τέτοιος and τόσος | Greek Grammar

English can point at a thing (that book) but not at a kind or an amount — for those it has to build a phrase: that sort of book, that much money. Greek has dedicated words. τέτοιος is the demonstrative of kind and τόσος the demonstrative of quantity, and both behave like ordinary adjectives, agreeing with whatever noun they land on.

Seen as a system, they slot neatly beside the demonstratives you already know:

Points at	Demonstrative	Question word	Relative
a thing	αυτός, εκείνος	ποιος;	που
a kind	τέτοιος	τι λογής;	—
an amount	τόσος	πόσος;	όσος
a manner	έτσι	πώς;	όπως

The object row is on demonstratives; this page covers the middle two, which are among the most-used words in spoken Greek and among the least-taught.

τέτοιος: "such, that sort of"

τέτοιος / τέτοια / τέτοιο declines like any -ος / -α / -ο adjective — τέτοιου, τέτοιας, τέτοιοι, τέτοιες, τέτοια, τέτοιων — with the stress fixed on τέ-. It normally takes no article at all.

Με τέτοιο καιρό δεν βγαίνει κανείς έξω με τα πόδια.

me tétio keró dhen vyéni kanís ékso me ta pódhia

Nobody goes out on foot in weather like this.

Τέτοια προβλήματα δεν λύνονται σε μια μέρα.

tétia provlímata dhen línonde se mia méra

Problems like these don't get solved in a day.

Πού ήσουν τέτοια ώρα; Ανησύχησα και δεν το σήκωνες.

pu ísun tétia óra; anisíchisa ke dhen to síkones

Where were you at this hour? I was worried and you weren't picking up.

When you do want an article, it is the indefinite one — and here English word order actively misleads. English says such a house, with such before the article; Greek says ένα τέτοιο σπίτι, with the article first.

Πού βρήκες ένα τέτοιο τραπέζι; Το ψάχνω χρόνια.

pu vríkes éna tétio trapézi; to psáchno chrónia

Where did you find a table like that? I've been looking for one for years.

Θέλω κι εγώ ένα τέτοιο ποδήλατο για τη δουλειά.

thélo ki eghó éna tétio podhílato ya ti dhuliá

I want a bike like that for work too.

Two further shapes are worth having ready. τέτοιου είδους ("of that kind") is the slightly (formal) written variant, and ο τέτοιος — with the definite article — is the (informal) placeholder Greeks reach for when a word escapes them, roughly English the whatsit.

Τέτοιου είδους αποφάσεις δεν παίρνονται βιαστικά.

tétiu ídhus apofásis dhen pérnonde viastiká

Decisions of that kind aren't taken in a hurry. (formal)

Δώσε μου το τέτοιο, αυτό με το κόκκινο καπάκι.

dhóse mu to tétio, aftó me to kókino kapáki

Pass me the whatsit — that one with the red lid. (informal)

τέτοιος… που: "such … that"

Put a που-clause after τέτοιος and you have a result construction: the kind was so extreme that something followed from it.

Είχε τέτοιο πονοκέφαλο που δεν μπορούσε να σηκωθεί από το κρεβάτι.

íche tétio ponokéfalo pu dhen borúse na sikothí apó to kreváti

He had such a headache that he couldn't get out of bed.

Έκανε τέτοια φασαρία που βγήκαν οι γείτονες στα μπαλκόνια.

ékane tétia fasaría pu vyíkan i yítones sta balkónia

She made such a racket that the neighbours came out onto their balconies.

Note that Greek uses plain που here, not a special conjunction. The whole family of result clauses, including the heavier ώστε, is on correlative constructions.

τόσος: "so much, so many"

τόσος / τόση / τόσο is a regular -ος / -η / -ο adjective, and as a determiner it agrees, exactly like πολύς does on πολύς, λίγος, αρκετός. The difference between the two is deictic: πολύς states a large quantity, τόσος points at one — that much, this much, so much as you can see.

Μαζεύτηκε τόσος κόσμος που έκλεισε ο δρόμος.

mazéftike tósos kózmos pu éklise o dhrómos

So many people gathered that the road was blocked.

Δεν περίμενα τόση ζέστη τον Οκτώβριο, πήρα μόνο μπουφάν.

dhen perímena tósi zésti ton Októvrio, píra móno bufán

I wasn't expecting this much heat in October — I only brought a jacket.

Σου το έχω πει τόσες φορές και δεν με ακούς.

su to écho pi tóses forés ke dhen me akús

I've told you so many times and you don't listen to me.

Τόσα λεφτά για ένα μπουκάλι νερό;

tósa leftá ya éna bukáli neró;

That much money for a bottle of water?

That last one is the exclamatory use, and it is everywhere in speech: a bare τόσος phrase with no verb, expressing that the quantity is outrageous. The other exclamation patterns, with τι and πόσο, are on exclamations with τι and πόσο.

The hard part: τόσο the adverb

Alongside the determiner there is an invariable adverb τόσο, meaning so, so much. It modifies adjectives, adverbs and verbs, and it never agrees with anything, because there is nothing for it to agree with.

Είναι τόσο ωραία εδώ που δεν θέλω να φύγω.

íne tóso oréa edhó pu dhen thélo na fígho

It's so lovely here that I don't want to leave.

Μην τρως τόσο γρήγορα, θα πάθεις κάτι.

min tros tóso ghríghora, tha páthis káti

Don't eat so fast, you'll make yourself ill.

Μου έλειψες τόσο πολύ αυτόν τον μήνα.

mu élipses tóso polí aftón ton mína

I've missed you so much this month.

The test is mechanical: look at what comes next.

What follows	Which word	Example
a noun	determiner — agrees	τόση ζέστη, τόσες φορές, τόσοι άνθρωποι
an adjective	adverb — invariable	τόσο ωραία, τόσο κουρασμένος
an adverb or verb	adverb — invariable	τόσο γρήγορα, μου έλειψες τόσο

The one genuinely ambiguous cell is the neuter singular, where determiner and adverb look identical: τόσο νερό is "that much water" (determiner) while τόσο κρύο could be either "that much cold" or "so cold", depending on whether κρύο is being read as a noun or an adjective. Greek lives with the ambiguity; context always settles it. The same overlap runs through πολύ and λίγο, and it is worked out in detail on πολύς, λίγος, αρκετός.

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Before you write τόσο, ask what the next word is. If it is a noun, you are holding the determiner and it has to inflect — τόση δουλειά, τόσες φορές. If it is anything else, you are holding the adverb and it stays frozen — τόσο δύσκολο, τόσο αργά. The commonest error at B1 runs in both directions at once.

The correlatives: τόσο… όσο, τόσο… που, όσο… τόσο

τόσος has a matching relative, όσος, and the pair does the work English splits between as … as, so … that and the more … the more.

τόσο… όσο = as … as. Both halves stay invariable when what is being compared is an adjective or adverb:

Δεν είναι τόσο δύσκολο όσο φαίνεται από έξω.

dhen íne tóso dhískolo óso fénete apó ékso

It isn't as difficult as it looks from outside.

When it is a noun being measured, both halves inflect and agree with it — τόσα… όσα:

Πήρα τόσα βιβλία όσα χωρούσαν στη βαλίτσα.

píra tósa vivlía ósa chorúsan sti valítsa

I took as many books as would fit in the suitcase.

τόσο… που = so … that, a result:

Ήταν τόσο κουρασμένος που αποκοιμήθηκε στον καναπέ με τα ρούχα.

ítan tóso kurazménos pu apokimíthike ston kanapé me ta rúcha

He was so tired that he fell asleep on the sofa in his clothes.

όσο… τόσο = the more … the more, with the όσο-clause coming first:

Όσο περνάει ο καιρός, τόσο τον καταλαβαίνω καλύτερα.

óso pernái o kerós, tóso ton katalavéno kalítera

The more time passes, the better I understand him.

And τόσο… όσο και is the (formal) written way of saying both … and, common in reports and journalism:

Τόσο οι γονείς όσο και οι δάσκαλοι συμφώνησαν με την αλλαγή.

tóso i ghonís óso ke i dháskali simfónisan me tin alayí

Both the parents and the teachers agreed with the change. (formal)

Comparison clauses in general, including the με/από alternatives, are on comparative clauses.

The chunks worth memorising

όχι και τόσο — not that much, not particularly. The και belongs to the idiom; plain όχι τόσο is a different, purely comparative shape (όχι τόσο δύσκολο όσο…).
τόσο δα — this tiny, usually with a gesture (informal).
τόσο το καλύτερο — so much the better.
άλλα τόσα — as many again.
τόσα και τόσα — no end of things (informal).

Μου άρεσε το βιβλίο, αλλά όχι και τόσο όσο το πρώτο.

mu árese to vivlío, alá óchi ke tóso óso to próto

I liked the book, but not as much as the first one.

Ήταν ένα τόσο δα κουτάβι όταν το πήραμε από τον δρόμο.

ítan éna tóso dha kutávi ótan to pírame apó ton dhrómo

It was a tiny little puppy when we took it in off the street. (informal)

Αν έρθει κι αυτός, τόσο το καλύτερο.

an érthi ki aftós, tóso to kalítero

If he comes too, so much the better.

Έδωσα πεντακόσια ευρώ και χρωστάω άλλα τόσα.

édhosa pendakósia evró ke chrostáo ála tósa

I've paid five hundred euros and I owe as much again.

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Both words are anaphoric: they refer back to something already established, out loud or in the situation. τέτοια προβλήματα means "problems of the kind we've just been discussing", and τόσα λεφτά means "the amount you just named". If nothing has been established yet, you probably want πολύς or κάποιος instead.

Common Mistakes

1. Making the adverb agree. Before an adjective, τόσο is invariable — there is nothing for it to agree with.

❌ Είναι τόση ωραία η θέα από εδώ πάνω.

Incorrect — modifying an adjective, τόσο is an invariable adverb: τόσο ωραία.

✅ Είναι τόσο ωραία η θέα από εδώ πάνω που δεν φεύγω.

íne tóso oréa i théa apó edhó páno pu dhen févgho

The view from up here is so lovely that I'm not leaving.

2. Leaving the determiner uninflected. Before a noun it is an adjective and must agree.

❌ Είχε τόσο δουλειά που δεν πρόλαβε να φάει.

Incorrect — δουλειά is feminine, so the determiner is τόση δουλειά.

✅ Είχε τόση δουλειά που δεν πρόλαβε να φάει μεσημέρι.

íche tósi dhuliá pu dhen prólave na fái mesiméri

She had so much work that she didn't get to eat lunch.

3. Copying the English order of "such a". In Greek the indefinite article comes first.

❌ Θέλω κι εγώ τέτοιο ένα ποδήλατο.

Incorrect — the article precedes τέτοιος: ένα τέτοιο ποδήλατο.

✅ Θα ήθελα κι εγώ ένα τέτοιο ποδήλατο, αν βρω μεταχειρισμένο.

tha íthela ki eghó éna tétio podhílato, an vro metachirizméno

I'd like a bike like that too, if I can find a second-hand one.

4. Building "as … as" with σαν. The second half of the pair is όσο, not σαν.

❌ Είναι τόσο ψηλός σαν τον αδερφό του.

Incorrect — the correlative of τόσο is όσο: τόσο ψηλός όσο ο αδερφός του.

✅ Είναι τόσο ψηλός όσο ο αδερφός του, αν όχι πιο ψηλός.

íne tóso psilós óso o adherfós tu, an óchi pio psilós

He's as tall as his brother, if not taller.

5. Putting the definite article on an attributive τέτοιος. In front of a noun, τέτοιος takes a bare noun or an indefinite article — never the definite one. (The standalone placeholder ο τέτοιος, "the whatsit", is a word-substitute, not a modifier, and is a separate matter.)

❌ Δεν μου αρέσουν οι τέτοιες ταινίες.

Incorrect — an attributive τέτοιος cannot sit under the definite article: Δεν μου αρέσουν τέτοιες ταινίες.

✅ Δεν μου αρέσουν τέτοιες ταινίες, με αγχώνουν.

dhen mu arésun téties teníes, me anchónun

I don't like films like that — they stress me out.

Key Takeaways

τέτοιος points at a kind, τόσος at an amount. Both are demonstratives and both decline as ordinary adjectives, agreeing with their noun.
τέτοιος takes no definite article. With an indefinite one, the order is Greek's, not English's: ένα τέτοιο σπίτι, never ×τέτοιο ένα σπίτι.
τέτοιος… που and τόσο… που are the two result constructions, both with plain που (formal writing prefers ώστε).
The page's hard point: τόσος before a noun agrees (τόση ζέστη, τόσες φορές); τόσο before an adjective, adverb or verb is invariable (τόσο ωραία, τόσο γρήγορα).
The correlative pairs are τόσο… όσο (as … as), όσο… τόσο (the more … the more) and (formal) τόσο… όσο και (both … and).
Bare Τόσα λεφτά! is a complete exclamation, and both words are anaphoric — they refer to a kind or a quantity already on the table.
Learn as fixed chunks: όχι και τόσο, τόσο δα, τόσο το καλύτερο, άλλα τόσα.

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