Η κλινική είναι κοντά.

The clinic is nearby.

Breakdown of Η κλινική είναι κοντά.

• είμαι: to be
• κοντά: nearby
• η κλινική: clinic

Questions & Answers about Η κλινική είναι κοντά.

Why does the sentence start with Η? Is that the English letter H?

No. Η is a Greek letter, called eta, and in Modern Greek it is pronounced ee /i/, not like English h.

In this sentence, Η is also the feminine singular definite article, meaning the.

So:

• Η κλινική = the clinic

A rough pronunciation of Η here is ee.

Why is it η κλινική and not some other form of the?

Greek articles change according to gender, number, and case.

Here, κλινική is a feminine singular noun, so the article is η.

Some basic singular definite articles are:

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

So Greek learners need to learn nouns together with their gender. Since κλινική is feminine, it takes η in the nominative singular.

What is κλινική grammatically?