Η πόλη είναι νότια.

to be

Breakdown of Η πόλη είναι νότια.

• η πόλη: the city
• νότια: south; southward

Questions & Answers about Η πόλη είναι νότια.

What is Η at the beginning of the sentence?

Η is the feminine singular definite article, meaning the.

A few useful details:

• Its lowercase form is η.
• It is capitalized here only because it starts the sentence.
• Greek articles change form depending on gender, number, and case.

So Η πόλη means the city.

How do I know that πόλη is feminine?

You can tell because it uses the article η, which is the nominative singular article for feminine nouns.

In Greek, every noun has a grammatical gender:

• masculine
• feminine
• neuter

πόλη is a feminine noun, so in its basic dictionary form you would usually learn it as η πόλη.

What form of είμαι is είναι?

είναι is the present-tense form of είμαι, meaning to be.

Here it means is, because the subject is singular: η πόλη.

One important thing for learners:

• είναι is used for both he/she/it is and they are.
• Greek does not need a separate word for it here.

So:

• Η πόλη είναι... = The city is...

Why is written like that?