Η κασέτα είναι παλιά.

Η is the definite article in Greek, meaning the.

In this sentence, Η κασέτα means the cassette.

A few useful things to know:

• Η is used with feminine singular nouns in the nominative case.
• It is pronounced i, not like English h.
• Greek spelling keeps the capital letter Η, but in Modern Greek it sounds like ee.

So:

• Η κασέτα = the cassette

Greek nouns have grammatical gender, and κασέτα happens to be feminine.

That is why it takes:

• the feminine article Η
• the feminine adjective form παλιά

For an English speaker, this can feel strange because objects in English usually do not have grammatical gender. In Greek, though, gender is a normal part of the noun and affects other words in the sentence.

A good habit is to learn nouns together with their article:

• η κασέτα = the cassette

That helps you remember the noun’s gender.

είναι means is here.

It is a form of the verb είμαι, which means to be.

So the structure is:

• Η κασέτα = the cassette
• είναι = is
• παλιά = old

Together: The cassette is old.

Also, είναι can mean:

• is
• are

depending on the subject.

Examples:

• Η κασέτα είναι παλιά. = The cassette is old.
• Οι κασέτες είναι παλιές. = The cassettes are old.

Because Greek adjectives must agree with the noun they describe.

Since κασέτα is:

• feminine
• singular
• nominative

the adjective must also be:

• feminine
• singular
• nominative

So we get:

• παλιός = masculine form
• παλιά = feminine form
• παλιό = neuter form

Here the correct one is παλιά because κασέτα is feminine.

Because in this sentence παλιά is a predicate adjective: it comes after the verb to be and describes the subject.

This works much like English:

• The cassette is old.

Greek usually follows the same pattern here:

• subject + είναι + adjective

So:

• Η κασέτα είναι παλιά.

This is the most natural basic word order for this sentence.

Usually, in standard Modern Greek, είναι is not omitted in a normal present-tense sentence like this.

So:

• Η κασέτα είναι παλιά. = normal and correct

If you say only:

• Η κασέτα παλιά

that sounds incomplete in standard Greek.

Greek often drops subject pronouns such as I, you, he, because the verb ending already shows the person. But the verb to be itself is normally still needed.

A simple pronunciation guide is:

• Η = ee
• κασέτα = ka-SE-ta
• είναι = EE-ne
• παλιά = pa-LYA

So roughly:

ee ka-SE-ta EE-ne pa-LYA

A few notes:

• σ sounds like s
• τ sounds like t
• λιά in παλιά sounds like lya
• the accent mark shows which syllable is stressed:
  • κασέτα
  • είναι
  • παλιά

The accent marks show which syllable is stressed when you say the word.

In this sentence:

• κασέτα → stress on σέ
• είναι → stress on εί
• παλιά → stress on λιά

This matters because stress is an important part of correct Greek pronunciation.

The article Η has no accent here because it is a short grammatical word and is normally unstressed.

Yes. κασέτα is in the nominative singular.

That is because it is the subject of the sentence:

• The cassette is old.

In Greek, the subject of a sentence is normally in the nominative case.

You can see that in the article too:

• η = feminine singular nominative article

So η κασέτα is a nominative noun phrase.

Normally, no—not for the meaning The cassette is old.

Greek often uses the article more regularly than English does. With a specific noun like this, you would normally say:

• Η κασέτα είναι παλιά.

Leaving out the article would usually sound unnatural here.

If you wanted a more general or different kind of meaning, Greek would normally express that in another way, not simply by dropping the article in this sentence.

The pattern is:

article + noun + verb + adjective

More specifically:

• Η = definite article
• κασέτα = noun
• είναι = verb to be
• παλιά = adjective

So the full structure is:

subject + linking verb + predicate adjective

This is a very common and useful Greek sentence pattern, for example:

• Το σπίτι είναι μεγάλο. = The house is big.
• Η τσάντα είναι βαριά. = The bag is heavy.
• Το βιβλίο είναι καινούριο. = The book is new.