Learn Hardcore Greek: Οι πελάτες και οι πελάτισσες του μαγαζιού αγαπάνε τον μάγειρα γιατί είναι ευγενικός. - The shop’s male and female customers love the cook because he is polite.

By saying οι πελάτες και οι πελάτισσες, the speaker is explicitly including both men and women, almost like saying “the male and female customers”.

In everyday speech, people very often just use οι πελάτες for “the customers” in general, especially if there’s no special reason to emphasize both genders.

Grammatically, what are πελάτες and πελάτισσες (gender, number, case)?

Both words here are:

Number: plural
Case: nominative (they are the subject of the verb αγαπάνε)

But they differ in gender:

οι πελάτες – masculine nominative plural
οι πελάτισσες – feminine nominative plural

Together they form a compound subject:
Οι πελάτες και οι πελάτισσες … αγαπάνε = The (male and female) customers … love

Why do we say του μαγαζιού and what case is it?

Του μαγαζιού is in the genitive case, used for possession or relationship. Literally:

το μαγαζί – the shop/store (nominative)
του μαγαζιού – of the shop (genitive)

So οι πελάτες και οι πελάτισσες του μαγαζιού literally means:

the customers of the shop

Grammar breakdown:

του – genitive singular article (for masculine or neuter)
μαγαζιού – genitive singular of μαγαζί

English uses of or an apostrophe: the shop’s customers. Greek uses the genitive: του μαγαζιού.

Why is it τον μάγειρα and not ο μάγειρας?

Because τον μάγειρα is the direct object of the verb αγαπάνε (“they love”). In Greek:

ο μάγειρας – nominative (subject form): the cook as subject
τον μάγειρα – accusative (object form): the cook as object

In this sentence:

Οι πελάτες και οι πελάτισσες – subject (nominative)
αγαπάνε – verb
τον μάγειρα – direct object (accusative)

So we need the accusative τον μάγειρα, not ο μάγειρας.

Why is the verb αγαπάνε and not αγαπούν? Are both correct?

Both forms are correct; they are just stylistic/level-of-formality variants of the 3rd person plural, present tense of αγαπώ (“to love”):

αγαπούν – more formal / standard written form
αγαπάνε – very common in everyday spoken Greek and also used in informal writing

Meaning-wise they are the same: (they) love.

You may also see αγαπούν(ε) in dictionaries to show that both exist.

How do we know that είναι ευγενικός refers to the cook, not the customers?

Because of adjective agreement:

ευγενικός is masculine, singular.

In the sentence we have:

Subject: οι πελάτες και οι πελάτισσες – plural (mixed gender overall)
Object: τον μάγειρα – masculine, singular

Είναι ευγενικός = he is polite/kind (masculine singular), so it naturally refers to τον μάγειρα.

If it were describing the customers, we’d expect a plural adjective:

είναι ευγενικοί – “they are polite” (masculine plural, used for a mixed group)

So the form ευγενικός tells you it’s about the cook.

How would I say “because the customers are polite” instead of “because the cook is polite”?

You mainly change the adjective to plural so it agrees with οι πελάτες και οι πελάτισσες:

Οι πελάτες και οι πελάτισσες του μαγαζιού αγαπάνε τον μάγειρα γιατί είναι ευγενικοί.
The customers of the shop love the cook because they (the customers) are polite.

Key change:

είναι ευγενικός → είναι ευγενικοί (masculine plural, referring to the mixed group of customers)

Could the είναι in γιατί είναι ευγενικός ever mean “they are”? How do I know it’s “he is”?

Είναι on its own can mean “he is / she is / it is / they are”; the verb form is the same.

You find the meaning from context:

The adjective ευγενικός is masculine singular, so it can only match a masculine singular noun in the sentence, i.e. τον μάγειρα.

If it were “they are polite”, you’d need ευγενικοί (plural), not ευγενικός. That’s how you know it’s “he is (polite)”.

Can the clause γιατί είναι ευγενικός be moved to the beginning of the sentence?

Yes. Greek word order is flexible, so you can say:

Γιατί είναι ευγενικός, οι πελάτες και οι πελάτισσες του μαγαζιού αγαπάνε τον μάγειρα.

This still means:

Because he is polite, the customers of the shop love the cook.

The meaning doesn’t change; the emphasis shifts a little to the reason coming first, which can sound slightly more rhetorical or explanatory, similar to English.

Does αγαπάνε always mean strong “love”, or can it also mean “like”?

Αγαπώ / αγαπάνε usually means “to love” in a fairly strong sense, especially for people (family, friends, partners).

However, in casual speech, context can soften it, and it may feel closer to “really like” or “be very fond of”, especially in sentences like this one. So:

Οι πελάτες … αγαπάνε τον μάγειρα

can be understood as:

The customers love the cook
or
The customers really like the cook / are very fond of the cook

If you clearly want the weaker “like”, you often use συμπαθώ:

Οι πελάτες συμπαθούν τον μάγειρα. – The customers like the cook.

What is the difference between μαγαζί and more formal words like κατάστημα?

το μαγαζί – very common, informal, everyday word for “shop, store”. Used in spoken Greek all the time.
το κατάστημα – more formal, often used in written language, business contexts, signs, legal or official documents.

In this sentence, του μαγαζιού gives a natural, conversational tone: the shop’s customers. In a very formal text, you might see του καταστήματος instead.

Why is the article οι repeated: οι πελάτες και οι πελάτισσες? Could I say οι πελάτες και πελάτισσες?

Repeating the article is normal and slightly more explicit:

οι πελάτες και οι πελάτισσες – the male customers and the female customers

You can say οι πελάτες και πελάτισσες; it is still understood. But:

With both οι repeated, each group feels more clearly separated: the customers and the (female) customers.
Without repetition, it’s a bit more compact and slightly more colloquial.

So both are grammatically acceptable, but οι πελάτες και οι πελάτισσες is very clear and natural.

Why is ευγενικός in this form, and how would it change for a female cook or for several cooks?

Ευγενικός is an adjective meaning polite, courteous, kind. Adjectives in Greek agree with the noun in gender, number, and case.

Here it describes τον μάγειρα (the cook, masculine singular), so it takes the masculine singular form:

Masculine: ευγενικός (for ο μάγειρας)
Feminine: ευγενική (for η μαγείρισσα, female cook)
Neuter: ευγενικό (for neuter nouns)

Examples:

Οι πελάτες … αγαπάνε τον μάγειρα γιατί είναι ευγενικός.
… love the (male) cook because he is polite.
Οι πελάτες … αγαπάνε τη μαγείρισσα γιατί είναι ευγενική.
… love the (female) cook because she is polite.

For plural cooks:

οι μάγειρες – (male or mixed group) → ευγενικοί
- Οι πελάτες αγαπάνε τους μάγειρες γιατί είναι ευγενικοί.
οι μαγείρισσες – (female group) → ευγενικές
- Οι πελάτες αγαπάνε τις μαγείρισσες γιατί είναι ευγενικές.