Demonstrative Pronouns | Greek Grammar

You already know αυτός and εκείνος as the words that go in front of a noun: αυτό το βιβλίο, εκείνη η ταινία. Their forms, the two-way near/far system, the article that always comes with them and the regional τούτος all live on demonstratives, and none of that is repeated here. This page is about the moment you take the noun away — Θέλω αυτό, Ποια; — Αυτή, Τι είναι εκείνο; — because three things change, and all three catch English speakers out.

The reason is simple. English this one and that one carry no information about what you are pointing at; the little word one is a blank. Greek has no blank. The demonstrative has to end in something, and whatever it ends in tells your listener the gender and the case of the noun you did not say.

The ending is the noun's ghost

When the noun goes, its gender stays behind in the ending. That means you cannot point at something wordlessly in Greek unless you know what the thing is called — or at least what gender it is.

The noun you left out	"this one"	"that one"
ο καναπές (m.)	αυτός / αυτόν	εκείνος / εκείνον
η μπλούζα (f.)	αυτή	εκείνη
το ποτήρι (n.)	αυτό	εκείνο
οι φίλοι (m. pl.)	αυτοί / αυτούς	εκείνοι / εκείνους
οι καρέκλες (f. pl.)	αυτές	εκείνες
τα κλειδιά (n. pl.)	αυτά	εκείνα

— Ποια μπλούζα να βάλω απόψε; — Αυτή, είναι πιο ζεστή.

— pia blúza na válo apópse; — aftí, íne pio zestí

— Which top should I wear tonight? — This one, it's warmer.

— Ποιον καναπέ πήρατε τελικά; — Εκείνον στη γωνία, τον γκρίζο.

— pion kanapé pírate teliká; — ekínon sti ghonía, ton grízo

— Which sofa did you end up getting? — That one in the corner, the grey one.

Τα κλειδιά είναι δύο σετ. Αυτά ανοίγουν κάτω, εκείνα το γραφείο.

ta klidhiá íne dhío set. aftá aníghun káto, ekína to ghrafío

There are two sets of keys. These open downstairs, those the office.

Notice the last one: nothing in αυτά or εκείνα says "keys". The neuter plural ending is doing the whole job, and it works only because κλειδιά was named one sentence earlier. Which of the two words to reach for when neither thing is physically anywhere — when the "distance" is a matter of the conversation rather than the room — is the subject of αυτός vs εκείνος.

A one-word answer copies the question's case too

Gender is the half most courses mention. The other half is case, and it bites just as often, because a bare demonstrative used as an answer has to be in whatever case the question put it in.

— Ποιος σου το είπε αυτό; — Αυτός, χθες το μεσημέρι.

— pios su to ípe aftó; — aftós, chthes to mesiméri

— Who told you that? — He did, yesterday lunchtime.

— Ποιον υπάλληλο ρώτησες; — Αυτόν στο ταμείο, τον νεαρό.

— pion ipálilo rótises; — aftón sto tamío, ton nearó

— Which member of staff did you ask? — That one at the till, the young lad.

— Σε ποιον να δώσω τα χαρτιά; — Σ' αυτόν, αυτός τα μαζεύει.

— se pion na dhóso ta chartiá; — s' aftón, aftós ta mazévi

— Who should I give the papers to? — To him, he's the one collecting them.

Three answers, three forms of the same word — αυτός, αυτόν, σ' αυτόν — and the question word told you which one to use every time. If the question is Ποιος; the answer is nominative; if it is Ποιον; the answer is accusative; if the question has a preposition in it, so does the answer. The question words themselves are on question words.

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Read the question word and copy it. Ποιος → Αυτός. Ποιον → Αυτόν. Ποια → Αυτή. Σε ποιον → Σ' αυτόν. That one habit removes the commonest A2 slip in the whole demonstrative system, and it costs nothing to build.

Neuter αυτό: the word for things you cannot name

Here is the escape hatch, and it is the reason αυτό is by far the most frequent of these forms. When you do not know what something is — and therefore cannot possibly know its gender — Greek uses the neuter. αυτό and εκείνο are what you point with when the thing has not been identified yet.

Τι είναι αυτό στο πιάτο σου; Μυρίζει υπέροχα.

ti íne aftó sto piáto su; mirízi ipérocha

What's that on your plate? It smells amazing.

Πόσο κάνει αυτό; Δεν βλέπω τιμή πουθενά.

póso káni aftó; dhen vlépo timí puthená

How much is this? I can't see a price anywhere.

Δεν ξέρω πώς το λένε αυτό στα ελληνικά, το δείχνω με το χέρι.

dhen kséro pos to léne aftó sta eliniká, to dhíchno me to chéri

I don't know what this is called in Greek — I just point at it.

This is genuinely useful for a learner: when you don't know the noun, the neuter is always available. And watch what happens the moment the thing gets a name — the agreement switches on immediately:

— Τι είναι αυτό; — Μια παλιά καφετιέρα της γιαγιάς μου. — Α, αυτή είναι ωραία!

— ti íne aftó; — mia paliá kafetiéra tis yayás mu. — a, aftí íne oréa!

— What's that? — An old coffee pot of my grandmother's. — Oh, that's lovely!

The first speaker says αυτό because the object is still an unidentified thing; two seconds later, καφετιέρα has been said, and the same object is αυτή. The neuter is not a default gender — it is the "not classified yet" gender.

Αυτά είναι δικά μου

Standing alone, these words are ordinary subjects, so everything downstream in the sentence agrees with them — including the predicate.

Αυτά είναι δικά μου, εκείνα είναι της αδερφής μου.

aftá íne dhiká mu, ekína íne tis adherfís mu

These are mine, those are my sister's.

Αυτές είναι φθηνότερες, αλλά δεν κρατάνε ούτε έναν χειμώνα.

aftés íne fthinóteres, alá dhen kratáne úte énan chimóna

These are cheaper, but they don't last even one winter.

Αυτός about a person: what it signals

This is the part no textbook prints, and it matters socially. Two uses have to be kept apart. Picking somebody out of a group is neutral even when they are standing right there — that is exactly what Αυτόν στο ταμείο and Σ' αυτόν were doing above, and there is no other way to say it. What carries a charge is using αυτός / αυτή as your ordinary word for "he / she". About someone who is somewhere else — on the phone, in another town, in a story you are telling — that is perfectly ordinary. About somebody standing right there it is cold: you have referred to a present human being as "that one" instead of using their name or a polite noun. Depending on your tone it ranges from curt to openly dismissive.

Ο κύριος ήταν πριν από μένα στη σειρά, εγώ περιμένω.

o kírios ítan prin apó ména sti sirá, eghó periméno

This gentleman was ahead of me in the queue — I'll wait. (neutral and polite: a stranger who is present is ο κύριος / η κυρία)

Αυτός τι θέλει εδώ; Δεν τον κάλεσε κανείς.

aftós ti théli edhó; dhen ton kálese kanís

What's he doing here? Nobody invited him. (dismissive — and heard as dismissive by everyone in the room)

εκείνος used of a person is colder still, because it puts distance between you and them on purpose:

Εκείνος; Δεν του μιλάω δύο χρόνια τώρα.

ekínos; dhen tu miláo dhío chrónia tóra

Him? I haven't spoken to him in two years. (deliberately distancing)

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None of this is a grammar error — it is register, and native speakers use it on purpose. But know what you are doing: in a shop, a waiting room or a family gathering, a present stranger is ο κύριος / η κυρία and a present friend is their name. Save standalone αυτός as your "he / she" for people who are not in earshot.

Common Mistakes

1. Answering in the nominative whatever the question was. The dictionary form is αυτός, and it takes real effort to let the question word choose the ending instead.

❌ — Ποιον υπάλληλο ρώτησες; — Αυτός στο ταμείο.

Incorrect — ποιον is accusative, so the answer is too: Αυτόν στο ταμείο.

✅ — Ποιον από τους δύο εμπιστεύεσαι; — Αυτόν με τα γυαλιά, τον ψηλό.

— pion apó tus dhío embistévese; — aftón me ta yaliá, ton psiló

— Which of the two do you trust? — That one with the glasses, the tall one.

2. Translating the English "one" of "this one". There is no word for it in Greek — the demonstrative already contains it.

❌ Θέλω αυτό ένα, όχι το άλλο.

Incorrect — Greek has no separate word for the 'one' of 'this one': Θέλω αυτό.

✅ Θέλω αυτό, όχι το άλλο — το άλλο έχει μια γρατζουνιά μπροστά.

thélo aftó, óchi to álo — to álo échi mia ghradzuniá brostá

I want this one, not the other one — the other one's got a scratch on the front.

3. Half-dropping the noun. You may say the noun with its article, or leave it out altogether. What you may not do is keep the noun and lose the article.

❌ Θέλω αυτό παγωτό, με τη φράουλα.

Incorrect — with a noun the article stays: Θέλω αυτό το παγωτό. Without the noun it is simply Θέλω αυτό.

✅ Θέλω αυτό το παγωτό, με τη φράουλα από πάνω.

thélo aftó to paghotó, me ti fráula apó páno

I'd like this ice cream, with the strawberry on top.

4. Reaching for αυτό where Greek uses the plain object clitic. Both sentences below are correct; they are not saying the same thing, and English it covers both. The unstressed everyday object is the clitic — see direct-object clitics.

Πήρα το βιβλίο και το διάβασα σε δυο μέρες.

píra to vivlío ke to dhiávasa se dhio méres

I got the book and read it in two days. (neutral: the everyday 'it' is the clitic το)

Από όλα τα βιβλία στο ράφι, αυτό διάβασα πρώτο.

apó óla ta vivlía sto ráfi, aftó dhiávasa próto

Out of all the books on the shelf, this is the one I read first. (the demonstrative singles one out from others)

5. Using standalone αυτός for someone present, and expecting it to be neutral. Again both are correct Greek — but they are not socially interchangeable, and the second one will be noticed.

Η κυρία ρώτησε πρώτη, εξυπηρετήστε την.

i kiría rótise próti, eksipiretíste tin

This lady asked first — serve her. (neutral and polite, with the person standing there)

Αυτή ρώτησε πρώτη, εξυπηρετήστε την.

aftí rótise próti, eksipiretíste tin

She asked first — serve her. (correct, but referring to a present stranger as 'her' comes across as curt)

Key Takeaways

With the noun gone, the ending is the only trace of it left: Ποια τσάντα; — Αυτή, Ποιο ποτήρι; — Αυτό. You have to know the noun's gender before you can point at it.
A one-word answer copies the case of the question: Ποιος; — Αυτός, Ποιον; — Αυτόν, Σε ποιον; — Σ' αυτόν.
The neuter αυτό / εκείνο is what you use for anything not yet identified — Τι είναι αυτό;, Πόσο κάνει αυτό; — and it is the learner's escape hatch when the noun is unknown. As soon as the thing is named, agreement takes over.
Standing alone as a subject, the demonstrative controls the whole predicate: Αυτά είναι δικά μου, Αυτές είναι φθηνότερες.
Αυτός / Αυτή as your everyday "he / she" about a person who is present reads as curt or dismissive; Εκείνος is colder still. Picking someone out (Αυτόν στο ταμείο) stays neutral. For a present stranger use ο κύριος / η κυρία, and for a friend, their name.
Greek has no word for the "one" in this one — and a demonstrative in front of a noun still needs the article: αυτό or αυτό το παγωτό, never the two mixed.

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