Ο εγκέφαλος λειτουργεί συνεχώς.

The brain works continuously.

Breakdown of Ο εγκέφαλος λειτουργεί συνεχώς.

• λειτουργώ: to work
• συνεχώς: continuously
• ο εγκέφαλος: brain

Questions & Answers about Ο εγκέφαλος λειτουργεί συνεχώς.

Why is there ο at the beginning?

ο is the definite article, meaning the.

Here it agrees with εγκέφαλος and tells you that the noun is:

• masculine
• singular
• nominative (the subject form)

Greek uses the definite article more often than English does. In general statements like this one, Greek often says ο εγκέφαλος where English might say either the brain or just talk about brain more generally.

What case, gender, and number is ο εγκέφαλος?

ο εγκέφαλος is:

• masculine
• singular
• nominative

It is the subject of the sentence, so nominative is the expected case.

Also, -ος is a very common ending for masculine nouns in Greek, though it is not exclusively masculine in all cases. In this sentence, the article ο makes it clear that εγκέφαλος is masculine.

Why does Greek use the article here? Could I just say Εγκέφαλος λειτουργεί συνεχώς?