Almost every Greek noun rebuilds its ending for each case and number — ο δρόμος, του δρόμου, τους δρόμους. Then there is a small, stubborn set of words, nearly all of them foreign borrowings, that simply refuse: το ταξί is το ταξί in every single slot of the paradigm. Singular, plural, subject, object, possessor — one form, forever.
For an English speaker this sounds like a holiday, and in a sense it is. But it comes with a catch that beginners consistently miss: because the noun carries no information at all, the article becomes the only thing telling you what is going on. Get the article wrong and the sentence loses its grammar entirely.
What "indeclinable" actually means
Take το ταξί through the full paradigm and watch the noun sit still while everything around it moves:
| Case | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| Nominative | το ταξί | τα ταξί |
| Genitive | του ταξί | των ταξί |
| Accusative | το ταξί | τα ταξί |
Six cells, one word-form. The noun ταξί never changes; το / του / τα / των does all the work. Prepositions behave normally too — σε fuses with the article exactly as it always does, giving στο ταξί (singular) and στα ταξί (plural). See Preposition + Article for the fusion rules.
Το ταξί περιμένει κάτω, βιάσου.
to taksí periméni káto, viásu
The taxi's waiting downstairs, hurry up.
Ξέχασα την τσάντα μου στο ταξί.
kséchasa tin tsánda mu sto taksí
I left my bag in the taxi.
Ο οδηγός του ταξί δεν είχε ρέστα.
o odhighós tu taksí dhen íche résta
The taxi driver didn't have change.
Τα ταξί απεργούν αύριο, πάμε με το μετρό.
ta taksí aperghún ávrio, páme me to metró
The taxis are on strike tomorrow, let's take the metro.
That last one is the whole lesson in one sentence. Τα ταξί is plural and το μετρό is singular, and nothing but those two little words tells you so.
The core list
These are the ones you will genuinely meet every week. All are neuter, and all are stress-final or stress-fixed exactly as borrowed:
| Noun | Meaning | Plural | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| το ταξί | taxi | τα ταξί | French taxi |
| το σινεμά | cinema | τα σινεμά | French cinéma |
| το μετρό | metro, underground | τα μετρό | French métro |
| το μπαρ | bar | τα μπαρ | English bar |
| το παρκέ | parquet floor | τα παρκέ | French parquet |
| το ουίσκι | whisky | τα ουίσκι | English whisky |
| το κομπιούτερ | computer | τα κομπιούτερ | English computer |
| το ασανσέρ | lift, elevator | τα ασανσέρ | French ascenseur |
| το ραντεβού | appointment, date | τα ραντεβού | French rendez-vous |
| το μενού | menu | τα μενού | French menu |
| το πάρτι | party | τα πάρτι | English party |
| το γκολ | goal (football) | τα γκολ | English goal |
Έχουμε ραντεβού στις εφτά έξω από το σινεμά.
échume randevú stis eftá ékso apó to sinemá
We've got a date at seven outside the cinema.
Πάρε το ασανσέρ, είναι έκτος όροφος.
páre to asansér, íne éktos órofos
Take the lift, it's the sixth floor.
Έβαλε τρία γκολ σε δεκαπέντε λεπτά.
évale tría gol se dhekapénde leptá
He scored three goals in fifteen minutes.
Why these words and not others
Here is the honest answer: it is not fully predictable, and you should not waste effort hunting for a phonological rule that decides it. το ταξί ends in a stressed -ί, which is exactly the shape of a perfectly normal Greek neuter (το παιδί → τα παιδιά, του παιδιού). Greek could build it a paradigm and simply does not.
What you can rely on is the tendency behind the pattern. Loans that arrived recently — mostly from French in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, from English since — stay foreign-shaped and stay frozen. Loans that have been in the language for much longer, above all the Turkish and Italian ones, were absorbed into a real declension and inflect like everything else:
| Frozen (indeclinable) | Absorbed (fully declines) |
|---|---|
| το μπαρ, τα μπαρ | η μπίρα, οι μπίρες, των μπιρών |
| το ουίσκι, τα ουίσκι | ο καφές, οι καφέδες, του καφέ |
| το ραντεβού, τα ραντεβού | η τσάντα, οι τσάντες |
| το μενού, τα μενού | το τσιγάρο, τα τσιγάρα |
| το κομπιούτερ | το μπαλκόνι, τα μπαλκόνια |
The rule of thumb, stated honestly: a loan ending in -α or -ο is almost always absorbed — η μπίρα, η τσάντα, η βεράντα, το τσιγάρο, το παλτό all decline like natives. -ι is the unreliable one. The old -ι loans inflect exactly like το παιδί: το μπαλκόνι → τα μπαλκόνια, το τζάμι → τα τζάμια, το κουτί → τα κουτιά, το σαλάμι → τα σαλάμια. The recent ones freeze solid despite ending in the very same letter: το ουίσκι, το πάρτι, το σούσι, το σέλφι — τα ουίσκι, τα πάρτι, never ×τα ουίσκια or ×τα πάρτια.
So time depth, not the ending, is what really decides. μπίρα and μπαλκόνι have been in Greek for centuries and were digested long ago; μπαρ arrived last century with no Greek shape to hook onto; ουίσκι happens to have the right shape but arrived far too late for it to matter. When you meet a new -ι loan, the safe assumption is that it is frozen, and the way to check is not its ending but its age.
Πάρε δύο μπίρες και ένα ουίσκι.
páre dhío bíres ke éna uíski
Get two beers and a whisky.
Δύο ουίσκι και ένα ποτήρι νερό, παρακαλώ.
dhío uíski ke éna potíri neró, parakaló
Two whiskies and a glass of water, please.
Όλα τα μπαλκόνια της πολυκατοικίας βλέπουν στη θάλασσα.
óla ta balkónia tis polikatikías vlépun sti thálasa
Every balcony in the block looks out onto the sea.
Πήγαμε στα μπαράκια της Ερμού μέχρι τις τρεις.
píghame sta barákia tis Ermú méchri tis tris
We did the little bars on Ermou Street until three in the morning.
Not all of them are neuter
Neuter is the default (the full logic lives on Assigning Gender to Loanwords), but two groups escape it while staying indeclinable.
People. Words for humans take the gender of the person, and the article does the switching:
Ο σεφ βγήκε από την κουζίνα να μας χαιρετήσει.
o sef vyíke apó tin kuzína na mas cheretísi
The chef came out of the kitchen to say hello.
Η σεφ του ξενοδοχείου είναι από την Κρήτη.
i sef tu ksenodhochíu íne apó tin Kríti
The hotel's chef is from Crete.
Same for ο/η μάνατζερ, ο/η ντιτζέι, ο μπάρμαν. Only the article moves.
Acronyms. An acronym is written unchanged but takes the gender of its head noun, and again the article inflects around it: η ΕΕ (η Ευρωπαϊκή Ένωση), η ΕΡΤ (η Ελληνική Ραδιοφωνία Τηλεόραση), το ΑΣΕΠ (το Ανώτατο Συμβούλιο Επιλογής Προσωπικού), ο ΕΦΚΑ (ο Ενιαίος Φορέας Κοινωνικής Ασφάλισης), ο ΟΤΕ (ο Οργανισμός Τηλεπικοινωνιών Ελλάδος).
Η απόφαση της ΕΕ ανακοινώθηκε χθες το μεσημέρι.
i apófasi tis EE anakinóthike chthes to mesiméri
The EU's decision was announced at midday yesterday.
The same trick in adjectives
While you are here, note that Greek has a parallel set of indeclinable adjectives, almost all of them borrowed colour words: μπλε (blue), γκρι (grey), ροζ (pink), μοβ (purple), μπεζ (beige). They never agree — not for gender, not for number, not for case — which makes them the easiest adjectives in the language.
Φόρεσε το μπλε φόρεμα, σου πάει πιο πολύ.
fórese to ble fórema, su pái pio polí
Wear the blue dress, it suits you better.
Έβαψαν τους τοίχους γκρι και τις πόρτες μοβ.
évapsan tus tíchus gri ke tis pórtes mov
They painted the walls grey and the doors purple.
Common Mistakes
1. Inventing a plural ending. The noun really does not change — resist the urge to make τα ταξιά by analogy with τα παιδιά.
❌ Περίμενα είκοσι λεπτά και πέρασαν τρία ταξιά.
Incorrect — the plural of το ταξί is τα ταξί, unchanged.
✅ Περίμενα είκοσι λεπτά και πέρασαν τρία ταξί.
perímena íkosi leptá ke pérasan tría taksí
I waited twenty minutes and three taxis went past.
2. Building a genitive. The genitive of an indeclinable noun is marked on the article only.
❌ Η στάση των ταξιών είναι στη γωνία.
Incorrect — the genitive plural is των ταξί; only the article shows case.
✅ Η στάση των ταξί είναι στη γωνία.
i stási ton taksí íne sti ghonía
The taxi rank is on the corner.
3. Adding an English -ς plural. English speakers reflexively pluralise with -s, and Greek does have -ς endings, so the error feels plausible. It is not Greek.
❌ Ανοίγουν καινούργια μπαρς στην παραλία.
Incorrect — the -s plural is English; Greek says τα μπαρ.
✅ Ανοίγουν καινούργια μπαρ στην παραλία.
aníghun kenúrya bar stin paralía
New bars are opening on the seafront.
4. Guessing the gender from the source language. French le cinéma is masculine; Greek το σινεμά is not.
❌ Ο σινεμά της γειτονιάς έκλεισε πέρσι.
Incorrect — the loan is neuter: το σινεμά.
✅ Το σινεμά της γειτονιάς έκλεισε πέρσι.
to sinemá tis yitoniás éklise pérsi
The neighbourhood cinema closed last year.
5. Freezing a loan that actually declines. The mistake runs both ways: once a borrowing has been absorbed, it must inflect.
❌ Παραγγείλαμε τρεις μπίρα και μια πίτσα.
Incorrect — μπίρα is fully declined: τρεις μπίρες.
✅ Παραγγείλαμε τρεις μπίρες και μια πίτσα.
parangílame tris bíres ke mia pítsa
We ordered three beers and a pizza.
Key Takeaways
- Indeclinable nouns have one form for all four cases and both numbers: το ταξί, του ταξί, τα ταξί, των ταξί.
- The article carries everything — gender, case and number. Dropping it destroys the grammar of the sentence.
- The core set is small and mostly French or English: ταξί, σινεμά, μετρό, μπαρ, παρκέ, ουίσκι, κομπιούτερ, ασανσέρ, ραντεβού, μενού, πάρτι, γκολ.
- A loan in -α or -ο is almost always absorbed and declines normally (μπίρα, τσάντα, τσιγάρο, παλτό). -ι goes both ways: old loans inflect (μπαλκόνι, τζάμι, κουτί), recent ones stay frozen (ουίσκι, πάρτι, σούσι, σέλφι) — time depth decides, not the ending. Adding a Greek suffix (μπαράκι) also unfreezes a loan.
- Most indeclinables are neuter, but words for people follow natural gender (ο σεφ / η σεφ) and acronyms take the gender of their head noun (η ΕΕ, ο ΟΤΕ).
- The borrowed colour adjectives μπλε, γκρι, ροζ, μοβ, μπεζ are indeclinable too and never agree.
Now practice Greek
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Start learning Greek →Related Topics
- Assigning Gender to LoanwordsB1 — Every borrowed word has to be given a Greek gender before it can take an article — the default is neuter (το ίντερνετ, το λάπτοπ), but ending shape and semantic analogy override it, and this page gives you the decision procedure.
- Preposition + Article: στον, στη, στοA1 — σε is the one Greek preposition that fuses with the article, and it fuses obligatorily — the full grid στον/στη(ν)/στο/στους/στις/στα plus the genitive στου/στης/στων, and why από, για and με only elide instead.