"Τα αγγλικά είναι η διεθνής γλώσσα."
Translation:English is the international language.
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Don't tell the Esperantists!
(many use the term la internacia lingvo "the international language" to refer to Esperanto)
Maybe tongue in addition to language ought to be accepted? It's colloquial in English and literal in Greek if I'm not mistaken.
Yes, it is. Είναι is the form of είμαι in both third plural and singular.
Yes, but I just find it strange that it is "The Englishes are the international language"
You can always say "Η Αγγλική (γλώσσα)". But it's more common colloquially to say τα αγγλικά. It's probably a nounified adverb Μιλάει Αγγλικά=He speaks Englishly (in an a english way), and then αγγλικά became a plural noun because it looks like it. Or it is a nounified adjective from "αγγλικά λόγια"="english words" with λόγια omitted over the years.
Interesting. Is it only English that is used colloquially in the plural this way?
No, it's every language. Τα ισπανικά=spanish, τα ιταλικά=italian, τα κινέζικα=chinese, τα γαλλικά=french, τα ολλανδικά=dutch etc etc
Why ´διεθνής' - ? why not ´διεθνή' , to modify a feminine singular noun in ´γλώσσα' - ?
The adjective is διεθνής, not διεθνός.
It's not a three-ending adjective in -ος, -η, -ο or -ος, -α, -ο; instead, it's a two-ending adjective in -ης, -ης, -ες.
Masculine and feminine endings are identical (thus there are only two distinct sets of endings, not three) and the inflection is a bit different from the three-ending adjectives in -ος, -η, -ο.
There are also a few other kinds of endings for two-ending adjectives; for example, there is also -ων, -ων, -ον as in ευγνώμων "grateful", or -ος, -ος, -ο as in έγκυος "pregnant" where the feminine form ends in -ος as well.
Three-ending adjectives in -ος, -η, -ο are the most common, but not the only kind.
(Another kind of three-ending adjective is -ων, -ουσα, -ον as in ενδιαφέρων "interesting".)
mizinamo - Aha - many thanks. I´d not realized that two-ending adjectives existed. That really helps - ! It also clarifies ´ενδιαφέρων', which has always bothered me. Thanks again!
In case you're curious, this ων, ουσα, ον class includes what used to be Ancient Greek active present participles and now only survive in fossilised adjectives like this one -- ενδιαφέρων is literally "interesting" in that it's the present participle of the verb ενδιαφέρω "to interest (someone)" just as "interest-ing" in the present participle of "to interest".
(The modern present participle is in -οντας, is invariable, and only acts like an adverb, as in Μπήκε τραγουδόντας "he came in singing" = he came in while he was singing.)
