# Keeping Verb Tenses Straight



## Bryn Mawr

I am in the early stages of learning modern Greek and one of the things that is confusing me is the correct use of verb stems and endings.

Would it be possible to compare the two texts and to tell me if I am translating correctly?

A long time ago I was looking for adventure and I saw a book on a table.  The book said that we would have good times ahead and that I would see an Unicorn.

Πολύ καιρό πριν έβλεπα για περιπέτεια και είδα ενα βιβλιό στο τραπέζι. Το βιβλιό είπε θα βλέπουμε καλό καιρό μπροστά και θα δω ενας Μονόκερος.


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## sotos

Bryn Mawr said:


> A long time ago I was *looking for* adventure and I saw a book on *a* table.  The book said that we would have good times ahead and that I would see an Unicorn.



Πριν από πολύ καιρό *έψαχνα *για περιπέτεια και είδα ένα βιβλίο πάνω σε *ένα* τραπέζι. Το βιβλίο έλεγε ότι θα έρθουν καλοί καιροί  και ότι θα δω ένα Μονόκερο.


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## Bryn Mawr

sotos said:


> Πριν από πολύ καιρό *έψαχνα *για περιπέτεια και είδα ένα βιβλίο πάνω σε *ένα* τραπέζι. Το βιβλίο έλεγε ότι θα έρθουν καλοί καιροί  και ότι θα δω ένα Μονόκερο.



Many thanks for this.  I can see that I've a lot of studying to do to explain the changes to myself, I'd best get started


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## Αγγελος

Bryn Mawr said:


> Many thanks for this.  I can see that I've a lot of studying to do to explain the changes to myself, I'd best get started


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## Αγγελος

You do  and I will not pretend that Greek is an easy language to learn. Some things, however, are fairly straightforward:
1) Watch out for English idiomatic expressions, particularly combinations of verbs+prepositions, which hardly ever translate literally. "to look" is κοιτάζω, not βλέπω, but in any case "to look for", meaning "to seek", must be rendered by a totally different verb (ψάχνω (για), γυρεύω, αναζητώ...) . 
2) The English past continuous almost always corresponds to the Greek imperfect. Thus, "I was looking for adventure" = _*έψαχνα *_για περιπέτεια, just as "I was sleeping when you called" = _*κοιμόμουν *_όταν τηλεφώνησες. The two tenses are of course not equivalent, as the Greek imperfect also renders the English expression "used to": "I drank (=used to drink) a lot of milk in my youth" = _*έπινα *_πολύ γάλα στα νιάτα μου. It also has other uses, but 99% of the time the English past continuous (was ...ing) and past habitual (used to + infinitive) can safely be renderd by a Greek imperfect. 
3) "on _*a*_ table" is, quite reasonably, (πάνω) σ' ένα τραπέζι. (πάνω) στο τραπέζι means "on the table". There are many differences between the two languages in the use of the articles, most notably in that Greek systematically uses the definite article with proper nouns (ο Γιάννης, η Ελλάδα) and does NOT use the indefinite article with predicate nouns (είμαι δάσκαλος = I am _*a*_ teacher), but this is not one of them.


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## Bryn Mawr

OK, so the changes I see are :-

1)  A long time ago is said as Before a long time - Πριν από πολύ καιρό rather than Πολύ καιρό πριν

2)  Using the wrong verb for looking, it should be search rather than see -  but correct with first stem and second ending for past imperfect

3)  I'm teaching myself incorrectly, the neuter indefinite article (subject) is the same as one, you don't drop the stress mark.

4)  Στο is definite, for indefinite it's σε ένα. Would you use πάνω for "on the" as well?

5)   My English grammer has let me down, "the book said" is past continuous  because it always says that whereas I've used the past specific?

6)   Βλέποθμε / έπθουν.  In this case the English was wrong.  I intended to  say "we would see" rather than "we would have" so that the examples  would all relate to the same verb.  Your response appears to say "good  times will come"?

7) (and (9))  Consistantly missing the word "that"

8)  Good times are plural, oops

10) The Unicorn is the object of the sentense rather than its subject so the terminal ος changes to ο.

Hmm, ten errors in twenty five words must be some kind of record

Learning  Greek is certainly teaching me a lot of English grammar I should have  picked up in school.  I know of past continuous but never imagined past  habitual, many thanks for your comments.


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## Αγγελος

I mostly wanted to point out certain NON-difficulties (i.e. points where Greek agrees with English), but I will be happy to deal with all your remarks:

_1)  A long time ago is said as Before a long time - Πριν από πολύ καιρό rather than Πολύ καιρό πριν
_
Correct. Πολυ καιρό πριν or δέκα μέρες πριν are possible constructions, but they mean "a long time before _that_", "ten days _earlier_".

_2)  Using the wrong verb for looking, it should be search rather than see -  but correct with first stem and second ending for past imperfect
_
Indeed. The imperfect is almost always regularly derived from the present.

_3)  I'm teaching myself incorrectly, the neuter indefinite article (subject) is the same as one, you don't drop the stress mark.
_
No, you don't. ALL words of two or more syllables carry a stress mark. And βιβλίο is stressed on the middle syllable.

_4)  Στο is definite, for indefinite it's σε ένα. Would you use πάνω for "on the" as well?
_
The preposition σε has a vast range of meanings. Greeks learning English have trouble distinguishing between on/on/at/by/to... So στο τραπέζι means "on the table" if you are talking about a plate, but "at table" if you say "καθήστε στο τραπέζι" and "to the table" if you say "ελάτε στο τραπέζι". If you want to specify that you mean "on the table", as e.g. if you are talking about a boy that sat _on _the table, you will of course say "πάνω στο τραπέζι". If it's a book that is lying on the table, explicitly saying πάνω would be perfectly correct, but pleonastic. But if it is lying on top of a bookcase, you will have to say πάνω στη βιβλιοθήκη, because a mere στη βιβλιοθήκη would normally imply that he book was on one of the shelves. -- Whether you use the definite or the indefinite article is irrelevant in this connection.

_5)   My English grammar has let me down, "the book said" is past continuous  because it always says that whereas I've used the past specific?
_
I guess so. With books, it's always "το βιβλίο έλεγε [or more commonly έγραφε]", presumably for the reason you mention. With people, you can say both "ο Σωκράτης έλεγε..." = "Socrates used to say..." and 
"ο Σωκράτης είπε..." = "Socrates said... (once, or maybe more than once, but in any case a finite and definite number of times)".

_6)   Βλέπουμε / έρθουν.  In this case the English was wrong.  I intended to  say "we would see" rather than "we would have" so that the examples  would all relate to the same verb.  Your response appears to say "good  times will come"?
_
Yes. To be honest, I didn't quite understand the import of your English sentence. Was the book a book of predictions? Did it foretell of happy days to come? If so, you could say either "ότι θα βλέπαμε ευτυχισμένες μέρες" or "ότι θα δούμε ευτυχισμένες μέρες". Greek is not very strict on tense agreement. Likewise, "ότι θα δω ένα Μονόκερο" or "ότι θα έβλεπα ένα Μονόκερο" are both possible.

_7) (and (9))  Consistently missing the word "that"
_
It cannot be omitted in Greek, either as a conjuction ("he says [that] you are wrong", λέει ότι/πως κάνεις λάθος) or as a relative pronoun ("the fish [that] you ate" = το ψάρι που έφαγες).

_8)  Good times are plural, oops
_
And καλός καιρός means 'nice weather', NOT "a good time". "to have a good time" is περνώ καλά.

_10) The Unicorn is the object of the sentence rather than its subject so the terminal ος changes to ο.
_
Of course. And the article agrees with its noun: "ένα Μονόκερο" (accusative masculine singular)


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## Bryn Mawr

Very helpful, the why as well as the what.  Thanks for all your help.

Now I need to go away and assimalate it all.


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