Learn Hardcore Greek: Συχνά χάνω το τηλέφωνό μου στο σπίτι.

Συχνά – often, frequently (an adverb of frequency)
χάνω – I lose (1st person singular, present tense of χάνω = to lose)
το – the (neuter, singular definite article, here: the)
τηλέφωνό – telephone / phone (neuter noun τηλέφωνο, here in the form τηλέφωνό because of the accent rule when followed by μου)
μου – my (actually means of me; a weak/stressed pronoun meaning my / mine)
στο – in/at the (contraction of σε + το)
σπίτι – house, home

Natural English: “I often lose my phone at home.”

Why does the sentence start with Συχνά? Can it go somewhere else?

Συχνά is an adverb meaning “often”. Placing it at the beginning, Συχνά χάνω…, is very common and neutral in Greek, just like “Often, I lose…” in English.

You can move it without changing the basic meaning:

Χάνω συχνά το τηλέφωνό μου στο σπίτι.
Χάνω το τηλέφωνό μου συχνά στο σπίτι.
Χάνω το τηλέφωνό μου στο σπίτι συχνά.

All are grammatically correct. The differences are in emphasis and rhythm, but for everyday speech they all mean “I often lose my phone at home.” Starting with Συχνά simply foregrounds the idea of frequency.

What tense is χάνω and does it mean “I lose” or “I am losing”?

Χάνω is:

Present tense
Active voice
1st person singular of the verb χάνω (to lose)

Greek present tense usually covers both:

English simple present: “I often lose my phone.”
English present continuous (in some contexts): “I keep losing my phone / I’m always losing my phone.”

In this sentence with συχνά, it corresponds most naturally to “I often lose my phone”, but the idea “I keep losing my phone at home” is also a good translation.

Why do we say το τηλέφωνό μου and not just τηλέφωνό μου? Isn’t μου already “my”?

In Greek, when you use a possessive pronoun like μου, you almost always keep the definite article as well:

το τηλέφωνό μου = my phone
το βιβλίο μου = my book
η μητέρα μου = my mother
ο φίλος μου = my friend

So the structure is literally “the phone my”, but the article το is obligatory in normal speech. Saying τηλέφωνό μου without το would sound incomplete or wrong in standard Greek in this context.

So: Article + Noun + Possessive pronoun is the normal pattern.

Why is it τηλέφωνό with an accent on the last syllable, not just τηλέφωνο?

The basic word is το τηλέφωνο (with the stress on λέ: τηλέφωνο).

When you add an enclitic pronoun like μου, Greek accent rules create a second accent if needed:

Without μου: το τηλέφωνο
With μου: το τηλέφωνό μου

What happens?

τηλέφωνο is stressed on the antepenultimate (third from the end).
When you add μου, the word group becomes longer (τηλέφωνομου), and the original stress would now fall too far from the end, which Greek doesn’t allow.
To fix this, Greek adds an extra accent on the final syllable: τηλεφωνό.

So you see two accents in writing:
τηλέφωνό μου – one on λέ, one on ό.
This is perfectly normal with some nouns + enclitics.

Why does μου come after τηλέφωνο? Why not μου τηλέφωνο like “my phone”?

In Greek, possessive pronouns like μου, σου, του, της, μας, σας, τους are normally placed after the noun:

το βιβλίο μου – my book
η τσάντα σου – your bag
το τηλέφωνό μου – my phone

Putting μου before the noun (μου τηλέφωνο) is not standard Greek.
The normal pattern is:

[article] + [noun] + [possessive pronoun]

So το τηλέφωνό μου is the only natural order here.

What case are το τηλέφωνό μου and στο σπίτι in?

το τηλέφωνό μου is in the accusative case – it is the direct object of the verb χάνω (I lose what? → my phone).
στο σπίτι is also in the accusative case, because the preposition σε (“in / at / to”) governs the accusative.

For these neuter nouns, nominative and accusative look the same:

το τηλέφωνο – nominative / accusative singular
το σπίτι – nominative / accusative singular

But their function in the sentence shows the case:

Subject (if it were) → nominative
Object or after σε → accusative

What exactly is στο? Why not σε το σπίτι?

Στο is a contraction of:

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

So:

σε + το σπίτι → στο σπίτι (in/at the house)

Greek almost always contracts σε + article:

σε + το → στο
σε + τα → στα
σε + τον → στον
σε + την → στη(ν)
σε + τους → στους

Saying σε το σπίτι is grammatically wrong in normal modern Greek; you should use στο σπίτι.

Why is it στο σπίτι and not στο σπίτι μου if we mean “at home”?

Στο σπίτι by itself often means “at home” in general, with the understood meaning “at my place / at our place”, unless the context says otherwise.

Είμαι στο σπίτι. – I’m at home.
Θα μείνω στο σπίτι σήμερα. – I’ll stay at home today.

If you say στο σπίτι μου, you put more explicit emphasis on “my house”:

Χάνω το τηλέφωνό μου στο σπίτι.
→ I often lose my phone at home (i.e. when I’m at home).
Χάνω το τηλέφωνό μου στο σπίτι μου.
→ I lose my phone in my own house (contrasting maybe with other places or other people’s houses).

Both are correct; the original sentence uses the more neutral “at home” reading.

Could the word order change to Χάνω συχνά το τηλέφωνό μου στο σπίτι? Does that sound natural?

Yes, that is completely natural:

Συχνά χάνω το τηλέφωνό μου στο σπίτι.
Χάνω συχνά το τηλέφωνό μου στο σπίτι.

Both are fine and common. The meaning is essentially the same: “I often lose my phone at home.”

The first version slightly highlights how often (starting with Συχνά).
The second version feels a bit closer to neutral English order “I often lose…”, with συχνά directly after the verb. But in everyday Greek, both are perfectly acceptable and not strongly distinguished.

Can I drop the article and say Χάνω τηλέφωνό μου στο σπίτι?

No, you should not drop the article here. With possessive pronouns like μου, standard Greek uses:

[article] + [noun] + [possessive]

So:

Χάνω το τηλέφωνό μου στο σπίτι. – correct
Χάνω τηλέφωνό μου στο σπίτι. – sounds wrong / unnatural

You can say:

Χάνω το τηλέφωνο στο σπίτι. – I lose the phone at home. (no μου, now it’s just “the phone”, some specific phone in context)

But once you add μου, the article το is needed.

Is τηλέφωνο specifically a “telephone”, or can it also mean a mobile phone?

Το τηλέφωνο literally means “the telephone / phone” in general. Depending on context, it can refer to:

a landline phone
a phone as a device in general

In modern everyday speech, when people mean mobile phone, they very often say:

το κινητό (τηλέφωνο) – usually shortened to το κινητό
- Χάνω το κινητό μου στο σπίτι. – I often lose my mobile (phone) at home.

Your sentence with το τηλέφωνό μου can still naturally be understood as “my phone”, and in context people will usually assume you mean your mobile, unless you specify otherwise.

How would this verb χάνω look with other subjects (you, he, we, etc.)?

Present tense of χάνω (to lose):

(εγώ) χάνω – I lose
(εσύ) χάνεις – you lose (singular, informal)
(αυτός/αυτή/αυτό) χάνει – he / she / it loses
(εμείς) χάνουμε – we lose
(εσείς) χάνετε – you lose (plural or polite)
(αυτοί/αυτές/αυτά) χάνουν(ε) – they lose

So you could say, for example:

Συχνά χάνεις το τηλέφωνό σου στο σπίτι. – You often lose your phone at home.
Συχνά χάνουμε τα κλειδιά μας στο σπίτι. – We often lose our keys at home.