Η κόρη της φίλης μου έχει μάθει να βάζει την κούκλα της στο σεντούκι πριν από το βραδινό.

Greek often uses the definite article where English might not.

• η κόρη = the daughter
• της φίλης μου = of my friend

So Η κόρη της φίλης μου literally means the daughter of my friend.

In Greek, articles are very common with nouns, especially when talking about a specific person or thing. Leaving out η here would sound unnatural in normal speech.

Because it is in the genitive case.

Greek uses the genitive here to show possession or relationship:

• η φίλη μου = my friend
• η κόρη της φίλης μου = the daughter of my friend

So της φίλης μου means of my friend.

This is one of the most common uses of the genitive in Greek.

μου means my.

So:

• η φίλη μου = my friend
• της φίλης μου = of my friend

Even though μου can also mean to me or me, here it is a possessive weak pronoun, meaning my.

The two της do different jobs.

1. της φίλης μου
   Here της is the article in the genitive feminine singular, meaning roughly of the.

2. την κούκλα της
   Here της is a possessive pronoun, meaning her.

So:

• της φίλης μου = of my friend
• την κούκλα της = her doll

They look the same, but their function is different.

Normally, it refers to the daughter.

So the sentence is understood as:

• The daughter of my friend has learned to put her doll in the chest before dinner.

That is, the daughter puts her own doll away.

Technically, context can sometimes make possessive pronouns ambiguous, but in this sentence the most natural reading is that της refers to the daughter.

έχει μάθει is the present perfect form of μαθαίνω.

Here it means something like:

• has learned
• has learned how
• has come to know how

So έχει μάθει να... means has learned to...

Comparison:

• μαθαίνει = is learning / learns
• έμαθε = learned
• έχει μάθει = has learned

In this sentence, έχει μάθει shows a completed learning process with a present result: she now knows how or has the habit of doing it.

This is about aspect.

• να βάζει = imperfective aspect
• να βάλει = perfective aspect

With έχει μάθει να βάζει, the imperfective βάζει suggests a repeated, usual, or ongoing action. In other words, she has learned the routine of putting the doll away.

That fits the sentence well, because this sounds like a habit:

• before dinner, she puts her doll in the chest

If you said να βάλει, it would sound more like learning to do the action as a single complete act, rather than as a repeated routine.

στο is a contraction of:

• σε
  • το = στο

So:

• σε το σεντούκι → στο σεντούκι

It means in / into / to the chest, depending on context.

Here, with βάζει, it means:

• puts ... in the chest

This contraction is extremely common in Greek:

• στο σπίτι = in/to the house
• στο σχολείο = to school / at school

It is in the accusative singular.

After σε (and therefore after στο), Modern Greek normally uses the accusative:

• στο σεντούκι = in/into the chest

So even though English uses prepositions without changing the noun form very much, Greek often combines a preposition with a particular case.

πριν από means before.

In this sentence:

• πριν από το βραδινό = before dinner / before the evening meal

Yes, Greek can also use πριν by itself in some contexts. But πριν από is very common before a noun phrase.

So here:

• πριν από το βραδινό is completely natural.

Yes, βραδινό originally comes from an adjective meaning evening or evening-related, but here it is used as a noun.

So:

• το βραδινό = the evening meal / dinner

Greek often does this—an adjective can function as a noun when the meaning is clear.

Similar idea in English:

• the rich
• the unknown

So πριν από το βραδινό literally means before the evening meal, but naturally it is usually just before dinner.

Because Greek usually keeps the article with nouns much more often than English does.

So Greek says:

• πριν από το βραδινό

where English more naturally says:

• before dinner

This is a very common difference between the two languages. A word-for-word translation of article usage often does not work well between Greek and English.

Yes, Greek word order is more flexible than English word order, because the endings and articles show grammatical relationships clearly.

The basic sentence:

• Η κόρη της φίλης μου έχει μάθει να βάζει την κούκλα της στο σεντούκι πριν από το βραδινό.

But other orders are possible for emphasis, for example:

• Πριν από το βραδινό, η κόρη της φίλης μου έχει μάθει να βάζει την κούκλα της στο σεντούκι.

That said, the original order is neutral and natural.

It can correspond to either in English, depending on how literally you want to translate it.

• βάζω κάτι στο... often means put something in/into...

In this sentence, it describes placing the doll inside the chest. English usually just says:

• put her doll in the chest

So in is the most natural translation, even though the idea of movement into the chest is there.

Yes. That is exactly what it means, and my friend’s daughter is the most natural English rendering.

Greek often expresses this with a genitive phrase:

• η κόρη της φίλης μου
  literally: the daughter of my friend

Natural English:

• my friend’s daughter

Both mean the same thing.