Το βιβλίο σέρβις είναι παλιό.

Το is the definite article and means the.

In this sentence, το goes with βιβλίο because βιβλίο is:

• singular
• neuter
• in the nominative case

So:

• το βιβλίο = the book

Greek articles change depending on gender, number, and case, unlike English the, which stays the same.

Βιβλίο is the basic singular form of the noun meaning book. It is a neuter noun.

Its ending -ο is very common for neuter nouns in Greek. In this sentence, it is the subject, so it appears in the nominative singular form:

• το βιβλίο = the book

Σέρβις is a loanword from English service, and in Modern Greek it is often treated as an indeclinable noun, meaning its form usually does not change.

So in βιβλίο σέρβις, the word σέρβις stays the same.

This expression means something like:

• service book
• maintenance book
• service record/booklet

A native English speaker may expect something more literally like book of service, but Greek often uses this kind of noun combination.

It is a noun + noun combination.

The main noun is:

• βιβλίο = book

The second noun, σέρβις, describes what kind of book it is:

• βιβλίο σέρβις = service book / maintenance booklet

This is similar to English expressions like:

• car key
• office door
• service record

So σέρβις is acting like a label or classifier for βιβλίο.

Είναι means is here. It is the 3rd person singular form of είμαι = to be.

So:

• είναι παλιό = is old

A useful thing to know is that είναι is also used for they are, so context tells you whether it means is or are.

Because παλιό has to agree with βιβλίο, which is neuter singular.

The adjective old changes form depending on gender:

• παλιός = masculine
• παλιά = feminine
• παλιό = neuter

Since βιβλίο is neuter:

• το βιβλίο είναι παλιό = the book is old

This kind of agreement is very important in Greek.

Because here the adjective is being used predicatively, not attributively.

Compare:

• Το βιβλίο είναι παλιό. = The book is old.
• Το παλιό βιβλίο = the old book

In the sentence you were given, παλιό comes after είναι because it is part of the predicate: it tells us something about the subject.

Yes. That would mean the old service book.

Compare the two patterns:

• Το βιβλίο σέρβις είναι παλιό.
  The service book is old.

• Το παλιό βιβλίο σέρβις
  The old service book

So both are correct, but they do different jobs:

• one is a full sentence
• the other is just a noun phrase

Because σέρβις is not the main noun of the sentence. The main noun is βιβλίο, and that is the word taking the article:

• το βιβλίο

In βιβλίο σέρβις, the second noun is just specifying the type of book. Greek does not need another article there.

The accent mark shows the stressed syllable.

• βιβλίο → stress on -βλί-
• σέρβις → stress on σέρ-
• παλιό → stress on the last syllable -ό
• είναι → stress on εί-

A rough pronunciation guide:

• το βιβλίο ≈ to vee-VLEE-o
• σέρβις ≈ SER-vis
• είναι ≈ EE-ne
• παλιό ≈ pa-lyO

The exact sounds are Greek sounds, of course, but this helps with stress.

Not completely. Greek word order is more flexible than English, although some versions sound more natural in neutral speech.

The basic sentence:

• Το βιβλίο σέρβις είναι παλιό.

You may also hear:

• Παλιό είναι το βιβλίο σέρβις.

But that second version gives more emphasis or a different focus, something like:

• It’s old, the service book.

For a learner, the most neutral and safest order is the original one.

Yes, very often. Βιβλίο σέρβις commonly refers to a vehicle service book or maintenance record, especially for a car.

So although βιβλίο literally means book, in real life this phrase often refers to a specific kind of document or booklet.

Not always, but it is the normal one here.

Παλιός / παλιά / παλιό can mean:

• old in age
• old as in not new
• former, in some contexts

In Το βιβλίο σέρβις είναι παλιό, the natural meaning is simply:

• The service book is old
• or The service booklet is old / not new

So this is a very straightforward use of παλιό.