"Can you give me this book back, please?"
Translation:Μου δίνετε αυτό το βιβλίο πίσω, παρακαλώ;
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I would have used the verb μπορώ in this sentence had it not been a word bank exercise.
And of course, just to add to what nauajoς explained "δίνετε" is plural and so polite. Also, you would need to say: "Μπορείτε να μου δώσετε...". This is in the incubator as an alternative translation.
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Μπορείς να μου γυρίσεις αυτό το βιβλίο, παρακαλώ Μπορείς να μου επιστρέψεις αυτό το βιβλίο, παρακαλώ both include the same meaning as your sentences. so, can we use them as well?
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If "Μπορείτε να" is included, does it mean "Are you physically able to….."? instead of "Could you"? …………..."Can you"? has become rather ambiguous in English these days.
"Could you..?" is a bit more formal and polite, and the translation is "θα μπορούσες να...;". That doesn't mean you can't use "can you..?" with "please" and be polite as well. ^.^
Thank you for your feedback we'll take it into consideration for the new tree.
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Why was this not accepted? Μπορεις να μου δοσεις πισω το βιβλιο, παρακαλο.
There is a small discrepancy. The word "this" needs to be included. It doesn't say "the book" το βιβλίο, but "this book" "αυτό το βιβλίο" "το βιβλίο αυτό" in a language course these details are significant.
Also, pay attention to the words' spelling. "Δώσεις" and "παρακαλώ" need an ω. :P
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Can you explain please why its used "να δώσεις" and not "να δίνεις" . That baffles me , but it might be because I dont manage grammar very well .
It's like the Future Simple (θα δώσω)/Future Continuous (θα δίνω) thing:
1) Μπορείς να μου το δώσεις πίσω σε δέκα μέρες; (=Can you give it back to me in ten days?)
2) Ό,τι κι αν κάνεις, πάντα να δίνεις το 100% (=Whatever you do, always give 100%)
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That's fine as far as I'm aware; as long as you have the correct words, there's quite a bit of flexibility in Greek for the order they can be used in and still make sense.
This is a rather complex sentence and is presented to those who have reached a high level. We will review its usage in the new tree. Many thanks.
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Does where in the sentence you put πισω make any kind of a difference?
Well, the only two options for πίσω here are
"Μου δίνετε/δίνεις πίσω αυτό το βιβλίο, παρακαλώ;" or
"Μου δίνετε/δίνεις αυτό το βιβλίο πίσω, παρακαλώ;"
There is no difference in meaning, but there's nowhere else for you to place it. Δίνω (κάτι) πίσω works just like the phrasal verb give (something) back in English.
It would be "... επιστρέψετε..." (Aorist Subjunctive). When used like this, the Aorist Subjunctive works kind of like the imperative, so it would mean "Please give me this book back", so it's not a question.
This sentence is confusing because I don't see the verb for "can."
If you are not asking if you are able to do it, then it should just say "give me the book back, please"
Is that not the actual direction translation? Where does can come from???
Can you give me this book back, please?=Μου δίνετε αυτό το βιβλίο πίσω, παρακαλώ;=Μπορείτε να μου δώσετε αυτό το βιβλίο πίσω, παρακαλώ;
Both sentences are equally polite and don't use the imperative, whereas "Give me the book back, please=Δώσε/Δώστε μου το βιβλίο πίσω, παρακαλώ" does.
Okay thanks, I understand.
One thing I will say, though, is that "can" first and foremost in English implies an ability to do something. In fact, "willingness" to do something is not included in dictionary definitions of "can."
I think the sentence is confusing with can because it makes the situation sound like "no, I can't because I don't have an arm."
The words that should be used are could would or please. Perhaps there could just be parenthesis that say (polite) after the sentence.
There's already this discussion here where you've taken part and stated your point. BillDe has cited two sources that support the interchangeability of "can" and "may" in this context. Both "could" and "would" will be marked correct in case you type them in.
There's no feature that enables us to use any extra comments for the displayed sentence, so "(polite)" would be considered a word which would have to be translated into Greek as well.
