Ο ποδηλατόδρομος είναι κοντά.

Ο is the masculine singular definite article, equivalent to the.

So ο ποδηλατόδρομος means the bike lane / the cycle path.

Greek normally uses the article with a specific concrete noun like this. Related basic article forms are:

• ο = masculine
• η = feminine
• το = neuter

Ποδηλατόδρομος is masculine singular nominative.

• masculine because that is the noun’s grammatical gender
• singular because it refers to one bike lane
• nominative because it is the subject of the sentence

The ending -ος is very common for masculine nouns in the nominative singular, though not every -ος noun is masculine.

Yes, it is one compound word.

It is built from:

• ποδήλατο = bicycle
• δρόμος = road, route, way

So ποδηλατόδρομος literally has the idea of a bicycle-road, meaning a cycle path / bike lane. Greek forms many nouns this way.

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

Here it means is.

A very useful point: είναι is used for both is and are in the 3rd person.

For example:

• Ο ποδηλατόδρομος είναι κοντά. = The bike lane is near.
• Οι ποδηλατόδρομοι είναι κοντά. = The bike lanes are near.

Normally, no.

In a standard sentence like this, Greek keeps the verb to be. So:

• Ο ποδηλατόδρομος είναι κοντά. is normal.
• Ο ποδηλατόδρομος κοντά. sounds incomplete or very nonstandard.

So unlike in some languages, you generally do need the verb here.

In this sentence, κοντά is functioning as an adverb, meaning nearby / close.

Because it is not an adjective here, it does not change to agree with the noun.

Compare these:

• Ο ποδηλατόδρομος είναι κοντά. = The bike lane is nearby.
• Ο κοντινός ποδηλατόδρομος = The nearby bike lane.

In the second example, κοντινός is an adjective, so it changes form to match the noun.

If you want to say what something is near, Greek commonly uses κοντά σε + accusative.

For example:

• Ο ποδηλατόδρομος είναι κοντά σε ένα πάρκο. = The bike lane is near a park.
• Ο ποδηλατόδρομος είναι κοντά στο πάρκο. = The bike lane is near the park.

So κοντά by itself can mean nearby, but κοντά σε introduces the place or thing it is near.

The accent marks show which syllable is stressed:

• ποδηλατόδρομος → stress on τό
• είναι → stress on the first syllable
• κοντά → stress on the last syllable

A rough pronunciation is:

• Ο = o
• ποδηλατόδρομος ≈ po-dhee-la-TO-dhro-mos
• είναι ≈ EE-ne
• κοντά ≈ ko-DA

A few useful sound notes:

• δ sounds like th in this
• ει sounds like ee
• ντ often sounds like d

Yes. Greek word order is more flexible than English.

The most neutral order is:

• Ο ποδηλατόδρομος είναι κοντά.

But you could also say:

• Κοντά είναι ο ποδηλατόδρομος.

That gives more emphasis to κοντά. Still, the original order is the best one for a learner to use first.

You change the article and the noun:

• Οι ποδηλατόδρομοι είναι κοντά. = The bike lanes are near / nearby.

Notice:

• ο becomes οι
• ποδηλατόδρομος becomes ποδηλατόδρομοι

The verb stays είναι, because είναι can mean both is and are.

To make it negative, put δεν before the verb:

• Ο ποδηλατόδρομος δεν είναι κοντά. = The bike lane is not near.

To make it a yes/no question, Greek often just changes intonation in speech. In writing, Greek uses ; as the question mark:

• Ο ποδηλατόδρομος είναι κοντά; = Is the bike lane near?
• Είναι κοντά ο ποδηλατόδρομος; is also possible.