Breakdown of Το καινούριο μπουφάν είναι λιγότερο φαρδύ απ' όσο φαίνεται στη βιτρίνα.
Questions & Answers about Το καινούριο μπουφάν είναι λιγότερο φαρδύ απ' όσο φαίνεται στη βιτρίνα.
Μπουφάν is a loanword (from French blouson) and in modern Greek it is treated as a neuter, indeclinable noun.
- Singular: το μπουφάν = the jacket
- Plural: τα μπουφάν = the jackets (same form in plural)
Because it is neuter, the article and the adjective must also be neuter:
- το καινούριο μπουφάν
- το: neuter singular definite article
- καινούριο: neuter singular form of the adjective καινούριος
Ο καινούριος μπουφάν is wrong, because ο / καινούριος are masculine forms, while μπουφάν is neuter.
Both can translate as “new”, but they have slightly different typical uses:
καινούριο μπουφάν:
- focuses on the fact that it is brand-new / unused / just bought
- everyday, colloquial, very common
νέο μπουφάν:
- more neutral / formal; often means “new, recent” in a more general sense (e.g., new model, new design, a newly introduced item)
- less common for clothes in casual speech; you’d still be understood, but καινούριο is more idiomatic here
In this sentence, το καινούριο μπουφάν sounds most natural.
Greek has two ways to form comparatives:
Analytic: πιο + adjective or λιγότερο + adjective
- πιο φαρδύ = wider
- λιγότερο φαρδύ = less wide
Synthetic: special comparative form of the adjective (often more formal or fixed):
- φαρδύτερο = wider
In practice:
- λιγότερο φαρδύ literally means “less wide”, which is very natural when you want to stress a reduction from what is expected or appears.
- You could also say:
- Το καινούριο μπουφάν είναι πιο στενό απ' όσο φαίνεται στη βιτρίνα.
= The new jacket is narrower than it looks in the shop window.
- Το καινούριο μπουφάν είναι πιο στενό απ' όσο φαίνεται στη βιτρίνα.
- Using φαρδύτερο here would change the meaning (it would be “wider than it looks”), so that’s not equivalent.
So λιγότερο φαρδύ is chosen because it expresses “less wide than it looks”, matching the meaning exactly.
Adjectives in Greek agree with the noun in gender, number and case.
- The noun here is το μπουφάν:
- gender: neuter
- number: singular
- case: nominative
The adjective φαρδύς (wide) has these main nominative forms:
- masculine: φαρδύς
- feminine: φαρδιά
- neuter: φαρδύ
Since μπουφάν is neuter singular, the adjective must be neuter singular nominative:
- το φαρδύ μπουφάν = the wide jacket
- είναι φαρδύ = (it) is wide
So λιγότερο φαρδύ is the correct neuter form agreeing with το μπουφάν.
Απ' όσο is very common in comparisons and comes from:
- από (from, than)
- όσο (as much as / as far as / the extent that)
In this structure, απ' όσο basically means “than (what)” or “than (it) …”.
In your sentence:
- λιγότερο φαρδύ απ' όσο φαίνεται
literally: less wide than (what) it appears
It’s part of a comparison clause:
- απ' όσο φαίνεται = than it seems / looks
So yes, απ' όσο + verb is a very typical pattern to say “than (it) …” in Greek.
This is elision: dropping a vowel at the end of a word before another word that starts with a vowel.
- The preposition is από.
- The next word όσο begins with a vowel (ο).
So in natural speech and writing:
- από όσο → απ' όσο
The apostrophe marks the missing vowel -ο from από.
This happens often with από, σε, το, το(ν), τη(ν) etc. before vowels:
- από εκεί → απ' εκεί
- σε αυτό → σ' αυτό
Yes, this is another very common structure, and it’s very close in meaning.
- απ' όσο φαίνεται = than (it) appears
- από ό,τι φαίνεται = than what appears / as it seems
You could say:
- Το καινούριο μπουφάν είναι λιγότερο φαρδύ από ό,τι φαίνεται στη βιτρίνα.
This is grammatical and natural.
Nuance:
- απ' όσο φαίνεται is a bit more compact and colloquial.
- από ό,τι φαίνεται can feel a bit more explicit/formal, but both are fine in everyday speech.
Στη βιτρίνα means “in the shop window” or “in the display window”.
- σε = in / at / on (general preposition)
- τη(ν) = the (feminine, accusative singular definite article)
- σε + τη → στη
So:
- στη βιτρίνα = σε τη βιτρίνα = in the shop window
About βιτρίνα:
- feminine noun: η βιτρίνα (the shop window)
- στη βιτρίνα = “in the shop window / on display”
The sentence contrasts how the jacket appears on display with how it actually fits.
Είναι is the verb “to be” and functions as a linking (copular) verb here:
- Το καινούριο μπουφάν είναι λιγότερο φαρδύ…
= The new jacket is less wide…
In standard Greek, you cannot omit είναι in this kind of neutral sentence.
Το καινούριο μπουφάν λιγότερο φαρδύ… sounds incomplete or incorrect.
So είναι is necessary to connect the subject (το καινούριο μπουφάν) with its complement (λιγότερο φαρδύ απ' όσο φαίνεται στη βιτρίνα).
Greek uses the definite and indefinite articles similarly to English, but not always in exactly the same situations.
το καινούριο μπουφάν = the new jacket
→ refers to a specific, already known or contextually given jacket
(for example, “the new jacket I bought yesterday”)ένα καινούριο μπουφάν = a / one new jacket
→ introduces a jacket in a non-specific / first-mention way
In your sentence, the definite article το suggests that both speaker and listener know which new jacket is being talked about (perhaps they saw it in the window or discussed it before), so το is the natural choice.
Φαίνεται is the 3rd person singular present tense, usually called middle/passive form of the verb φαίνομαι.
- φαίνομαι ≈ to appear, to seem, to look (in the sense of “it looks…”)
- (αυτό) φαίνεται = it seems / it appears / it looks
In the sentence:
- απ' όσο φαίνεται στη βιτρίνα
= than it appears in the shop window
= than it looks in the shop window
So φαίνεται means “looks / appears / seems”, not “is seen” in a literal passive sense here; it’s more like English “seems”.