Η πιστωτική κάρτα είναι ακριβή.

A rough pronunciation is:

ee pee-stoh-tee-KEE KAR-tah EE-neh ah-kree-VEE

A more careful transliteration would be:

I pistotikí kárta íne akriví

A few helpful notes:

• Η is pronounced ee, not like English h
• πιστωτική has the stress on the last syllable: -κή
• κάρτα has the stress on κάρ-
• είναι is usually pronounced EE-neh
• ακριβή has the stress on the last syllable: -βή

Η means the.

It is the feminine singular definite article, because κάρτα is a feminine singular noun.

So:

• η κάρτα = the card
• η πιστωτική κάρτα = the credit card

One important detail: although Η looks like the English letter H, in Modern Greek it is pronounced ee.

Greek often expresses this kind of idea with an adjective + noun combination.

• κάρτα = card
• πιστωτική = credit, literally something like credit-related

So:

• πιστωτική κάρτα = credit card

This is very natural Greek word order. The adjective usually comes before the noun here, just as in English.

Because it has to agree with κάρτα.

In Greek, adjectives change form to match the noun in:

• gender
• number
• case

Since κάρτα is:

• feminine
• singular
• nominative

the adjective also appears in the feminine singular nominative form:

• πιστωτικός = masculine
• πιστωτική = feminine
• πιστωτικό = neuter

Here we need πιστωτική because of κάρτα.

είναι means is.

It is the present-tense form of to be used with:

• he/she/it is
• and also they are

In this sentence:

• Η πιστωτική κάρτα = the subject
• είναι = is
• ακριβή = expensive

So the structure is very similar to English:

The credit card is expensive.

Unlike in some languages, you normally do need the verb είναι in this kind of sentence in Greek.

Because it describes κάρτα, which is feminine singular.

Just like πιστωτική, the adjective ακριβή must agree with the noun it describes.

Forms of expensive are:

• ακριβός = masculine
• ακριβή = feminine
• ακριβό = neuter

Since κάρτα is feminine, Greek uses ακριβή.

Compare:

• Η κάρτα είναι ακριβή. = The card is expensive.
• Ο υπολογιστής είναι ακριβός. = The computer is expensive.
• Το τηλέφωνο είναι ακριβό. = The phone is expensive.

Not always. ακριβός / ακριβή / ακριβό can have a few related meanings depending on context.

Common meanings include:

• expensive
• dear/precious
• sometimes related to exact/precise in certain contexts

But in Η πιστωτική κάρτα είναι ακριβή, the natural meaning is clearly expensive.

So here, a learner should understand it as:

• The credit card is expensive

not

• The credit card is precious

The word order here is the most neutral and natural one:

Η πιστωτική κάρτα είναι ακριβή.

Greek word order is somewhat more flexible than English, because endings show grammatical relationships. But not every possible order sounds equally neutral.

This version is the straightforward default:

• subject
  • verb
    • adjective

You might also hear different orders for emphasis, but for a learner, this sentence is the best standard pattern to follow.

Because the sentence uses the definite article the, not the indefinite article a/an.

• Η πιστωτική κάρτα = the credit card

If you wanted a credit card, Greek could use:

• μια πιστωτική κάρτα

So:

• Η πιστωτική κάρτα είναι ακριβή. = The credit card is expensive.
• Μια πιστωτική κάρτα είναι ακριβή. = A credit card is expensive.

Greek does have an indefinite article, but this sentence is definite.

The accent marks show which syllable is stressed.

In this sentence:

• πιστωτική → stress on the last syllable
• κάρτα → stress on the first syllable
• είναι → stress on the first syllable
• ακριβή → stress on the last syllable

These marks are important in Greek spelling and pronunciation. They are not optional in normal writing.

You may notice that Η has no accent. That is normal here, because it is a one-syllable article and does not need one.

The main noun phrase Η πιστωτική κάρτα is in the nominative, because it is the subject of the sentence.

• Η = feminine singular nominative article
• πιστωτική = feminine singular nominative adjective
• κάρτα = feminine singular nominative noun

The adjective ακριβή is also in the feminine singular nominative, because it is a predicate adjective linked to the subject by είναι.

So even though English does not show much case here, Greek does, and agreement is an important part of the sentence.