"Το βιβλίο αναφέρεται σε ένα λιοντάρι."

[Lng52-._]

I don't think this translation is a "present passive" tense. Shouldn't we be using "is referred" or "is being referred".

[mizinamo]

The verb is passive in form but in English we translate it with an active verb.

Perhaps a more literal translation might be reflexive rather than passive: "the book refers itself to a lion" -- but of course that's not how we say it in English, either.

[troll1995]

Exactly. Το βιβλίο αναφέρει ένα λιοντάρι would be "the book mentions a lion"

[Jasutino]

So in third person, when someone or something is referring to something can you only use "αναφέρεται" and not "αναφέρει"?

[D_..]

It has nothing to do with the third person, it's about the structure of the phrase and how the subject and object are connected through the verb, in Greek active or passive voice.

Remember that it is αναφέρω + object but αναφέρομαι + σε + object.
From here, the example given "Don't forget to mention the party when you talk to Olivia. - Μην ξεχάσεις να αναφέρεις το πάρτυ όταν μιλήσεις με την Ολίβια." becomes "Don't forget to refer to the party when you talk to Olivia. - Μην ξεχάσεις να αναφερθείς στο πάρτυ όταν μιλήσεις με την Ολίβια."

[Stergi3]

It sounds better to me: The book is about a lion or the book concerns a lion. Αφορά is better Greek I think. This use of "αναφέρεται σε" with the meaning of "concerns" is widely used, but it seems difficult to get understood by the non-native speakers.

[mizinamo]

"The book refers to a lion" and "The book concerns/is about a lion" are two different meanings, though.

[Stergi3]

I tried to decipher the meaning of the phrase. Αναφέρεται, Ι think, is the main subject of the book, so I tried the above translation. Do you think that it is something different? I am not a native English speaker, so I cannot understand and have sense of these slight differences.

[mizinamo]

Yes, I understood αναφέρεται σ' ένα λιοντάρι / "refers to a lion" to mean that the lion is mentioned somewhere in the book, not that it's the main subject of the book.

Or possibly that the title of the book refers to a lion, e.g. if the book were called "My friend Leo".

If the lion were the main subject, then I agree that "concerns/is about, αφορά" would be better

[Stergi3]

I googled a little the above phrase. Here is a similar phrase from the Greek wikipedia about Genesis, the book of the Bible:

"Από δε τους Χριστιανούς ονομάσθηκε "Γένεσις", όνομα που ελήφθη από τον 4ο στίχο του Β' Κεφαλαίου του βιβλίου αυτού στον οποίο και αναγράφεται η ακόλουθη φράση: "αύτη η βίβλος γενέσεως ουρανού και γης ότε εγένετο", που αναφέρεται στη γένεση του κόσμου, δηλαδή, τον ουρανό, τη γη, τη θάλασσα, τα ζώα της θαλάσσης, τα ζώα της στεριάς, τα ερπετά, την φύση και τον άνθρωπο."

Of course we cannot take this phrase as a pattern, but it shows how one can use this phrase. It is the main subject of this part of the Bible, not a small part, a hero in a book etc. This is what I understood in the phrase "Το βιβλίο αναφέρεται σε ένα λιοντάρι".

Link here: https://el.wikipedia.org/wiki/%CE%93%CE%AD%CE%BD%CE%B5%CF%83%CE%B9%CF%82_(%CE%B2%CE%B9%CE%B2%CE%BB%CE%AF%CE%BF)

[georgek22]

Native Greek speaker here! "Αναφέρεται σε" is a synonym of "αφορά (σε)", both are used to refer to the main subject of something. So refers to/is about/concerns all sound like good translations to me. I don't know if there are slight differences between the English translations as mizinamo says, but I think you get the idea!

[Lng52-._]

I just want to know how to translate Past tense of "referred", not Present. Is it "ανέφερε"?

[troll1995]

Active Voice: Αναφέρω=mention (present) -> Ανέφερα (Past simple & Continuous)
Passive Voice: Αναφέρομαι=refer (present) -> Αναφέρθηκα (Past simple), Αναφερόμουν (Past continuous)

[Stergi3]

Yes, a controversial issue in Greek. This word is a compound ανά+φέρω. So the augmentation ε must go before the second part, ανέφερα, according the rules of Ancient Greek. It is called internal​ augmentation εσωτερική αύξηση. But it is also usual to consider the word as a whole, since this word has been transferred by the scolars from the Ancient Greek to Modern Greek, in the form of katharevousa. It wasn't a word of everyday life that used by the common, simple people in Modern Greek. Having it in mind the word should take the augmentation before α but it never happens in Modern Greek, all words starting from a vowel do not take augmentation. So the form ανάφερα is used too. Notice that many words like this have the same double form. Also the augmentation is something that many verbs don't like much so both forms, with or without augmentation are correct. Example: ντύθηκα and εντύθηκα, with the first one more usual, but always έτρεχα, έφερα, because the stress is on έ.
PS. Personally I don't agree to put an internal augmentation to all compound verbs, that do not come from Ancient Greek, actually Modern Greek does not "like" augmentation except when the stress goes on it :)
Some more info here: http://users.sch.gr/ipap/Ellinikos%20Politismos/Yliko/Theoria%20Nea/auxisi-rim-NE.htm

[carolin_o]

I am so confused about when "is xing" is an acceptable translation. Why, if the book refers to a lion, is "the book is referring to a lion" not ok?

[DanWalker7]

It might be possible to ask what you're currently reading and you say "this bit here (of the book) is referring to a lion" but it might be strange to think of the book actively doing something in the present. I wasn't too sure with this one either

[hjhj444]

... is referring to...?

[Jon345104]

Slightly off tropic but how would you say I was referring to..would it be ήμουν αναφέρει

[mizinamo]

No; it would be αναφερόμουν (σε).