# Nothing is written, Nada està escrito Nulla è scritto



## LCB

Hi, Ciao, hola

I'd like to know if there's somebody who can help me in order to translate in Greek the sentence "Nothin is written". Thanks a lot


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## parakseno

"Nothing is written"
I think "Τίποτα δεν είναι γραπτό" would be fine...


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## ireney

If we are talking about something like fate though it would be "τίποτα δεν είναι γραμμένο". "Γραπτό" means in written form whereas "γραμμένο" means already written down.


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## parakseno

Didn't know this. I thought adjectives in -τος and -μενος mean the same thing (though you can't use those in -τος instead of those in -μενος in any circumstance; eg. compound tenses: έχω γραμμένο). 
Is there such a difference in meaning in general, or it's just the case of γραμμένος and γραπτός?


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## ireney

When my brain's stuck it's stuck and no two ways about it!

I cannot for the life of me think of any good examples but in general:
- μένος adjectives mean something that has already happened φορεμένο, διαβασμένο etc.

Adjectives in -τος mean something that is or can be "done" ριχτό , φορητό etc

This is not a hard and fast rule in modern Greek though. There are however slight differences even in this case. One example I can think of is αγαπητό, αγαπημένο. Αγαπητό μου παιδί means "my dear child" and in this case αγαπητό could indeed be substituted with αγαπημένο although even here the second would mean it is much more dear so to speak. On the other hand, you cannot usually substitute αγαπημένο with αγαπητό. 

Either my mind will clear up at some point or some other kind sould will come up and clear thing up


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## modus.irrealis

The English, though, is ambiguous isn't it? You could also translate it as τίποτα δεν γράφεται, couldn't you?


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## Tetina

modus.irrealis said:


> The English, though, is ambiguous isn't it? You could also translate it as ôßðïôá äåí ãñÜöåôáé, couldn't you?


 
Hi Modus. I think the meaning of the sentence doesn't allow you to translate it like that because "written" is more like fate or destiny here. Even so *ôßðïôá äåí ãñÜöåôáé* is a false sentence.... áíáëçèÞò ðñüôáóç.... for rationally speaking "nothing can be written" is almost impossible. I mean in greek it sounds strange.

I think that the best translation is of Irene's.

P.S. Forgive my english, I write the greek next to it in order to understand  better what I mean


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## ireney

That doesn't mean it cannot be translated so though Tetina  And expanding the sentence can make it a "true" one. Παραδείγματος χάριν "Τίποτα δε γράφεται στο έγγραφο σχετικά με το Χ". It's not the most elegant Greek ever but you will find similar expressions practically everywhere.

Anyway, I think that modus was more interested in pointing out the possibility of a 3rd translation than anything else really.


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## modus.irrealis

I'm still not sure how to take the English of the original, but reading about this same topic in some of the other forums, it seems that the Spanish requires the είναι γραμμένο translation. But yeah, I was just pointing out that with "Nothing is written," "written" might just be an adjective (giving είναι γραμμένο) or "is written" is a passive verb (which gives γράφεται, unless my Greek is totally off). For me, "nothing is written" doesn't really invoke fate or anything, which is why I found it ambiguous, but I guess that reading makes more sense in the end.


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## anthodocheio

modus.irrealis said:


> "is written" is a passive verb (which gives γράφεται, unless my Greek is totally off).


 
I understand that my English is somehow off but , are you saying that "is written" means "γράφεται"?

Wow! Now understand that you are right!

The thing is that "γράφεται" it translates in english into "is written" but "is written" translates in Greek into "είναι γραμμένο", unless is about how a word is written (o como se escribe, para que nos entendamos mejor).

Ελπίζω να είναι ξεκάθαρο αυτό που θέλω να πω...


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## modus.irrealis

anthodocheio said:


> I understand that my English is somehow off but , are you saying that "is written" means "γράφεται"?



I'm saying that it _can_ mean γράφεται_,_ in the right context, like the example you give about how a word is written. But even with something like "history is written by the victors", I would assume that if you translated that literally (i.e. using a passive) into Greek, you'd get η ιστορία γράφεται από τους νικητές, and η ιστορία είναι γραμμένη από τους νικητές would mean something different (more like "the story has been written by the victors" or even "the story was written by the victors"), the difference being the first is a general statement while the second is a statement about a specific event (in the past). Right?


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## anthodocheio

modus.irrealis said:


> Right?


 
Of course, right! And of course your Greek is not off at all!

Saludos


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