with every single sentence of the course, for sure, but we prefer to keep some translations precise whenever we can.
I am sorry about your problem but this Forum is for language-related issues. The audio is a technical problem so you should report that here:
https://support.duolingo.com/hc/en-us/articles/204728264-How-do-I-report-a-bug-
