 | How far does agreement go when using polite forms? |
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Hello: I've been working away at this program for more than a year now, and I'm on Lesson 46. I've had a question that has been bugging me for some time, and I thought it would be answered eventually. Please accept my apologies if I missed it somehow in the discussions for each lesson. Here’s my question: If you ask one person you don’t know very well, “Are you Greek,” you should say, " Είστε Ελληνας;” I want to know why you don’t say “ Είστε Ελληνες;” Can someone please explain the agreement of the polite form of a verb with other parts of the sentence? It would be helpful if someone went beyond my example, because I know that in this case "Greek" is a noun, not an adjective. Thank you very much!! |
| Re: How far does agreement go when using polite forms? |
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Perhaps what's confusing you is that the 2nd person plural verbform is used when referring to either more than one person (i.e., a true plural) or to just one person when speaking politely or formally (i.e., a semantic singular). Keep in mind that είμαι is a very special verb, because it links (i.e., "equates") a nominative subject with a nominative predicate, which must grammatically agree in gender and number with the subject. The result is actually quite simple -- when είστε refers to more than one person, any predicate must be nominative plural and agree in grammatical gender with the (nominative) subject: Είστε [εσείς] Έλληνες; = Are you Greeks? [plural, all males] Είστε [εσείς] Ελληνίδες; = Are you Greeks? [plural, all females] while when είστε refers to just one person, the predicate is nominative singular, again in gender agreement with the subject: Είστε [εσείς] Έλληνας; = Are you Greek? [singular formal/polite, male] Είστε [εσείς] Ελληνίδα; = Are you Greek? [singuar formal/polite, female] cf. the singular polite above with the singular familiar below: Είσαι [εσύ] Έλληνας; = Are you Greek? [singular informal/familiar, male] Είσαι [εσύ] Ελληνίδα; = Are you Greek? [singular informal/familiar, female] Any adjectives used in the predicate must also agree in gender and number with the subject: (plural) Είστε καλοί Έλληνες άνδρες. = You are good Greek husbands. Είστε καλές Ελληνίδες γυναίκες. = You are good Greek wives. vs. (singular, formal) Είστε καλός Έλληνας άνδρας. = You are a good Greek husband. Είστε καλή Ελληνίδα γυναίκα. = You are a good Greek wife. Hope this helps, Greg Brush |
| Re: How far does agreement go when using polite forms? |
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The aspect I didn't appreciate is that the formal "you" is still semantically singular. I should have realized that in French it is the same situation; one says "vous êtes venu," in a formal situation for just one person. Thank you so much for all of your work on this site. I haven't had to ask any questions before because all of them have been addressed in the discussion forums. |
