Αυτό το τηλέφωνο χρησιμοποιείται μόνο στο γραφείο.

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Breakdown of Αυτό το τηλέφωνο χρησιμοποιείται μόνο στο γραφείο.

• σε: at
• το τηλέφωνο: the phone
• το γραφείο: the office

Questions & Answers about Αυτό το τηλέφωνο χρησιμοποιείται μόνο στο γραφείο.

Why does the sentence use both Αυτό and το before τηλέφωνο? Isn’t that like saying “this the phone”?

In Greek, it is completely normal (and in fact the default) to have:

demonstrative + definite article + noun

So:

• Αυτό το τηλέφωνο
  literally: this the phone

This does not sound redundant in Greek the way “this the phone” would in English. It’s the standard pattern:

• Αυτό το βιβλίο – this book
• Εκείνο το σπίτι – that house

You can see Αυτό as “this” and το τηλέφωνο as “the phone”. Together they make “this (particular) phone” in a very natural Greek way.

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Is Αυτό an adjective or a pronoun here, and why is it in this form?

Αυτό is a demonstrative that functions like an adjective here, because it directly modifies a noun (τηλέφωνο).

It has to agree in gender, number and case with the noun:

• τηλέφωνο is neuter, singular, nominative.
• The corresponding form of αυτός (this) in neuter nominative singular is αυτό.

So we get:

• Αυτό το τηλέφωνο – this phone

If the noun were feminine, you’d see:

• Αυτή η καρέκλα – this chair (feminine)

Or masculine:

• Αυτός ο υπολογιστής – this computer (masculine)

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Why is τηλέφωνο neuter, and how does that affect the other words?