Definite article (‘the’): ο/η/το

Nouns name things, like ‘bus’ or ‘bank’, as opposed to verbs like ‘ride’, or adjectives like ‘large’.

Gender and Nouns

In Greek, each noun has a gender: masculine, feminine, and neuter. A noun’s gender determines how it behaves grammatically.

Remember:

• Είμαι από τον Καναδάς (m.) vs.
• Είμαι από την Ελλάδα (f). vs.
• Είμαι από το Βέλγιο (n.)

Greek has three genders:

• Masculine words and names tend to end with –ς, like Καναδάς, Γιώργος, Γιάννης
• Feminine words and names tend to end with –α or –η, like Ελλάδα, Ελένη
• Neuter words and names tend to end with –ο or –ι, like Βέλγιο, παιδί

There is one exception to be careful of: words ending with –μα are generally neuter, not feminine.

Gender and Articles

You’ve probably also noticed that the gender of a noun affects the little grammatical words we use with it.

The most basic word for ‘the’ in Greek, otherwise known as the ‘definite article’ has three genders:

• ο άντρας (the man)
• η γυναίκα (the woman)
• το παιδί (the child)

These definite articles are used for the subject of the verb:

• Ο άντρας είναι εδώ (the man is here)
• Η γυναίκα είναι εδώ (the woman is here)
• Το παιδί είναι εδώ (the child is here)

Compare these sentences:

Note that το is used for both the nominative (subject) and accusative (object) cases.

Notice also the similarities between the two cases:

Recall that, in Greek, an article is used in places that it wouldn’t normally be in English. For example, while we say ‘the United States’ in English, we wouldn’t typically say ‘the Greece’.

In Greek, η Ελλάδα (as a subject) or την Ελλάδα (as the object of a verb) is perfectly typical when referring to country names.

The same goes for people’s names. While in English we don’t normally say ‘I am the Kostas’, in Greek, that’s exactly how you’d introduce yourself: Είμαι ο Κώστας.

Remember that, when Κώστας is the subject of the sentence, or we are talking to him, we drop the ς:

Γεια σου, Κώστα!

This episode from GreekPod101 goes over some of the ways in which definite articles are used in Greek – and how they differ to their use in English:

Don’t stress about understanding everything that is said in this video. All that is important for now is to understand that the word for ‘the‘ in Greek differs depending on a word’s gender (masc., fem., neuter) and role (subject/object) in a sentence.

You’re now ready to complete the activities on page 27 of Ελληνικά Τώρα (Greek Now) 1+1.

Caution! Grammatical vs. ‘Natural’ gender

Grammatical gender doesn’t always correlate with what we might consider ‘natural’ gender.

Consider these words:

• ο δρόμος
• η ακτή
• το τρένο

There is nothing inherently masculine about a road, nor feminine about a coast. And Freud would definitely take issue with the idea that a train is neuter!

Rather, grammatical gender generally relates to the endings of words.

Words ending in ς are almost always masculine, those ending in η/α (except μα!) are almost always feminine, and those ending in any other letter are almost always neuter.

Grammatical gender influences far more than just which version of ‘the’ to use with a noun. It also affects which version of an adjective you would pair with it. Compare the following:

• ο κεντρικός δρόμος
• η κεντρική ακτή
• το κεντρικό τρένο

Because gender affects so much of how we use Greek words, it’s a good idea to memorise new words along with their article ο/η/το.

You should also remember the common endings that can help you guess the gender of unfamiliar words.