"Αυτό το βουβάλι."

Translation: This buffalo.

[FrankLamingo]

Why is the word buffallo in basics 1? Seems out of place. I can learn articles with the word sun or moon or street or anything more useful. Just my opinion

[Chrisnooit]

Might be because the word is easy to remember - it looks like the English word. Because you will remember it fast, you can focus on the grammar instead.

[scarcerer]

Does Greek always require a definite article in these kinds of situations?

[Theo_Matrakas]

I think yes. I cannot remember an exception at the moment.

[sern98]

What does the "το" signify when it's between 2 words?

[Bikinitrusa]

"το" means "the", greeks uses this article a lot more in their language than the english language. This line practically says "This the buffalo".

[Vmetta]

Yeah,I think Is like that..I think that have 3 words..

[SulldinMcK]

If the correct translation says "This buffalo", can the Greek "TO" be left out normally?

[KostasRaft]

"το" is the neutral form of the word "the" in nominative and accusative. In Greek every noun has an article and the neutral nouns have the article "το".

[sqwertbird]

Would "this is the" be different?

[D_..]

Yes, because there is no verb in the Greek phrase - it's an incomplete sentence. That would be Αυτό είναι το βουβάλι.

[Mimi658232]

And ""Αυτό το βουβάλι είναι…" for "This buffalo is…" ?

[G.Georgopoulos]

Yes, correct.

[j.duo498154]

I am hearing the "β" as "V", so when β is pronouced as "B" and when as "V"

[Nickelarse]

The (easy to miss) explainer for ABC says that beta is normally pronounced as V, but that's probably an oversimplification... https://www.duolingo.com/skill/el/ABC/tips-and-notes

[LiamG2250]

whats the purpose of "o" in-between these two words?

[troll1995]

Αυτό το=this. In Greek "this" is a two word phrase.

[JeromyD0]

This is the best explanation I've found, thanks, troll1995.
Does this also apply to the word "that"? Like, "Εκεἰνο το βουβἀλι..."?
I know I'm getting ahead of myself, I'm just curious. Thanks!

[D_..]

Yes, that's also the case for εκείνος/η/ο.

[O5Yi2]

Please put also a disclaimer if you tyoe in English instead of greek to retype again the word.

[Explicit_Mood]

What sound does 'αυ' make? I've looked online and it says it makes the sound 'ou' as in the English 'hour'. I'm hearing an 'f' or something?

[D_..]

In Modern Greek, αυ sounds like av or af, depending on what follows, so your ears are picking up the correct pronunciation (it's aftó in this case). This is explained in the Tips and notes section here https://www.duolingo.com/skill/el/ABC/tips-and-notes.
It was like 'ou' maybe a couple thousand years ago... There are a lot of resources for Ancient Greek online, make sure you include the term 'modern', not just 'Greek'. ;)

[Jay709846]

So you pronounce it "too" after
Αυτό? (Instead of "toe[το]" for the.)

[jaye16]

No, the pronunciation is the same for "Αυτό" and "το". Greek pronunciation is very steady with only a few exceptions.