English to Greek Translator Keyboard

Why English to Greek is harder than it looks

Greek asks you to choose singular or plural “you.” Addressing one person politely means using the plural verb, exactly as French does with vous. English has no such choice, so a message to a shopkeeper and a message to a close friend look identical until the tone decides.

Nouns have three genders and four cases. Everything around the noun — the article, the adjective — changes to match. A two-word English phrase like “my friend” carries decisions in Greek that the English never made.

The question mark is a semicolon. Greek writes questions with “;” and uses “·” where English uses a colon. Small, but a Greek reader notices immediately when punctuation comes through in the English style.

Set phrases beat literal translation. Καλή όρεξη, καλό μήνα, περαστικά are used constantly and translate into English as explanations rather than phrases. Going into Greek, the opposite happens: plain English good wishes should become the Greek set phrase, not a word-for-word version of the English.