English gets an enormous amount of mileage out of one small set of words — my, your, his, her, our, their — and stretches them over jobs that Greek keeps strictly apart. My car and *my car, not yours are the same three letters in English and two different constructions in Greek. *My own mother and a place of my own are the same word own in English and two different constructions in Greek. And I hurt myself has nothing to do with possession at all, though it looks like it might.
This page does not teach any of them. It is the switchboard: work out what you are trying to say, read off the construction, and go to the page that owns it.
The decision table
| You want to say… | Greek uses | Example | Taught on |
|---|---|---|---|
| "my house" — plain, neutral | article + noun + clitic | το σπίτι μου | possessive determiners |
| "MY house, not yours" | article + δικός μου + noun | το δικό μου σπίτι | δικός μου |
| "it's mine" (after είναι) | δικό μου, no article | Αυτό είναι δικό μου. | δικός μου |
| "a house of my own" — I own it | δικό μου
| Έχω δικό μου σπίτι. | δικός μου |
| "Yannis's house" — a named owner | possessed noun + genitive noun | το σπίτι του Γιάννη | genitive of possession |
| "it's Yannis's house we're at" | the genitive owner fronted | του Γιάννη το σπίτι | genitive of possession |
| "his own office", not another man's | ο δικός του | στο δικό του γραφείο | δικός μου |
| "my own mother" — emotional weight | article + ίδιος + clitic + article + noun | η ίδια μου η μητέρα | ο ίδιος |
| "myself" — the verb acts on the owner | ο εαυτός μου | Μιλάει στον εαυτό του. | ο εαυτός μου |
| "all my clothes" | όλος
| όλα μου τα ρούχα | όλος |
| "a friend of mine" | indefinite article + noun + clitic | ένας φίλος μου | possessive determiners |
| "my family, my people" | οι δικοί μου | Οι δικοί μου μένουν εδώ. | δικός μου |
| "my head hurts" — a part of me | clitic on the noun, or on the verb | Πονάει το κεφάλι μου / Μου πονάει το κεφάλι | experiencer clitics |
| "your" to someone you address formally | σας, not σου | το διαβατήριό σας | formal and informal "you" |
The default is the clitic — start there
Nine possessives out of ten in real Greek are the unstressed clitic sitting behind the noun, with the definite article still in place. If nothing in the sentence is being contrasted, this is the answer, and reaching for anything fancier will make you sound like you are arguing.
Το ποδήλατό μου είναι στο υπόγειο, αν το χρειάζεσαι.
to podhílató mu íne sto ipóyio, an to chriázese
My bike is in the basement if you need it.
Μια ξαδέρφη μου δουλεύει στο νοσοκομείο και θα τη ρωτήσω αύριο.
mia ksadhérfi mu dhulévi sto nosokomío ke tha ti rotíso ávrio
A cousin of mine works at the hospital and I'll ask her tomorrow.
Όλα μου τα ρούχα μυρίζουν τηγανητό μετά από χθες.
óla mu ta rúcha mirízun tighanitó metá apó chthes
All my clothes smell of frying after last night.
The forms, the position, the article rule and the second accent that a long noun grows in front of a clitic all belong to possessive determiners, and the handful of places the article drops out to article with possessives.
Escalate to δικός μου only for contrast
Switch to the stressed possessive when the owner is what the sentence is about: when there is a rival owner in the room, real or implied, or when you are answering whose?.
Το δικό μου ποδήλατο έχει καλάθι, το δικό σου όχι.
to dhikó mu podhílato échi kaláthi, to dhikó su óchi
My bike has a basket, yours doesn't.
Το φταίξιμο ήταν δικό τους, όχι δικό μας.
to ftéksimo ítan dhikó tus, óchi dhikó mas
The fault was theirs, not ours.
Unlike the clitic, δικός μου declines — δικός, δική, δικό, δικοί, δικές, δικά — agreeing with the thing owned. That, along with its predicative use after είναι and the article-less "of my own" reading, is on δικός μου.
Name the owner: the genitive
When the owner is a person or thing you can name rather than a pronoun, Greek puts that noun into the genitive after the thing owned. There is no apostrophe-s and no word for of.
Το γραφείο του διευθυντή είναι στο τέλος του διαδρόμου.
to ghrafío tu dhiefthindí íne sto télos tu dhiadhrómu
The manager's office is at the end of the corridor.
Της Ελένης το γραφείο είναι στον τρίτο όροφο.
tis Elénis to ghrafío íne ston tríto órofo
Eleni's office is on the third floor.
The second one shows the owner fronted, which puts contrastive weight on it without changing a single ending. Both orders, the articles they need and the noun endings themselves are on genitive of possession.
The three ways to say "own"
English own is a single word covering three unrelated Greek constructions. Choose by what you actually mean.
| Meaning | Greek | Example |
|---|---|---|
| belonging to me, not to someone else | δικός μου | με δικά μου λεφτά |
| my very own, with feeling | ο ίδιος μου ο… | η ίδια μου η μητέρα |
| by myself, with nobody's help | μόνος μου | Το έφτιαξα μόνος μου. |
Με πρόδωσε ο ίδιος μου ο αδερφός και δεν το χωράει το μυαλό μου.
me pródhose o ídhios mu o adherfós ke dhen to chorái to mialó mu
My own brother betrayed me and I still can't get my head round it.
The middle row is the intensive ίδιος, which also means the same, and the article count is what separates its meanings — see ο ίδιος.
When the owner is what the verb acts on
The one case in the table that is not possession at all. If English -self is the object of the verb rather than a modifier of a noun, no possessive will do the job: Greek needs the reflexive noun ο εαυτός μου.
Πρέπει να μάθεις να λες όχι, πρώτα απ' όλα στον εαυτό σου.
prépi na máthis na les óchi, próta ap' óla ston eaftó su
You need to learn to say no — to yourself first of all.
The test is deletion: take the -self out and see whether the sentence survives. My own brother betrayed me still works without own, so that is the intensive. You need to say no to yourself collapses without yourself, so that is ο εαυτός μου.
A part of the body is possessed too
Greek marks body parts as possessed where English often does not need to, and it offers a second route: the clitic can leave the noun and attach to the verb instead, as an experiencer. Both sentences below are ordinary; the second focuses on the person suffering rather than on the body part.
Έσπασε το χέρι του στο ποδόσφαιρο και είναι δύο μήνες με γύψο.
éspase to chéri tu sto podhósfero ke íne dhío mínes me yípso
He broke his arm playing football and he's been in a cast for two months.
Μου πονάει το κεφάλι από το πρωί και δεν περνάει με τίποτα.
mu ponái to kefáli apó to proí ke dhen pernái me típota
My head has been aching since this morning and nothing shifts it.
That second pattern belongs to a whole family of constructions in which a genitive clitic marks the person something happens to — μου αρέσει, μου λείπει, μου φαίνεται — set out on experiencer clitics.
Common Mistakes
1. Using ο εαυτός μου as a possessive. It is a noun meaning "self" and it only ever appears where the verb needs an object.
❌ Ξέχασα το βιβλίο του εαυτού μου στο λεωφορείο.
Incorrect — ordinary possession takes the clitic: το βιβλίο μου.
✅ Ξέχασα το βιβλίο μου στο λεωφορείο και δεν το ξαναείδα.
kséchasa to vivlío mu sto leoforío ke dhen to ksanaídha
I left my book on the bus and never saw it again.
2. Using ο ίδιος to mean "mine". ίδιος is about sameness and identity, never about ownership.
❌ Αυτό το μπουφάν είναι το ίδιο μου.
Incorrect — ownership is δικός μου: είναι δικό μου.
✅ Αυτό το μπουφάν είναι δικό μου, το άλλο είναι της Άννας.
aftó to bufán íne dhikó mu, to álo íne tis Ánas
This coat is mine — the other one is Anna's.
3. Using both possessives at once. δικός μου already contains the owner; adding a second clitic to the noun says it twice.
❌ Το δικό μου σπίτι μου είναι μικρό.
Incorrect — one possessive per phrase: either το σπίτι μου or το δικό μου σπίτι.
✅ Το δικό μου σπίτι είναι πιο μικρό από το δικό τους.
to dhikó mu spíti íne pio mikró apó to dhikó tus
My house is smaller than theirs.
4. Answering "whose?" with a bare clitic. μου is unstressed and cannot survive on its own; a one-word answer has to be the stressed form, agreeing with the thing owned.
❌ — Ποιανού είναι αυτή η ομπρέλα; — Μου.
Incorrect — a clitic cannot stand alone; the answer is δική μου, agreeing with ομπρέλα.
✅ — Ποιανού είναι αυτή η ομπρέλα; — Δική μου, ευχαριστώ.
— pianú íne aftí i ombréla; — dhikí mu, efcharistó
— Whose umbrella is this? — Mine, thanks.
Key Takeaways
- Default to the clitic: article + noun + μου/σου/του/της/μας/σας/τους. It covers the overwhelming majority of possessives.
- δικός μου is for contrast, for predicates (είναι δικό μου) and for the article-less "of my own" reading. It declines and agrees with the thing owned.
- A named owner goes into the genitive after the possessed noun: το σπίτι του Γιάννη; fronting it (του Γιάννη το σπίτι) adds contrast without changing any ending.
- English own splits three ways: δικός μου (belonging to me), ο ίδιος μου ο… (my very own), μόνος μου (unaided).
- ο εαυτός μου is not a possessive at all — it is the verb's object. If deleting the -self breaks the English sentence, you need εαυτός.
- Body parts take the clitic like anything else, and often move it onto the verb instead: Μου πονάει το κεφάλι.
- Address someone formally and the possessive changes with the pronoun: σας, not σου.
Now practice Greek
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Start learning Greek →Related Topics
- Possessive CliticsA1 — μου after a noun is 'my'; μου in front of a verb is 'to me'. Same seven words, two completely different jobs, and nothing but position to tell them apart — including the sentences where both turn up at once (Μου έφερε το βιβλίο μου). The one page in the group about reading and producing that difference.
- Emphatic Possessives: δικός μουB1 — The stressed possessive that English hides inside its intonation: δικός μου, δική μου, δικό μου agrees with the thing owned and is what Greek uses for 'mine', 'my own' and 'MY car, not yours'. Includes the predicative Αυτό είναι δικό μου, the article-less Έχω δικό μου σπίτι ('a place of my own'), and οι δικοί μου for 'my family'.
- Genitive: PossessionA1 — Greek has no apostrophe-s and no word for 'of' — possession is built head-first, with the possessed thing coming before the genitive possessor (το σπίτι του Γιάννη), and everyday 'my/your/his' handled by the unstressed clitics μου, σου, του that trigger a second accent on the noun.
- Possessive Determiners (μου, σου, του)A1 — Greek marks possession with seven unstressed little words placed after the noun — το βιβλίο μου, η μητέρα σου, το σπίτι τους — none of which changes for the thing owned. This page gives the forms, then answers the question the beginner pages skip: why the same clitic can also land in front of the noun (ο καλύτερός μου φίλος) or even in front of the article (όλη μου τη ζωή).
- The Reflexive ο εαυτός μουB1 — Greek's reflexive is not a pronoun at all — it is the masculine noun εαυτός ('self') with a definite article and a possessive clitic: τον εαυτό μου, στον εαυτό σου, του εαυτού της. Why the noun stays masculine and singular whoever you are talking about, why it can take an adjective (ο παλιός μου εαυτός) and even be a subject (Δεν είναι ο εαυτός του), and how it differs from ο ίδιος and μόνος μου.