Το σπίτι των γονιών μου είναι μακριά από το πανεπιστήμιο.

to be

Breakdown of Το σπίτι των γονιών μου είναι μακριά από το πανεπιστήμιο.

• το σπίτι: the house
• μου: my
• από: from
• μακριά: far
• το πανεπιστήμιο: the university
• ο γονιός: the parent

Questions & Answers about Το σπίτι των γονιών μου είναι μακριά από το πανεπιστήμιο.

Why is it των γονιών μου and not των γονείς μου?

Γονείς is the nominative plural form (the one used for the subject: Οι γονείς μου είναι εδώ – My parents are here).

In this sentence we need the genitive plural to show possession (of my parents), and that form is γονιών. So:

• nominative plural: οι γονείς (the parents)
• genitive plural: των γονιών (of the parents)

That is why we say των γονιών μου, not των γονείς μου. The article των also shows that we are in the genitive plural.

What grammatical case is των γονιών μου, and what does it do here?

Των γονιών μου is in the genitive case, plural.

Here the genitive is used to show possession or a close relationship, just like of my parents or the ’s in my parents’ house in English.

Literally the structure is:

• Το σπίτι των γονιών μου ≈ The house of my parents

So το σπίτι (the house) is being specified by των γονιών μου (of my parents).

Does μου belong to γονιών or to σπίτι? Is it “my house of the parents” or “house of my parents”?

Grammatically, μου is attached to γονιών; the phrase των γονιών μου means of my parents (literally of the parents of me).

Semantically, of course, the whole thing means my parents’ house, but the internal structure is:

• το σπίτι – the house
• των γονιών μου – of my parents

So it is house [of my parents], not [my house] of the parents.

Can I drop μου and just say Το σπίτι των γονιών είναι μακριά από το πανεπιστήμιο?

You normally would not drop μου here.

• Το σπίτι των γονιών μου = my parents’ house (specific: my parents)
• Το σπίτι των γονιών on its own sounds like the parents’ house in a vague or generic way, without clearly saying whose parents.

In everyday speech, if you mean my parents’ house, you almost always keep μου.

Why is the order Το σπίτι των γονιών μου and not something like Το των γονιών μου σπίτι?

In Greek, the normal order inside a noun phrase is:

[article] + [main noun] + [genitive phrase]

So:

• Το σπίτι των γονιών μου = the house of my parents

Putting the genitive των γονιών μου before σπίτι (for example Το των γονιών μου σπίτι) sounds very marked or literary, and not like normal modern spoken Greek. For everyday language, the genitive phrase comes after the noun.

Why do we say μακριά από? Could we just say μακριά το πανεπιστήμιο?

No. In Greek, μακριά (far) is normally followed by the preposition από to mean far from something:

• μακριά από το πανεπιστήμιο – far from the university
• μακριά από το κέντρο – far from the center

So the pattern is:

μακριά + από + [noun]

Saying μακριά το πανεπιστήμιο would be ungrammatical in this meaning.

Why do we use από and not some other preposition like σε?

Από is the standard preposition used after μακριά to express distance away from something:

• μακριά από το σπίτι – far from the house
• μακριά από τη θάλασσα – far from the sea

Σε usually means in / at / to (for example στο πανεπιστήμιο – at/to the university), but μακριά σε is not used for far from. For far from, Greek uses μακριά από.

Why do we need είναι? Could we say Το σπίτι των γονιών μου μακριά από το πανεπιστήμιο without it?

You need είναι here. It is the verb to be in the 3rd person singular:

• είναι – he/she/it is

Greek does not normally drop the verb to be in this kind of sentence. So:

• Το σπίτι των γονιών μου είναι μακριά από το πανεπιστήμιο – correct
• ✗ Το σπίτι των γονιών μου μακριά από το πανεπιστήμιο – sounds wrong/incomplete

The structure is [subject] + είναι + [complement].

Does μακριά agree with σπίτι in gender and number? Why doesn’t it change form?

In this sentence, μακριά is functioning as an adverb (like far in is far from), not as an adjective.

• Adverbs in Greek (like μακριά, πολύ, καλά) do not change for gender, number, or case.
• Adjectives (like μακρινός, -ή, -ό) do change to match the noun.

So μακριά stays the same regardless of whether the subject is το σπίτι, τα σπίτια, η πόλη, etc.:

• Το σπίτι είναι μακριά.
• Οι πόλεις είναι μακριά.

Same μακριά in all cases.

What is the difference between μακριά and μακρινό?

• Μακριά is usually an adverb: far (away).

  • Το σπίτι είναι μακριά από το πανεπιστήμιο. – The house is far from the university.

• Μακρινός, -ή, -ό is an adjective: distant / far (as a characteristic).

  • Ένα μακρινό πανεπιστήμιο – a distant/far-away university
  • Ένα μακρινό χωριό – a distant village

You would not normally say Το σπίτι είναι μακρινό από το πανεπιστήμιο for is far from the university; the natural choice there is μακριά από.

Why do we use the article το with πανεπιστήμιο? In English we say “from university” without “the”.

Modern Greek uses definite articles much more than English, even with institutions:

• το πανεπιστήμιο – (the) university
• το σχολείο – (the) school
• το νοσοκομείο – (the) hospital

So από το πανεπιστήμιο is the normal way to say from (the) university.

There are some special expressions where the article can be dropped, but in a neutral sentence like this, το πανεπιστήμιο with the article is standard.

Sometimes I see απ’ το πανεπιστήμιο instead of από το πανεπιστήμιο. What is the difference?

Απ’ το is just a spoken/written contraction of από το:

• από + το → απ’ το (when the vowel ο is dropped and replaced by an apostrophe)

There is no difference in meaning:

• μακριά από το πανεπιστήμιο
• μακριά απ’ το πανεπιστήμιο

Both mean the same; απ’ το is simply more colloquial and reflects natural pronunciation.