10 σχόλια
I don't understand why τι is wrong, in previous examples we had "τι πουλάς" " τι έχεις πει"and "τι ώρα" and "τι ντουλάπι είναι κόκκινο" the first two are τι plus a verb, the others τι plus a noun. My grammar book says: "the difference in meaning between ποια βιβλία and τι βιβλία is that the former normally implies that there is a set of books already known to both speaker and hearer, and the speaker is asking the hearer to specify which books out of this set s/he is referring to; whilein the latter the speaker implies "which books out of all the books that exist"." Help please.
τι πουλάς; -> What (kind of things) do you sell?
ποια πουλάς; -> Which ones (of those) do you sell?
τι βιβλία πουλάτε; -> what (kind of) books do you sell?
ποια βιβλία πουλάτε; -> which (of these) books do you sell?
ποιο ντουλάπι είναι κόκκινο; -> which cupboard is red?
τι ντουλάπι είναι κόκκινο -> incorrect
ποιο είναι το θέμα; -> what is the issue? which one of all the possible issues is THE issue?
τι είναι το θέμα; -> never used that, it's a little vague, and could be answered with "difficult, big, etc."
Usually, with "ποιος" you ask someone to name something, like a subject, a brand, a title of all the existing ones, or from the options given. With "τι" you ask about a definition/explanation/attribute of something.
-Ποιο είναι το όνομά σου; What's your name?
-Alex
-Τι είναι το όνομά σου;
a little confusing question, but the answer could be: greek, short, nice etc.
-Ποιο είναι το σχολείο σου; What's your school (name)?
-Το σχολείο μου είναι το ...school name...
-Τι είναι το σχολείο σου;
-It's big / good / new / a high school...
-Ποιο είναι το αγαπημένο σου τραγούδι; What's your favorite song?
-Το αγαπημένο μου τραγούδι είναι το "nothing else matters".
-Τι είναι το αγαπημένο σου τραγούδι;
-It's a ballad.
-Ποιο είναι το πρόβλημά σου; What's your problem?
-My problem is that I can't........
-Τι είναι το πρόβλημά σου;
-My problem is big/serious/technical..
That was a very interesting question and actually I discussed it with my friends and we couldn't reach a solid conclusion because there are LOTS of exceptions..... For example, Which color should I choose? Ποιο χρώμα να διαλέξω? Τι χρώμα να διαλεξω? both correct. Really, I would like to see if someone comes up with a rule or something about that.
Alkargr, the mist has now lifted and the sky is clear thanks to your marvelously clear explanation. I am very grateful to you for taking so much trouble to explain it to me. I am sure that others will also benefit from it. Language being a living thing there are always quirks which the rule cannot explain but I am happy that I now understand the general rule which before seemed impenetrable. Thanks again and καλά Χριστούγεννα.
Μα, αν ειναι ετσι πως το εξηγησες, δεν υπαρχει μια δυνατοτητα που καταλαβαινεται η προαναφερομενη ερωτηση με "τι"; "Τι ειναι το θεμα;" - "δυσκολο."
Εκτος απ' αυτο το βιβλιο μου μελετης ειπε, επειδη εγω ειμαι ενας γερμανος:
"Τι (as an adjective pronoun, in front of a noun) κρασι πινετε;" - Was für einen Wein trinken Sie? (What (kind of) wine do you drink?) possible answer: "γαλλικο."
"Τι (as a pronoun for a noun) πινετε;" - Was trinken Sie? (What (drink) do you drink?) possible answer: "Κρασι."
Αλλα το λεξικο δινει φυσικα επισης παραδειγματα για τη χρηση ως "γιατι": τι τρεχεις ετσι;
It is wonderful to see that there are also many English people here to learn Greek like me, though!
Και ακομη κατι: Γιατι δεν χρησιμοποιειται "πως" αντι "τι" αν το σημαινει; Για μου ειναι μονο λυπημενο οτι "τι" δεν ειναι "τι", αλλα "πως", και οταν θελω "τι" πρεπει να πω "ποιο", γιατι "ποιο" δεν ειναι παντα "ποιο".
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@ Alkargr ευχαριστούμε για τη λεπτομερή επεξήγηση. Ευχαρίστως σου έδωσα ένα lingot αν και δεν ξέρω αν μετά από τρία χρόνια(20/12/2018) χρησιμοποιείς ακόμα το duolingo
Μιλάς ισπανικά; Επειδή είναι η ίδεια διαφορά μεταχύ "qué" καί "cuál". Do you know spanish by change? Because It is the same difference between Cuál and qué in questions. That's the only way I could understand both interrogative pronouns. By the way, what is the title of that book of yours? I could use some help too with some topics. I use this one available online: http://minhateca.com.br/Cirillo/Cursos/Idiomas/Grego/43.Greek+An+Essential+Grammar+of+The+Modern+Language,99266090.pdf
It may help you later on
Many thanks for your help, unfortunatly I don't speak Spanish :-( The grammar book I use is David Holton, Peter Mackridge and Irene Philippaki-Warburton Greek A comprehensive Grammar of the Modern Language. Routledge.ISBN 10001-1 (hbk). At 520 pages its not small but I find it very helpful.
It happens to be the same book but with just 300 pages... Anyway, thanks.
Wow, that's useful to know, saves me from carting it around. There is so much super useful stuff out there, you just need a helping hand to find it. Thanks.
