Ο πωλητής μου είπε ότι αυτό το σακάκι είναι σε καλύτερη τιμή σήμερα.

to be

Breakdown of Ο πωλητής μου είπε ότι αυτό το σακάκι είναι σε καλύτερη τιμή σήμερα.

• αυτός: this
• σήμερα: today
• σε: at

Questions & Answers about Ο πωλητής μου είπε ότι αυτό το σακάκι είναι σε καλύτερη τιμή σήμερα.

Why does the sentence start with Ο πωλητής? What is ο doing there?

Ο is the masculine singular definite article in the nominative case, so ο πωλητής means the salesman / the seller.

Greek uses the definite article very often, much more regularly than English. So where English might sometimes say Salesman told me... in casual notes, Greek normally says Ο πωλητής μου είπε...

Here:

• ο = the
• πωλητής = seller, salesman

Because πωλητής is the subject of the verb, it appears in the nominative case.

What exactly does μου mean here, and why is it placed before είπε?

Here μου means to me.

It is the weak form of the pronoun εγώ in the genitive, and in Modern Greek this genitive pronoun is often used for indirect objects.

So:

• μου είπε = he told me
• literally, something like to-me he said

This placement is very normal in Greek: short object pronouns often come before the verb.

Examples:

• Μου είπε = he told me
• Μου έδωσε = he gave me
• Μου έστειλε μήνυμα = he sent me a message

Why is it είπε and not a form like λέει or έλεγε?