Breakdown of Ο φοιτητής και η φοιτήτρια από την περιοχή μου μαθαίνουν κι αυτοί ελληνικά.
Questions & Answers about Ο φοιτητής και η φοιτήτρια από την περιοχή μου μαθαίνουν κι αυτοί ελληνικά.
In Greek, the verb agrees with the whole subject, not with each noun separately.
The subject here is ο φοιτητής και η φοιτήτρια (the male student and the female student). Together they form a plural subject, so the verb must be in the 3rd person plural:
- 3rd person singular: μαθαίνει – he/she/it learns
- 3rd person plural: μαθαίνουν – they learn
So μαθαίνουν is correct because it means “they learn / they are learning” and the “they” refers to both students together.
Greek uses the masculine plural for groups that are:
- all male, or
- mixed (male + female)
So for:
- two males → αυτοί
- two females → αυτές
- one male + one female → still αυτοί
Since ο φοιτητής (male) and η φοιτήτρια (female) form a mixed group, Greek grammar requires the masculine plural pronoun αυτοί.
Greek often uses subject pronouns like αυτοί not because they are needed for basic meaning, but to add emphasis or contrast.
- Μαθαίνουν ελληνικά. → They are learning Greek. (neutral)
- Κι αυτοί μαθαίνουν ελληνικά. → They are also learning Greek (too / as well).
(emphasis: these people too, in addition to someone else)
In your sentence, κι αυτοί highlights that the student and the female student are also learners of Greek, probably in contrast to someone already mentioned (for example: I am learning Greek, and the students from my area are also learning Greek).
Κι is just a shortened, phonetic form of και. It is the same word (“and” / “also”), but it changes to κι before a word that starts with a vowel sound, especially α, ε, ι:
- και αυτοί → usually pronounced [kjaftí]
In writing, it is commonly written as κι αυτοί.
So:
- και αυτοί and κι αυτοί are grammatically the same.
- κι is more natural here because it flows better before αυτοί.
Κι αυτοί can mean both, depending on context, but here it is best understood as “they also / they too.”
- κι adds the idea of “also / too / as well.”
- αυτοί = they (masculine/mixed plural).
So the nuance is something like:
- The (male) student and the (female) student from my area are also learning Greek (too).
It implies that someone else (maybe I or some other people) has already been mentioned as learning Greek, and these two are in addition to them.
The choice comes from the preposition από:
- από means “from”, and it normally takes the accusative case.
- η περιοχή (nominative) → την περιοχή (accusative)
So:
- από την περιοχή μου = from my area/region
- από – from
- την περιοχή – the area (accusative)
- μου – my
Της περιοχής μου would be a genitive phrase meaning “of my area,” not “from my area.” For example:
- κάτοικοι της περιοχής μου – the residents of my area
- άνθρωποι από την περιοχή μου – people from my area
In Greek, short possessive pronouns like μου, σου, του, της, μας, σας, τους typically come after the noun as enclitics:
- η περιοχή μου – my area
- το σπίτι σου – your house
- η μητέρα του – his mother
So η περιοχή μου literally is “the area my,” but in English we say “my area.”
If you want to stress the possessor, you can also say:
- η δική μου περιοχή – my own area / my area (as opposed to someone else’s)
But the neutral, everyday pattern is noun + μου.
Περιοχή is a fairly general word meaning area / region / district / neighborhood, depending on context.
In από την περιοχή μου, it roughly means:
- the area where I live
- my neighborhood / my region
- my local area
Greek doesn’t always distinguish as sharply as English between “area,” “region,” and “neighborhood”; περιοχή covers all of these, and context clarifies the nuance.
Yes, it is one language, but in Greek the names of many languages are in the neuter plural form:
- τα ελληνικά – Greek (language)
- τα αγγλικά – English
- τα γαλλικά – French
- τα ισπανικά – Spanish
In your sentence, the article τα is simply omitted:
- μαθαίνουν ελληνικά → they are learning Greek.
So grammatically it’s a neuter plural noun (τα ελληνικά), but in English we treat it as a singular uncountable noun: Greek (the language).
Yes, there is a nuance.
- ο φοιτητής / η φοιτήτρια = student at a university or other higher education institution.
- ο μαθητής / η μαθήτρια = student/pupil at school (primary or secondary).
So in this sentence, ο φοιτητής και η φοιτήτρια are university students, not schoolchildren.
You could drop the articles in very specific contexts (like headlines or telegraphic style), but in normal spoken and written Greek, you usually keep the definite articles when referring to specific people:
- Ο φοιτητής και η φοιτήτρια από την περιοχή μου…
Without the articles, it sounds more like “a male student and a female student from my area…”, or like shorthand/notes. The version with the articles is more natural for standard usage.
Greek word order is quite flexible, so several variations are possible, for example:
- Ο φοιτητής και η φοιτήτρια από την περιοχή μου μαθαίνουν κι αυτοί ελληνικά.
- Ο φοιτητής και η φοιτήτρια από την περιοχή μου κι αυτοί μαθαίνουν ελληνικά.
- Κι αυτοί μαθαίνουν ελληνικά, ο φοιτητής και η φοιτήτρια από την περιοχή μου.
The differences are mostly in emphasis:
- In the original sentence, the focus is on the action (they are learning) and the fact that they too are doing it.
- Moving κι αυτοί earlier can slightly strengthen the “they too” contrast.
All of these are grammatical; the original is already natural and clear.
It would change the meaning slightly.
- μαθαίνουν ελληνικά – they are learning Greek (focusing on the process of acquiring the language).
- σπουδάζουν ελληνικά – they are studying Greek as a field of study, e.g. Greek Philology or Greek Studies at university.
So:
- If they are just taking Greek classes or picking up the language, μαθαίνουν ελληνικά is best.
- If their degree/major is Greek language/literature, σπουδάζουν ελληνικά would be more precise.