 | having trouble with "are" (is/are) |
| so i want to translate: "reason and truth are supreme" or in place of supreme "prota" (of primary importance?). im having a problem translating it and im not very good with greek grammar yet. Does blepe, which is be, just take all forms both singular and plural? so that the translation would be 'reason and truth be supreme'? basically is "λογικα και αληθεια βλεπε πρωτα" correct? if anyone can help id really appreciate it |
| Απάντηση: having trouble with "are" (is/are) |
|
Hi Andrew, I am at school right now, and am not capable of typig this sentence in greek font, but I will write it in English characters, and if i have time later I will write it in Greek. " H logikh kai h alh8eia EINAI prwta." OR " H logikh kai h alh8eia ERXONTAI prwta." |
| Re: having trouble with "are" (is/are) |
|
Βλέπω isn't "to be", it's "to see". "To be" is είμαι. All verbs are fully conjugated for person and number, and so is είμαι, although this one has identical forms in the 3rd person singular and plural: είναι. FYI, the full conjugation of είμαι in the present tense is: είμαι: I am είσαι: you (singular) are είναι: he/she/it is είμαστε: we are είστε: you (plural) are είναι: they are Note also that in Greek nouns nearly always take the definite article, unless they are really indefinite. In "reason and truth are supreme", both "reason" and "truth" are definite. They refer to known concepts. So in Greek they need to take the definite article. "Reason" is thus "το λογικό" (note the ending), and "truth" is "η αλήθεια". I'm not sure about "supreme", but maybe "ανώτατος" is a good translation. So in the end, the correct translation must be something like: Το λογικό και η αλήθεια είναι ανώτατοι. Note how the adjective is in the masculine plural, agreeing with a combination of a neuter and a feminine subject. In Greek, the masculine is the base gender, to be used when an adjective has to agree with various nouns of different genders. |
| Re: having trouble with "are" (is/are) |
|
Dear friend "το λογικό" isnt the correct translation in this context. In this phrase reason is a noun so the correct translation would be "η λογική". To λογικό is an adjective. The translation i will give is : "H λογική και η αλήθεια είναι ανώτατες" but still it sounds unfamiliar for an everyday phrase so i guess is for shields, insignias or something like that. |
| Re: having trouble with "are" (is/are) |
|
είμαι: I am είσαι: you (singular) are είναι: he/she/it is είμαστε: we are είστε: you (plural) are είναι: they are How is είσαι written in the English alphabet? ejsaj? how do i pronounce that? As a further question, how are Greek letters generally converted into English letters? As an example, I have: πολύ ελκυστική transliterated as poly elkystjki/elkysyjkor Is that even close to right? Thanks! Last question, can i combine είσαι with πολύ ελκυστική to make a sentence that makes sense? |
| Απάντηση: Re: having trouble with "are" (is/are) |
|
> How is είσαι written in the English alphabet? ejsaj? eisai > how do i pronounce that? like: "eeseh" > As a further question, how are Greek letters generally > converted into English letters? First of all, there is no real "standard" for that. Some do it purely phonetically, such that all "ει", "οι", "η", ... become an "i", etc., others stick to what chars look most like (e.g. "p" would then be an "r", because it looks like "ρ"), but that leaves too many letters untranslateable. my favourite is: ω as "w", "η" as h, "χ" as x, "ψ" as "ps", "ξ" as "ks", "θ" as "th" (sometimes ambiguous with "τη"!) and the rest phonetically "φ" as "f", "r"/"p" for "ρ"/"π"... casually, I see the "j" used for "ξ", and "c" for "ς"(sigma at wordend), but "ks" appears more frequently, ditto plain "s" at wordend. |
| Απάντηση: Re: having trouble with "are" (is/are) |
|
And another hint: if you want to learn "Greeklish" (writing greek with latin letters), then get yourself an irc-client (e.g. opera, chatzilla, irssi, mIrc, xchat, ...) and connect to a greek irc-server - see for http://www.irc.gr for an appropriate host, like e.g. eu.irc.gr for europe) to connect to. On irc, Greeklish is the common writing style, and actual spelling varies beyond casual typoes....  |
| Re: Απάντηση: Re: having trouble with "are" (is/are) |
|
Thanks for all your help. If you don't mind, would you be able to answer my other two questions? "As an example, I have: πολύ ελκυστική transliterated as poly elkystjki/elkysyjkor Is that even close to right? Thanks! Last question, can i combine είσαι with πολύ ελκυστική to make a sentence that makes sense?" How would you make what I wrote into "Greeklish?" Thanks again |
