Η φίλη μου είναι άρρωστη και έχει πυρετό.

My friend (female) is sick and has a fever.

Breakdown of Η φίλη μου είναι άρρωστη και έχει πυρετό.

• είμαι: to be
• και: and
• έχω: to have
• η φίλη: the female friend
• μου: my
• άρρωστος: sick
• ο πυρετός: the fever

Questions & Answers about Η φίλη μου είναι άρρωστη και έχει πυρετό.

What does Η at the beginning mean, and why is it capitalized?

Η is the feminine singular definite article, meaning the.

• Η φίλη = the (female) friend
• It’s capitalized only because it’s the first word of the sentence.
• The lowercase form is η.

So Η φίλη μου = my (female) friend, literally the friend my.

Why is it φίλη and not φίλος?

Greek nouns have grammatical gender.

• φίλος = (male) friend – masculine
• φίλη = (female) friend – feminine

The sentence refers to a female friend, so it uses the feminine form φίλη.
The article and adjectives must match that gender, so we get Η φίλη μου είναι άρρωστη (all feminine).

Why does μου come after φίλη, instead of before like in English (my friend)?

μου is a weak (clitic) possessive pronoun meaning my. In Greek, these usually come after the noun:

• η φίλη μου = my friend
• το σπίτι μου = my house
• ο αδερφός μου = my brother

So the natural order is article + noun + possessive pronoun:
η φίλη μου, not μου φίλη.

Why is there both Η and μου? Why not just φίλη μου without the article?

In standard Greek, when you use a possessive pronoun like μου, you almost always also use the definite article:

• η φίλη μου (normal)
• φίλη μου (possible, but more vocative or emotional: “my friend!” as an address)

Η φίλη μου means my (specific) friend, and sounds complete as a subject.
Without η, φίλη μου often sounds like you’re calling someone:
Φίλη μου, έλα εδώ. = My friend, come here.

Why is there no word for a in my friend? Shouldn’t it be a friend of mine?

English: a friend of mine
Greek: μία φίλη μου if you mean “one of my friends”.

But in this sentence, it’s simply Η φίλη μου = my (the) friend.
Greek normally does not use the indefinite article with possessives for the basic “my X” meaning. The pattern is just:

• η φίλη μου = my friend
• ο φίλος μου = my friend (male)
• το παιδί μου = my child

You use μια φίλη μου when you want to emphasize one of my friends (among several), which is a bit different in meaning.

What is είναι, and which form of the verb is it?

είναι is the third person singular (and also plural) of the verb είμαι = to be.

Present tense of είμαι:

• εγώ είμαι = I am
• εσύ είσαι = you are (singular)
• αυτός / αυτή / αυτό είναι = he / she / it is
• εμείς είμαστε = we are
• εσείς είστε = you are (plural/polite)
• αυτοί / αυτές / αυτά είναι = they are

In the sentence, Η φίλη μου είναι άρρωστη = My friend is sick.
Subject: Η φίλη μου, verb: είναι.

Why is the adjective άρρωστη and not άρρωστος?

Adjectives in Greek agree with the noun in gender, number, and case.

• άρρωστος = sick (masculine, nominative singular)
• άρρωστη = sick (feminine, nominative singular)
• άρρωστο = sick (neuter, nominative/accusative singular)

Since φίλη is feminine singular in the nominative (subject), the adjective must also be feminine singular nominative:

• Η φίλη μου είναι άρρωστη.
• Ο φίλος μου είναι άρρωστος.
• Το παιδί μου είναι άρρωστο.

Why is it έχει πυρετό and not είναι πυρετός or something like είναι με πυρετό?

In Greek, physical symptoms are usually expressed with έχω (to have) plus a noun:

• έχω πυρετό = I have a fever
• έχω πονοκέφαλο = I have a headache
• έχω βήχα = I have a cough

So:
έχει πυρετό = she has a fever.

Using είναι with πυρετός (e.g. είναι πυρετός) would be wrong; πυρετός is the fever (as a thing), not a description of a person.

You can also say είναι άρρωστη με πυρετό (she is sick with a fever), but the simple and natural way is έχει πυρετό.

Why does πυρετό end in -ό here? What case is it?

The base noun is πυρετός = fever (masculine).
In the sentence, πυρετό is the direct object of έχει, so it is in the accusative case.

Singular of πυρετός:

• Nominative: ο πυρετός (subject form)
• Accusative: τον πυρετό (object form – article changes and ending loses ς)

In έχει πυρετό, the article τον is simply omitted in casual speech, but the noun still appears in the accusative form πυρετό.

Could I change the word order, like Η φίλη μου έχει πυρετό και είναι άρρωστη?

Yes. Both are grammatical and natural:

• Η φίλη μου είναι άρρωστη και έχει πυρετό.
• Η φίλη μου έχει πυρετό και είναι άρρωστη.

Greek word order is fairly flexible. Here, both clauses describe the same subject (Η φίλη μου), and you can put είναι άρρωστη or έχει πυρετό first without changing the core meaning.

Can I drop είναι and just say Η φίλη μου άρρωστη και έχει πυρετό?

In standard Greek, you normally keep είναι in sentences like this.

• Η φίλη μου είναι άρρωστη και έχει πυρετό. (correct, natural)

Dropping είναι can sound incomplete or very informal and is not standard written Greek. Unlike subject pronouns (often dropped), the present tense form of είμαι is usually not omitted in neutral, correct speech in this kind of sentence.

How do you pronounce άρρωστη and why are there two ρ letters?

άρρωστη is pronounced roughly: Á-rro-stee (stress on the first syllable).

• The double ρρ (two ρ) indicates a stronger, “rolled” or trilled r sound, especially in careful speech.
• The stress mark (´) over ά shows which syllable is stressed: Άρ-.

So syllables: Άρ-ρω-στη with a clear stress on the first syllable and a strong r.

Where are the stress accents in the whole sentence, and how important are they?

The stressed syllables are:

• Η φίλη μου είναι άρρωστη και έχει πυρετό.
  
  • φίλη – stress on φί
  • είναι – stress on εί
  • άρρωστη – stress on ά
  • έχει – stress on έ
  • πυρετό – stress on τό

Accents are very important in Greek. They:

• Show which syllable is stressed (which can change meaning in some words).
• Help you pronounce words correctly and understand spoken Greek more easily.