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Am I right in thinking that this is is formed from μέσο (noun) in plural, plus μαζικός (adjective) in singular genitive, plus μεταφορά (noun) in singular genitive?
I think it's the first time in Duo I've come across a '3-word noun' (I've no idea what the proper name for them is), so I was wondering if anyone had any pointers/rules on how to construct them - ie what word should come first, whether the article always takes its gender from the first word, and whether all following adjectives/nouns should be in genitive.
Also in cases like this, where you've got a noun-adjective-noun phrase that acts a bit like a single word noun, are there any rules for what word to apply the adjective to? πχ, in the above case, why is μαζικός applied to μεταφορά and not μέσα?
Thanks in advance for any help!
Μέσα μαζικής μεταφοράς= Means of public transport. Public applies to transport, otherwise it would be Μαζικά μέσα μεταφοράς= Public means of trasport (as a construction it is correct, but it's not the way it is used to be said). There is no rule, it depends on what you want to say whether the adjective applies to one or the other noun. The only rule is that the whole phrase after of in English should be genitive in Greek. One other phrase Μέσα μαζικής ενημέρωσης is also Μαζικά μέσα ενημέρωσης=Means of public information / public means of information with both constructions being used.
Literally it means something like "The means of public transportation" -- τα μέσα (the means) μαζικής (of public) μεταφοράς (transportation).
So you combine μαζική μεταφορά (public transportation) in the genitive with τα μέσα (the means), to get a noun that refers not to transportation as an abstract concept but to the actual means that are provided to provide a service.
The public transport systems? In other words "The systems of public transport" seems to me to be a better translation and closer to the Greek.
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'the mass transport media´ is the literal translation, but is marked wrong...
Yes. Literal translations are often inappropriate, because they can often result in something that is unnatural in the target language.
"Media" in English usually refers to ways to convey information (e.g. newspapers, blogs, etc.) rather than ways to convey people from one place to another.
