Η φωτογραφία διαβατηρίου είναι καινούρια.

to be

Breakdown of Η φωτογραφία διαβατηρίου είναι καινούρια.

• καινούριος: new
• η φωτογραφία διαβατηρίου: the passport photo

Questions & Answers about Η φωτογραφία διαβατηρίου είναι καινούρια.

What is the basic grammatical structure of this sentence?

It has a very common Greek pattern:

• Η φωτογραφία διαβατηρίου = the subject noun phrase
• είναι = the verb is
• καινούρια = the predicate adjective, describing the subject

So the structure is:

Subject + to be + adjective

In other words, it works much like English The passport photo is new.

Why is there η at the beginning?

Η is the feminine singular definite article, meaning the.

It is used because φωτογραφία is:

• feminine
• singular
• nominative here, because it is the subject

So:

• η φωτογραφία = the photo

Greek articles change form depending on gender, number, and case, so η is not just one fixed word like English the.

Why is διαβατηρίου in that form?

Because Greek often uses the genitive where English uses a noun-noun combination.

So English:

• passport photo

becomes Greek:

• φωτογραφία διαβατηρίου

Literally, this is closer to:

• photo of passport

Here:

• base word: διαβατήριο = passport
• genitive singular: διαβατηρίου

This is a very common Greek pattern.