Η ταινία είναι τρομακτική.

Η is the feminine singular definite article, meaning the.

Greek nouns have grammatical gender, so the article has to match the noun:

• ο = masculine the
• η = feminine the
• το = neuter the

Because ταινία is a feminine noun, you say η ταινία.

It is feminine because of grammar.

In Greek, every noun has a grammatical gender, and that gender does not always have anything to do with real-world sex or natural gender. A movie is not female, of course, but the noun ταινία is grammatically feminine, so other words around it must match:

• η ταινία
• μια καλή ταινία
• η ταινία είναι τρομακτική

Είναι means is here. It is the 3rd person singular form of είμαι = to be.

In a sentence like this, standard Greek normally uses the verb:

• Η ταινία είναι τρομακτική.

Leaving out είναι would sound incomplete in normal modern Greek.

Because it is agreeing with ταινία, which is feminine singular nominative.

Greek adjectives change form to match the noun they describe. Here are the basic forms of this adjective:

• masculine: τρομακτικός
• feminine: τρομακτική
• neuter: τρομακτικό

Since the subject is η ταινία, the adjective must be feminine singular:

• Η ταινία είναι τρομακτική.

It means scary or frightening — something that causes fear.

It does not mean that the movie itself is feeling fear. For scared/frightened, Greek would use a different word, such as τρομαγμένη for a feminine subject.

So:

• Η ταινία είναι τρομακτική = the movie is scary
• Η γυναίκα είναι τρομαγμένη = the woman is scared

Yes. Greek word order is more flexible than English word order.

The most neutral version is:

• Η ταινία είναι τρομακτική.

But you may also hear:

• Τρομακτική είναι η ταινία.

That version gives extra emphasis to τρομακτική. The basic meaning stays the same, but the focus changes.

Approximately: teh-NEE-a

Helpful notes:

• αι sounds like e
• ι sounds like ee
• the stress is on νί

So it breaks down roughly as:

• ται-νί-α

Approximately: troh-mak-tee-KEE

Helpful notes:

• the stress is on the last syllable: -κή
• η and ι are both pronounced like ee in Modern Greek
• κτ is pronounced as two consonants: k-t

Because η here is the definite article, and it is a one-syllable function word that normally has no written accent.

This is useful because ή with an accent is a different word meaning or.

So:

• η = the (feminine)
• ή = or

If you mean the movie, yes:

• η ταινία

If you mean a movie, you would say:

• μια ταινία

So compare:

• Η ταινία είναι τρομακτική. = the movie is scary
• Μια ταινία είναι τρομακτική. = a movie is scary

Greek uses articles very regularly, so it is important to learn them together with nouns.

Here it is a predicate adjective: it comes after είναι and describes the subject.

So the structure is:

• Η ταινία = the subject
• είναι = is
• τρομακτική = adjective describing the subject

You can also use the adjective directly before the noun:

• η τρομακτική ταινία = the scary movie

Both use the same feminine form because they both refer to ταινία.