Η αστυνομία βρήκε το αποτύπωμα.

The police found the fingerprint.

Breakdown of Η αστυνομία βρήκε το αποτύπωμα.

• βρίσκω: to find
• η αστυνομία: the police
• το αποτύπωμα: print; fingerprint

Questions & Answers about Η αστυνομία βρήκε το αποτύπωμα.

Why is η αστυνομία singular? In English we sometimes think of the police as plural.

In Greek, η αστυνομία is a singular feminine noun meaning the police as an institution or police force. So the verb is also singular:

• Η αστυνομία βρήκε... = The police found...

This is different from English, where police usually takes a plural verb: The police found..., not normally The police finds...

If you want to talk about a police officer, Greek uses a different word, such as ο αστυνομικός for a male officer or η αστυνομικός for a female officer.

What does the article η tell me here?

Η is the definite article meaning the for a feminine singular noun in the nominative case.

So in η αστυνομία, the article tells you that:

• the noun is feminine
• it is singular
• it is the subject of the sentence

Greek articles give much more grammatical information than English the.

Why is το αποτύπωμα neuter?