Ο πιλότος μάς είπε να βάλουμε τη ζώνη μας.

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Breakdown of Ο πιλότος μάς είπε να βάλουμε τη ζώνη μας.

• μας: us
• μας: our
• λέω: to tell

Questions & Answers about Ο πιλότος μάς είπε να βάλουμε τη ζώνη μας.

Why is μας placed before είπε instead of after it?

Because μας here is a weak object pronoun, meaning us, and in Modern Greek these clitic pronouns normally go before a finite verb:

• μας είπε = he told us
• literally: to-us said

This is different from English word order. Greek usually does subject + object pronoun + verb here.

A useful contrast:

• μας είπε = he told us
• είπε μας is not standard in this kind of sentence

One exception you’ll later meet: with affirmative imperatives, these pronouns go after the verb, e.g. πες μου = tell me.

Why is it written μάς here, but μας later in τη ζώνη μας?

They are two different uses of the same form:

• μάς = us (object pronoun)
• μας = our (possessive)

Many writers add the accent in μάς to help the reader avoid confusion, especially in a sentence like this one where μας appears again later with a different function.

So:

• Ο πιλότος μάς είπε... = The pilot told us...
• τη ζώνη μας = our belt / our seat belt

Without the accent, Ο πιλότος μας είπε... could briefly look like Our pilot said... when you first read it. The accent helps disambiguate.

Why does Greek say είπε να βάλουμε instead of using an infinitive like English told us to put on?