"My old pet was a hamster."

Translation: Το παλιό κατοικίδιο μου ήταν ένα χάμστερ.

[RaleighStarbuck]

Okay, so now I am officially confused...on a previous translation exercise the sentence was "their new pet" and I accidentally wrote "το καινούριο κατοικίδιο τους" and it was marked incorrect and it said that it should be "το καινούριο τους κατοικίδιο" (which I had no problem with because I realized that my syntax was wrong- whoops), but then on this exercise I wrote "my old pet" as "το παλιό μου κατοικίδιο" and then I am told that it should be "το παλιό κατοικίδιο μου"...I thought that in a noun phrase modified by an adjective and a possessive that the clitic goes between the adjective and the noun, not at the end, so which is it? Are both word orders acceptable? Is there only the option on certain noun phrases? Or? Πώς λες "her delicious food"; "το νόστιμο της φαγητό" ή "το νόστιμο φαγητό της"; και "his big house" είναι "το μεγάλο του σπίτι" ή "το μεγάλο σπίτι του" και "our favorite place" είναι "ο αγαπημένος μας μέρος" ή "ο αγαπημένος μέρος μας";

[troll1995]

Both syntax constructions are correct. If the possessive is after the adjective, then the adjective is emphasized. So το καινούργιο τους κατοικίδιο= their new pet (as opposed to any other pets), το καινούργιο κατοικίδιό τους=their new pet (but we care more that it is their pet and not their new one, which is important though, otherwise we would just say their pet). The difference is slight, but in το αγαπημένο μου μέρος, μου comes always after the adjective because in "my favourite place" you always want to emphasize the adjective. It's not just any place, it's your favourite one.

[djstef10]

I think "ενα" can be omitted here at least in spoken language. Am i wrong?

[l_LOVE_CHlCKENS]

Ένα should be implied here, as you are talking about only one pet in the beginning of the sentence.

[LeonidTere2]

well, I just read an explanation on another sentence where it was said if no more than one subject is meant, the indefinite article shall be omitted to sound native. the sentence was αυτοί είναι ακόμα ζευγάρι, without ένα. Here is pretty much the same story. So, really, what is correct and why?

[LadyMac1000]

Yes, I have the same question. I thought I'd understood that I didn't have to include it, but it was marked as wrong.

[troll1995]

We had some possible translations without ένα, but το παλιό κατοικίδιό μου, with μου after κατοικίδιο, was not accepted without ένα. It's added now. Thanks for the input!