Ήταν μια εκπληκτική εμπειρία.

to be

Breakdown of Ήταν μια εκπληκτική εμπειρία.

• μία: one
• η εμπειρία: the experience
• εκπληκτικός: amazing

Questions & Answers about Ήταν μια εκπληκτική εμπειρία.

What exactly is ήταν here?

Ήταν is the past tense form of είμαι (to be).

More specifically, it is the imperfect form, used for was / were in many contexts. In this sentence, it corresponds to was.

A useful thing to know is that ήταν can be:

• 3rd person singular: he/she/it was
• 3rd person plural: they were

Greek relies on context to tell you which one is meant.

Why is there no separate word for it?

Greek often leaves out subject pronouns when they are not needed. This is very normal.

So instead of saying something like It was an amazing experience, Greek can simply say:

• Ήταν μια εκπληκτική εμπειρία.

If you wanted to make the subject explicit, you could say:

• Αυτό ήταν μια εκπληκτική εμπειρία. = That/It was an amazing experience.

But in everyday Greek, leaving it out is completely natural.

Why do we use μια here?