"Πιστεύω την γυναίκα μου."

Translation:I believe my wife.

November 29, 2016

12 Comments
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https://www.duolingo.com/profile/Isidor868839

I trust in my wife????


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/troll1995

I trust in=εμπιστεύομαι, πιστεύω=believe. Those two words have different meanings. ;)


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/Thomas.hnn

why την and not της? is it genetive?


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/mizinamo

No, accusative.

της would be genitive.


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/Thomas.hnn

Thanks but when you say "i believe in my wife", "my wife" is genetive no?


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/mizinamo

Nope.

Πιστεύω στη γυναίκα μου has accusative again, this time together with the preposition σε.

It's not even an indirect object.

Compare, for example:

  • Δείχνω το βιβλίο στη γυναίκα μου.
  • Της δείχνω το βιβλίο.
  • Πιστεύω στη γυναίκα μου.
  • Πιστεύω σ' αυτήν.

In the first case, you have σε + accusative when it's a noun but genitive when it's a pronoun -- this is an indirect object. But in the second case, you have σε + accusative when it's a noun and also σε + accusative when it's a pronoun.


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/Thomas.hnn

Thanks for the answer

I'm really sorry but i do not understand at all.. :/

σε? I don't see it

And I thought direct object and indirect object were in the accusative case


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/mizinamo

στη = σε + τη

It's a contraction.

(Similarly στο = σε + το, στον = σε + τον, στα = σε + τα, στους = σε + τους, στις = σε + τις.)

Direct object is in the accusative case.

Indirect object is in the genitive case when it's a pronoun; and usually represented by σε + accusative case when it's a noun.

Sometimes, the indirect object also takes the genitive case, e.g. Το δίνω στη Μαρία = Το δίνω της Μαρίας for "I give it to Mary". But you're always safe using σε + accusative in this case; using the genitive in this case can cause confusion with possession.


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/ander.gd

"my" is the genitive, that's why it is μου; but the whole "my wife" is accousative, that's why it is την


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/Thomas.hnn

Ok thank you I understood :)


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/AniOhevYayin

Maybe the person (Thomdwarf) asking about genitive is acquainted with the fact that this verb in ancient Gk sometimes took the dative? (The person whom one believes was in dative.)


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/GabySchlalach

A very important sentence in any language! ;-)

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