Ο υπολογιστής σταματάει να δουλεύει όταν δεν έχει ίντερνετ.

to have

Breakdown of Ο υπολογιστής σταματάει να δουλεύει όταν δεν έχει ίντερνετ.

• δεν: not
• να: to
• δουλεύω: to work

Questions & Answers about Ο υπολογιστής σταματάει να δουλεύει όταν δεν έχει ίντερνετ.

Why do we say Ο υπολογιστής with the article Ο? In English we would just say “A computer” or “The computer” for a general statement.

In Greek, the definite article (ο, η, το) is usually used even when English would use no article or “a/an” in general statements.

• Ο υπολογιστής σταματάει να δουλεύει όταν δεν έχει ίντερνετ.
  = The computer stops working when it doesn’t have internet.
  But the meaning is “a computer / computers in general behave like this.”

Greek often uses the definite article to talk about things in general:

• Ο σκύλος είναι πιστός. = Dogs are faithful.
• Η μουσική με χαλαρώνει. = Music relaxes me.

So Ο υπολογιστής here is not one specific computer; it’s a general statement about what typically happens with computers.

Why is υπολογιστής masculine? The word “computer” in English has no gender.

Greek nouns have grammatical gender, which can be masculine, feminine, or neuter, and this is mostly arbitrary from an English speaker’s point of view.

• υπολογιστής ends in -ής, a very common ending for masculine nouns.
• That’s why it takes the masculine article ο:
  ο υπολογιστής (the computer)

You just need to learn each noun along with its article:

• ο υπολογιστής (masc.) – the computer
• η οθόνη (fem.) – the screen
• το πληκτρολόγιο (neuter) – the keyboard

What’s the difference between and ? I’ve seen both.