Οι υποσχέσεις του ακούγονται ωραίες, αλλά δεν είμαι σίγουρος αν είναι ρεαλιστικές.

His promises sound nice, but I’m not sure if they are realistic.

Breakdown of Οι υποσχέσεις του ακούγονται ωραίες, αλλά δεν είμαι σίγουρος αν είναι ρεαλιστικές.

• είμαι: to be
• δεν: not
• αλλά: but
• αν: if
• σίγουρος: sure
• ωραίος: nice
• του: his
• ακούγομαι: to sound
• η υπόσχεση: the promise
• ρεαλιστικός: realistic

Questions & Answers about Οι υποσχέσεις του ακούγονται ωραίες, αλλά δεν είμαι σίγουρος αν είναι ρεαλιστικές.

Why is the possessive του placed after οι υποσχέσεις instead of before the noun?

In Greek, the unstressed possessive pronouns (μου, σου, του, της, μας, σας, τους) normally go after the noun:

• οι υποσχέσεις του = his promises
• το σπίτι της = her house
• το βιβλίο μου = my book

Putting it before (του υποσχέσεις) is ungrammatical in modern Greek.

When you see του before a noun, it’s almost always the article (the), not the possessive:

• του ανθρώπου = of the man (genitive with article)
• οι υποσχέσεις του ανθρώπου = the promises of the man / the man’s promises

What exactly does του mean here? Is it “his”, “of him”, or something else?

Here του = “his” in the possessive sense.

Grammatically it is the unstressed genitive singular of the third-person masculine pronoun, used as a clitic possessive:

• οι υποσχέσεις του = his promises (literally: the promises of him)
• It can refer to “his” or sometimes “its” depending on context.

Compare:

• το αυτοκίνητό του = his car / its car
• του έδωσα το βιβλίο = I gave him the book (here του is an indirect object, not possessive)

What are the basic grammatical properties of υποσχέσεις?

υποσχέσεις is:

• gender: feminine
• number: plural
• case: nominative
• singular form: η υπόσχεση (the promise)

Pattern:

• singular: η υπόσχεση
• plural: οι υποσχέσεις

So in Οι υποσχέσεις του ακούγονται ωραίες:

• οι υποσχέσεις = subject (fem. nom. plural)
• του = possessive
• adjectives/verbs that refer to it must be feminine plural (e.g. ωραίες, ακούγονται).

Why is the verb ακούγονται used in the middle/passive form instead of an active form?

Ακούγονται is the 3rd person plural, present, middle/passive form of ακούω (to hear).

Greek, like English, uses a “middle/passive” verb to express meanings like “sound / seem (by hearing)”:

• English: His promises *sound nice.*
• Greek: Οι υποσχέσεις του ακούγονται ωραίες.

You can think of ακούγονται here as “are heard as” → “sound.”

An active form like ακούν would mean “they hear”, with a clear subject that is doing the hearing, which is not what we want here.

Why is ωραίες in the feminine plural? What is it agreeing with?

Ωραίες is an adjective meaning nice / pleasant / beautiful.

Adjectives in Greek agree with the noun in:

• gender
• number
• case

Here the noun is οι υποσχέσεις:

• feminine
• plural
• nominative

So the adjective must also be feminine plural nominative:

• singular: ωραία (fem. nom. sg.)
• plural: ωραίες (fem. nom. pl.)

Hence: Οι υποσχέσεις του ακούγονται ωραίες.

Why is there a comma before αλλά? Is it always required?

In Greek, when αλλά (“but”) connects two full clauses, you normally put a comma before it:

• Οι υποσχέσεις του ακούγονται ωραίες, αλλά δεν είμαι σίγουρος…

First clause: Οι υποσχέσεις του ακούγονται ωραίες
Second clause: (εγώ) δεν είμαι σίγουρος…

If αλλά just connects two words or short phrases, there is usually no comma:

• είναι ωραίες αλλά μη ρεαλιστικές = they are nice but unrealistic

So: comma before αλλά when it joins two sentences/clauses; no comma when it just joins smaller elements.

Why is it δεν είμαι σίγουρος and not something like δεν είμαι ο σίγουρος?

Σίγουρος here is a predicate adjective, not a noun:

• είμαι σίγουρος = I am sure / I’m certain

Predicate adjectives in Greek (after είμαι) do not take an article:

• είμαι κουρασμένος = I am tired
• είναι χαρούμενη = she is happy
• είμαστε έτοιμοι = we are ready

If you said ο σίγουρος, you’d be turning it into a noun (“the sure one”), which is not what is meant here.

Why is σίγουρος masculine? What would change if the speaker were a woman?

Adjectives describing the subject must agree with the subject’s gender and number.

In δεν είμαι σίγουρος, the implied subject is εγώ (I). The form σίγουρος is masculine singular, so it implies the speaker is male.

If the speaker is female, she would say:

• δεν είμαι σίγουρη = I’m not sure (female speaker)

Plural examples:

• δεν είμαστε σίγουροι (we are not sure – group of males or mixed group)
• δεν είμαστε σίγουρες (group of only females)

What is the difference between αν and εάν here? Could I use εάν instead of αν?

In modern spoken Greek:

• αν is the common everyday form.
• εάν is a more formal or careful variant.

In this sentence you can use either:

• …δεν είμαι σίγουρος αν είναι ρεαλιστικές.
• …δεν είμαι σίγουρος εάν είναι ρεαλιστικές.

The meaning is effectively the same: if / whether.
Αν is much more frequent in speech.

Could I say δεν είμαι σίγουρος ότι είναι ρεαλιστικές instead of αν είναι ρεαλιστικές? Is there a nuance?

Both are grammatically correct, but there is a nuance:

• δεν είμαι σίγουρος ότι είναι ρεαλιστικές
  = I’m not sure that they are realistic
  (you somewhat lean toward thinking they are, but you’re not fully certain)

• δεν είμαι σίγουρος αν είναι ρεαλιστικές
  = I’m not sure if / whether they are realistic
  (you’re more neutral; you may think they might or might not be realistic)

In many everyday contexts, Greeks use both without a big difference, but αν sounds a bit more like English “if/whether” and ότι like “that” after verbs of saying/thinking/knowing.

Why is ρεαλιστικές in the feminine plural? What is it referring to?

Ρεαλιστικές is an adjective meaning realistic. It refers back to οι υποσχέσεις (του), which is:

• feminine
• plural
• nominative

So the adjective must match that: ρεαλιστικές (feminine nominative plural).

Singular forms:

• ρεαλιστικός (masc.)
• ρεαλιστική (fem.)
• ρεαλιστικό (neut.)

Plural feminine: ρεαλιστικές

Is ρεαλιστικές a Greek word or a borrowing from English?

Ρεαλιστικός / ρεαλιστική / ρεαλιστικό is ultimately a loan from Western European languages (like French réaliste, English realistic), via older international vocabulary.

However, it is now fully integrated into Greek:

• It follows Greek spelling and stress rules: ρε-α-λι-ΣΤΙ-κες
• It takes normal Greek endings: -ικός, -ική, -ικό / -ικοί, -ικές, -ικά

So it’s a “borrowed root” but a normal Greek adjective in usage and morphology.

Can the word order be changed, for example to Οι ωραίες υποσχέσεις του ακούγονται…?

You can move the adjective before the noun:

• Οι ωραίες υποσχέσεις του ακούγονται…

But this slightly changes the focus:

• Οι υποσχέσεις του ακούγονται ωραίες
  = His promises sound nice (emphasis on how they sound)

• Οι ωραίες υποσχέσεις του ακούγονται…
  = The nice promises of his… (you are already assuming/categorizing them as “nice promises”)

In your original sentence, the structure mirrors English “His promises sound nice…”, so ωραίες after the verb feels more natural for that meaning.