Learn Hardcore Greek: Οι γονείς μου μού το έχουν πει αυτό δεκαπέντε φορές. - My parents have told me this fifteen times.

γονείς μου = my parents
- Here μου is a possessive clitic:
  - οι γονείς μου = the parents of me → my parents.
μού ... το έχουν πει = (have) told me it
- Here μού is an indirect object clitic (to me):
  - μού το έχουν πει = they have told it to me.

So:

οι γονείς μου → my parents (who are mine)
μού το έχουν πει → they have told me it (I’m the recipient)

Same form, two grammatical roles: one possessive, one indirect object.

2. What is the difference between μου and μού (with an accent)?

Grammatically, it’s the same pronoun. The accent is about stress, not meaning.

μου (no accent) = weak, unstressed clitic:
- οι γονείς μου (my parents)
- μου το είπαν (they told me it)
μού (with accent) = the writer is marking that this μου is stressed / emphasized in speech:
- Οι γονείς μου μού το έχουν πει...
  → “My parents have told me this…” (with a bit of emphasis on me).

In everyday modern writing:

You’ll often see it simply as μου: Οι γονείς μου μου το έχουν πει...
Adding the accent μού is a stylistic choice to show emphasis or to make it visually clearer that this μου is not possessive but the indirect object.

Meaning-wise: μου and μού are the same pronoun; the accent just reflects spoken stress.

3. Why does μου (meaning my) come after γονείς instead of before, like in English my parents?

Greek weak possessive pronouns normally come after the noun:

ο πατέρας μου = my father
η μητέρα σου = your mother
οι φίλοι μας = our friends
οι γονείς μου = my parents

Literally, οι γονείς μου is “the parents of-me.”

If you want to strongly emphasize whose parents, Greek uses a different structure:

οι δικοί μου γονείς = my parents (as opposed to someone else’s)

But the neutral, everyday order is: article + noun + μου → οι γονείς μου.

4. Why do we have both το and αυτό? Isn’t that like saying “this it”?

It looks redundant from an English perspective, but it’s very normal in Greek. The two elements play slightly different roles:

το = weak object pronoun, meaning it
- μού το έχουν πει = “they have told it to me”
αυτό = full demonstrative pronoun, “this (thing)”
- ...πεί αυτό = “(told me) this”

When Greek uses both together (το + αυτό), this is called clitic doubling:

Μού το έχουν πει αυτό δεκαπέντε φορές.
→ “They have told me this (thing), this, fifteen times.”

The το is grammatically required as the direct object of έχουν πει.
The αυτό at the end adds emphasis, drawing attention to what it is: this particular thing.

So it isn’t “this it” in the sense of two separate objects; it’s more like:

“They’ve told me it – this – fifteen times.”

5. Could we leave out αυτό or το? What would change?

Yes, and each option is possible but with a slightly different feel.

Without αυτό
- Οι γονείς μου μού το έχουν πει δεκαπέντε φορές.
- “My parents have told me it fifteen times.”
- Perfectly natural. You know from context what το = it refers to.
- Slightly less emphatic about “this specific thing.”
Without το
- Οι γονείς μου μού έχουν πει αυτό δεκαπέντε φορές.
- Grammatically OK, but sounds less smooth and less typical than the original.
- No clitic doubling; αυτό alone is the direct object: “They have told me this fifteen times.”
With both (original)
- Οι γονείς μου μού το έχουν πει αυτό δεκαπέντε φορές.
- Natural spoken Greek; το does the grammatical work as object of the verb, αυτό carries focus/emphasis.

So:

το alone: neutral “it”
αυτό alone: “this” (a bit more pointed)
το + αυτό: very typical, with a sense of “this very thing”.

6. Why is the word order μού το έχουν πει? Could I say έχουν μού το πει or μού έχουν πει το?

Greek clitic pronouns (like μου, το) have relatively strict positions.

Normal position with a compound tense:
- μού το έχουν πει
  Structure:
- [clitics] + [finite verb] + [participle]
- μου / σου / του ... and το / την / τον ... come before the finite verb (έχουν).
Order between the clitics:
- Indirect object (genitive: μου, σου, του...)
- then direct object (accusative: το, την, τον...)
  → μου το, σου το, μας το, never το μου in this kind of structure.
Your alternatives:
- ✗ έχουν μού το πει – sounds wrong in standard Greek; clitics should not be split off to the right like that here.
- ✗ μού έχουν πει το – also feels wrong/unfinished; normally you’d say μού έχουν πει αυτό or keep the clitic cluster: μού το έχουν πει.

More natural alternatives (with different focus) are things like:

Αυτό μού το έχουν πει οι γονείς μου δεκαπέντε φορές.
Οι γονείς μου το μού έχουν πει δεκαπέντε φορές. → actually not good; clitic order is fixed as μου το, so this one is ungrammatical.

Key points:

Clitics usually go before the finite verb: μου το έχουν πει.
Indirect object clitic (μου) comes before direct object clitic (το).

7. Why is the tense έχουν πει and not είπαν?

Both tenses are possible, but they have slightly different nuances.

είπαν = aorist (simple past)
- Οι γονείς μου μού το είπαν αυτό δεκαπέντε φορές.
- Focus on the events in the past (“they told me this fifteen times (in the past)”).
έχουν πει = present perfect (παρακείμενος)
- Οι γονείς μου μού το έχουν πει αυτό δεκαπέντε φορές.
- Emphasizes the result up to now:
  - “My parents have (already) told me this fifteen times.”
  - Implies relevance to the present: I already know it, I’m sick of hearing it, etc.

So:

είπαν → neutral past, repeated but simply located in the past.
έχουν πει → repeated in the past and the fact that it has happened (many times) matters now.

In everyday speech, both forms are used; here έχουν πει matches the idea “They’ve told me this (already) fifteen times!” very well.

8. Why is αυτό at the end of the sentence? Could it go somewhere else?

Greek word order is flexible, and moving αυτό changes the emphasis.

Original:

Οι γονείς μου μού το έχουν πει αυτό δεκαπέντε φορές.
- Having αυτό right before δεκαπέντε φορές puts a bit of focus on αυτό: this (thing), fifteen times.

Other possible positions (all grammatical, slightly different feel):

Αυτό οι γονείς μου μού το έχουν πει δεκαπέντε φορές.
- Fronts αυτό for strong emphasis:
  - “This my parents have told me fifteen times.”
Οι γονείς μου αυτό μού το έχουν πει δεκαπέντε φορές.
- Also emphasizes αυτό, but keeps subject first.
Οι γονείς μου μού το έχουν πει δεκαπέντε φορές αυτό.
- Also possible, though the original ordering is more common/natural.

All of these mean essentially the same thing, but Greek uses position + stress to highlight whatever is most important in the context. End position, like in the original, is a typical place to put something you want to stress.

9. What does δεκαπέντε φορές literally mean, and why do we use φορά for “times” here?

Literal breakdown:

δέκα = ten
πέντε = five
δεκαπέντε = fifteen (one word)
φορά = time/occasion
φορές (plural) = times/occasions

So δεκαπέντε φορές = “fifteen times (occasions).”

Greek uses φορά for countable occurrences:

μία φορά = once
δύο φορές = twice
πολλές φορές = many times

This is different from χρόνος, which is “time” in the sense of time as a quantity/duration:

δεν έχω χρόνο = I don’t have (any) time.
πολύς χρόνος = a lot of time.

In your sentence:

δεκαπέντε φορές = fifteen separate occasions they have told you this.

10. How could I change the sentence if I wanted to emphasize me or fifteen times even more?

Greek often adds full stressed pronouns or moves phrases for emphasis.

To emphasize me (to me, personally):
- Εμένα οι γονείς μου μού το έχουν πει αυτό δεκαπέντε φορές.
  - Εμένα = stressed “me,” like “As for me, my parents have told me this fifteen times.”
To emphasize the number of times:
- Οι γονείς μου μού το έχουν πει αυτό δεκαπέντε φορές, τουλάχιστον.
  - “My parents have told me this fifteen times, at least.”
- Or by stressing it in speech and/or moving it:
  - Οι γονείς μου μού το έχουν πει αυτό, δεκαπέντε φορές!

The basic grammar stays the same; you mostly:

add a strong pronoun like εμένα,
or move/ stress δεκαπέντε φορές for rhetorical effect.