Learn Hardcore Greek: Η αδερφή μου είναι χορτοφάγος και δεν τρώει ποτέ κρέας ή κοτόπουλο. - My sister is vegetarian and never eats meat or chicken.

In modern Greek, unstressed possessive pronouns like μου, σου, του usually come after the noun, and they do not take an article in between:

η αδερφή μου = my sister (literally the sister my)
το βιβλίο σου = your book

You generally cannot say η μου αδερφή in modern Greek; that sounds archaic/poetic.
μου is an enclitic: it leans on the word before it and follows it.

Is there a difference between αδερφή and αδελφή?

They are the same word: sister.

αδερφή is the more colloquial / everyday spelling.
αδελφή is the more formal / traditional spelling, closer to older forms of the language.

Pronunciation in modern Greek is the same: [a-ther-FEE], with stress on the last syllable.

Why is it είναι χορτοφάγος and not something like είναι μια χορτοφάγος?

In Greek, when you say what someone is (profession, nationality, religion, type of person, etc.), you usually omit the article:

Είναι γιατρός. = He/She is a doctor.
Είμαι φοιτητής. = I am a student.
Είναι χορτοφάγος. = She is (a) vegetarian.

So είναι χορτοφάγος is the normal, natural way, and adding μια here would sound odd.

Why does χορτοφάγος look masculine if it refers to a woman?

χορτοφάγος is a common-gender noun: it has the same form for masculine and feminine.

ο χορτοφάγος = the vegetarian (man)
η χορτοφάγος = the vegetarian (woman)

The article (ο or η) and the context show the gender; the ending -ος itself does not force masculine here.

In the sentence η αδερφή μου είναι χορτοφάγος, the word αδερφή already tells you the person is female.

Does χορτοφάγος mean vegetarian or vegan?

In everyday Greek:

χορτοφάγος usually means vegetarian (doesn’t eat meat, often still eats dairy/eggs).
For vegan, modern speakers often say βίγκαν or βέγκαν (from English vegan) or sometimes αυστηρά χορτοφάγος (strict vegetarian).

So in this sentence, the natural English translation is vegetarian, not vegan.

Where is the subject she? Why is there no word for she before είναι or τρώει?

Greek is a pro‑drop language: subject pronouns (I, you, he, she, etc.) are often omitted because the verb ending and the context show who the subject is.

Here the subject is clearly η αδερφή μου (my sister), so you don’t need an extra αυτή (she).

Η αδερφή μου είναι χορτοφάγος = literally The sister of-me is vegetarian
The she is included in η αδερφή μου, so no pronoun is needed.

How does negation work in δεν τρώει ποτέ? Why are both δεν and ποτέ used?

δεν is the basic negation particle used with indicative verbs: δεν τρώει = she does not eat.
ποτέ means ever / never, depending on whether the sentence is negative or not.

In a negative sentence, δεν + verb + ποτέ means never:

Δεν τρώει ποτέ κρέας. = She never eats meat.

In a question or non‑negative context, ποτέ is more like ever:

Τρώει ποτέ κρέας; = Does she ever eat meat?

So you normally keep both: δεν for the negation, ποτέ for the idea of ever/never.

Can I change the word order of δεν τρώει ποτέ?

The most neutral order is the one in the sentence:

δεν τρώει ποτέ κρέας

You can also say:

δεν τρώει κρέας ποτέ (more emphasis on ποτέ, still fine)
ποτέ δεν τρώει κρέας (fronted ποτέ, often adding emphasis: she never eats meat)

All three are grammatically correct; the differences are mostly about emphasis and style.

What is the verb τρώει exactly?

τρώει is the 3rd person singular, present tense, active of τρώω (to eat):

εγώ τρώω = I eat
εσύ τρως = you eat
αυτός / αυτή / αυτό τρώει = he / she / it eats

So δεν τρώει = he/she doesn’t eat.
Here it refers to η αδερφή μου, so she doesn’t eat.

Why is there no article before κρέας and κοτόπουλο?

When talking about things in general (especially foods, substances, abstract things), Greek often omits the article:

Δεν πίνει γάλα. = He doesn’t drink milk.
Τρώω ψάρι. = I eat fish.

Here:

δεν τρώει ποτέ κρέας ή κοτόπουλο = she never eats meat or chicken (in general, not some specific meat/chicken).

If you add an article, it usually makes it more specific:

Δεν τρώει το κρέας. = She doesn’t eat the meat (the particular meat that is here now).

Why say κρέας ή κοτόπουλο when chicken is already a kind of meat?

Logically, chicken is a type of meat, but in everyday language many people separate chicken from meat as if they were different categories. The same thing happens in English:

Do you eat meat? – Only chicken.

Greek does the same:

κρέας = meat (often understood as red meat or non‑poultry meat in casual speech)
κοτόπουλο = chicken (usually as food)

So κρέας ή κοτόπουλο is a natural way of saying meat or chicken (i.e. no kind of meat at all).

What is the difference between κότα and κοτόπουλο? Both seem to mean chicken.

Yes, both relate to chicken, but with different typical uses:

κότα = the animal (a hen/chicken).
- Έχω μια κότα στον κήπο. = I have a chicken in the yard.
κοτόπουλο = usually the meat (chicken as food).
- Τρώω κοτόπουλο. = I’m eating chicken.

In this sentence, κοτόπουλο clearly means chicken meat, which is why it appears together with κρέας.