Cyprus-Forum.com

[bwillcy]

Can someone answer a question about the Greek language for me?

To say "the man hit the ball" I use

Ο ανδρας χτυπαω την μπαλα

Is there a way, in Greek to say the ball was hit by the man.

I hope this is on topic, I can't think of anywhere else to ask.

Thanks,

Bil

[andri_cy]

Forgive me as I dont have greek on my pc. The man hit the ball should be o andras xtipaei tin mpala . There is a way to say the ball was hit by the man but that kind of syntax is really not used.

[bwillcy]

Sorry, I got the wrong person of the verb :(

The only information I could find about Greek passive verbs didn't seem to fit right with 'hit'

ετοιμαζω - - - ετοιμαζομαι
active - - - passive

Is there a passive form of hit?

If it's non-standard then I don't suppose it matters.

Thanks andri_cy

[andri_cy]

xtipo-xtipiemai
It is standard but passive is not something really used in Greek
So you would say i mpala xtipithike apo ton antra but it is not used. This is just technically the way you would put it. It is just not used in every day convo.

[Sotos]

Η μπάλα χτυπήθηκε από τον άνδρα I think it is used as much as the other way.

[andri_cy]

well you got me there. you can type in Greek and I cant
I dont think it is used as much but ok...if you say so.
Anyways, can we know why you need to know bwillcy?

[bwillcy]

Thanks for all your help.

I wanted to know because...

I teach English to foreign students and am teaching the passive tomorrow. Part of the lesson I have planned is language comparison (where you take a structure from English and compare it to your native language). Because I speak some Greek I thought I could lead by example; unfortunately I very rarely used the passive during my studies.

I am very probably wrong but I don't think Greek lends itself to passive language?

Thanks again,

Bwillcy

[andri_cy]

you are right. pasive language is used but not as much as active. Still I suppose it would be a good example.

[Mikros]

Andri, the people in Greece, use more the passive form that we do here, due to the accent we use that lacks a lot of words...

[andri_cy]

yea I lived in Greece for a long while. They do use passive more than us but not more than active.