Το παιδί φοβάται την τιμωρία.

Because παιδί is a neuter noun in Greek.

Greek nouns have grammatical gender: masculine, feminine, or neuter.
The noun παιδί means child and is grammatically neuter, so it takes the neuter singular article:

• το παιδί = the child

This is grammatical gender, not biological sex. Even if the child is a boy or a girl, παιδί still stays neuter.

Because τιμωρία is the direct object of the verb, so it appears in the accusative case.

In this sentence:

• Το παιδί = the subject
• φοβάται = fears / is afraid of
• την τιμωρία = the thing being feared

The noun τιμωρία is feminine, and in the accusative singular it keeps the same noun form here, but the article changes:

• nominative: η τιμωρία = the punishment
• accusative: την τιμωρία = the punishment

So the case is shown mainly by the article in this example.

φοβάται means he/she/it is afraid or fears.

It is:

• 3rd person singular
• present tense
• from the verb φοβάμαι

So:

• φοβάμαι = I am afraid
• φοβάσαι = you are afraid
• φοβάται = he/she/it is afraid

Since the subject is το παιδί (the child), we use φοβάται.

Yes, it does look like a passive/middle ending, and that is a very common question.

The verb φοβάμαι belongs to a group of Greek verbs that use middle/passive forms but often have an active meaning. In English, the meaning is active: be afraid, fear.

So even though it looks passive in form, here it means:

• Το παιδί φοβάται... = The child is afraid... / The child fears...

This is normal Greek usage. You should learn φοβάμαι as a whole verb, not try to force it into English-style active/passive logic.

It can mean either, depending on context.

Natural English translations include:

• The child is afraid of the punishment.
• The child fears the punishment.

Greek often uses a direct object after φοβάμαι, where English commonly uses afraid of.

So:

• φοβάται την τιμωρία = literally something like fears the punishment
• but very naturally translated as is afraid of the punishment

Because Greek does not need one here.

In English, we usually say:

• afraid of the punishment

But in Greek, φοβάμαι commonly takes a direct object in the accusative:

• φοβάμαι την τιμωρία

So the idea of of is built into how the Greek verb works. This is something you often have to learn verb by verb.

Yes. Greek word order is more flexible than English because the articles and endings show each word’s role.

The neutral/basic order here is:

• Το παιδί φοβάται την τιμωρία.

But you may also see:

• Την τιμωρία φοβάται το παιδί.
• Το παιδί την τιμωρία φοβάται.

These can sound more marked or emphatic, depending on context.

Still, for learners, subject + verb + object is the safest default.

In normal Greek, you would usually keep the articles here:

• Το παιδί φοβάται την τιμωρία.

Leaving them out would usually sound unnatural in this sentence.

Greek uses the definite article more often than English in many contexts, and with ordinary nouns like these, the article is normally expected.

A simple pronunciation guide is:

• Το παιδί φοβάται την τιμωρία
• to peh-THEE fo-VA-tee teen tee-mo-REE-a

A few notes:

• παιδί is stressed on the last syllable: -δί
• φοβάται is stressed on βά
• τιμωρία is stressed on ρί

Also, την is often pronounced tin in everyday speech.

It is in the nominative case, because it is the subject of the sentence.

So:

• το παιδί = nominative singular
• την τιμωρία = accusative singular

This is a good basic pattern to notice in Greek sentences:

• subject → nominative
• direct object → accusative

παιδί is singular: child.

The plural is:

• παιδιά = children

So:

• το παιδί = the child
• τα παιδιά = the children

And the verb would change too:

• Το παιδί φοβάται την τιμωρία. = The child fears the punishment.
• Τα παιδιά φοβούνται την τιμωρία. = The children fear the punishment.

The dictionary forms are:

• παιδί = child
• φοβάμαι = be afraid, fear
• τιμωρία = punishment

If you look up φοβάται in a dictionary, you usually need to know that the base form is φοβάμαι.

Not usually in its most natural reading.

Because it says την τιμωρία with the definite article, it most naturally means:

• the punishment
• a specific punishment, or punishment as something clearly understood in context

If you wanted a more general idea like is afraid of punishment, Greek might be phrased differently depending on context. So in this sentence, the most straightforward reading is specific or contextually known punishment.

This is a very useful distinction:

• φοβάμαι = I am afraid / I fear
• φοβίζω = I frighten / I scare

So:

• Το παιδί φοβάται την τιμωρία. = The child fears the punishment.
• Η τιμωρία φοβίζει το παιδί. = The punishment frightens the child.

In other words:

• φοβάμαι = how someone feels
• φοβίζω = what causes fear

Accent matters in Greek because it tells you which syllable is stressed, and stress is a real part of correct pronunciation.

In this sentence:

• παιδί
• φοβάται
• τιμωρία

If you put the stress in the wrong place, Greek speakers will still sometimes understand you, but it will sound noticeably incorrect and may occasionally cause confusion. So it is worth learning each word together with its accent.