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- "Τα μέσα μαζικής μεταφοράς."
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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.
Thank you so much for that Troll, that explained things very well.
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.
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.
793
Unfortunately, in Greece the expression "mass" has been imposed for the many people, the population. For politicians we are all "the mass", things, votes. Yes, what for all the other countries are people, public, for the modern Greek language are just "the mass".
The irony is that many Greeks want to believe that we (Greeks) taught culture to other peoples, while we, ourselves, accept to be called "the mass". Is this a privilege I didn't realize?
That's what made it harder for our friend Sean to understand the concept of expression in exercise. He comes from a society of people, not "mass".
Heh, that was two years ago. And I'm not exactly proud of the UK right now :-)
I translated this sentence as "Means of public transportation" and it was considered wrong. I argue that it is correct. It should be accepted. I have already reported it. By the way, I prefer "Transportation" to transport which is more of a verb than a noun.
