17 Comments
It is ''ανάμεσά τους''.. that means that the accentuation is double... this is because the adverb is being followed by a possessive pronoun..
Yes, we are aware of that and it has been an issue since the course came out. We are now creating a new tree and the double accent will be corrected.
(I hate it when somebody asks a question -- and then nobody bothers to answer it!) The double accent is right. This is because a Greek word has to be stressed on one of its last three syllables; when the stress comes on the third-from-the-end syllable (e.g., ανάμεσα), and then it's followed by an unstressed pronoun or possessive adjective, the two words are thought of as a single sound unit. So, the original stress would now be on an "illegal" fourth syllable from the end. To restore order, the Greeks add a second accent to the word with the stress. Examples: (1) ανάμεσα τα βιβλία but ανάμεσά τους, (2) το πρόβλημα but το πρόβλημά μου. Best wishes, Paul
We spend a great deal of time answering questions. Occasionally one slips by for which we apologize but your generalization that ..."nobody bothers to answers" is too harsh. I thought that by saying " that and it has been an issue since the course came out. We are now creating a new tree and the double accent will be corrected" showed that we are taking steps to correct the error.
I do realize you guys spend ridiculous amounts of your lives responding to questions and tussling with Duolingo to make corrections when needed. I can see why you felt my comment was unnecessarily harsh and I sincerely apologize for it. It's inevitable that not every query will be caught in this imperfect world we all live in! Up above, I only meant to empathize with Francesco, since I noticed his question had been left sitting there for seven or eight months....
Thank you so much. I can't express how much your appreciation and kind words mean to us. In my turn, I must apologize at snapping at you.
Yes, indeed 8 months seems an inordinate amount of time but as I said in the comment we are preparing a new tree where these issues will be corrected. And I thought that since the learner was made aware that it is an error it would suffice until that comes along.
Again thank you.
... and because the adverb is originally stressed on the antepenult ;)
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ανάμεσά τους
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μέσα τους
While "between themselves" may not be seen as a strictly kosher word-for-word translation, I've heard this phrase in English many times, probably as a way to emphasize the "them." Could it be considered as an additional legitimate version?
Of course, you're right and both "among them" and "between them" are shown as equally correct. As you can see from the answer in the heading here "between them" is accepted as well as "among them" and has been for a long time. Did you try one and have it rejected?
