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- "My sister never drinks."
"My sister never drinks."
Translation:Η αδελφή μου ποτέ δεν πίνει.
12 Comments
are πότε different from ποτέ; πότε is when (asking for a time) and ποτέ is never?
No, it also corresponds to a pronunciation variation.
αδελφή is the "classical" form which was resurrected; αδερφή is what the word turned into by centuries of sound change, at least in some dialects.
Nowadays, both forms coexist.
Is "ποτέ δεν πίνει" the preferred word order vs "δεν πινει ποτε"? Is it one of those weird Greek emphasis things? Both were accepted as correct
Is it one of those weird Greek emphasis things?
This^, they mean the same thing.
ποτέ (never)
It may make more sense if you think of ποτέ as "ever".
Τον έχεις ποτέ δει; "Have you ever seen him?"
So it needs a δεν to make "not + ever = never". Ποτέ δεν τον έχω δει "I have not ever seen him = I have never seen him".
Similarly with some other words such as κανείς -- which by itself means "someone" and needs a negative to make "anyone" out of it.
Κανείς έφαγε το ψωμί μου! "Someone ate my bread!"
Κανείς δεν τρώει το ψωμί του. "Nobody (= not anybody) is eating their bread."
