Breakdown of Το βιβλιοπωλείο είναι απέναντι από το πανεπιστήμιο.
είμαι
to be
το πανεπιστήμιο
the university
το βιβλιοπωλείο
the bookstore
απέναντι από
across from
Questions & Answers about Το βιβλιοπωλείο είναι απέναντι από το πανεπιστήμιο.
Why is βιβλιοπωλείο written as one long word?
Greek often combines elements into a single compound word.
βιβλιοπωλείο means bookstore / bookshop, and it is built from parts related to book and selling. Greek does this very naturally, so a word that might feel like two pieces in English is often written as one word in Greek.
Why do both nouns have το?
Because both βιβλιοπωλείο and πανεπιστήμιο are neuter singular nouns.
In Greek, nouns have grammatical gender, and the article must agree with the noun:
- το βιβλιοπωλείο
- το πανεπιστήμιο
So το here is the neuter singular form of the.
Why is είναι used here?
είναι means is.
This sentence is an A is B / A is somewhere type of sentence, so Greek uses είναι just as English uses is:
- Το βιβλιοπωλείο είναι... = The bookstore is...
Greek often drops subject pronouns like I, you, he, but it does not normally drop είναι in a sentence like this.
Why does Greek say απέναντι από? Doesn’t από usually mean from?