Breakdown of Ο αριθμός πρωτοκόλλου είναι απαραίτητος για την εξέταση της ένστασης.
Questions & Answers about Ο αριθμός πρωτοκόλλου είναι απαραίτητος για την εξέταση της ένστασης.
Because Greek often uses the genitive where English uses of or a noun used attributively.
So αριθμός πρωτοκόλλου is literally something like number of protocol/registration, and in normal administrative English this corresponds to a reference number, file number, or protocol number.
This pattern is very common in Greek:
- αριθμός τηλεφώνου = telephone number
- κέντρο πόλης = city center
- έκδοση βιβλίου = edition of a book / book edition
So πρωτοκόλλου depends on αριθμός and tells you what kind of number it is.
In Ο αριθμός πρωτοκόλλου, the main noun is αριθμός, so it takes the article: ο αριθμός.
The word πρωτοκόλλου is attached to it as a genitive complement, and Greek often leaves that second noun without an article in this kind of fixed administrative expression.
So:
- ο αριθμός πρωτοκόλλου = the protocol/reference number
You could sometimes see a genitive noun with an article in other contexts, but here the article is not needed. The phrase works as a standard compound-like expression.