Ο καπετάνιος ελέγχει τον χάρτη.

Because Greek articles change form depending on the gender, number, and case of the noun.

• Ο καπετάνιος = the captain → masculine singular nominative (subject form)
• τον χάρτη = the map → masculine singular accusative (direct object form)

So English uses the for both, but Greek uses different forms.

The article tells you.

• ο καπετάνιος is in the nominative, which usually marks the subject
• τον χάρτη is in the accusative, which usually marks the direct object

So even if you did not know the meaning, the grammar shows that the captain is doing the action and the map receives the action.

Because the noun changes form by case.

The dictionary form is usually the nominative singular:

• ο χάρτης = the map

But here it is the direct object, so Greek uses the accusative singular:

• τον χάρτη = the map

This is very common with masculine nouns ending in -ης:

• nominative: ο χάρτης
• accusative: τον χάρτη

ελέγχει is the 3rd person singular present form of the verb ελέγχω.

That means:

• I check → ελέγχω
• you check → ελέγχεις
• he/she/it checks → ελέγχει

So in this sentence, ελέγχει means he/she is checking / checks.

It can mean either one, depending on context.

Greek present tense often covers both:

• he checks
• he is checking

So Ο καπετάνιος ελέγχει τον χάρτη can mean:

• The captain checks the map
• The captain is checking the map

English makes this distinction more often than Greek does.

A simple learner-friendly pronunciation is roughly:

e-LE-nkhi

A few details:

• the stress is on λέ
• γχ is pronounced like a nasal + rough h/ch sound, often approximated as ngh or nkh
• the final ει sounds like ee

You do not need to pronounce it exactly like English spelling suggests. The important part is stressing λέ correctly.

The accent mark shows which syllable is stressed.

• καπετάνιος
• ελέγχει
• χάρτη

Stress matters in Greek, so it is important to learn words together with their accent.

Because Greek verbs already show the person and number.

The ending -ει in ελέγχει tells you it is he/she/it. So Greek often leaves out subject pronouns unless they are needed for emphasis or contrast.

That means Greek can simply say:

• Ο καπετάνιος ελέγχει τον χάρτη

and does not need a separate word for he.

Greek word order is more flexible than English because case endings show the grammatical roles.

The neutral order here is:

• Ο καπετάνιος ελέγχει τον χάρτη.

But other orders are possible, for example for emphasis:

• Τον χάρτη ελέγχει ο καπετάνιος.
• Ελέγχει τον χάρτη ο καπετάνιος.

These still mean roughly the same thing, but the emphasis changes. English usually depends much more on word order.

Good question. In modern Greek, the final -ν in words like τον and την may sometimes be dropped in speech or informal writing, depending on the sound that follows and the style.

So you may sometimes see:

• το χάρτη

But τον χάρτη is completely standard and very common. For learners, using τον is a safe choice here.

Usually καπετάνιος most naturally means a captain, especially a ship captain or someone in command in a nautical context.

Depending on context, it can also be used more broadly, but if you see καπετάνιος together with χάρτη, many learners will imagine a nautical setting, which makes sense.

Not always, but Greek uses the definite article very often, sometimes more often than English does.

Here, the article is natural because the sentence refers to:

• the captain
• the map

If you removed the articles, the sentence would sound different and less like the normal equivalent of The captain is checking the map.

The dictionary forms are:

• ο καπετάνιος = captain
• ελέγχω = to check / inspect
• ο χάρτης = map

In the sentence, two of them appear in changed forms:

• ελέγχει is the conjugated verb form
• χάρτη is the accusative form of χάρτης