Ο πιλότος μάς είπε να βάλουμε τη ζώνη μας.

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.

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.

Modern Greek does not normally use an infinitive the way English does. Instead, it usually uses:

• να
  • a finite verb

So:

• είπε να βάλουμε = literally something like he said that we should put on
• idiomatically: he told us to put on

Also notice that βάλουμε is first person plural, so the verb itself shows who is supposed to do the action: we.

That is why Greek does not need a separate infinitive form here.

It comes from the verb βάζω, meaning put.

This verb changes stem:

• present: βάζω = I put
• aorist: έβαλα = I put / I placed
• subjunctive forms: να βάλω, να βάλουμε

So βάλουμε may look surprising at first, but it belongs to the same verb family as βάζω.

Because να βάλουμε uses the aorist subjunctive, which is very common for a single, complete action.

Here the idea is:

• put on / fasten the belt once

So να βάλουμε fits well.

By contrast, να βάζουμε would suggest something more repeated, habitual, or ongoing, like:

• to keep putting on
• to put on regularly

That would sound wrong or at least much less natural in this airplane situation.

Because ζώνη is the direct object of the verb βάλουμε.

The noun ζώνη is feminine:

• nominative: η ζώνη = the belt as subject
• accusative: τη(ν) ζώνη = the belt as object

Here it is the thing being put on, so Greek uses the accusative:

• να βάλουμε τη ζώνη = to put on the belt

So η ζώνη would be the wrong case in this sentence.

The full accusative article is την, but in Modern Greek the final -ν is often dropped before certain consonants.

Since ζώνη begins with ζ, the usual standard form here is:

• τη ζώνη

So this is completely normal.

You may still sometimes see την ζώνη in some writing styles, but τη ζώνη is the standard form most learners should use here.

Because Greek possessive words like μου, σου, μας, σας, τους usually come after the noun, not before it.

So Greek says:

• τη ζώνη μας = literally the belt our
• natural English: our belt / our seat belt

This pattern is extremely common:

• το σπίτι μου = my house
• ο φίλος σου = your friend
• τα παιδιά μας = our children

So the structure is:

• article + noun + possessive pronoun

Greek can use the singular here in a distributive sense: each person is expected to put on his or her own belt.

So τη ζώνη μας can naturally mean something like:

• our seat belt collectively
• or more idiomatically in English, our seat belts

Greek often does this with things each person has individually.

That said, a plural version is also possible:

• να βάλουμε τις ζώνες μας

Both are understandable. The singular in your sentence is not wrong; it is just a natural Greek way of expressing the idea.

Literally, ζώνη means belt.

But in the context of a pilot speaking to passengers, it is naturally understood as seat belt.

If Greek wants to be completely explicit, it can say:

• ζώνη ασφαλείας = safety belt / seat belt

So:

• βάλτε τη ζώνη σας
• βάλτε τη ζώνη ασφαλείας σας

Both can work, but the shorter ζώνη is very natural when the context is obvious.

A rough pronunciation is:

o pee-LO-tos mas EE-pe na VA-lou-me tee ZO-nee mas

A more precise guide:

• Ο = o
• πιλότος = pee-LO-tos
• μάς = mas
• είπε = EE-pe
• να = na
• βάλουμε = VA-lou-me
• τη = tee
• ζώνη = ZO-nee
• μας = mas

A rough IPA version is:

/o piˈlotos mas ˈipe na ˈvalume ti ˈzoni mas/

A couple of useful sound notes:

• ζ sounds like z in zoo
• η and ι both sound like ee
• οι in πιλότος is also pronounced ee in Modern Greek