Η ιστορία ήταν διασκεδαστική.

The story was entertaining.

Breakdown of Η ιστορία ήταν διασκεδαστική.

• είμαι: to be
• η ιστορία: the story
• διασκεδαστικός: entertaining; fun

Questions & Answers about Η ιστορία ήταν διασκεδαστική.

Why is there an article Η at the beginning?

Η is the feminine singular definite article in the nominative case, equivalent to the here.

Greek articles change for gender, number, and case, so you do not use the same form everywhere. In this sentence:

• Η = the for a feminine singular subject
• ιστορία is a feminine singular noun, so the article must match it

So Η ιστορία means the story.

Why is ιστορία feminine?

In Greek, every noun has a grammatical gender: masculine, feminine, or neuter. Ιστορία happens to be a feminine noun, so it takes feminine forms of the article and adjectives.

That is why you get:

• Η ιστορία
• διασκεδαστική and not a masculine or neuter adjective form

Grammatical gender does not always match biological sex. For objects and abstract things, it is simply part of the noun’s grammar and must be learned with the word.

What does ήταν mean grammatically?