Questions & Answers about Θέλεις νερό ή τσάι;
What does each word literally mean?
- Θέλεις = you want (2nd person singular of θέλω = to want)
- νερό = water
- ή = or
- τσάι = tea So the sentence is literally “You want water or tea?”
How do you pronounce the whole sentence?
Approximate: [THEH-lees ne-RO ee TSA-ee] (with “th” as in “think”). IPA: [ˈθelis neˈro i ˈtsai]. The stress marks (΄) show which syllable is stressed.
Why does the sentence end with a semicolon? Is that a mistake?
No mistake. In Greek, the question mark is written as ; (semicolon). So Θέλεις νερό ή τσάι; is a question.
Where is the English helper “do” (as in “Do you want…”)? How are yes/no questions formed?
Greek doesn’t use a helper verb like “do.” Yes/no questions use normal statement word order and are marked by intonation and the question mark: Θέλεις νερό; = “Do you want water?”
Why is there no article before νερό and τσάι?
Because they’re mass nouns used in a general sense. Greek doesn’t need “some.” You can add λίγο to emphasize “some”: Θέλεις λίγο νερό; (“Do you want a little water?”).