Το άγχος προκαλεί προβλήματα.

Το is the definite article here, meaning the.

In this sentence, το goes with άγχος and shows that the noun is neuter singular nominative.

Greek often uses the definite article with:

• abstract ideas
• general statements
• nouns used in a broad sense

So το άγχος is very natural Greek for talking about stress as a general thing.

That is a very common learner question, because many Greek nouns ending in -ος are masculine, but not all of them.

Άγχος is a neuter noun. Its article tells you that:

• το άγχος = neuter singular

So in Greek, you cannot rely only on the ending. You should learn nouns together with their article:

• το άγχος
• το πρόβλημα
• ο άνθρωπος
• η οδός

That helps you remember the gender correctly.

It is in the nominative singular.

In this sentence, άγχος is the subject, and the subject of a Greek sentence is normally in the nominative case.

So:

• το άγχος = subject
• προκαλεί = verb
• προβλήματα = object

Προκαλεί is the third person singular present tense form of the verb προκαλώ.

So grammatically it means:

• it causes
• causes

Since the subject το άγχος is singular, the verb is also singular:

• το άγχος προκαλεί = stress causes

If the subject were plural, the verb would also change.

Because προκαλεί is a present-tense form of προκαλώ, a verb whose stress and endings change in some forms.

Relevant forms are:

• εγώ προκαλώ = I cause
• εσύ προκαλείς = you cause
• αυτό/αυτή/αυτό προκαλεί = he/she/it causes

So the -εί ending here marks the third person singular.

Also, the written accent matters in Greek, because it shows where the stress goes.

Here προβλήματα is in the accusative plural, because it is the direct object of the verb.

The sentence is answering the question:

• What does stress cause?
• Problems.

So:

• το άγχος = nominative subject
• προβλήματα = accusative object

For many neuter nouns, the nominative plural and accusative plural look the same, and that is true here:

• τα προβλήματα can be nominative plural or accusative plural depending on the sentence

In this sentence, it is accusative because it is the object.

Because πρόβλημα is a neuter noun and its plural is:

• singular: το πρόβλημα
• plural: τα προβλήματα

This is a very common neuter pattern in Greek:

• singular in -μα
• plural in -ματα

Examples:

• το γράμμα → τα γράμματα
• το όνομα → τα ονόματα
• το πρόβλημα → τα προβλήματα

So προβλήματα is simply the plural form meaning problems.

Greek does not always need an article before a plural object.

Here, προβλήματα is being used in a fairly general sense: problems.

So the sentence naturally means:

• Stress causes problems

If you said το άγχος προκαλεί τα προβλήματα, that would sound more like:

• Stress causes the problems
• meaning some specific, already known problems

So the version without the article is the natural general statement.

Yes. Greek word order is more flexible than English because case endings help show what each word is doing.

The neutral, straightforward order is:

• Το άγχος προκαλεί προβλήματα.

But you could also hear:

• Προβλήματα προκαλεί το άγχος.

That puts more emphasis on προβλήματα.

Even though the order changes, the forms still help you understand the roles:

• το άγχος is the subject
• προβλήματα is the object

So Greek uses word order more for focus and emphasis than English does.

A rough pronunciation is:

AHN-hos

A few useful points:

• ά is stressed
• γχ is a consonant cluster that may sound unusual to English speakers
• before sounds like χ, the γ is pronounced like a nasal sound, similar to ng in sing
• χ is like the h/ch sound in German Bach or Scottish loch, not like English ch in chair

So άγχος is not pronounced like ag-hos. It is closer to AHN-khos / AHN-hos, depending on how narrowly you describe the sound.

Yes. In Modern Greek, accent marks are important because they show which syllable is stressed.

In this sentence:

• Το has no accent because it is unstressed
• άγχος is stressed on the first syllable
• προκαλεί is stressed on the last syllable
• προβλήματα is stressed on -βλή-

If you place the stress incorrectly, native speakers will often still understand you, but it may sound unnatural or occasionally confusing. So it is worth learning each word with its accent.

Normally, it is understood as a general statement about stress.

That is because:

• Greek often uses the definite article with abstract nouns
• the object προβλήματα is plural and general
• the whole sentence has the feel of a general truth

So το άγχος here is best understood as stress in general, not necessarily one particular episode of stress.