Question 1

Why does the sentence start with Το?

Accepted Answer

Το is the definite article meaning the, and here it’s neuter nominative singular. It matches the grammatical gender/number/case of the subject noun παντελόνι (neuter, singular). Greek normally uses an article with specific nouns much more often than English does.

Question 2

Why is παντελόνι neuter singular if it refers to “pants/trousers” (a pair)?

Accepted Answer

In Greek, παντελόνι is typically treated as a singular neuter noun, even though in English “pants” is plural. So Greek says, literally, the (one) trousers item rather than “the trousers are…”.

Question 3

Why doesn’t μπλε change form to agree with the noun?

Accepted Answer

μπλε is an indeclinable color adjective (a loanword), so it usually doesn’t inflect for gender/number/case.  
So you can have:
- το μπλε παντελόνι (neuter)
- η μπλε μπλούζα (feminine)
- ο μπλε ουρανός (masculine)

Question 4

Why is μου placed after the noun: το … παντελόνι μου instead of my …?

Accepted Answer

μου is a clitic possessive pronoun (meaning my) that commonly comes after the noun in Greek: το παντελόνι μου = my trousers.  
You can use a more emphatic/contrastive form, e.g. το δικό μου παντελόνι (my own / mine), but the normal neutral phrasing is noun + μου.

Question 5

How do I know what the subject and object are in this sentence?

Accepted Answer

- Subject (what “has” something): Το μπλε παντελόνι μου (nominative, with Το)
- Verb: έχει (it has)
- Direct object (what it has): έναν λεκέ (accusative)

Greek relies a lot on case marking (articles/endings) to signal roles.

Question 6

Why is it έχει (“has”) and not something like “is” or “there is”?

Accepted Answer

Greek commonly uses έχω + noun for things like stains, damage, etc.:
- Έχει έναν λεκέ. = It has a stain.
This is the natural Greek way to express that something has a stain on it.

Question 7

Why is it έναν λεκέ and not ένα λεκέ?

Accepted Answer

The masculine accusative indefinite article is έναν (with final -ν). In everyday Greek, that final -ν is often dropped depending on the next sound, so ένα λεκέ is also very common and perfectly natural.  
Keeping έναν can sound a bit more careful/formal, and many speakers also just keep the -ν more generally.

Question 8

Why is λεκέ spelled like that—what’s the dictionary form?

Accepted Answer

The dictionary (nominative singular) form is ο λεκές (a stain).  
Here you see the accusative singular as a direct object: έναν λεκέ.  
So it’s basically:
- nominative: (ο) λεκές
- accusative: (τον/έναν) λεκέ

Question 9

Why does Greek use από here, since it usually means “from”?

Accepted Answer

από primarily means from, but it’s also used to show source/cause/material.  
So λεκές από καφέ is literally a stain from coffee → a coffee stain.  
A very common alternative phrasing is also λεκές καφέ (literally coffee stain).

Question 10

How is έχει pronounced, and what’s that sound in the middle?

Accepted Answer

έχει is pronounced roughly EH-khee, with χ being the Greek chi sound: a soft “h-like” fricative made in the back of the mouth (similar to German ich in some accents, but Greek varies by following vowel).  
Stress is on the first syllable: É-χει.

Το μπλε παντελόνι μου έχει έναν λεκέ από καφέ.

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