Ο υπάλληλος στο κατάστημα είναι ευγενικός.

to be

Breakdown of Ο υπάλληλος στο κατάστημα είναι ευγενικός.

• σε: at
• ευγενικός: polite
• το κατάστημα: the store

Questions & Answers about Ο υπάλληλος στο κατάστημα είναι ευγενικός.

Why is the word Ο at the beginning of the sentence? What does it do?

Ο is the definite article in Greek, meaning “the” for a masculine singular noun in the nominative case (the case used for the subject of the sentence).

• Ο υπάλληλος = the employee (as the subject)
• It’s capitalized simply because it’s the first word of the sentence.

Greek almost always uses a definite article with singular countable nouns, even where English might leave it out, so saying Ο υπάλληλος is very normal and often more natural than just Υπάλληλος on its own.

What gender is υπάλληλος, and can it refer to a female employee too?

Grammatically, υπάλληλος is a noun that behaves like a masculine noun (ending in -ος), but it can refer to either a man or a woman, depending on the article and context.

• ο υπάλληλος = the (male) employee
• η υπάλληλος = the (female) employee

The noun form υπάλληλος stays the same; the article (ο vs η) shows whether you’re talking about a man or a woman.

So:

• Ο υπάλληλος στο κατάστημα είναι ευγενικός.
  = The (male) employee in the store is polite.
• Η υπάλληλος στο κατάστημα είναι ευγενική.
  = The (female) employee in the store is polite.
  (Notice the adjective also changes to ευγενική, feminine.)

What exactly does στο mean, and why is it one word?