Learn Hardcore Greek: Αυτή η ταινία προβάλλεται στο σινεμά κάθε Σάββατο. - This movie is shown at the cinema every Saturday.

Leaving out the article (αυτή ταινία) sounds incomplete or very unusual in standard modern Greek, except in some special fixed phrases or headlines. The normal pattern is [demonstrative] + [article] + [noun]: αυτή η ταινία, εκείνο το παιδί, αυτές οι μέρες.

What is the difference between Αυτή and η in Αυτή η ταινία? Are they both articles?

No, they are different words:

Αυτή is a demonstrative adjective/pronoun meaning this (one).
η is the definite article meaning the.

Together they work like “this movie”:

αυτή = this
η ταινία = the movie
αυτή η ταινία = this movie (literally “this the movie”)

They both agree in gender (feminine), number (singular) and case (nominative) with the noun ταινία.

What gender and case is η ταινία, and how can I recognize it?

η ταινία is:

Gender: feminine
Number: singular
Case: nominative (because it’s the subject of the sentence)

Clues:

The article η is the feminine nominative singular article.
Many feminine nouns end in -α or -η in the nominative singular (e.g. η χώρα, η πόλη, η γυναίκα).

So whenever you see η + [word ending in -α / -η] at the start of a simple sentence, it’s very likely a feminine nominative singular subject.

How do you pronounce Αυτή? Why does αυ sound like af here, not av?

Αυτή is pronounced roughly [af-TI].

In modern Greek:

αυ is pronounced /av/ before vowel or voiced consonant (β, γ, δ, ζ, λ, μ, ν, ρ).
αυ is pronounced /af/ before a voiceless consonant (π, τ, κ, φ, θ, χ, ξ, ψ, σ).

In Αυτή, the next letter is τ, which is voiceless, so αυ becomes af → [af-ti].

What exactly does προβάλλεται mean, and what form is it grammatically?

προβάλλεται comes from the verb προβάλλω.

Tense: present
Voice: mediopassive (often just called “passive” in modern Greek)
Person/number: 3rd person singular

So προβάλλεται literally means “is being projected / is shown”.
In the context of movies, it means “is screened” or just “is shown”:

Αυτή η ταινία προβάλλεται… = This film is shown / is being screened…

Why is a passive form προβάλλεται used here instead of an active form?

Greek often uses the mediopassive/passive when:

The agent (who does the action) is not important or obvious.
We are talking about regular events or timetables (like showing a film, serving food, etc.).

Here, who exactly shows the movie (the cinema, the staff, the distributor) is not important. We just care that the movie is shown.

An active equivalent would be:

Το σινεμά προβάλλει αυτή την ταινία κάθε Σάββατο.
(The cinema shows this film every Saturday.)

Both are correct, but the passive is very natural in this context.

What’s the difference between προβάλλεται and παίζεται for movies?

Both can be used about films:

προβάλλεται = is screened / is projected / is shown
– A bit more “technical”/cinema-related; also used metaphorically (“is put forward”, “is promoted”).
παίζεται = literally is played
– Very common in everyday speech for movies, TV programs, plays:
- Τι παίζεται στο σινεμά; = What’s showing at the cinema?

In your sentence, Αυτή η ταινία προβάλλεται στο σινεμά κάθε Σάββατο is perfectly natural.
You could also say …παίζεται στο σινεμά κάθε Σάββατο in casual speech with essentially the same meaning.

What does στο mean in στο σινεμά, and where does it come from?

στο is a contraction of:

σε (preposition, roughly in / at / to)
το (neuter singular definite article the)

So:

σε + το → στο
στο σινεμά = at the cinema / in the cinema

Other common contractions:

σε + την → στην (στην πόλη – in the city)
σε + τον → στον (στον κήπο – in the garden)
σε + τους → στους (στους δρόμους – in the streets)

Is σινεμά the normal Greek word for “cinema”? Is there a more formal word?

σινεμά is very common in everyday speech and writing. It comes from French cinéma and is:

Indeclinable (it does not change form in different cases)
Normally treated as neuter in modern usage.

A more “formal” or “pure Greek” word is:

(ο) κινηματογράφος = the cinema

For example:

Αυτή η ταινία προβάλλεται στον κινηματογράφο κάθε Σάββατο.

Both are correct; σινεμά is simply more casual.

Why do we say κάθε Σάββατο with Σάββατο in the singular, not the plural?

With κάθε (every/each), Greek uses the singular:

κάθε μέρα = every day
κάθε μήνα = every month
κάθε Σάββατο = every Saturday

If you use the plural, the structure changes:

(τα) Σάββατα = (on) Saturdays / every Saturday(s) in general
- Αυτή η ταινία προβάλλεται τα Σάββατα. = This film is shown on Saturdays.

So:

κάθε Σάββατο = explicitly “each Saturday”
τα Σάββατα = “on Saturdays” (more general, without the word “each”)

What case is Σάββατο in κάθε Σάββατο, and why?

Σάββατο here is in the accusative singular.

Reasons:

κάθε normally takes a singular accusative noun:
- κάθε μέρα, κάθε μήνα, κάθε χρόνο, κάθε Σάββατο.
Time expressions answering “when?” are often in the accusative in Greek, especially with words like κάθε or with bare time units (πέρυσι is an adverb, but e.g. κάθε βράδυ, τον Ιούνιο, την Κυριακή).

Why is Σάββατο capitalized? Are days of the week always capitalized in Greek?

Yes, in standard modern Greek orthography, names of days and months are capitalized:

Δευτέρα, Τρίτη, Τετάρτη, Πέμπτη, Παρασκευή, Σάββατο, Κυριακή
Ιανουάριος, Φεβρουάριος, …

So Σάββατο is capitalized just as Saturday is in English.

Can I move κάθε Σάββατο to another place in the sentence, like at the beginning?

Yes, Greek word order is quite flexible. For example, all of these are possible:

Αυτή η ταινία προβάλλεται στο σινεμά κάθε Σάββατο.
Αυτή η ταινία κάθε Σάββατο προβάλλεται στο σινεμά.
Κάθε Σάββατο αυτή η ταινία προβάλλεται στο σινεμά.

The basic meaning stays the same.
Changing the order can slightly change which part is emphasized (e.g. starting with Κάθε Σάββατο highlights the regular time), but all are grammatically correct.

Could I say Η ταινία αυτή προβάλλεται στο σινεμά κάθε Σάββατο instead of Αυτή η ταινία…? Does it sound different?

Yes, that’s also correct:

Αυτή η ταινία προβάλλεται…
Η ταινία αυτή προβάλλεται…

Both mean “This film is shown…”.

Subtle nuance:

Αυτή η ταινία slightly emphasizes “this” as you introduce the movie.
Η ταινία αυτή can feel a bit more like you already have “the film” in mind and you are specifying “this one”.

In everyday speech, both word orders are very common and interchangeable in most contexts.