Το «όμορφη» είναι επίθετο.

“Beautiful” is an adjective.

Breakdown of Το «όμορφη» είναι επίθετο.

• είμαι: to be
• όμορφος: beautiful
• το επίθετο: the adjective

Questions & Answers about Το «όμορφη» είναι επίθετο.

Why is there το before όμορφη?

Because όμορφη is being mentioned as a word, not used as an adjective in a normal sentence.

So Το «όμορφη» είναι επίθετο means something like:

• The word/form όμορφη is an adjective.

In Greek, when you talk about a word, it is very common to put the neuter singular article το in front of it.

Why is the article το and not η, since όμορφη is feminine?

Because here το does not agree with the adjective form όμορφη.

Instead, the whole quoted word is being treated as a neuter thing: a word, a form, an item of language.

Compare:

• Η λέξη «όμορφη» είναι επίθετο. = The word όμορφη is an adjective.
  Here η agrees with λέξη, which is feminine.

• Το «όμορφη» είναι επίθετο.
  Here the quoted form itself is treated as a neuter item.

So the feminine form of the adjective does not force the article to be feminine in this kind of sentence.

Why is the adjective written as όμορφη? Isn’t the basic form όμορφος?

Yes—many Greek adjectives are usually given in three forms: