Learn Hardcore Greek: Ο ανιψιός μου είναι πέντε χρονών και τρώει μόνο πατάτες και ψωμί. - My nephew is five years old and eats only potatoes and bread.

Leaving out the article (ανιψιός μου) is possible but sounds more poetic, informal, or emphatic. In everyday standard speech, ο ανιψιός μου is the normal form.

Why does the possessive μου come after the noun instead of before it, like in English?

Greek possessive pronouns (my, your, his, etc.) almost always follow the noun:

ο πατέρας μου = my father
η μητέρα σου = your mother
το παιδί της = her child

So ανιψιός μου literally means nephew of-me.
They are clitic forms (unstressed little words) and attach to the right side of the noun phrase. You do not say μου ανιψιός in normal Greek.

What gender and case is ανιψιός, and how does it decline?

In ο ανιψιός μου, the word ανιψιός is:

gender: masculine
case: nominative (subject of the sentence)
number: singular

Basic forms of ανιψιός:

Nominative sg: ο ανιψιός (the nephew – subject)
Genitive sg: του ανιψιού (of the nephew)
Accusative sg: τον ανιψιό (the nephew – object)
Nominative pl: οι ανιψιοί
Genitive pl: των ανιψιών
Accusative pl: τους ανιψιούς

Also:

ανιψιός = nephew
ανιψιά = niece

What is είναι exactly, and why this form?

είναι is the present tense of the verb είμαι (to be):

είμαι – I am
είσαι – you are (singular)
είναι – he / she / it is
είμαστε – we are
είστε – you are (plural / polite)
είναι – they are

In our sentence, είναι is 3rd person singular:
(ο ανιψιός μου) είναι πέντε χρονών = my nephew is five years old.

Greek often drops the subject pronoun because the verb form already shows the person, but here the subject ο ανιψιός μου is explicitly stated.

Why is it πέντε χρονών? What form is χρονών and what does it literally mean?

πέντε = five (cardinal number) – it is indeclinable, it never changes form.

χρονών is the genitive plural of χρόνος (year / time):

Nom. sg: χρόνος (year)
Gen. pl: χρονών (of years)

So πέντε χρονών literally means of five years, i.e. five years old.

This is the standard colloquial way to say someone’s age:

είμαι δέκα χρονών = I am ten years old
είναι τριών χρονών = he/she is three years old

What is the difference between πέντε χρονών, πέντε ετών and πέντε χρόνια?

All three can appear, but they’re used slightly differently:

πέντε χρονών – most common, everyday way to say five years old.
πέντε ετών – uses έτος (year, more formal). This sounds more formal / written, e.g. in documents:
- αγόρι πέντε ετών = a five-year-old boy.
πέντε χρόνια – literally five years (duration), not specifically “years old”:
- μένω εδώ πέντε χρόνια = I’ve been living here for five years.

For age in normal speech, πέντε χρονών is the best choice.

What tense and person is τρώει, and what is the full present tense of τρώω?

τρώει is:

verb: τρώω (to eat)
tense: present
person/number: 3rd person singular (he/she/it eats)

Present tense of τρώω:

τρώω – I eat
τρως – you eat (singular)
τρώει – he / she / it eats
τρώμε – we eat
τρώτε – you eat (plural / polite)
τρώνε / τρών – they eat

So τρώει μόνο πατάτες και ψωμί = he eats only potatoes and bread.

Why is πατάτες plural but ψωμί singular?

This is a natural usage difference:

πατάτα (potato) is treated as individual, countable items. When you talk about what someone habitually eats, you often use the plural:
- πατάτες = potatoes
  So τρώει πατάτες = he eats potatoes (as a type of food).
ψωμί (bread) is usually treated as a mass noun, so the singular commonly means bread in general:
- ψωμί = bread (in general, not one “bread” item)

You can make ψωμί plural (ψωμιά, “loaves of bread”), but here we mean bread as a general food, so singular is natural.

What genders and nominative forms do πατάτες and ψωμί have?

πατάτες:

nominative singular: η πατάτα (the potato) – feminine
nominative plural: οι πατάτες

In our sentence, πατάτες is accusative plural, but it looks the same as nominative plural for this declension.

ψωμί:

nominative singular: το ψωμί (the bread) – neuter
nominative plural: τα ψωμιά

In our sentence, ψωμί is accusative singular, which is identical in form to the nominative singular for neuter nouns.

Why are πατάτες and ψωμί in the accusative case, and how can I recognize that?

They are direct objects of the verb τρώει (eats). In Greek, direct objects normally take the accusative case.

subject (nominative): ο ανιψιός μου
verb: τρώει
direct objects (accusative): μόνο πατάτες και ψωμί

Forms:

η πατάτα (nom. sg) → πατάτες (nom/acc. pl)
In this sentence it is acc. pl because it’s the thing being eaten, and coordinated with ψωμί.
το ψωμί (nom/acc. sg neuter) → stays ψωμί in the accusative.

You recognize the function from the role in the sentence: they answer “eats what?” → πατάτες και ψωμί.

What does μόνο modify here, and can it go in other positions?

μόνο is an adverb meaning only / just.

In τρώει μόνο πατάτες και ψωμί, it modifies the noun phrase πατάτες και ψωμί:
→ he eats only potatoes and bread (nothing else).

You can move μόνο for emphasis:

Μόνο πατάτες και ψωμί τρώει.
Stronger emphasis on the limited list: “It’s only potatoes and bread he eats.”
Τρώει πατάτες και ψωμί μόνο.
Possible, but in many contexts this sounds a bit less natural; it can sound like a loose afterthought.

Placement before what you want to limit is the clearest rule of thumb:

τρώει μόνο πατάτες = he eats only potatoes
μόνο τρώει (rare) would instead suggest he “only eats” (does nothing else).

How is the whole sentence pronounced, and where is the stress in each word?

Sentence: Ο ανιψιός μου είναι πέντε χρονών και τρώει μόνο πατάτες και ψωμί.

Approximate pronunciation (syllable by syllable, stressed syllables in capitals):

Ο – o
ανιψιός – a-nip-SYOS (stress on the last syllable)
μου – mu (unstressed)
είναι – EE-ne (stress on εί)
πέντε – PEHN-de (stress on πέ)
χρονών – hro-NON / xro-NON (χ = German “ch” in Bach; stress on the last syllable)
και – ke (like “keh”)
τρώει – TRO-i (two syllables, stress on τρώ)
μόνο – MO-no (stress on μό)
πατάτες – pa-TA-tes (stress on the middle syllable τά)
και – ke
ψωμί – pso-MI (stress on μί; ψ = ps as in “laps”)

Accent marks in writing show you exactly which syllable is stressed: ανιψιός, είναι, πέντε, χρονών, τρώει, μόνο, πατάτες, ψωμί.

Can the word order be changed, and does that change the meaning?

Greek word order is relatively flexible. All of these are possible:

Ο ανιψιός μου είναι πέντε χρονών και τρώει μόνο πατάτες και ψωμί.
Neutral, most typical order.
Ο ανιψιός μου είναι πέντε χρονών και μόνο πατάτες και ψωμί τρώει.
Emphasis on the limited set of foods.
Μόνο πατάτες και ψωμί τρώει ο ανιψιός μου.
Strong emphasis on μόνο πατάτες και ψωμί; the nephew appears at the end.

The basic meaning (he only eats potatoes and bread) stays the same; moving words mainly affects emphasis and focus, not the core meaning.