Το χωριό βρίσκεται δυτικά του ποταμού.

Βρίσκεται literally means is found / is located, and it is very natural in Greek when talking about where a place is.

So:

• Το χωριό βρίσκεται δυτικά του ποταμού. = The village is located west of the river.

You may also hear είναι in similar sentences, but βρίσκεται sounds a bit more precise and geographical. It is especially common in descriptions of towns, buildings, regions, and landmarks.

Βρίσκεται is:

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

So it means:

• it is located
• it is found
• it lies

Since το χωριό is singular (the village), the verb is singular too.

Here δυτικά is being used as an adverb, meaning to the west / west of.

Compare:

• δυτικός = western (adjective)
• δυτικά = west / to the west (adverb)

In this sentence, Greek needs the adverb, because it is describing the village’s location relative to the river:

• δυτικά του ποταμού = west of the river

If you used δυτικός, you would be using an adjective, so the structure would need to be different.

Του ποταμού is the genitive singular form of ο ποταμός (the river).

Greek often uses the genitive after words like δυτικά, ανατολικά, βόρεια, and νότια to express:

• west of
• east of
• north of
• south of

So:

• δυτικά του ποταμού = west of the river

This is a very common pattern in Greek.

The dictionary form is ο ποταμός = the river.

In the sentence, it changes to του ποταμού because it is in the genitive case.

So the forms are:

• ο ποταμός = nominative
• του ποταμού = genitive

This is one of the standard masculine noun patterns in Greek.

Because χωριό is a neuter noun in Greek.

Its article is therefore το:

• το χωριό = the village

This is just part of the noun’s grammatical gender. It does not mean the village is somehow “neutral” in meaning; it is simply how the word behaves grammatically.

The most neutral order is:

• Το χωριό βρίσκεται δυτικά του ποταμού.

But Greek word order is fairly flexible. For example, you might also hear:

• Δυτικά του ποταμού βρίσκεται το χωριό.

That version puts more emphasis on the location. Both are correct, but the original sentence is the most straightforward and neutral for a learner.

Yes. Greek can say:

• Το χωριό βρίσκεται δυτικά του ποταμού.
• Το χωριό βρίσκεται στα δυτικά του ποταμού.

Both can mean The village is west of the river.

A useful rough distinction is:

• δυτικά του ποταμού = more direct, compact, often used in geographic description
• στα δυτικά του ποταμού = literally in the west of the river area, sometimes slightly more descriptive

In many contexts, they are very close in meaning.

Not exactly in the traditional sense. It is better understood as an adverbial expression that functions like west of in English.

Greek often uses direction words in this way:

• βόρεια του... = north of...
• νότια του... = south of...
• ανατολικά του... = east of...
• δυτικά του... = west of...

So even though it behaves a lot like a preposition in translation, grammatically it comes from an adverbial directional form plus the genitive.

A helpful pronunciation guide is:

• To choryó vrískete dytiká tou potamoú.

A few key points:

• χ in χωριό is like the h/ch sound in German Bach or Scottish loch
• βρ in βρίσκεται starts with a v sound, not an English b
• δυτικά is stressed on the last syllable: dy-ti-KA
• ποταμού is stressed on the last syllable: po-ta-MOU

The same pattern works with the other main compass directions:

• βόρεια του ποταμού = north of the river
• νότια του ποταμού = south of the river
• ανατολικά του ποταμού = east of the river
• δυτικά του ποταμού = west of the river

This is a very useful structure to learn, because you can use it with many nouns:

• βόρεια της πόλης = north of the city
• νότια του βουνού = south of the mountain

Yes. While in this sentence it clearly means is located, βρίσκομαι can also be used more generally for to be situated, to be, or to find oneself somewhere.

For example:

• Βρίσκομαι στην Αθήνα. = I am in Athens.
• Το μουσείο βρίσκεται κοντά στην πλατεία. = The museum is near the square.

So it is a very common verb for talking about location.

You would change του ποταμού to the plural genitive:

• των ποταμών = of the rivers

So:

• Το χωριό βρίσκεται δυτικά των ποταμών. = The village is west of the rivers.

This shows that the direction word still works with the genitive; only the noun phrase changes number.