Η μητέρα ακούει το φάντασμα.

Both are forms of the, but Greek definite articles change for gender, number, and case.

• η = feminine singular nominative
• το = neuter singular nominative/accusative

So:

• η μητέρα = the mother
• το φάντασμα = the ghost

They are different because μητέρα is feminine, while φάντασμα is neuter.

Ακούει is the third-person singular present tense of ακούω.

That means it corresponds to:

• he hears
• she hears
• it hears
• or, depending on context, is hearing / is listening to

In this sentence, the subject is η μητέρα, so ακούει means she hears.

Because Greek ακούω usually takes a direct object, not a preposition.

English often distinguishes:

• hear something
• listen to something

But Greek often uses ακούω + direct object for both ideas. So:

• ακούει το φάντασμα literally uses the ghost as a direct object

There is no need for a separate word meaning to here.

In this sentence:

• η μητέρα is the subject, so it is in the nominative
• το φάντασμα is the direct object, so it is in the accusative

A useful detail: for many neuter singular nouns, the nominative and accusative forms are the same. So το φάντασμα looks the same in both cases.

That is why word order and context help you understand who is doing the action.

There are two main clues:

1. Word order: the most neutral Greek word order here is subject + verb + object
2. Article form: η is the feminine singular nominative article, which strongly suggests η μητέρα is the subject

If mother were the object, you would normally expect τη(ν) μητέρα instead. For example:

• Το φάντασμα ακούει τη μητέρα = The ghost hears the mother

Yes. Greek word order is more flexible than English word order.

The sentence Η μητέρα ακούει το φάντασμα is the most neutral and straightforward order. Other orders are possible for emphasis, contrast, or style.

However, with this particular sentence, changing the order can create ambiguity, because το φάντασμα has the same form in nominative and accusative. So for a learner, this standard order is the safest one to use.

Because Greek feminine nouns do not all end in -η. There are several common feminine patterns, including nouns ending in:

• -α
• -η
• sometimes other endings in learned or older forms

Μητέρα is simply a feminine noun that belongs to an -α pattern. Its gender is shown not just by the ending, but also by the article:

• η μητέρα

So the article is often the clearest clue.

Greek uses accent marks to show the stressed syllable of a word.

• μητέρα → stress on τέ
• ακούει → stress on κού
• φάντασμα → stress on φά

But η and το are short, unstressed function words here, so they do not carry an accent.

This is very normal in Greek: articles are usually unstressed.

No. It is just the capital form of η because the sentence begins there.

So:

• η μητέρα in the middle of a sentence
• Η μητέρα at the beginning of a sentence

It is still the same word: the feminine singular definite article the.

A rough English-style pronunciation is:

ee mee-TE-ra a-KOO-ee to FAN-daz-ma

A few helpful points:

• η sounds like ee
• κού is the stressed part of ακούει
• φ sounds like f
• σμ in φάντασμα is pronounced smoothly together

This is only an approximation, but it is good enough to get started.

It can mean either, depending on context.

In many cases, ακούω covers both ideas that English separates into:

• hear
• listen to

In this sentence, if the meaning shown to you is The mother hears the ghost, then that is the interpretation you should use. But grammatically, Greek ακούει can also work in contexts where English would say is listening to.

So the important thing to remember is that Greek uses ακούω more broadly than English uses hear.