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- "Η γυναίκα ακούει το τραγούδι…
"Η γυναίκα ακούει το τραγούδι από το πρωί."
Translation:The woman has been listening to the song since the morning.
24 Comments
I think this teaches us that Greek grammar is different. Greeks would say "she is listening from this morning" where in English we would say "she has been listening all morning".
If ☆the woman hears the song from the morning☆ is wrong
How would you say this in Greek
1544
What is the most natural way to say "The woman has been listening to the song since this morning" in Greek? (note: I wrote "this morning" not "the morning"). I'm guessing "αυτό το πρωί" is acceptable, but I'm wondering what is more common? In my opinion, in English "this morning" sounds more natural than "the morning" unless you're actually referring to some other day's morning. Again, both English phrases are correct, but the first sounds more common and natural to my American ears :)
- 158
Jay, We are talking more English than Greek here. I hope the discussion doesn't bother others. The definite article makes the word definite, and context provides what definite is. Lacking anything else in the context, it is today. Thus "the morning", "the day" "the evening" all refer to today. I do not need to say "this." So "this morning" becomes to my American ear slightly more emphatic.
Similarly, with "the house", "the car", etc. they refer to "my house", "my car".
- 135
The literal translation is ´The woman hears the song from the morning´. Why is it marked wrong? In any case the given translation has the wrong tense of the verb.
In any case the given translation has the wrong tense of the verb.
The translation given is in fact correct. 'Has been listening' can only be translated as ακούει in Greek. Έχει ακούσει = has heard/listened. The continuous aspect just does not translate.
The literal translation is ´The woman hears the song from the morning´. Why is it marked wrong?
'From the morning' does not make much sense as a starting point of a continued activity, does it? It should be "since (then)".
- 124
What if two friends are together in the morning and they heard a song together that they don't know the name of. Then, later in the day they are together again and pass by a woman who is listening to the same song from the morning. Then, the one friend says to the other "Η γυναίκα ακούει το τραγούδι από το πρωί," using "το τραγούδι από το πρωί" to refer to the song from the morning? The woman's listening would still be continuous and "από το πρωί" would be meant as "from the morning."
And it is for just that reason (that there could be various interpretations of a sentence) that we include "from the morning" as "well as since the moringin" as correct.
- 124
Ahh ok I was assuming from other people's comments in here that "from" was getting marked wrong. I wish they had a feature on here to highlight comments that were made before changes happened to save me from wasting you guys' time lol.
It could mean that the woman listens to the song every day starting in the morning.
'Since' is often expressed like this in other languages. Spanish: Yo vivo aquí desde hace 3 años. French: J'habite ici il y a 3 années. But i agree that it would be good with a lesson about this sort of expression. But now we know that is the expressions means "since" the verb is in present tense, even though we English speakers (but not French or Spanish or ??? speakers) think of it as a present perfect until we get used to it.
To express an action that started in the past but is still ongoing you use the present perfect continuous.
'From' is not correct in this case, please see similar examples here http://speakspeak.com/resources/english-grammar-rules/various-grammar-rules/since-for-from
"since morning" is right. "since the morning" does not sound natural in English
- 158
The translation "The woman has been listening to the song since the morning." takes ακούει as present continuous, and so does most of the discussion. But why does the Greek not allow a simple present. "The woman is listening to the song from the morning." That is, the woman heard the song in the morning, and it has just come on the radio again. "The woman is listening to the song (now) from the morning (when she heard it first).
- 158
There is a "present continuous" tense that fits this meaning. "Has been listening since the morning" means she is still (that is, in the present) listening.
The woman listens to this song since this morning. Έχει ακούσει - has been listening. ακούει - listening. This exercise needs to be moderated.
Έχει ακούσει = has listened. There's no past perfect progressive in Greek so the only way to show that she is still listening is to use the present tense.
