Η κόρη της έχει σγουρά μαλλιά, αλλά ο γιος της έχει ίσια μαλλιά.

Greek definite articles change for gender, number, and case.

In this sentence:

• Η κόρη = the daughter
• ο γιος = the son

Here:

• η is the feminine singular nominative article
• ο is the masculine singular nominative article

So Greek does not use one single word for the the way English does.

της here means her.

More literally, it is the genitive form meaning of her, but in English we usually translate it as a possessive:

• Η κόρη της = her daughter
• ο γιος της = her son

Greek often expresses possession this way:
the daughter of her = her daughter

Because each noun phrase has its own possessor:

• Η κόρη της = her daughter
• ο γιος της = her son

In English, we might sometimes avoid repeating her if the meaning is obvious, but in Greek it is completely normal to repeat της with each noun.

Greek often repeats the verb in coordinated clauses, especially when it sounds clearer or more balanced.

So:

• Η κόρη της έχει σγουρά μαλλιά, αλλά ο γιος της έχει ίσια μαλλιά.

is very natural.

You could sometimes omit repeated material in Greek, but here repeating έχει makes the contrast neat and explicit: daughter has one kind of hair, son has another.

έχει is the third person singular present tense of έχω = to have.

So έχει means:

• he has
• she has
• it has

In this sentence:

• Η κόρη της έχει... = Her daughter has...
• ο γιος της έχει... = Her son has...

Greek verbs change form depending on the subject.

This is a very common question.

In Greek, μαλλιά is very often used in the plural when talking about a person’s hair in general.

So:

• σγουρά μαλλιά = curly hair
• ίσια μαλλιά = straight hair

Word-for-word, it looks like curly hairs / straight hairs, but that is not how it is understood. In natural English, you translate it simply as hair.

Because adjectives in Greek agree with the noun they describe.

Here the noun is:

• μαλλιά — neuter plural

So the adjectives must also be neuter plural:

• σγουρά μαλλιά
• ίσια μαλλιά

If the noun changed, the adjective form would also change.

They are adjective forms.

• σγουρά comes from σγουρός, σγουρή, σγουρό = curly
• ίσια comes from ίσιος, ίσια, ίσιο = straight

In the sentence, both appear in the neuter plural form because they describe μαλλιά.

Greek often leaves the noun without an article in this kind of expression.

So:

• έχει σγουρά μαλλιά
• έχει ίσια μαλλιά

is the normal way to say has curly hair / has straight hair.

Greek does have an indefinite article like ένας / μία / ένα, but it is not used here. Using it would sound unnatural in this sentence.

Because the normal structure is:

• article + noun + possessive genitive

So:

• Η κόρη της
• ο γιος της

This is the standard and natural pattern in modern Greek.

English speakers sometimes expect the possessive to come first, but Greek usually places της after the noun.

αλλά means but.

It introduces a contrast:

• daughter → curly hair
• son → straight hair

The comma before αλλά is normal, just as in English we usually write a comma before but when joining two full clauses.

γιος means son.

A simple learner-friendly approximation is:

• YOS

More carefully:

• the γ here sounds like an English y
• so it is not a hard g like in go

So ο γιος της sounds roughly like o YOS tis.

A rough guide:

• σγουρά ≈ sgoo-RA
• ίσια ≈ EE-sya or EE-sha depending on accent and how narrowly you want to describe the sound

A few useful points:

• σγ at the start of σγουρά can feel unusual for English speakers
• the stress is marked by the accent:
  • σγουρά → stress on the last syllable
  • ίσια → stress on the first syllable

Greek is often a pro-drop language, which means subject pronouns like she or he can be omitted because the verb form already gives information.

But in this sentence, the subjects are not just pronouns—they are full noun phrases:

• Η κόρη της
• ο γιος της

These are kept because they are the important topic of the sentence.

If you removed them, the meaning would change or become unclear.

In this sentence, της is possessive: her.

More broadly, της is the genitive singular feminine form and can have different functions depending on context, such as:

• of her
• to her
• her

But here the meaning is clearly possessive because it follows a noun:

• Η κόρη της = her daughter
• ο γιος της = her son

Yes. It is completely natural.

It uses very common everyday structures:

• article + noun + της
• έχει + adjective + μαλλιά
• αλλά for contrast

So it is a good model sentence for basic Greek.