Breakdown of Η υπάλληλος με ρωτάει τι μέγεθος φοράω για να μου βρει το κατάλληλο πουκάμισο.
Questions & Answers about Η υπάλληλος με ρωτάει τι μέγεθος φοράω για να μου βρει το κατάλληλο πουκάμισο.
In Greek, grammatical gender is not determined only by the word ending.
Υπάλληλος is a noun that can be either masculine or feminine:
- ο υπάλληλος = the (male) employee
- η υπάλληλος = the (female) employee
So here, η υπάλληλος tells you that the employee is a woman. The -ος ending is very common for masculine nouns, but some occupations and similar nouns can be both genders, with the article showing which one you mean.
Grammatically, yes.
- Ο υπάλληλος με ρωτάει… would mean “The (male) employee asks me…”
- Η υπάλληλος με ρωτάει… means “The (female) employee asks me…”
Everything else in the sentence can stay the same. You just change the article (and possibly surrounding context) to match the gender of the person you’re talking about.
Greek weak object pronouns (like με, σε, τον, την, το, μας, σας, τους) normally go before a conjugated verb:
- με ρωτάει = she asks me
- τον βλέπω = I see him
They only go after the verb in a few specific cases (mainly with imperatives and some non-finite forms), e.g.:
- ρώτα με = ask me (imperative)
So in a normal present-tense indicative sentence, με ρωτάει is the standard word order, not ρωτάει με.
They are just two forms of the same verb in the same tense and person:
- με ρωτάει
- με ρωτά
Both mean “(she) asks me / is asking me.”
Greek verbs like ρωτάω / ρωτώ have two common present forms. In everyday spoken Greek, ρωτάει is a bit more colloquial and frequent; ρωτά sounds slightly more formal or literary, but both are correct and fully understood.
Both forms are possible and correct:
- τι μέγεθος φοράω;
- ποιο μέγεθος φοράω;
In everyday speech, τι is very commonly used in questions like this, especially with measure words (τι μέγεθος, τι νούμερο).
Ποιο is a bit more specific (“which one”), but in practice they overlap a lot here. Using τι sounds very natural and is probably the most common choice in this context.
Greek indirect questions generally keep the same word order and verb form as the corresponding direct question:
- Direct: Τι μέγεθος φοράω; = What size do I wear?
- Indirect: …με ρωτάει τι μέγεθος φοράω. = …she asks me what size I wear.
There’s no extra “do” auxiliary (like English “do I wear”), and no change in verb form. You just embed the normal question under the verb ρωτάω using τι (or another question word) and keep the usual Greek order: question word + the rest of the clause.
In Greek, φοράω literally means “I wear (clothes, shoes, accessories)” and is the standard verb used for clothing sizes:
- Τι νούμερο παπούτσι φοράς; = What shoe size do you wear?
- Τι μέγεθος παντελόνι φοράς; = What trouser size do you wear?
You wouldn’t normally use έχω (“have”) or είμαι (“am”) here. Φοράω is the idiomatic, natural choice when talking about the size of clothes or shoes someone wears.
Να introduces a subjunctive clause.
Για να introduces a purpose clause and is best translated as “in order to / so that”.
- να βρει = (that) she find
- για να βρει = in order (for her) to find
In many everyday contexts, people might drop για and just say να μου βρει, but:
- για να explicitly signals purpose (why she’s doing it).
- να alone can express purpose too, but it’s more general and also used after many verbs (θέλω να, πρέπει να, μπορώ να, etc.).
In your sentence, για να nicely shows the reason: she asks you in order to find you the right shirt.
Βρει is the aorist subjunctive of βρίσκω.
Βρίσκει is the present indicative.
After να / για να, Greek normally uses the subjunctive, not the indicative:
- (για) να βρει = (in order) to find
- βρίσκει = (she) finds / is finding (statement, not purpose)
Within the subjunctive, aorist (βρει) focuses on the completion of the action (just “find it”), which is typical in purpose clauses:
- για να βρει το κατάλληλο πουκάμισο = so she can (successfully) find the right shirt.
Using βρίσκει here would be ungrammatical.
Μου (genitive) here expresses an indirect object / “for me” meaning:
- να βρει το κατάλληλο πουκάμισο = to find the right shirt
- να μου βρει το κατάλληλο πουκάμισο = to find me the right shirt / to find the right shirt for me
Greek often uses the genitive weak pronoun (μου, σου, του, της, μας, σας, τους) to express “for someone / to someone / of someone” in this way. There’s no separate word like English “for” in this phrase; the μου already carries that meaning.
Weak pronouns like μου normally go before the verb in a να-clause:
- να μου βρει
- να της πεις = to tell her
- να τους δώσω = to give them
The pattern is:
να + weak pronoun + verb
Putting the pronoun after the verb (να βρει μου) is ungrammatical in standard modern Greek.
Πουκάμισο (“shirt”) is a neuter noun in Greek:
- το πουκάμισο = the shirt
Adjectives and articles must agree with the noun in gender, number, and case. Since πουκάμισο is neuter singular nominative/accusative, everything matches it:
- το (neuter singular article)
- κατάλληλο (neuter singular adjective)
- πουκάμισο (neuter singular noun)
So: το κατάλληλο πουκάμισο = the right/suitable shirt.
Using η κατάλληλη would be feminine and wouldn’t match the neuter noun.
Κατάλληλο means “suitable, appropriate, fitting, right (for the purpose)”.
In this context, το κατάλληλο πουκάμισο is naturally translated as “the right shirt”, i.e. the one that is suitable for you (in size, style, etc.).
Other possible English renderings:
- the suitable shirt
- the appropriate shirt
- the right shirt (most natural everyday translation).