Ο σκύλος γαβγίζει μόνο όταν κάποιος χτυπάει το κουδούνι.

The dog barks only when someone rings the doorbell.

Breakdown of Ο σκύλος γαβγίζει μόνο όταν κάποιος χτυπάει το κουδούνι.

• ο σκύλος: the dog
• όταν: when
• μόνο: only
• κάποιος: someone

Questions & Answers about Ο σκύλος γαβγίζει μόνο όταν κάποιος χτυπάει το κουδούνι.

Why does the sentence start with Ο?

Ο is the masculine singular nominative form of the definite article, so here it means the.

It matches σκύλος because σκύλος is:

• masculine
• singular
• the subject of the sentence

So Ο σκύλος = the dog.

Why is it σκύλος and not some other form?

σκύλος is the basic singular form of the noun dog when it is the subject of the sentence.

Greek changes noun endings depending on grammatical role. Here the dog is doing the action, so Greek uses the nominative form:

• ο σκύλος = the dog (subject)
• τον σκύλο = the dog (object)

In this sentence, the dog is the one barking, so σκύλος is correct.

Does ο σκύλος mean a male dog specifically?

Not necessarily.

Greek nouns have grammatical gender, and σκύλος is a masculine noun. In many contexts, ο σκύλος can simply mean the dog, even if the animal’s biological sex is not important.

If you specifically wanted to say female dog, Greek can use η σκύλα, but ο σκύλος is very common as the general word for dog.

What form is γαβγίζει?