At a lost-property desk, “the small bag” needs a description that matches its Greek noun. This worksheet uses three nouns: ο σάκος, η τσάντα and το σακίδιο. They refer to different kinds of bag, but they also have different grammatical genders. Keep each noun with its article instead of choosing an adjective from the object’s appearance.
Read the labels
| Όνομα | Περιγραφή |
|---|---|
| ο σάκος | ο μικρός σάκος |
| η τσάντα | η μικρή τσάντα |
| το σακίδιο | το μικρό σακίδιο |
| οι τσάντες | οι μικρές τσάντες |
Ο σάκος is a sack or bag, η τσάντα a bag, and το σακίδιο a backpack. Each singular description means the small item of that kind. The last row describes several small bags. Μικρός, μικρή and μικρό express the same quality; their endings match the masculine, feminine and neuter nouns respectively.
What happens after είναι?
Η τσάντα είναι μικρή means the bag is small. The adjective still matches τσάντα even though είναι separates them. With several bags, say Οι τσάντες είναι μικρές. Changing the noun to plural requires changing the adjective too: Οι τσάντες είναι μικρή mixes plural and singular.
Notice the sentence role
Ο μικρός σάκος είναι εδώ means the small bag is here. Βλέπω τον μικρό σάκο means I see the small bag. In the second sentence the bag is the direct object, so the article, adjective and noun take accusative forms. Matching gender alone is not enough: the adjective also agrees in number and case. The examples here use one regular adjective pattern, not every Greek adjective family.
Ask at the lost-property desk
Clerk: Ποια τσάντα είναι δική σας;
Anna: Η μικρή τσάντα είναι δική μου.
Clerk: Και το σακίδιο;
Anna: Το σακίδιο είναι μεγάλο.
Anna identifies her small bag. When the clerk asks about the backpack, she describes it as large. Notice μικρή with the feminine τσάντα and μεγάλο with the neuter σακίδιο.
Which object belongs to Anna? Does μεγάλο describe the bag or the backpack?
Check the exchange
Anna identifies η μικρή τσάντα as hers. Μεγάλο describes το σακίδιο; the dialogue does not say that the backpack belongs to Anna.
Choose a matching description
- Complete the feminine singular: Η τσάντα είναι ___. Choose μικρή or μικρό.
- Complete the neuter singular: το ___ σακίδιο. Choose μικρός or μικρό.
- Make the adjective plural: Οι τσάντες είναι ___.
- Complete the direct object: Βλέπω τον ___ σάκο. Choose μικρός or μικρό.
Show the answers
1. μικρή. 2. μικρό. 3. μικρές. 4. μικρό: masculine accusative singular here, despite sharing its spelling with the neuter nominative form.
Describe before you look
Cover the descriptions in the table. Read each noun and its article, decide whether it is singular or plural, then rebuild the phrase. After checking, turn η μικρή τσάντα into Η τσάντα είναι μικρή. The sentence changes, but the feminine singular agreement remains.
Review adjective agreement and practise changing whole captions with the plural noun reference.