Ο φίλος μου παίζει ποδόσφαιρο σε μια μικρή ομάδα στην πόλη.

My friend (male) plays football on a small team in the city.

Breakdown of Ο φίλος μου παίζει ποδόσφαιρο σε μια μικρή ομάδα στην πόλη.

• μου: my
• ο φίλος: the male friend
• μικρός: small
• σε: in
• η πόλη: the city
• παίζω: to play
• ένας: one
• το ποδόσφαιρο: the football
• η ομάδα: the team

Questions & Answers about Ο φίλος μου παίζει ποδόσφαιρο σε μια μικρή ομάδα στην πόλη.

Why do we say Ο φίλος μου and not just φίλος μου or μου φίλος, since in English we just say “my friend”?

Modern Greek normally uses the definite article with possessives in this pattern:

• Ο φίλος μου = literally “the friend my” → “my friend”

Points to notice:

1. Definite article needed
   With a possessive pronoun (μου, “my”), Greek usually keeps the definite article:

   • ο φίλος μου – my friend (masc.)
   • η αδερφή μου – my sister (fem.)
   • το σπίτι μου – my house (neut.)

2. Order: noun + possessive
   The possessive follows the noun:

   • ο φίλος μου (not μου φίλος in standard neutral speech)

3. Can you drop the article?
   You sometimes see φίλος μου without ο, but that sounds a bit more like:

   • “a friend of mine” / “this friend of mine”
     The article ο makes it feel more clearly like “my (specific) friend”.

So Ο φίλος μου is the normal, neutral way to say “my friend.”

What exactly is μου here? Is it a full word like “my”, and why does it come after φίλος?

Μου is an unstressed possessive pronoun, functioning like a clitic (“my”).

Key points:

1. Meaning

   • μου = “my”
   • σου = “your (singular)”
   • του/της/του = “his/her/its” etc.

2. Position
   In noun phrases, the possessive follows the noun:

   • ο φίλος μου – my friend
   • η μητέρα σου – your mother
   • το βιβλίο του – his book

3. Unstressed form
   It’s usually written and pronounced attached closely to the noun, but still as a separate word:

   • φίλος μου (not φίλοςμού)

So in Ο φίλος μου, μου is “my”, placed after the noun instead of before it as in English.

Why does παίζει end in -ει? What person and number is this?

Παίζει is the 3rd person singular, present tense of the verb παίζω (“to play”).

Present tense of παίζω:

• εγώ παίζω – I play
• εσύ παίζεις – you (sg.) play
• αυτός/αυτή/αυτό παίζει – he/she/it plays
• εμείς παίζουμε – we play
• εσείς παίζετε – you (pl./formal) play
• αυτοί/αυτές/αυτά παίζουν(ε) – they play

So παίζει corresponds to “he/she/it plays” (or “is playing”). In the sentence, it matches Ο φίλος μου (“my friend”), so:
Ο φίλος μου παίζει… = “My friend plays / is playing …”

Is παίζει “plays” or “is playing”? Does Greek distinguish these two like English does?

Greek does not usually distinguish “plays” vs “is playing” with separate verb forms in the present.

• Ο φίλος μου παίζει ποδόσφαιρο.
  • can mean: “My friend plays football (in general).”
  • or: “My friend is playing football (right now).”

Context decides which English translation fits best. The same present tense form παίζει covers both English simple present and present continuous.

Why is there no Greek word for “he” in the sentence? Why doesn’t it say Αυτός ο φίλος μου παίζει…?

Greek often drops subject pronouns because the verb ending already shows the person and number.

• παίζει already tells us “he/she/it plays.”
• Ο φίλος μου is the explicit subject, so adding αυτός (“he”) is normally unnecessary.

You would only add αυτός for emphasis or contrast:

• Αυτός ο φίλος μου παίζει ποδόσφαιρο, όχι ο άλλος.
  This friend of mine plays football, not the other one.

In neutral sentences, a separate “he” is usually omitted.

Why is there no article before ποδόσφαιρο? Why not παίζει το ποδόσφαιρο?

In Greek, when talking about a sport someone plays in a general sense, the noun for the sport often appears without an article:

• παίζω ποδόσφαιρο – I play football
• παίζω μπάσκετ – I play basketball
• παίζω τένις – I play tennis

Using the article (το ποδόσφαιρο) would sound more like you’re referring to a specific “football game” or the sport as a concrete object, which is not the usual phrasing for “plays football as a sport.”

So:

• Ο φίλος μου παίζει ποδόσφαιρο = “My friend plays football.”
• Saying παίζει το ποδόσφαιρο would be unusual in this context.

What does σε mean here in σε μια μικρή ομάδα and στην πόλη? Is it “in”, “at”, or “to”?

The preposition σε is very flexible and can correspond to several English prepositions, mainly:

• in
• at
• to
• sometimes “on”

In this sentence:

• σε μια μικρή ομάδα ≈ “on/in a small team”
• στην πόλη ≈ “in the city”

So παίζει ποδόσφαιρο σε μια μικρή ομάδα = “he plays football on a small team,” and that team is located στην πόλη – “in the city.”

Greek leaves it to context to specify exactly which English preposition you’d use.

Why is it μια μικρή ομάδα and not ένας μικρή ομάδα? How does μια work here?

Μια is the indefinite article for feminine nouns in the singular, equivalent to “a / an” in English.

Indefinite articles in Greek:

• ένας – masculine (e.g. ένας φίλος – a friend [male])
• μία / μια – feminine (e.g. μια ομάδα – a team)
• ένα – neuter (e.g. ένα σπίτι – a house)

Ομάδα (“team”) is a feminine noun, so you must use the feminine indefinite article:

• μια ομάδα – a team

Thus σε μια μικρή ομάδα = “in/on a small team.”

Why is the adjective order μικρή ομάδα and not ομάδα μικρή? What is the normal position of adjectives?

In Greek, the normal (unmarked) position of an adjective is before the noun:

• μια μικρή ομάδα – a small team
• ένα μεγάλο σπίτι – a big house
• ο καλός φίλος – the good friend

You can put the adjective after the noun for emphasis or stylistic reasons:

• μια ομάδα μικρή – literally “a team small” (highlighting the “smallness”)

But in everyday, neutral speech, adjective + noun is standard. So μικρή ομάδα is the usual form.

Why is the adjective μικρή feminine? How do we know ομάδα is feminine?

Adjectives in Greek agree with the noun in:

• gender (masc./fem./neut.)
• number (sing./pl.)
• case (nominative, accusative, etc.)

1. Ομάδα is feminine
   Most nouns ending in -α or -η are feminine:

   • ομάδα – team (fem.)
   • πόλη – city (fem.)

2. Μικρή agrees with ομάδα
   The adjective μικρός (“small”) has forms:

   • masc.: μικρός
   • fem.: μικρή
   • neut.: μικρό

Since ομάδα is feminine, you must use the feminine form μικρή:

• μια μικρή ομάδα – a small team (fem. sg.)
• δύο μικρές ομάδες – two small teams (fem. pl.)

So μικρή is feminine to match ομάδα.

Why do we have σε μια but then στην πόλη? What is στην exactly?

Στην is a contracted form of σε + την:

• σε – in/at/to
• την – feminine definite article, accusative singular (“the”)

So:

• σε την πόλη → contracted to στην πόλη – “in the city”

Greek often contracts σε + definite article:

• σε + τον → στον (masc.) – στον φίλο (to the friend)
• σε + την → στην (fem.) – στην πόλη (in the city)
• σε + το → στο (neut.) – στο σπίτι (in the house)

With μια (indefinite article), there is no contraction:

• σε μια μικρή ομάδα – in a small team (no merging)

So σε μια stays separate, but σε την πόλη becomes στην πόλη.

What case are ομάδα and πόλη in here, and why?

Both ομάδα and πόλη are in the accusative singular.

Reason: in Greek, most prepositions, including σε, are followed by the accusative case.

• σε μια μικρή ομάδα
  
  • ομάδα – accusative singular feminine
• στην πόλη (σε + την)
  
  • πόλη – accusative singular feminine

So the pattern is:

• σε + accusative → “in/at/to [a place or group]”

That’s why both nouns appear in their accusative forms.

Could I say σε μια μικρή ομάδα στην μικρή πόλη? How would that change the meaning?

Yes, that’s grammatically fine, and it changes the meaning slightly:

• σε μια μικρή ομάδα στην πόλη
  “in a small team in the city”
  (the team is small; “city” is just the location, not specified as small or big)

• σε μια μικρή ομάδα στη(ν) μικρή πόλη
  “in a small team in the small town/city”
  (now you are also describing the city as small: μικρή πόλη)

So adding μικρή before πόλη makes the city itself small, not just the team.