Το μικρό αγόρι δαγκώνει αργά το μήλο και χαμογελάει.

In Greek, grammatical gender and natural gender do not always match.

• αγόρι = boy
• It is grammatically neuter
• So it takes neuter forms like:
  • το = the
  • μικρό = small/little

That is why the sentence says:

• Το μικρό αγόρι = the little boy

Even though the person is male, the noun itself is neuter.

Because the article and adjective must agree with the noun in gender, number, and case.

Here, αγόρι is:

• neuter
• singular
• nominative (because it is the subject)

So both the article and adjective must also be neuter singular nominative:

• το = neuter singular the
• μικρό = neuter singular small/little

So:

• το μικρό αγόρι = correct
• ο μικρός αγόρι = incorrect, because ο μικρός is masculine

Because Greek uses the definite article with both the subject noun and the object noun here.

• Το μικρό αγόρι = the little boy
• το μήλο = the apple

So the two το forms are not duplicates by mistake. They belong to different nouns.

Also, both αγόρι and μήλο are neuter singular, so they both use το.

The adjective μικρός changes its ending to match the noun it describes.

The basic dictionary form is usually the masculine:

• μικρός = masculine
• μικρή = feminine
• μικρό = neuter

Since αγόρι is neuter, the adjective must be neuter too:

• το μικρό αγόρι

So μικρό is the correct neuter form.

δαγκώνει is present tense, third person singular.

It means:

• he/she/it bites
• or in context, is biting

In this sentence, the subject is το μικρό αγόρι, so:

• Το μικρό αγόρι δαγκώνει...
• The little boy bites / is biting...

Greek present tense can often correspond to either simple present or present continuous in English, depending on context.

χαμογελάει is also present tense, third person singular.

It means:

• he/she/it smiles
• or is smiling

So:

• και χαμογελάει = and smiles / and is smiling

The same subject, the little boy, is understood for both verbs.

Because Greek often does not need subject pronouns.

The verb ending already tells you the person and number:

• δαγκώνω = I bite
• δαγκώνεις = you bite
• δαγκώνει = he/she/it bites

So once the subject has been stated as Το μικρό αγόρι, Greek does not need to repeat a word for he.

English usually needs the pronoun:

• The little boy bites the apple and he smiles
  or more naturally:
• The little boy bites the apple and smiles

Greek works similarly to the second version.

Because αργά is an adverb, not an adjective.

• αργός / αργή / αργό = slow (adjective, describes a noun)
• αργά = slowly (adverb, describes a verb)

Here it describes how the boy bites:

• δαγκώνει αργά = bites slowly

So Greek uses the adverb αργά, just as English uses slowly.

Yes, Greek word order is fairly flexible.

In this sentence:

• δαγκώνει αργά το μήλο = natural and clear

But you may also hear variations like:

• δαγκώνει το μήλο αργά
• αργά δαγκώνει το μήλο

These can sound slightly different in emphasis, but the meaning is still basically the same.

For a learner, the given order is a very natural one:

• verb + adverb + object

Because neuter nouns often have the same form in the nominative and accusative singular.

Here:

• το μήλο = the apple

In this sentence, μήλο is the direct object of δαγκώνει, so it is in the accusative case. But for neuter singular nouns like μήλο, the nominative and accusative look the same.

So even though it is the object, its form does not change visibly.

και means and.

It links the two verbs:

• δαγκώνει = bites
• χαμογελάει = smiles

So:

• δαγκώνει αργά το μήλο και χαμογελάει
• bites the apple slowly and smiles

The same subject, the little boy, is understood with both actions.

Both are commonly used.

You may see:

• χαμογελάει
• χαμογελά

Both mean he/she smiles.

The -άει form is very common in everyday Greek, and the shorter -ά form is also standard in many contexts. A learner should recognize both.

So:

• και χαμογελάει
• και χαμογελά

Both are acceptable.

Yes, but it would change the meaning and sound less natural in this context.

• Το μικρό αγόρι = the little boy
• αγόρι by itself = boy
• ένα αγόρι = a boy

Greek often uses the article where English also uses the. If you remove το μικρό, you are removing both the definiteness and the description.

So the original sentence specifically refers to:

• the little boy

not just

• a boy or
• boy

Both are possible, depending on context.

• μικρό literally means small
• But with people, especially children, English often prefers little

So:

• Το μικρό αγόρι can be translated as
  • the small boy
  • the little boy

In normal English, the little boy sounds more natural here.