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τι and ποιος/α/ο

Cifi

τι and ποιος/α/ο

Post by Cifi »

The tips explain the difference in usage (https://www.duolingo.com/skill/el/Quest ... -and-notes), and it seemed quite familiar to me because at least partly it is similar in Spanish:

  • to ask e.g. for a name, an address, a phone number and so on, you need cuál instead of qué: ¿cuál es tu nombre/dirección/número de teléfono?
  • You would always use qué before nouns at least in Spain: ¿qué trabajo haces?

However, in Spanish you can use ¿qué es ...? in order to ask for a definition: ¿qué es una jirafa? Is it the same in Greek, and τι είναι καμηλοπάρδαλη; would be correct in this case? (It is what Google translate suggests, but I've been taught not to trust it too much.)

And then, to express a question like which cat is yours?, I'd probably use either ¿qué gato es el tuyo? or Spanish, or change the sentence to ¿cuál de los gatos es el tuyo? (which of the cats is yours?), but would avoid ¿cuál gato es el tuyo? though it may be said this way in Latin America.

Would all of these work in Greek, too? (Google translate literally here, so ¿cuál gato es el tuyo? becomes ποια γάτα είναι η δική σου;)

Native: :de: Intermediate: :uk: Lower intermediate: :es: Beginner: :fr: Absolute beginner: 🇬🇷
(If there are errors in what I'm writing in either language, please do correct me - I'll never take it as offense or something like that.)

O.Zoe
Greece

Re: τι and ποιος/α/ο

Post by O.Zoe »

Cifi wrote: Mon Aug 01, 2022 12:41 pm
  • to ask e.g. for a name, an address, a phone number and so on, you need cuál instead of qué: ¿cuál es tu nombre/dirección/número de teléfono?

It's the same in Greek.
Ποιο είναι τ' όνομά σου; = What's your name?
Ποιος είναι ο αριθμός σου; = What's your number?
Ποια είναι η διεύθυνσή σου; = What's your address?

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Cifi wrote: Mon Aug 01, 2022 12:41 pm
  • You would always use qué before nouns at least in Spain: ¿qué trabajo haces?

That's also the case in Greek, at least when we mean "What kind/type of X...?".
Τι δουλειά κάνεις; = What's your job? (literally, "what [kind of] job do you do?")
Τι βιβλία διαβάζεις συνήθως; = What [kind of] books do you usually read?

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Cifi wrote: Mon Aug 01, 2022 12:41 pm

However, in Spanish you can use ¿qué es ...? in order to ask for a definition: ¿qué es una jirafa? Is it the same in Greek, and τι είναι καμηλοπάρδαλη; would be correct in this case? (It is what Google translate suggests, but I've been taught not to trust it too much.)

"Τι είναι Χ;" is used to ask for definitions.
Τι είναι η καμηλοπάρδαλη; (Answer: It's an animal)

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Cifi wrote: Mon Aug 01, 2022 12:41 pm

And then, to express a question like which cat is yours?, I'd probably use either ¿qué gato es el tuyo? or Spanish, or change the sentence to ¿cuál de los gatos es el tuyo? (which of the cats is yours?), but would avoid ¿cuál gato es el tuyo? though it may be said this way in Latin America.

Here, we would use only "ποιος/ποια/ποιο" in Greek.
Ποια γάτα είναι (η) δικιά σου; = Which cat is yours?
Ποια από τις γάτες είναι (η) δικιά σου; = Which one of the cats is yours?

"Τι γάτα είναι η δικιά σου;" would mean "What kind of a cat is the one you own?".

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There's a comment about "τι" vs "ποιος/ποια/ποιο" here.

🇬🇷 N :gb: C1 :de: B1 :it: A1

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