Το παιδί ψάχνει το παιχνιδάκι του στο σεντούκι.

the child

Breakdown of Το παιδί ψάχνει το παιχνιδάκι του στο σεντούκι.

• σε: in
• ψάχνω: to look for
• του: his

Questions & Answers about Το παιδί ψάχνει το παιχνιδάκι του στο σεντούκι.

Why is there το twice in Το παιδί ψάχνει το παιχνιδάκι του στο σεντούκι?

Because Greek usually uses the definite article the with nouns much more regularly than English does.

• Το παιδί = the child
• το παιχνιδάκι = the little toy

So the sentence has two different nouns, and each one gets its own article.

Also, both nouns are neuter singular, so they both take το.

How do I know which word is the subject and which is the object, since both το παιδί and το παιχνιδάκι use το?

In this sentence:

• Το παιδί = the subject = the one doing the action
• το παιχνιδάκι του = the object = the thing being searched for

Greek often makes this clear through word order and meaning. Here, the normal reading is:

• Το παιδί = the child
• ψάχνει = is looking for
• το παιχνιδάκι του = his little toy

It is true that with many neuter nouns, the nominative and accusative forms look the same. So context and sentence structure matter.

What form is ψάχνει?