Το σύμπαν είναι τεράστιο.

Το is the definite article, meaning the. In this sentence, το σύμπαν means the universe.

A useful thing to know is that Greek articles change for gender, number, and case. Here, το is the neuter singular nominative form.

Σύμπαν is a neuter noun. Greek nouns have grammatical gender, and σύμπαν happens to be neuter.

That matters because words connected to it, like the article and adjective, must match it:

• το = neuter singular
• τεράστιο = neuter singular

So the whole sentence agrees grammatically.

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

In this sentence, it means is:

• Το σύμπαν είναι τεράστιο = The universe is enormous

A helpful note: in Modern Greek, είναι is used for both he/she/it is and they are, so context tells you which one is meant.

Because it has to agree with σύμπαν, which is neuter singular.

The adjective τεράστιος means enormous / huge, and its ending changes depending on the noun:

• masculine: τεράστιος
• feminine: τεράστια
• neuter: τεράστιο

Since σύμπαν is neuter, the correct form is τεράστιο.

Because here it is a predicate adjective: it describes the noun through the verb to be.

So:

• Το σύμπαν είναι τεράστιο = The universe is enormous

If the adjective were directly attached to the noun, it would be:

• το τεράστιο σύμπαν = the enormous universe

Both are correct, but they are structured differently.

A rough pronunciation is:

to SEEM-ban EE-ne te-RA-styo

A slightly more accurate guide:

• Το = to
• σύμπαν = SEEM-ban
• είναι = EE-ne
• τεράστιο = te-RA-styo

A few useful pronunciation points:

• υ here sounds like i
• ει sounds like i
• μπ in the middle of a word is usually pronounced like b

The accent marks show which syllable is stressed:

• σύμπαν → stress on the first syllable
• είναι → stress on the first syllable
• τεράστιο → stress on ρά

In Modern Greek, written accents are important and normally must be included in standard writing.

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

Το σύμπαν είναι τεράστιο is the neutral, straightforward order. But you may also see different orders for emphasis, such as:

• Τεράστιο είναι το σύμπαν.
  This puts extra focus on τεράστιο.

Even though the order can change, the basic meaning stays the same because the grammar endings help show how the words relate.

Normally, no. In standard Greek, you would usually say Το σύμπαν.

Greek uses the definite article more often than English in many contexts, and with a noun like σύμπαν in this sentence, the article sounds natural and correct.

So the standard sentence is:

• Το σύμπαν είναι τεράστιο.

They are related, but they do different jobs.

• Το σύμπαν είναι τεράστιο.
  = The universe is enormous.
  This is a full sentence.

• Το τεράστιο σύμπαν
  = The enormous universe
  This is just a noun phrase, not a complete sentence by itself.

So in the original sentence, τεράστιο is part of the statement about the universe, not part of the noun phrase.

Yes. Like Greek nouns in general, σύμπαν can change form depending on case and number.

In this sentence, it is in the nominative singular because it is the subject:

• Το σύμπαν είναι τεράστιο.

As a learner, the important thing for now is to recognize that the form in this sentence is the basic subject form.