Ο καφές σήμερα είναι πολύ γλυκός.

to be

Breakdown of Ο καφές σήμερα είναι πολύ γλυκός.

• ο καφές: the coffee
• πολύ: very
• σήμερα: today

Questions & Answers about Ο καφές σήμερα είναι πολύ γλυκός.

Why does the sentence start with Ο καφές and not just Καφές?

In Greek you normally need the definite article (ο, η, το) in front of a specific noun, much more often than in English.

• Ο καφές = the coffee (a specific coffee you’re drinking now)
• Just καφές (without ο) is more like talking about coffee in general, or in some fixed expressions.

In this sentence we mean this particular coffee today, so Greek uses ο καφές with the article ο (masculine, singular, nominative).

Why is the article ο and not το or η?

Greek nouns have grammatical gender: masculine, feminine, or neuter.

• ο = the (masculine nominative singular)
• η = the (feminine nominative singular)
• το = the (neuter nominative/accusative singular)

The word καφές (coffee) is masculine, so it takes the masculine article ο:

• ο καφές = the coffee

What case is ο καφές, and why?