Learn Hardcore Greek: Ο παππούς και η γιαγιά μου πίνουν καφέ μαζί το πρωί. - My grandfather and my grandmother drink coffee together in the morning.

The subject is ο παππούς και η γιαγιά μου – two people. In English you would replace that whole phrase with they, so the verb must be in the third person plural.

πίνει = he/she/it drinks, is drinking (3rd person singular)
πίνουν = they drink, are drinking (3rd person plural)

Full present-tense paradigm of πίνω (to drink):

εγώ πίνω – I drink
εσύ πίνεις – you drink
αυτός / αυτή / αυτό πίνει – he / she / it drinks
εμείς πίνουμε – we drink
εσείς πίνετε – you (pl./formal) drink
αυτοί / αυτές / αυτά πίνουν(ε) – they drink

So ο παππούς και η γιαγιά μου πίνουν καφέ… = My grandfather and grandmother drink coffee…

Does μου refer to both “grandfather” and “grandmother” even though it appears only once?

Yes, in this sentence μου is understood to apply to both ο παππούς and η γιαγιά.

Greek often puts the possessive pronoun (like μου) only after the last noun in a list, but it is understood to belong to all the items in that list:

ο παππούς και η γιαγιά μου
→ my grandfather and (my) grandmother
ο αδελφός και η αδελφή μου
→ my brother and (my) sister

If you want to be extra clear or emphatic, you can repeat it:

ο παππούς μου και η γιαγιά μου πίνουν καφέ…

That version sounds a bit more emphatic and is very common too. But the original sentence is perfectly natural Greek and normally understood as “my grandfather and my grandmother.”

Why does μου come after the noun, not before like English “my”?

In Greek, the usual “weak” possessive pronouns (my, your, his, etc.) behave like clitics and go after the noun:

η γιαγιά μου – my grandmother
ο παππούς σου – your grandfather
το σπίτι του – his house
η δουλειά μας – our job

So word-for-word, η γιαγιά μου is the grandmother my. This is simply the normal structure in Greek.

There are also “strong” possessive forms (like δικός μου, δική σου) that can come before or after for emphasis:

ο δικός μου παππούς – my grandfather (as opposed to someone else’s)
η γιαγιά είναι δική μου – the grandmother is mine

But in everyday, neutral sentences, you almost always see the weak forms μου, σου, του, της, μας, σας, τους after the noun, as in your sentence.

Why do we use the articles ο and η before παππούς and γιαγιά?

Greek uses the definite article much more than English, especially with:

family members
people and things that are known in context
nouns used in a general/typical sense

So:

ο παππούς literally = the grandfather
η γιαγιά literally = the grandmother

But when you add a possessive, it translates as “my grandfather” / “my grandmother”, not “the my grandfather.” The article stays:

ο παππούς μου – my grandfather
η γιαγιά μου – my grandmother

In English we normally omit “the” in such cases, but in Greek it is required in this kind of noun phrase. The only common case where you drop the article with family members is direct address:

Παππού, γιαγιά! – Granddad, grandma!

What do ο, η, and το each mean? Are they all just “the”?

Yes, they all mean “the”, but they show grammatical gender:

ο = the (masculine, nominative singular)
- ο παππούς – the grandfather
η = the (feminine, nominative singular)
- η γιαγιά – the grandmother
το = the (neuter, nominative/accusative singular)
- το πρωί – the morning

Every Greek noun has a grammatical gender (masculine, feminine, or neuter), and the article must agree with the noun in gender, number, and case. So the article form tells you a lot about the noun that follows.

Why is there no article before καφέ, but το πρωί has one?

Because καφέ here is used like an indefinite mass noun, while το πρωί is a fairly fixed time expression that usually takes the article.

καφέ (coffee)
When you mean coffee in general, or “some coffee,” you usually drop the article:
- Πίνουν καφέ. – They drink coffee.
- Θέλεις καφέ; – Do you want (some) coffee?
If you say πίνουν τον καφέ, you are pointing to a specific coffee that has already been identified:
- Πίνουν τον καφέ που έφτιαξες. – They are drinking the coffee you made.
το πρωί (in the morning)
Time expressions like το πρωί, το βράδυ, το μεσημέρι often take the article in Greek and function adverbially:
- Το πρωί διαβάζω. – I study in the morning.
- Το βράδυ βλέπουμε τηλεόραση. – In the evening we watch TV.

So in your sentence:

πίνουν καφέ – they drink coffee (in general)
το πρωί – in the morning

Why is it καφέ and not καφές?

Because καφέ is in the accusative case, used here as the direct object of the verb πίνουν.

The noun “coffee” in Greek is:

ο καφές – nominative (subject form)
τον καφέ – accusative (object form)

Patterns:

Subject: Ο καφές είναι ζεστός. – The coffee is hot.
Object: Πίνω καφέ. – I drink coffee.

In your sentence:

(Ο παππούς και η γιαγιά μου) – subject (nominative)
πίνουν – verb
καφέ – direct object (accusative; article omitted because it’s indefinite)

That’s why you see καφέ and not καφές.

What does the present tense πίνουν express here? Is it “are drinking” or “drink”?

In Modern Greek, the simple present tense covers both:

progressive: they are drinking
habitual: they (usually) drink

Context decides which one is meant. Here we have το πρωί (“in the morning”), which suggests a habit or routine:

Ο παππούς και η γιαγιά μου πίνουν καφέ μαζί το πρωί.
→ My grandfather and grandmother drink coffee together in the morning (as a regular habit).

If you wanted to stress that it’s happening right now, you would usually add a time word like τώρα:

Τώρα πίνουν καφέ. – They are drinking coffee now.

But grammatically, it’s the same present tense form πίνουν.

Can we change the word order, for example: Το πρωί ο παππούς και η γιαγιά μου πίνουν καφέ μαζί?

Yes. Greek word order is relatively flexible, especially with adverbs and time expressions. All of the following are natural (with slightly different emphasis):

Ο παππούς και η γιαγιά μου πίνουν καφέ μαζί το πρωί.
Το πρωί ο παππούς και η γιαγιά μου πίνουν καφέ μαζί.
Ο παππούς και η γιαγιά μου το πρωί πίνουν καφέ μαζί.

They all mean essentially the same thing. Putting Το πρωί at the beginning often emphasizes the time frame (“As for the morning, that’s when…”).

What generally stays together is:

the noun + its article + its possessive (η γιαγιά μου)
the verb + its direct object (πίνουν καφέ)

Everything else (time, manner adverbs like μαζί) is more movable.

Where can μαζί go in the sentence? Is its position fixed?

Μαζί is an adverb meaning “together”, and it can move around within the clause. These are all acceptable:

…πίνουν καφέ μαζί το πρωί.
…πίνουν μαζί καφέ το πρωί.
…πίνουν καφέ το πρωί μαζί.

The differences are mostly about rhythm and slight emphasis, not about basic meaning. The most neutral-sounding in everyday speech is probably the one you have:

πίνουν καφέ μαζί το πρωί.

You can also use μαζί με + accusative to specify with whom:

Πίνουν καφέ μαζί με τους φίλους τους. – They drink coffee together with their friends.

Why does το πρωί mean “in the morning” when there is no word for “in”?

Greek often expresses “in/on/at” with a definite article + a time word, without an explicit preposition:

το πρωί – in the morning
το βράδυ – in the evening
τη Δευτέρα – on Monday
τον Ιούλιο – in July

So:

Πίνουν καφέ το πρωί. – They drink coffee in the morning.
Δουλεύω τη Δευτέρα. – I work on Monday.

There is a preposition σε (“in, at, on”), and you sometimes see forms like στο πρωί, but for this kind of regular time expression, the simple article + noun (το πρωί) is the standard way to say “in the morning.”

How do you pronounce παππούς and γιαγιά, and what is the role of the accent marks?

Pronunciation (approximate):

παππούς → pa-POOS (stress on the second syllable)
γιαγιά → ya-YÁ (stress on the second syllable; both syllables sound like “ya”)

The little accent mark (´) in Greek shows which syllable is stressed:

παππούς – stress on πούς
γιαγιά – stress on για (the second one)

Every Greek word with more than one syllable has one written accent, and you always stress that syllable when you speak. The accent does not change the vowel quality; it just marks stress, which is important for correct pronunciation and sometimes for distinguishing forms.

Could we say Οι παππούδες μου πίνουν καφέ μαζί το πρωί instead? What would that mean?

Yes, that’s grammatical, but it has a slightly different nuance.

Οι παππούδες μου literally = my grandfathers, but in everyday use it usually means “my grandparents” as a pair (grandfather + grandmother).

So:

Οι παππούδες μου πίνουν καφέ μαζί το πρωί.
→ My grandparents drink coffee together in the morning.

Your original sentence:

Ο παππούς και η γιαγιά μου…
spells out each person separately: my grandfather and grandmother.

Both are natural. Οι παππούδες μου is a bit more compact and refers to “my grandparents” as a unit; ο παππούς και η γιαγιά μου lists them individually.

Why is και used here instead of με for “with”?

Because και means “and” and is linking two subjects, not expressing “with”.

ο παππούς και η γιαγιά μου
= my grandfather and my grandmother (both together as the subject)

If you used με, it would normally introduce someone who is not the subject but is accompanying the subject:

Ο παππούς μου πίνει καφέ με τη γιαγιά μου.
→ My grandfather drinks coffee with my grandmother.
(Grandfather = subject; grandmother = “with whom”)

In your sentence, both people are doing the action. That’s why you join them with και, and then you add μαζί later to express that they do it together.