Ο υπάλληλος ελέγχει το μηχάνημα.

A natural pronunciation is roughly:

o i-PA-li-los e-LEng-hi to mi-HA-ni-ma

A few helpful notes:

• Ο = o as in or without the r
• υπάλληλος has the stress on πά: i-PA-li-los
• ελέγχει has the stress on λέγ: e-LEng-hi
• μηχάνημα has the stress on χά: mi-HA-ni-ma

Some sound tips:

• η, ι, υ often sound like ee in Modern Greek.
• χ is not an English h. It is a throaty sound, like the ch in German Bach or Scottish loch.
• γχ in ελέγχει is pronounced something like ngh.

Ο is the masculine singular form of the.

So:

• ο υπάλληλος = the employee

Greek definite articles change depending on gender, number, and case.

Here are the singular nominative forms:

• ο = masculine
• η = feminine
• το = neuter

Since υπάλληλος is a masculine noun, it takes ο here.

Because the two nouns have different grammatical genders:

• υπάλληλος is masculine
• μηχάνημα is neuter

So the article must match the noun:

• ο υπάλληλος = the employee
• το μηχάνημα = the machine

In Greek, gender is a grammatical feature of nouns. It does not always correspond to biological sex or to anything logical from an English perspective. You simply learn the noun together with its article.

A very good habit is to memorize nouns like this:

• ο υπάλληλος
• το μηχάνημα

not just υπάλληλος or μηχάνημα alone.

In this sentence:

• ο υπάλληλος is the subject = the one doing the action
• το μηχάνημα is the object = the thing receiving the action

One clue is case:

• ο υπάλληλος is in the nominative case, which is commonly used for the subject
• το μηχάνημα is in the accusative case, which is commonly used for the direct object

Here, the neuter article το looks the same in nominative and accusative singular, so the article alone does not show the difference clearly. But the sentence pattern and verb meaning make it clear:

• the employee checks
• the machine is what gets checked

ελέγχει is the third person singular present form of the verb ελέγχω.

So:

• εγώ ελέγχω = I check
• εσύ ελέγχεις = you check
• αυτός / αυτή / αυτό ελέγχει = he / she / it checks

In your sentence, the subject is singular:

• ο υπάλληλος ελέγχει = the employee checks

It can mean either, depending on context.

Greek present tense often covers both:

• he checks
• he is checking

So Ο υπάλληλος ελέγχει το μηχάνημα could mean:

• The employee checks the machine
• The employee is checking the machine

Context tells you which is more natural.

The dictionary forms are:

• ο υπάλληλος = employee
• ελέγχω = to check / inspect / examine
• το μηχάνημα = machine

Notice that the verb appears in the sentence as ελέγχει, but the dictionary form is ελέγχω.

Yes. Greek word order is more flexible than English word order because case endings and articles help show grammatical roles.

The most neutral order here is:

• Ο υπάλληλος ελέγχει το μηχάνημα.

But you may also see:

• Το μηχάνημα ελέγχει ο υπάλληλος.
• Ελέγχει το μηχάνημα ο υπάλληλος.

These alternatives can shift the emphasis, but the basic meaning can stay the same: the employee checks the machine.

English is much stricter, so you usually cannot move words around this freely.

The accent marks show which syllable is stressed.

• υπάλληλος → stress on πά
• ελέγχει → stress on λέγ
• μηχάνημα → stress on χά

Stress is important in Greek pronunciation, and it is written clearly. This is very helpful for learners.

If you ignore the accent marks, people may still understand you sometimes, but your pronunciation will sound less natural, and in some cases stress can help distinguish forms.

Grammatically, ο υπάλληλος is masculine in form.

It can refer to:

• a male employee, or
• sometimes an employee in a more general sense, depending on context

If you want an explicitly feminine form, Greek often uses:

• η υπάλληλος = the female employee

So the noun form may stay the same, while the article changes:

• ο υπάλληλος = masculine
• η υπάλληλος = feminine

This is a useful reminder that the article in Greek carries a lot of information.

In normal Greek, the articles are very natural and usually expected in a sentence like this.

So:

• Ο υπάλληλος ελέγχει το μηχάνημα sounds normal and complete.

If you remove the articles, the sentence sounds less natural in ordinary usage and more like a headline, note, or very telegraphic style.

Greek uses the definite article more often than English in many situations, so learners should get used to seeing and using it regularly.