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Learn Hardcore Greek: Το στρίφωμα είναι κοντό. - The hem is short.

Hardcore Greek
/Mending clothes at home
/Το στρίφωμα είναι κοντό.

Το στρίφωμα είναι κοντό.

Το στρίφωμα είναι κοντό.

The hem is short.

Breakdown of Το στρίφωμα είναι κοντό.

το στρίφωμα

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Questions & Answers about Το στρίφωμα είναι κοντό.

How do you pronounce Το στρίφωμα είναι κοντό?

A careful pronunciation is:

Το = to
στρίφωμα = STREE-fo-ma
είναι = EE-ne
κοντό = kon-TO

A more natural whole-sentence pronunciation is roughly:

to STREE-fo-ma EE-ne kon-TO

A few notes:

στρ at the start of στρίφωμα can feel difficult for English speakers. Try saying s + tree smoothly.
The accent marks show which syllable gets stress:
- στρίφωμα → στρί
- κοντό → τό

What does το do in this sentence?

Το is the definite article, meaning the.

So:

το στρίφωμα = the hem

Greek articles change for gender, number, and case, so το is the form used here because στρίφωμα is:

neuter
singular
nominative (the subject form)

Why is στρίφωμα neuter?

Greek nouns have grammatical gender, and στρίφωμα happens to be neuter.

You usually have to learn a noun’s gender as part of the word. In this case, clues include:

the article το
the ending -μα, which is very often neuter in Greek

Because the noun is neuter singular, other words that describe it also match that form.

Why is it κοντό and not κοντός or κοντή?

Because adjectives in Greek must agree with the noun they describe.

Since στρίφωμα is:

neuter
singular

the adjective must also be neuter singular, so you get:

κοντός = masculine singular
κοντή = feminine singular
κοντό = neuter singular

So το στρίφωμα είναι κοντό is grammatically matched.

What form is είναι?

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

Here it means is.

So:

είμαι = I am
είσαι = you are
είναι = he/she/it is or they are

In this sentence, είναι links the subject το στρίφωμα with the adjective κοντό, just like is in English.

Is the word order fixed?

Not completely. Greek word order is often more flexible than English.

The neutral, straightforward order here is:

Το στρίφωμα είναι κοντό.

But Greek can sometimes move things around for emphasis, for example:

Κοντό είναι το στρίφωμα.

That would sound more marked, as if emphasizing short.

For learners, the original order is the safest and most natural pattern:

article + noun + είναι + adjective

Do I have to include το, or can I just say Στρίφωμα είναι κοντό?

In most normal contexts, you would include το.

Το στρίφωμα είναι κοντό. = The hem is short.

Leaving out the article often sounds unnatural unless you are speaking in a special context, such as:

dictionary style
labels
very telegraphic speech
certain general statements

So for everyday Greek, keep το here.

Why is there an accent mark on είναι if people often pronounce it like two syllables?

The written accent is part of standard Greek spelling.

Even though είναι is often pronounced in everyday speech roughly like EE-ne (two syllables), it is still written with the accent: είναι.

This is normal in Modern Greek:

spelling preserves the correct written form
actual pronunciation may be a little smoother or more compressed in fast speech

So as a learner, it is best to:

write it as είναι
recognize that native speech may sound shorter than you expect

What case is στρίφωμα in?

It is in the nominative singular.

That is because το στρίφωμα is the subject of the sentence:

The hem is short.

In simple X is Y sentences, the subject normally appears in the nominative.

Can κοντό mean only physical length, or can it have other meanings?

In this sentence, κοντό refers to physical shortness/length, so it means the hem is short.

More generally, κοντός / κοντή / κοντό can mean:

short in height
short in length
short in duration, in some contexts

But the exact meaning depends on what noun it describes. With στρίφωμα, the natural interpretation is about length.

Is στρίφωμα a common everyday word?

It is a real and useful word, especially in contexts about:

clothing
sewing
tailoring

It means hem or hemline/hem part, depending on context.

A learner might not hear it as often as very common household words, but it is perfectly normal Greek when talking about clothes or fabric.

What is the literal word-for-word structure of the sentence?

The structure is:

Το = the
στρίφωμα = hem
είναι = is
κοντό = short

So the literal structure is:

The hem is short.

This sentence is a good example of a basic Greek pattern:

[article + noun] + [είναι] + [adjective]

Could Greek omit είναι here the way some languages omit is?

In standard Modern Greek, you normally keep είναι in a sentence like this.

So:

Το στρίφωμα είναι κοντό. = correct, normal

Without είναι, it would not sound like a normal complete sentence in standard usage.

So unlike some languages, Greek usually does not drop the present-tense to be in this kind of statement.

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