# πολύ ή πολλά?



## SSPolyglot

How would I say to someone going to Greece on holiday to have a great time, and to speak lots of Greek on my behalf?

Καλή διασκέδαση και να μιλάς πολύ ελληνικά για μένα?

or would it be πολλά ελληνικά? 

can I equally write καλά να περάσεις?

Ευχαριστώ πολύ!


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## artion

Πολύ Ελληνικά sounds better, but πολλά Ελληνικά is also acceptable. Ιf you rearrange the phrase to "να μιλάς Ελληνικά πολύ", the πολύ is unquestionably correct. Don't ask why, it's Greek.


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## SSPolyglot

Thanks Artion, that was quick!

Does it sound ok to write καλή διασκέδαση too?

Also, does ελληνικά have to start with a capital? I know in English it would but I thought that in Greek it doesn't.

Thanks


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## Δημήτρης

πολύ is the adverb and since you have the verb μιλάς, you need this and not the adjective πολλά (you can't say "many Greeks", "many Englishes" or "many Frenchs", can you?). 
ελληνικά and any other language name or ethic adjectives shouldn't be capitalized. Most of the time we are influenced by English conventions, so you will often see it capitalized.


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## SSPolyglot

Thanks for the confirmation Dimitri,

By the way, we do say 'many Greeks' but we'd be referring to the nationality rather than the language, in which case we'd be using the adjective and not the adverb, as you rightly said . English and French never take a plural form anyway.  

Thanks again.


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## Δημήτρης

Yep, this applies to language names only. In Greek you can say "many Americans" (πολλοι Αμερικανοι) as well, but the only case you can say "many Englishes" as in the language (πολλα αγγλικα) is in phrases like "δεν ξερω πολλα αγγλικα" (I don't know much English), where the extend of your knowledge of the language is in question, hence the adjective describes αγγλικα, not the verb.


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## Burden of Proof

Just for the record, 'many Englishes' does, in fact, exist. This term shows how language is a living thing that changes to meet the needs of contemporary society. For examples, just google "many Englishes". It fills a need since 'varieties of English' can be rather ambiguous out of context (varieties of written English - journalistic, scientific, etc? varieties of spoken English - slang, jargon, etc.?; varieties of English used in different countries?), while 'dialects of English' can carry negative connotations (historically, people have tended to use 'dialect' to refer to a 'lesser' variety of a 'standard' language). So, what to use when referring to Indian English, South African English, Kenyan English, British English, Canadian English, American English? Increasingly, beyond the field of Sociolinguistics, people are using the term 'many Englishes'. It levels the playing field, so to speak, and gives equal status to each one of those Englishes. Who knows, maybe one day speakers of Greek may be using 'πολλά αγγλικά' in that sense as well.


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## Perseas

Burden of Proof said:


> Who knows, maybe one day speakers of Greek may be using 'πολλά αγγλικά' in that sense as well.


I think  "πολλά αγγλικά" (but not "πολλά ελληνικά) is already used in that sense.


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## cougr

Perseas said:


> I think  "πολλά αγγλικά" (but not "πολλά ελληνικά) is already used in that sense.



In that case shouldn't it be _πολλές αγγλικές (γλώσσες)_;


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## Perseas

cougr said:


> In that case shouldn't it be _πολλές αγγλικές (γλώσσες)_;


In Greek "μιλάω αγγλικά"  is the same as "μιλάω την αγγλική (γλώσσα).
If you mean that.


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## Librarian44

To go back to the original question by SSPolyglot I'd rather agree with Artion with a minor change:
Καλή διασκέδαση (or να περάσεις καλά) και να μιλήσεις ελληνικά πολύ! 
Don't ask about the change, it's Greek - as Artion would say. Seriously: if you say να μιλάς you should also say να περνάς καλά, in which case the use of present tense does not apply to any specific period, it is valid in general, whereas the use of να μιλήσεις implies a restricted time, i.e. your vacation.


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