Learn Hardcore Greek: Η φίλη μου δοκιμάζει το φαγητό και λέει ότι είναι πολύ νόστιμο. - My friend tastes the food and says that it is very tasty.

Η φίλη = the (female) friend
Greek nouns have gender (masculine, feminine, neuter).
φίλη (“friend”, female) is feminine, so it takes the feminine article η in the nominative case.

So Η φίλη μου is literally “the friend my”, which in normal English is “my (female) friend”.

Why is μου after φίλη instead of before, like in English “my friend”?

In Greek, possessive pronouns like μου (my), σου (your), του/της/του (his/her/its) usually come after the noun:

η φίλη μου = my friend
το σπίτι σου = your house
το βιβλίο της = her book

μου here is an enclitic: a short, unstressed word that “leans” on the previous word and doesn’t take its own stress. So the natural order is:

article + noun + possessive
η φίλη μου = the friend my = my friend

What exactly does δοκιμάζει mean, and what tense/person is it?

δοκιμάζει is the 3rd person singular, present tense, active of the verb δοκιμάζω.

Verb: δοκιμάζω = I try / I taste
δοκιμάζει = he/she/it tries / tastes

In this sentence:

Subject: η φίλη μου (my female friend)
Verb: δοκιμάζει (she is trying/tasting)

So η φίλη μου δοκιμάζει = “my friend is trying/tasting”.

The present tense in Greek can mean:

“She is tasting (right now)”
or “She tastes (in general)”

Here, context suggests it’s happening now.

Does δοκιμάζει mean “tries” or “tastes”? How is it different from προσπαθεί or γεύεται?

δοκιμάζω is flexible; it can mean both:

to try (something) out
- Δοκιμάζω ένα καινούριο πρόγραμμα. = I try a new program.
to taste (food/drink)
- Δοκιμάζω το φαγητό. = I taste the food.

Related verbs:

προσπαθώ / προσπαθεί = to try, in the sense of “make an effort”.
- Προσπαθεί να μάθει ελληνικά. = She is trying to learn Greek.
γεύομαι / γεύεται = to taste (more formal/literary; often reflexive in form).

In your sentence, δοκιμάζει το φαγητό clearly means “she is tasting the food”.

Why is it το φαγητό and not just φαγητό? What does το do here?

το is the neuter singular definite article, meaning “the”.

φαγητό = food
το φαγητό = the food

Reasons it’s there:

Greek uses definite articles more often than English. If both speakers know which food is meant (the food in front of them), “the food” is natural.
Grammatically, το φαγητό is the direct object of the verb δοκιμάζει (what she is tasting). In neuter singular, the article το is used for both subject and object forms, but here it is in the accusative case as the object.

You could see bare φαγητό in some generic or idiomatic expressions, but here το φαγητό is the normal form.

What is the function of και in this sentence? Could there be a comma before it?

και is the common conjunction meaning “and”.

In your sentence it links two actions by the same subject:

η φίλη μου δοκιμάζει το φαγητό
(η φίλη μου) λέει ότι είναι πολύ νόστιμο

So: “My friend tastes the food and says that it is very tasty.”

No comma is needed before και here; it’s just joining two verbs in a straightforward way. You would usually only see a comma before και in Greek for special pauses, lists, or stylistic reasons, not in simple sentences like this.

Why is it λέει and not something like είπε? What are the nuances of λέει?

λέει is the 3rd person singular, present tense of λέω = to say, to tell.

λέει = he/she/it says / is saying
είπε = he/she/it said (simple past)

In your sentence, λέει puts the action in the present:

… και λέει ότι… = “and she says that…”

If you wanted to narrate in the past, you might say:

Η φίλη μου δοκίμασε το φαγητό και είπε ότι ήταν πολύ νόστιμο.
= My friend tasted the food and said that it was very tasty.

Also note the difference:

λέω = say, tell (what someone says)
μιλάω / μιλάει = speak, talk (speak a language / talk in general)

What does ότι do here, and how is it different from πως or ό,τι?

In this sentence, ότι is a conjunction meaning “that”. It introduces reported speech / a content clause:

λέει ότι είναι πολύ νόστιμο
= she says that it is very tasty.

Comparison:

ότι (no comma)
- Conjunction = that
- Λέει ότι είναι κουρασμένος. = He says that he is tired.
πως (as a conjunction)
- Often interchangeable with ότι in modern Greek:
- Λέει πως είναι κουρασμένος. = He says that he is tired.
ό,τι (with a comma)
- Means “whatever / anything that”.
- Φάε ό,τι θέλεις. = Eat whatever you want.

So in your sentence you must use ότι (or πως), not ό,τι.

Why is there no word for “it” before είναι? In English we say “that it is very tasty”.

Greek often omits subject pronouns when they are clear from context or from the verb ending. Here, the subject of είναι is understood to be το φαγητό (the food).

The logic is:

το φαγητό … είναι πολύ νόστιμο
= the food … is very tasty

When you embed this inside λέει ότι…, Greek doesn’t need to repeat an explicit “it”:

λέει ότι είναι πολύ νόστιμο
literally: “she says that is very tasty”
understood: “she says that it is very tasty (the food).”

If you really wanted to use a pronoun, it would be αυτό (it), but that would sound heavy and unnecessary here:

λέει ότι αυτό είναι πολύ νόστιμο – grammatical, but unusually emphatic.

Why is the adjective νόστιμο in the -ο form? What does it agree with?

νόστιμος, -η, -ο is an adjective meaning “tasty, delicious”. Adjectives in Greek must agree in gender, number, and case with the noun they describe.

φαγητό (food) is neuter, singular.
So the adjective must also be neuter, singular: νόστιμο.

Forms of this adjective:

Masculine: νόστιμος (ο νόστιμος μεζές = the tasty appetizer)
Feminine: νόστιμη (η νόστιμη πίτα = the tasty pie)
Neuter: νόστιμο (το νόστιμο φαγητό = the tasty food)

In είναι πολύ νόστιμο, the subject is still το φαγητό, so the adjective stays νόστιμο.

What role does πολύ play in είναι πολύ νόστιμο? Is it always “very”?

Here, πολύ is an adverb that modifies the adjective νόστιμο, making it stronger:

νόστιμο = tasty
πολύ νόστιμο = very tasty / really tasty

As an adverb, πολύ usually means “very / much / a lot”.

Examples:

Είναι πολύ καλός. = He is very good.
Τρώω πολύ. = I eat a lot.

Note: When used as an adjective (agreeing in gender/number/case), it can also appear as πολλός, πολλή, πολύ meaning “many/much”. But in your sentence it functions as an adverb: very.

Could the word order be different, for example Η φίλη μου λέει και δοκιμάζει το φαγητό? How flexible is Greek word order here?

Greek word order is fairly flexible, but not all permutations sound equally natural.

Your original sentence:

Η φίλη μου δοκιμάζει το φαγητό και λέει ότι είναι πολύ νόστιμο.
= My friend tastes the food and says that it is very tasty.

This gives a clear time/order: first tasting, then saying.

If you change it to:

Η φίλη μου λέει και δοκιμάζει το φαγητό…

this sounds odd, because λέει normally introduces what she says (e.g. λέει ότι…), and the second verb δοκιμάζει doesn’t fit smoothly after λέει και.

More natural variations that keep the meaning:

Η φίλη μου δοκιμάζει το φαγητό και λέει πως είναι πολύ νόστιμο.
Η φίλη μου δοκιμάζει το φαγητό και λέει ότι το βρίσκει πολύ νόστιμο.

The basic skeleton [subject] [verb] [object] is common, but Greek allows movement for emphasis, as long as the relationships stay clear.

How do you pronounce the different η / ι / ει sounds in the sentence, and where is the stress?

In modern Greek, η, ι, ει, οι, υ (and sometimes υι) are all pronounced as the same sound: a short /i/ like “ee” in see.

In your sentence:

Η φίλη → Η (/i/), φίλη (stress on φί, the ί is /i/)
δοκιμάζει → stress on μά: δο-κι-ΜΑ-ζει
φαγητό → stress on τό: φα-γη-ΤΟ (the η is /i/)
λέει → pronounced like λέι: ΛΕ-ει (stress on λε)
είναι → ΕΙ-ναι (stress on εί, pronounced /i/ like “EE-neh”)
νόστιμο → ΝΟΣ-τι-μο (stress on νό, ό is “o” as in not)

Stress in Greek is always marked with an accent (´) on the stressed syllable of polysyllabic words. Correct stress is very important for understanding and sounding natural.