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- "Αν ναι πότε;"
23 Comments
It took me a moment to understand this phrase, because in English it would be written out as "If yes, when?" and personally I feel that comma makes a huge difference in understanding written English. Also, I put the Greek phrase into google translate and it came up with "if ever" which is a very common phrase in the region of America that I'm from.
Good point while it's not possible to add anything to this sentence... no, not even a comma we will have it in the New Tree.
As for Google or any other translation site, they are notorious for their errors in translating sentences. For individual words those given in these dictionaries are more reliable; including Google. here.
I get: αν >"if", ναι> "yes" πότε > "when". "If yes, when?" I assure you this is the correct translation.
You may like these links we've gathered. https://www.duolingo.com/comment/22040507
Your input is greatly appreciated and we look forward to more.
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Duolingo's punctuation is always awful. Commas are regularly omitted and I don't think I've ever seen them include a hyphen in a sentence.
Well frankly it's hard enough to get used to this as it is, but the lack of any question intonation whatsoever in the computer-generated speech is not exactly helping. It sounds like a non-question, it looks like a non-question. And then there's the lack of comma on top of it. So some additional hints would be welcome there.
So, in a proper written Greek, is comma needed after yes in this phrase or not?
Wow Jaye! Thank you. Your attention to detail is impressive! And Dimitra - Thank YOU! I am something of a plodder. Only in retirement have I attempted to learn languages. Some might say "Soon enough!" "Soon enough!" Sooner or later - it's thanks to the internet, and Thank you Duolingo!
It's never too late to learn a language. Plus, retirement is a great oppotunity for foreign language learning!^.^ We hope you're all enjoying the Greek course so far. ^.^
Fantastic! I too have also started learning Greek in my retirement. I am loving it!!!
Συγχαρητήρια Jennifer! I have just spent some time in Cyprus, where just about everybody spoke English! Now it's back to Duo - until the next time...
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Yeah Cyprus is not the best place to be forced to practice your Greek. Everyone speaks English and their Greek is ... very different :)
Is it correct that there are two words for "when" in Greek? πότε and όταν. If yes, when do you use what word?
πότε is a question word, as in "When did you come in?"
όταν is a conjunction, as in "You closed the door when you came in." -- it connects two phrases together, as in "you closed the door" and "you came in". It can sometimes be replaced by the phrase "at the time that", as in "You closed the door at the time that you came in".
(But you can't say "At the time that you came in?" -- that shows that the "when" in "When did you come in?" is the question word.)
Because you need the question sense here, not the conjunction that precedes an event that you are using as the basis for a time comparison.
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Now I understand why όταν is in the Tips and Notes page while πότε is not. Όταν is a conjunction which joins separate clauses, but πότε is a word only used in questions.
- 206
Funny that robert672165 just used what is a natural English expression "If so, ...". In English we don't say "If yes, ...", rather we say "If so, ...". The former sounds like a poor translation. I understand that this is not an English course, but I think that at least a correct translation should be used and marked as correct.
Yes, you have a point and
"If so, when."
is already an alternative translation.
