possessive pronoun after adjective

[dukainerocks_13494]

This sentence was in the expansion vocabulary for the "Girlfriend Trouble..." lesson:

Αυτή είναι η μεγάλη μου κόρη.

Why does μου come after μεγάλη and not κόρη?

[stefaniach]

Hi dukainerocks,

In Greek, the weak forms of the possessive pronouns (μου, σου, του, της etc.) go after the word that they refer to. We say η κόρη μου ("my daughter"). In English, it's the other way around. "My" goes before the word it refers to. So the weak forms of the Greek possessive nouns have a tendency to connect with the word before them, not after them.

In the case of an adjective + a noun, it sounds more natural to place the weak form of the possessive pronoun between the two.

You can say:
η μεγάλη μου κόρη (μου connects with the word behind it, the adjective, just like in English "my elder daughter" (not "my daughter elder")
OR
η κόρη μου η μεγάλη (μου connects with the word behind it (κόρη) but the adjective coming next needs a definite article. That's because μου in a way is breaking the group "elder daughter" into two different things: the main point + an attribute. This is like saying in English: "my daughter, the elder one, is...." So "the elder one" with a definite article in English becomes like some sort of extra information that one has to include. In Greek it feels the same and for that we also need to add the definite article in front of the adjective.)

In Greek, it would be wrong to put the possessive pronoun at the very front for the reason I mentioned at the very top and putting it at the end wouldn't sound natural (it would be like saying "elder daughter my").

I hope this is not too complicated. Just remember to put the weak possessive pronouns between an adjective/noun group the way I showed you in the two examples and you'll be fine.

Stefania
Team GreekPod101.com

[dukainerocks_13494]

No, I understand completely. I'm familiar with the reverse order of possessive pronouns, as well as having the definite article with it (I'm studying Modern Hebrew also, and it does the same thing). You explained it perfectly with "my daughter, the older one" example. I love grammar, so this is my kind of answer Thanks so much, this is very helpful.

[stefaniach]

Hi Caryn,

I get fascinated by grammar myself so I'm glad my answer was clear and helpful!

Keep it up!

Stefania
Team GreekPod101.com