Το μάθημα σήμερα είναι κουραστικό.

The lesson today is tiring.

Breakdown of Το μάθημα σήμερα είναι κουραστικό.

• είμαι: to be
• σήμερα: today
• το μάθημα: the lesson
• κουραστικός: tiring

Questions & Answers about Το μάθημα σήμερα είναι κουραστικό.

Why does the sentence start with Το? What does this word do?

Το is the neuter singular definite article in Greek, meaning “the”.

In Το μάθημα σήμερα είναι κουραστικό, Το shows that we’re talking about a specific lesson that both speaker and listener can identify (for example, today’s class that both know about), not just any lesson in general.

Greek has three genders (masculine, feminine, neuter), and each has its own definite article:

• Masculine: ο (e.g. ο φίλος – the friend, m.)
• Feminine: η (e.g. η πόλη – the city)
• Neuter: το (e.g. το μάθημα – the lesson)

Because μάθημα is a neuter noun, it takes το.

What gender is μάθημα, and how do I know?

Μάθημα is neuter.

You can see this from:

• The article: το μάθημα (neuter article το)
• The typical neuter ending: -μα is a very common neuter ending in Greek (e.g. το γράμμα – the letter, το πρόβλημα – the problem).

In practice, learners usually memorize the gender of each noun together with its article:

• το μάθημα – lesson (neuter)
• η τάξη – class (feminine)
• ο καθηγητής – (male) teacher (masculine)

So try to learn το μάθημα as a single chunk.

Why is σήμερα (today) placed after μάθημα? Could I move it elsewhere?

Yes, you can move σήμερα around without changing the basic meaning. All of these are correct:

• Το μάθημα σήμερα είναι κουραστικό.
• Σήμερα το μάθημα είναι κουραστικό.
• Το μάθημα είναι κουραστικό σήμερα.

The differences are mainly about emphasis and flow:

• Σήμερα το μάθημα… slightly emphasizes today (as opposed to other days).
• Το μάθημα σήμερα… sounds neutral and natural, especially in speech.
• Το μάθημα είναι κουραστικό σήμερα can sound like a little afterthought: “The lesson is tiring today (as opposed to normally).”

Greek word order is fairly flexible; adverbs like σήμερα can appear in several positions.

Why is the adjective κουραστικό in the neuter form, not masculine or feminine?

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

• gender
• number (singular/plural)
• case

The noun here is το μάθημα:

• gender: neuter
• number: singular
• case: nominative (subject)

So the adjective must also be:

• neuter
• singular
• nominative → κουραστικό

If the noun changed, the adjective would change too:

• Ο μαθητής είναι κουραστικός. – The (male) student is tiring. (masculine singular)
• Η άσκηση είναι κουραστική. – The exercise is tiring. (feminine singular)
• Τα μαθήματα είναι κουραστικά. – The lessons are tiring. (neuter plural)

What is the difference between κουραστικό and κουρασμένος?

They are related but not used the same way:

• κουραστικό = tiring, exhausting
  It describes something that causes tiredness (a lesson, job, day, etc.).

  • Το μάθημα είναι κουραστικό. – The lesson is tiring.

• κουρασμένος (masc.), κουρασμένη (fem.), κουρασμένο (neut.) = tired
  It describes someone (or something) that feels tired.

  • Είμαι κουρασμένος. – I am tired. (speaker male)
  • Είμαι κουρασμένη. – I am tired. (speaker female)

You don’t say Το μάθημα είναι κουρασμένο unless you are joking or being very metaphorical (as if the lesson itself is tired). For a normal statement, you use κουραστικό for a lesson.

Why do we use the definite article Το here? Could I say Μάθημα σήμερα είναι κουραστικό?

In Greek, you usually cannot drop the article the way English sometimes does.

Μάθημα σήμερα είναι κουραστικό sounds wrong/natural only in very special, telegraphic or poetic style.

You use Το μάθημα because:

• You refer to a specific, known lesson (today’s class).
• In everyday Greek, concrete countable nouns almost always have an article when they are subjects, unless something else (like a number or possessive) is in that position.

If you really wanted something more general like “A lesson today is tiring”, you might say:

• Ένα μάθημα σήμερα είναι κουραστικό. – Ένα is the indefinite article “a / one”.

But in normal classroom context, Το μάθημα σήμερα είναι κουραστικό means Today’s lesson is tiring and is the natural choice.

What tense is είναι, and does Greek have a continuous/progressive form like English “is being tiring”?

Είναι is the present tense of the verb είμαι (to be), 3rd person singular:

• είμαι – I am
• είσαι – you are (singular)
• είναι – he/she/it is
• είμαστε – we are
• είστε – you are (plural / polite)
• είναι – they are

Greek doesn’t use a separate progressive form for “is being tiring” vs “is tiring”.
Both ideas are normally expressed with the simple present:

• Το μάθημα είναι κουραστικό. – The lesson is tiring / is being tiring (in context).

What are the plural forms? How would I say “The lessons today are tiring”?

You need to put both the noun and the adjective into the neuter plural:

• Singular: Το μάθημα σήμερα είναι κουραστικό.
• Plural: Τα μαθήματα σήμερα είναι κουραστικά.

Changes:

• το → τα (neuter singular → neuter plural article)
• μάθημα → μαθήματα (neuter singular → neuter plural noun)
• κουραστικό → κουραστικά (neuter singular → neuter plural adjective)

Is it also correct to say Το σημερινό μάθημα είναι κουραστικό? What is the difference?

Yes, that is correct, and it is very natural.

• Το μάθημα σήμερα είναι κουραστικό.
  Literally: “The lesson today is tiring.”
  σήμερα is an adverb (today).

• Το σημερινό μάθημα είναι κουραστικό.
  Literally: “The today’s lesson is tiring.”
  σημερινό is an adjective meaning “today’s, of today”.

The meaning is essentially the same, but:

• Το σημερινό μάθημα… sounds a bit more formal or explicit, like “Today’s lesson (as a specific event) is tiring.”
• Το μάθημα σήμερα… feels a bit more conversational.

Both are perfectly acceptable in everyday speech.

Can I drop είναι and just say Το μάθημα σήμερα κουραστικό?

No, not in standard modern Greek.

You generally must include the verb είναι in sentences like this.
Το μάθημα σήμερα κουραστικό sounds incomplete or ungrammatical in normal speech.

Unlike some languages that can omit “to be” in the present tense (e.g. Russian, Arabic in some cases), modern Greek keeps the present form of είμαι:

• Το μάθημα σήμερα είναι κουραστικό. – correct, natural
• Το μάθημα σήμερα κουραστικό. – wrong in normal Greek

How do you pronounce the whole sentence, and what do the accent marks mean?

Pronunciation (approximately, in IPA):

• Το – /to/
• μάθημα – /ˈma.θi.ma/
  Stress on the first syllable: ΜΑ.
• σήμερα – /ˈsi.me.ra/
  Stress on the first syllable: ΣΗ.
• είναι – /ˈi.ne/
  Stress on ΕΙ (pronounced /i/).
• κουραστικό – /ku.ra.stiˈko/
  Stress on the last syllable: ΚΟ.

So the whole sentence is:

• Το μάθημα σήμερα είναι κουραστικό.
  /to ˈma.θi.ma ˈsi.me.ra ˈi.ne ku.ra.stiˈko/

The accent marks in Greek show which syllable is stressed. There is always one main stress per word (for words of more than one syllable), and correct stress is very important for understanding and sounding natural.

What is the difference between μάθημα and τάξη? Could I say Η τάξη σήμερα είναι κουραστική?

Yes, you could say that, but it is slightly different:

• το μάθημα – the lesson (the content, the teaching unit, the session)
• η τάξη – the class (often the group of students or the classroom, depending on context)

So:

• Το μάθημα σήμερα είναι κουραστικό. – Today’s lesson is tiring. (focus on the lesson itself)
• Η τάξη σήμερα είναι κουραστική. – The class today is tiring.
  This might suggest that the class as a group is being tiring (for the teacher), or that today’s class session is tiring, depending on context.

Note how the grammar changes:

• η τάξη is feminine, so the adjective becomes κουραστική (feminine) instead of κουραστικό (neuter).