Ο καφές στο γραφείο είναι χειρότερος από τον καφέ στο σπίτι.

The coffee at the office is worse than the coffee at home.

Breakdown of Ο καφές στο γραφείο είναι χειρότερος από τον καφέ στο σπίτι.

• είμαι: to be
• ο καφές: the coffee
• το σπίτι: the home
• σε: at
• το γραφείο: the office
• από: than
• χειρότερος: worse

Questions & Answers about Ο καφές στο γραφείο είναι χειρότερος από τον καφέ στο σπίτι.

What does στο mean, and why is it written as one word?

Στο means “at the / in the / on the” and is a contraction of two words:

• σε = at / in / on (a very general preposition)
• το = the (neuter singular article)

So:

• σε + το = στο

Similarly:

• σε + τον = στον (at the – masculine)
• σε + την = στην (at the – feminine)

In this sentence:

• στο γραφείο = at the office
• στο σπίτι = at home / at the house

Why is it Ο καφές at the beginning but τον καφέ after από?

This is about cases in Greek.

• Ο καφές is in the nominative case (subject of the verb).
• τον καφέ is in the accusative case (object of the preposition από).

Forms of καφές (coffee):

• Nominative: ο καφές (subject)
• Accusative: τον καφέ (object)

In the sentence:

• Ο καφές στο γραφείο = subject → nominative
• από τον καφέ στο σπίτι = object of από → accusative

So the change ο → τον and καφές → καφέ is completely regular grammar: nominative vs. accusative.

Why is coffee definite in Greek (ο καφές) when in English we would just say “coffee”?

Greek uses the definite article much more often than English, especially for general categories of things.

English:

• “The coffee at the office is worse than (the) coffee at home.”
• Often English omits the and just says “coffee”.

Greek:

• Ο καφές στο γραφείο literally: “The coffee at the office”.
• τον καφέ στο σπίτι: “the coffee at home”.

Here ο καφές doesn’t mean a specific single cup; it refers to coffee as a general category in that place. That’s very natural in Greek and sounds more complete than just καφές στο γραφείο without the article.

Why is the second καφέ in the form καφέ and not καφές?

Again this is case:

• καφές is the nominative (subject form)
• καφέ is the accusative (object form)

After the preposition από (from / than), Greek normally uses the accusative:

• από τον καφέ = from/than the coffee
• από το σπίτι = from the house
• από την πόλη = from the city

So:

• ο καφές (subject) → τον καφέ (after από).

What does χειρότερος mean, and why not use πιο κακός?

Χειρότερος means “worse”. It is the comparative form of κακός (bad).

• καλός (good) → καλύτερος (better)
• κακός (bad) → χειρότερος (worse)

You can also say:

• πιο κακός = more bad (also “worse”)

Both χειρότερος and πιο κακός are grammatically correct, but:

• χειρότερος is the standard, idiomatic comparative for “worse”.
• πιο κακός is understood, but sounds weaker, more like “more bad” than the strong, established form “worse”.

So the natural choice here is:

• είναι χειρότερος = is worse

Why is χειρότερος in the masculine form?

Adjectives in Greek must agree with the noun they describe in:

• Gender (masculine / feminine / neuter)
• Number (singular / plural)
• Case (nominative / accusative / etc.)

The noun καφές is:

• Gender: masculine
• Number: singular
• Case: nominative (subject)

So χειρότερος is also:

• Masculine
• Singular
• Nominative

That’s why you see:

• ο καφές (masc. nom. sing.)
• χειρότερος (masc. nom. sing.)

If the noun changed, the adjective would change too:

• Το φαγητό στο γραφείο είναι χειρότερο.
  The food at the office is worse. (neuter: χειρότερο)
• Η μουσική στο γραφείο είναι χειρότερη.
  The music at the office is worse. (feminine: χειρότερη)

Why is από used here to mean “than”? I thought it meant “from”.

Από is a very flexible preposition in Greek. Its basic meaning is “from”, but after comparatives (better, worse, bigger, etc.) it also means “than”.

So:

• είναι χειρότερος από τον καφέ στο σπίτι
  = is worse than the coffee at home.

Other examples:

• Είναι καλύτερος από εμένα.
  He is better than me.

Greek also allows παρά instead of από after many comparatives:

• είναι χειρότερος παρά ο καφές στο σπίτι.

This is grammatically fine but more formal / literary. In everyday speech, από is far more common.

Why not just say Ο καφές στο γραφείο είναι χειρότερος από στο σπίτι and leave out the second καφέ?

In this sentence, Greek normally repeats the noun:

• από τον καφέ στο σπίτι (than the coffee at home)

The version από στο σπίτι is ungrammatical, because:

1. από normally needs a noun phrase after it in the accusative (τον καφέ, το σπίτι, την πόλη, etc.).
2. στο σπίτι by itself means “at home”, not “the coffee at home”.

If you want to avoid repeating καφέ, you could use a shorter comparative structure, but the form changes:

• Ο καφές στο γραφείο είναι χειρότερος από του σπιτιού.
  Literally: “The coffee at the office is worse than that of the house.”

Here του σπιτιού is a genitive meaning “of the house / of home”. This is correct but a bit more formal. The original sentence with τον καφέ στο σπίτι is the most straightforward, spoken-style version.

What exactly does στο γραφείο mean? Is it “in the office” or “on the desk”?

Γραφείο can mean either:

• office (as a workplace)
• desk (the piece of furniture)

στο γραφείο literally means “at/in/on the office/desk”, so context decides which one is meant.

In this sentence:

• Ο καφές στο γραφείο is naturally understood as “The coffee at the office” (at the workplace), because it is contrasted with:
• ο καφές στο σπίτι = the coffee at home.

If you wanted to clearly mean “on the desk”, you might make it more specific:

• Ο καφές πάνω στο γραφείο είναι κρύος.
  The coffee on the desk is cold.
  (πάνω στο γραφείο = on the desk)

Why is the structure “The coffee at the office is worse than the coffee at home” and not something like “The coffee that we have at the office…” in Greek?

Greek often uses prepositional phrases with place to express the idea “the X that we have in place Y”.

So:

• Ο καφές στο γραφείο
  literally: “the coffee at the office”
  meaning: “the coffee (that we get / drink) at the office”.

You do not need to say:

• Ο καφές που έχουμε στο γραφείο…
  (the coffee that we have at the office…)

That longer form is correct but sounds heavier. The simple noun + στο + place is the usual, natural way to express this idea in Greek.

Why is there no pronoun subject like “it” in the Greek sentence?

Greek doesn’t use a dummy “it” like English does. The subject of the sentence is already clear:

• Ο καφές στο γραφείο = the coffee at the office

So:

• Ο καφές στο γραφείο είναι χειρότερος…
  literally: “The coffee at the office is worse…”

No extra pronoun is needed. Greek only uses pronouns when necessary for emphasis or contrast, not just to fill a grammatical slot like English “it”.

What is the full declension of καφές? The forms καφές and καφέ confuse me.

Καφές is a regular masculine noun of this type. Singular:

• Nominative: ο καφές (subject) – “the coffee”
• Genitive: του καφέ – “of the coffee”
• Accusative: τον καφέ – “(to/for) the coffee” / object
• Vocative: καφέ! – “coffee!” (addressing)

Plural:

• Nominative: οι καφέδες – the coffees
• Genitive: των καφέδων
• Accusative: τους καφέδες
• Vocative: καφέδες!

In the sentence you see:

• ο καφές (nominative, subject)
• τον καφέ (accusative, after από)

How would the sentence change if I wanted to say “The coffees at the office are worse than the coffees at home”?

You would make both nouns plural and adjust the adjectives and articles:

• Οι καφέδες στο γραφείο είναι χειρότεροι από τους καφέδες στο σπίτι.

Changes:

• Ο καφές → Οι καφέδες (plural subject)
• χειρότερος → χειρότεροι (masc. plural to agree with καφέδες)
• τον καφέ → τους καφέδες (plural accusative after από)

So the pattern of agreement (article + noun + adjective) and case (nominative vs accusative) stays the same; only the number changes.