# Αν έρθει κανένας άλλος, πες του να περιμένει



## SerinusCanaria3075

Good one.

I have a question about the pronoun "*κανένας*". Can it be translated as _anyone_ and _no one_ or is it always negative _(no one)?_

_Αν έρθει *κανένας άλλος*, πες του να περιμένει_.

The author translated it as: _If anyone else comes_... but the dictionaries I've seen say _no one/nobody_ so I'm wondering if it can be translated as:

_Se *qualcun altro*_? or _Se *nessun altro*_?


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## epam

Κανένας in this case means ακόμα ένας.

I'm afraid you cannot use "no one" in this phrase, since you are expecting someone to come so you tell him to wait. If no one comes, who would you be telling to wait?

If paraphrasing this with the "if ... else ..." clause, we can employ "no one" like:

If no one else comes, good˙ else tell him/her to wait.


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## Vagabond

Actually, "anyone" would be the exact translation of "κανένας" in this case; there is no exact term for "anyone/anybody" in Greek, so you'd have to use "κανένας/κανείς/κάνας" or "κάποιος", depending on the register.

Epam, "κανένας" in this context does not mean "ακόμα ένας", because it might be two or three or more; it does show you are not expecting many more people to arrive, though (if any at all).

In Italian, "qualcuno" is fine in this context (my Spanish is horrible, but my dictionary suggests "alguien"..?).


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## epam

I thought the phrase on the topic says "πες του", not "πες τους". 

If it's certain that we are expecting 2 or more to come then we should have used "Αν έρθουν κι άλλοι πες τους να περιμένουν", so i don't see why "ακόμα ένας" doesn't fit.

"*Αν έρθει ακόμα ένας, πες του να περιμένει*", "*Αν έρθει κι άλλος πες του να περιμένει*". "Κανένας" acts like an addition (AND, +, ΚΑΙ). In other words we can easily use the second phrase and get away with it. It doesn't mean that you are going to tell the next person to wait, but the person next to him/her will pass.  Practically, you just follow the addition, and with that you tell everyone who comes, to wait.


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## Vagabond

epam said:


> I thought the phrase on the topic says "πες του", not "πες τους".


Of course. Grammatically, κανένας is singular; semantically, not necessarily so.


> If it's certain that we are expecting 2 or more to come then we should have used "Αν έρθουν κι άλλοι πες τους να περιμένουν", so i don't see why "ακόμα ένας" doesn't fit.


So I suppose when you use that phrase, you know you might get only one more person..? Wouldn't that make it a tad too specific, so much so that you'd rather say "Αν έρθει ο Χ, πες του να περιμένει"..? Or do you perhaps mean that if one more person comes, show him in, but if there are two of them, uh-huh, kick the second one out? I think not. Plus, I never said it is certain you are expecting more than one person. I said it's certain you are not expecting many more, _if any at all_.


> "*Αν έρθει ακόμα ένας, πες του να περιμένει*", "*Αν έρθει κι άλλος πες του να περιμένει*". "Κανένας" acts like an addition (AND, +, ΚΑΙ). In other words we can easily use the second phrase and get away with it. It doesn't mean that you are going to tell the next person to wait, but the person next to him/her will pass. Practically, you just follow the addition, and with that *you tell everyone who comes*, to wait.


Precisely. Therefore, we are not talking about _one_ more person, as you originally suggested, but about _anyone_ that might arrive. I agree you could get away with "αν έρθει κι άλλος". I disagree you could get away with "αν έρθει άλλος ένας", because then you sound very specific that you are talking about one person, not two people, not one plus one plus one, just _one_ single person.


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## epam

So I suppose when you use that phrase, you know you might get only one more person..? Wouldn't that make it a tad too specific, so much so that you'd rather say "Αν έρθει ο Χ, πες του να περιμένει"..? Or do you perhaps mean that if one more person comes, show him in, but if there are two of them, uh-huh, kick the second one out? I think not. Plus, I never said it is certain you are expecting more than one person. I said it's certain you are not expecting many more, _if any at all_.


No, i just meant that it's sounds more correct if we use the plural form of the phrase even if we are just expecting 1 or 2 or more to come. It's more general than specific.

About the rest, I agree and have nothing more to add.


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## Kevman

Γεια Serinus,

Check out *eva 62*'s post#2 here for a nice little summary about negating words like κανένας.
For translation purposes (into English, anyway), it generally means "anyone" unless it's negated or stands alone, so:
Αν έρθει κανένας = If anyone comes

Δεν ήρθε κανένας = No one came

-Ποιος ήρθε;
-Κανένας.
=
Who came?
No one.


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## SerinusCanaria3075

So the negative particles determine whether it's _anyone_ or _no one_. I'm guessing one can equally substitute "κανένας άλλος" for "οποιοσδήποτε άλλος" (wouldn't "_οποιοσδήποτε_" also be a direct translation for _"anyone"?)._

In any case, in Spanish one could use either pronoun depending on the person you're referring to _(si nadie/alguien más viene, dile que espere)._


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## Vagabond

SerinusCanaria3075 said:


> So the negative particles determine whether it's _anyone_ or _no one_. I'm guessing one can equally substitute "κανένας άλλος" for "οποιοσδήποτε άλλος" (wouldn't "_οποιοσδήποτε_" be a direct translation for _"anyone"?)._


Actually, you are right  Κανένας would be the more casual/colloquial way to say it, though.


> In any case, in Spanish one could use either pronoun depending on the person you're referring to _(si nadie/alguien más viene, dile que espere)._


This is great. My Spanish is better by a bit now (still a loooong way to go though!).


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