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- "Eleni is drinking water."
"Eleni is drinking water."
Translation:Η Ελένη πίνει νερό.
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so we always say "the" even if it's a name that's the subject? Instead of "Helen is drinking water", we write "The Helen drinks water" in Greek?
Literally, yes, it's "The Helen drinks water".
But you'd translate it as "Helen" and not "the Helen" because the English rules for articles are different.
Personal names always take the definite article: Η Ελένη βλέπει τον Γιώργο "Helen sees George", literally "the Eleni sees the Yiorgos".
(Exception: No article when you call someone by name. Ελένη, έλα εδώ! "Helen, come here!". And none if you are referring to the name itself rather than the person with that name: Το όνομά μου είναι Κώστας "My name is Costas", since there you're referring to the word rather than the person.)
One quick thing, even if the English equivalent of «Ελένη» is "Helen", they would still be referred to as "Eleni" in English, just spelled with Roman characters. This is because names are cultural and part of your identity, therefore to most languages you are still called by your name that was given to you, not by some other version from your language, because their name isn't from your language. Some people are forced to pick a new name because theirs is unpronounceable using the sound set from the new language (mainly Chinese to English), but they choose a new name, not formulate theirs in an easier way.
νερό is the modern Greek word.
ύδωρ is the ancient Greek word which is sometimes still used, but much less often then νερό.
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@AlexPedrotti. - In Ancient Greek the water is called τὸ ὕδωρ. - And in Modern Greek there are still many words beginning with υδρα or υδρο. And there are words like υδρία or υδρίδιο nowadays. - A waterplant is ένα υδρόφυτο.
By the way, the name of the constellation Hydrus in Modern Greek is Ύδρος.
https://el.wikipedia.org/wiki/%CE%8E%CE%B4%CF%81%CE%BF%CF%82
Sorry, I don't speak English well. It is not my mother tongue.
Why not "η Ελένη είναι πίνει νερό"?
Because Greek doesn't need a helping verb in the present tense. Η Ελένη πίνει νερό is quite enough to express the meaning "Eleni is drinking water."
Trying to add an unnecessary helping verb would be like saying "Eleni does is drinking water." It makes zero sense.
Because that's not the way we say it in Greek.
Η Ελένη πίνει νερό. means ""Eleni is drinking water". AND ALSO "Eleni drinks water."
TIPS TO MAKE LEARNING EASIER + HOW TO REPORT A PROBLEM
https://forum.duolingo.com/comment/22424028
This is the Greek Forum with more information.
If you're in the Basics skill, notice that at the beginning (homepage) there is an icon of a bugle (I think) next to the icon of a key. The second (bugle) icon is for "tips and notes", and there is an introduction to the definite and indefinite article there. There may be similar information when you go to "discussion" where they have what they call "sticky notes" that are always there for your information.
How can i know that this means “Eleni is drinking water” or “Eleni drinks water”?
Without context, it can mean either of those. Greek does not make that grammatical difference.
