 | Subjunctive |
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Would you please explain what is the difference of these two sentences: Μπορώ να μιλήσω. Μπορει να μιλήσω. |
| Re: Subjunctive |
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Hi, The word μπορώ is very well explained in lesson 70 on this site. In a nutshell the difference is following: In first sentence (μπορώ να μιλήσω) it means "I can speak". In the second sentence (μπορεί να μιλήσω) it means "there is a possibility that I will speak", or "maybe I will speak", "most likely I will speak". Exact translation depends on the context of the phrase. As you can see, this word has two different meanings. First meaning indicates that a person has ability to do something. In this case, both the main and subjunctive verbs are inflected: εγώ μπορώ να μιλήσω - I can speak εσύ μπορείς να μιλήσεις - you can speak αυτός μπορεί να μιλήσει - he can speak etc The second meaning is inpersonal and indicates a possibility of some action, described by the subjunctive part. In this case, μπορώ is used always in third person singular (μπορεί), and the subjunctive part is used in concordance with the subject μπορεί να μιλήσω - maybe I'll speak μπορεί να μιλήσεις - maybe you'll speak etc. See more examples in the lesson 70. |
