Οι μαθητές σήμερα γράφουν προτάσεις στο τετράδιό τους.

Today the students are writing sentences in their notebook.

Breakdown of Οι μαθητές σήμερα γράφουν προτάσεις στο τετράδιό τους.

• σήμερα: today
• σε: in
• γράφω: to write
• ο μαθητής: the student
• η πρόταση: the sentence
• το τετράδιο: the notebook
• τους: their

Questions & Answers about Οι μαθητές σήμερα γράφουν προτάσεις στο τετράδιό τους.

Why is it Οι μαθητές and not something like Τα μαθητές?

In Greek, nouns have grammatical gender.

• μαθητής (student) is masculine in the singular.
• Its plural is μαθητές (students), still masculine.

The definite article must agree in gender, number, and case with the noun:

• ο μαθητής – the student (masc. singular, nominative)
• οι μαθητές – the students (masc. plural, nominative)

Τα is the neuter plural article, so it cannot be used with a masculine noun like μαθητές.

Why is there no word for they in the sentence?

Greek usually omits subject pronouns because the verb ending already shows who is doing the action.

• γράφω – I write
• γράφεις – you (sing.) write
• γράφει – he/she/it writes
• γράφουμε – we write
• γράφετε – you (pl.) write
• γράφουν – they write

In Οι μαθητές σήμερα γράφουν…, the subject οι μαθητές is already explicit, and the ending -ουν on γράφουν also shows they.
So adding αυτοί (they) is usually unnecessary and would sound too heavy in this simple sentence.

Does γράφουν mean write or are writing?

Both, depending on context.
Modern Greek has one present tense (ενεστώτας) that covers:

• English simple present:
  
  • Οι μαθητές γράφουν προτάσεις. → The students write sentences.
• English present continuous:
  
  • Οι μαθητές σήμερα γράφουν προτάσεις. → The students are writing sentences today.

The adverb σήμερα (today) makes the “are writing (now)” interpretation natural in your sentence.

Why is σήμερα in the middle? Could it go somewhere else?

Yes, σήμερα is flexible in position. All of these are correct:

• Σήμερα οι μαθητές γράφουν προτάσεις στο τετράδιό τους.
• Οι μαθητές σήμερα γράφουν προτάσεις στο τετράδιό τους.
• Οι μαθητές γράφουν σήμερα προτάσεις στο τετράδιό τους.

Greek word order is more flexible than English. Putting σήμερα:

• at the beginning: emphasizes today as a time frame.
• after the subject οι μαθητές: sounds very natural and neutral.
• after the verb: often adds a slight focus on the time of the action.

All three are fine in everyday Greek.

Why is προτάσεις in this form?

The base word is:

• πρόταση – sentence (feminine, singular, nominative)

Here we have προτάσεις:

• feminine plural nominative: οι προτάσεις (the sentences)
• feminine plural accusative: βλέπω προτάσεις (I see sentences)

In your sentence, προτάσεις is the direct object of the verb γράφουν, so it must be in the accusative plural.
For feminine nouns in this pattern, nominative plural and accusative plural look the same: προτάσεις.

What exactly is στο in στο τετράδιό τους?

στο is a contraction of:

• σε (in, at, to) + το (the – neuter singular accusative)

So:

• σε το τετράδιο → στο τετράδιο
• σε τον μαθητή → στον μαθητή
• σε την τάξη → στη(ν) τάξη

In your sentence, στο τετράδιό τους literally means “in their notebook”.

Why is it τετράδιό with an accent on the last syllable, not τετράδιο?

The base word is:

• το τετράδιο – the notebook (stress on -ρά-)

When you add an enclitic pronoun (like μου, σου, του, της, μας, σας, τους) after some words, Greek stress rules say the main word often needs an extra stress to keep the accent from moving too far back.

So:

• το τετράδιο – the notebook
  but
• το τετράδιό μου – my notebook
• το τετράδιό σου – your notebook
• το τετράδιό τους – their notebook

The extra accent on the last syllable (-διό) appears because of the following enclitic τους. It is a regular stress rule in modern Greek.

Why is τους after τετράδιό instead of before, like English their notebook?

Greek possessive pronouns normally follow the noun:

• το βιβλίο μου – my book
• το σπίτι σου – your house
• ο φίλος της – her friend
• το τετράδιό τους – their notebook

They behave like enclitics (weak pronouns that lean on the previous word for stress), which is why the stress of τετράδιό changes.

You do not say τους τετράδιο for their notebook. The normal order is noun + possessive pronoun.

Does τους in το τετράδιό τους agree in gender with τετράδιο?

No. The pronoun τους here agrees with the owners, not with the thing owned.

• τους = their (belonging to them)

It does not change for gender:

• το τετράδιό τους – their notebook (neuter)
• το βιβλίο τους – their book (neuter)
• η τσάντα τους – their bag (feminine)
• ο δάσκαλός τους – their teacher (masculine)

Same τους in all cases; what changes is the article + noun, not the pronoun.

Why is τετράδιό singular? Shouldn’t it be notebooks, since there are many students?

Greek often uses the singular here to mean “each one’s notebook”:

• Οι μαθητές γράφουν στο τετράδιό τους.
  → The students are writing in their notebook(s).

This is understood as each student writing in his/her own notebook.

You can also say:

• Οι μαθητές γράφουν στα τετράδιά τους.
  (plural στα
  • τετράδιά)

This version makes the plurality explicit (notebooks), but the singular is very common and completely natural.

What form of the verb is γράφουν exactly? Is γράφουνε also correct?

γράφουν is:

• present tense, active voice, indicative mood
• 3rd person plural of γράφω (to write)

About γράφουν vs γράφουνε:

• γράφουν – standard, neutral
• γράφουνε – also correct, more colloquial or regional; often heard in speech

In writing, especially in more formal contexts, γράφουν is preferred. In everyday spoken Greek, you will hear both.