Indefinite Article: ένας, μία, ένα | Greek Grammar

Greek has no dedicated word for "a / an". What it has is the numeral one — ένας, μία, ένα — pressed into service as an indefinite article. That single fact explains almost everything that surprises an English speaker on this page: why the word declines (numerals agree with their noun), why there is no plural (there is no plural of "one"), and why Greek so often leaves it out entirely (if the word means "one", you only use it when "one" is worth saying).

The full paradigm

ένας agrees with its noun in gender and case. There is no vocative and no plural.

Case	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Nominative	ένας	μία / μια	ένα
Genitive	ενός	μίας / μιας	ενός
Accusative	έναν	μία / μια	ένα

Three observations save you most of the work. Masculine and neuter share ενός in the genitive, exactly as the definite article shares του. The feminine never changes between nominative and accusative — μία is μία wherever it stands. And the neuter never changes at all: ένα for both nominative and accusative, mirroring neuter το.

Ένας φίλος μου δουλεύει σε αυτό το ξενοδοχείο.

énas fílos mu dhulévi se aftó to ksenodhochío

A friend of mine works at that hotel.

Ρώτησα έναν αστυνομικό πού είναι η στάση.

rótisa énan astinomikó pu íne i stási

I asked a policeman where the stop is.

Γνώρισα μια κοπέλα από τη Θεσσαλονίκη στο πάρτι.

ghnórisa mia kopéla apó ti Thesaloníki sto párti

I met a girl from Thessaloniki at the party.

μία or μια? A spelling that tracks syllables

Both spellings are standard, and they are not random variants — they record how many syllables you say.

μία is the two-syllable form, MÍ-a. You reach for it when you are genuinely counting, or contrasting: μία φορά, όχι δύο.
μια is the one-syllable form, pronounced mya — the ι and α merge (this is synizesis). This is the ordinary, unstressed "a" of everyday speech and writing.

The same split runs through the genitive: μίας (two syllables, emphatic or careful) versus μιας (one syllable, everyday). In practice, if the word is doing article duty, write μια / μιας; if it is doing numeral duty, write μία / μίας. Nobody will correct you either way, but the distinction is real and native writers observe it.

Έχω μία αδερφή και δύο αδερφούς.

écho mía adherfí ke dhío adherfús

I have one sister and two brothers.

Μια μέρα θα σου τα πω όλα.

mia méra tha su ta po óla

One day I'll tell you the whole story.

έναν keeps its -ν

The masculine accusative is έναν, and its final ν follows the general final-ν rule: it stays before a vowel and before the stops κ, π, τ, ξ, ψ and the clusters μπ, ντ, γκ, τσ, τζ; it drops before other consonants, giving ένα.

So: έναν άντρα, έναν καφέ, έναν πελάτη — but ένα φίλο, ένα γιατρό, ένα μήνα. This matters more for έναν than for anything else, because dropping the ν where it belongs leaves you with the neuter ένα, and the sentence changes gender under your feet.

Είδα έναν άντρα να σπρώχνει το αμάξι του στην ανηφόρα.

ídha énan ándra na spróchni to amáksi tu stin anifóra

I saw a man pushing his car up the hill.

Περίμενα ένα φίλο μου μισή ώρα έξω από το σινεμά.

perímena éna fílo mu misí óra ékso apó to sinemá

I waited half an hour for a friend outside the cinema.

There is one high-frequency place where careful writing and ordinary speech part company: ordering έναν καφέ. Because κ is a stop, the ν is required by the rule — and yet ένα καφέ is what you will hear across the counter of every café in Greece. Both are worth having:

Θα ήθελα έναν καφέ και ένα κρουασάν, παρακαλώ.

tha íthela énan kafé ke éna kruasán, parakaló

I'd like a coffee and a croissant, please. (neutral / careful — the -ν the rule prescribes)

Θα ήθελα ένα καφέ και ένα κρουασάν, παρακαλώ.

tha íthela éna kafé ke éna kruasán, parakaló

I'd like a coffee and a croissant, please. (informal — extremely widespread in speech; not an error to imitate, but write έναν)

💡

Write έναν wherever the rule calls for it and you will always be correct. Say ένα καφέ if that is what comes out of your mouth and nobody will blink. The mismatch is a live one in the language itself, not a trap set for learners.

The genitive ενός / μιας

The genitive of the indefinite article is real but rare in speech. Conversation prefers a paraphrase with από or a possessive clitic, and reserves ενός/μιας for writing and for fixed measure phrases.

Χρειάζομαι τη βοήθεια ενός δικηγόρου, δεν βγάζω άκρη μόνος μου.

chriázome ti voíthia enós dhikighóru, dhen vgházo ákri mónos mu

I need a lawyer's help — I can't sort this out on my own.

Είναι θέμα μιας εβδομάδας, μην ανησυχείς.

íne théma mias evdhomádhas, min anisichís

It's a matter of a week, don't worry.

There is no plural indefinite article

English "a" has no plural either — but English fills the gap with some, and learners look for a Greek equivalent. There isn't one word; there are three strategies, and they are not interchangeable.

Strategy	Form	What it does
Bare plural noun	Έφερα λουλούδια.	The default. Unmarked, says nothing about quantity.
μερικοί / μερικές / μερικά	μερικά βιβλία	"a few, several" — actively signals a small number.
κάποιοι / κάποιες / κάποια	κάποιοι φίλοι	"certain, some (unspecified)" — identity unknown or withheld.

The bare plural is the one to reach for first. Greek is perfectly comfortable with a determiner-less plural where English feels obliged to say "some".

Έφερα λουλούδια για τη μητέρα σου, τα έβαλα στο τραπέζι.

éfera lulúdhia ya ti mitéra su, ta évala sto trapézi

I brought some flowers for your mother — I put them on the table.

Έχω μερικές ερωτήσεις, αν προλαβαίνεις.

écho merikés erotísis, an prolavénis

I have a few questions, if you have time.

Μας πήραν τηλέφωνο κάποιοι από την τράπεζα.

mas píran tiléfono kápii apó tin trápeza

Some people from the bank called us.

Where English says "a" and Greek says nothing

This is the half of the topic that costs learners the most, because the error is invisible to them: they say something grammatical-sounding that no Greek would say. The principle is that ένας means "one", so inserting it asserts singularity — and where singularity is irrelevant, Greek leaves the noun bare.

The biggest case is the predicate noun: professions, nationalities, roles, religion. After είμαι, γίνομαι, ως, σαν, the noun goes bare.

Η γυναίκα μου είναι δικηγόρος και δουλεύει σε μεγάλο γραφείο.

i yinéka mu íne dhikighóros ke dhulévi se meghálo ghrafío

My wife is a lawyer and works at a big firm.

Δουλεύω ως μεταφράστρια εδώ και δέκα χρόνια.

dhulévo os metafrástria edhó ke dhéka chrónia

I've been working as a translator for ten years.

Θέλει να γίνει δασκάλα, το λέει από μικρή.

théli na yíni dhaskála, to léi apó mikrí

She wants to be a teacher — she's been saying so since she was little.

Put ένας back in and you have said something different: Είναι ένας δικηγόρος asserts "he is one lawyer", which only works if you are counting lawyers or the noun carries a modifier that makes the indefinite meaningful (Είναι ένας πολύ καλός δικηγόρος — "he's a very good lawyer" — is perfectly natural, because now you are describing, not classifying).

Two other places where English "a" evaporates:

Exclamations with τι: Τι ωραία μέρα! — never ×τι μια ωραία μέρα.
Generic and mass objects: Πίνεις καφέ; ("Do you drink coffee?"), Έχεις αυτοκίνητο; ("Do you have a car?" — the question is about car-ownership, not about a specific car).

Τι ωραία μέρα, κρίμα να μείνουμε μέσα.

ti oréa méra, kríma na mínume mésa

What a beautiful day — it'd be a shame to stay indoors.

Έχεις αυτοκίνητο ή να σε πάρω εγώ;

échis aftokínito i na se páro eghó;

Do you have a car, or shall I pick you up?

💡

Ask yourself whether English "a" could be replaced by "one" without changing the meaning. I saw a man → I saw one man: the meaning survives, so Greek uses έναν. She is a lawyer → ×She is one lawyer: nonsense, so Greek uses nothing. This single test resolves the vast majority of cases.

The full inventory of article-less contexts — after prepositions in set phrases, in lists, in headlines, with predicates — is on when to omit the article, and the shades of meaning ένας itself can carry are on using the indefinite article.

ένας as a genuine numeral

Because form and function coincide, the same word does numeral duty, and there it can even be stressed and stand alone. Note that ένας, μία, τρεις and τέσσερις are the only simple cardinals below a hundred that decline (the hundreds — διακόσιοι/-ες/-α — and χίλιοι decline for gender too) — see declining 1, 3, 4.

Μείναμε μόνο μία νύχτα, δεν προλάβαμε τίποτα.

míname móno mía níchta, dhen prolávame típota

We only stayed one night — we didn't get to see anything.

Ο ένας ήθελε θάλασσα, ο άλλος βουνό, και τελικά μείναμε σπίτι.

o énas íthele thálasa, o álos vunó, ke teliká míname spíti

One of them wanted the sea, the other the mountains, and in the end we stayed home.

That last sentence shows something English cannot do: ο ένας with the definite article, meaning "the one (of two)". Greek pairs it with ο άλλος to build "one … the other".

Common Mistakes

1. Getting the gender wrong. ένας/μία/ένα must match the noun, and the noun's gender is a fact you have to know.

❌ Πήρα ένα σαλάτα και ένα μπίρα.

Incorrect — σαλάτα and μπίρα are feminine: μια σαλάτα, μια μπίρα.

✅ Πήρα μια σαλάτα και μια μπίρα.

píra mia saláta ke mia bíra

I got a salad and a beer.

2. Dropping the -ν of έναν before a vowel. Without it the phrase reads as neuter.

❌ Ψάχνω ένα υπάλληλο για το κατάστημα.

Incorrect — before a vowel the masculine accusative keeps its ν: έναν υπάλληλο.

✅ Ψάχνω έναν υπάλληλο για το κατάστημα.

psáchno énan ipálilo ya to katástima

I'm looking for a shop assistant.

3. Using ένας before a profession. The classic English transfer error, and the one natives notice instantly.

❌ Ο πατέρας μου είναι ένας γιατρός.

Incorrect — a bare predicate noun: ο πατέρας μου είναι γιατρός.

✅ Ο πατέρας μου είναι γιατρός σε δημόσιο νοσοκομείο.

o patéras mu íne yatrós se dhimósio nosokomío

My father is a doctor at a public hospital.

4. Adding ένας after ως or σαν. These prepositions take a bare noun.

❌ Δουλεύω ως ένας μηχανικός σε μια εταιρεία.

Incorrect — ως takes a bare predicate noun: ως μηχανικός.

✅ Δουλεύω ως μηχανικός σε μια εταιρεία λογισμικού.

dhulévo os michanikós se mia etería loyizmikú

I work as an engineer at a software company.

5. Translating "what a…" literally. Greek exclamative τι takes no article.

❌ Τι μια ωραία ιδέα!

Incorrect — the exclamative τι is followed by a bare phrase: Τι ωραία ιδέα!

✅ Τι ωραία ιδέα, γιατί δεν το σκέφτηκα εγώ;

ti oréa idhéa, yatí dhen to skéftika eghó;

What a great idea — why didn't I think of it?

Key Takeaways

The indefinite article is the numeral "one": ένας / μία / ένα, genitive ενός / μιας / ενός, accusative έναν / μία / ένα.
Masculine and neuter share ενός; the feminine and the neuter do not distinguish nominative from accusative.
μια/μιας (one syllable) is the everyday article; μία/μίας (two syllables) is the counted numeral.
Masculine accusative έναν keeps its ν before a vowel and before κ, π, τ, ξ, ψ, μπ, ντ, γκ, τσ, τζ. Colloquial ένα καφέ is widespread in speech; write έναν.
There is no plural. Use a bare plural noun, or μερικοί / κάποιοι when you actually mean "a few / certain".
Greek omits the indefinite article far more than English does — above all before professions and predicate nouns (είναι δικηγόρος), after ως / σαν, and after exclamative τι.
The test: if English "a" can be replaced by "one" without loss, use ένας; if not, use nothing.

Now practice Greek

Reading grammar gets you part of the way. The exercises are where it sticks — free, no signup needed.

Start learning Greek →