Έσβησε ο φωτισμός ασφαλείας, με αποτέλεσμα να περιμένουμε.

to wait

Breakdown of Έσβησε ο φωτισμός ασφαλείας, με αποτέλεσμα να περιμένουμε.

• σβήνω: to turn off
• ο φωτισμός ασφαλείας: the emergency lighting
• με αποτέλεσμα να: resulting in; with the result that

Questions & Answers about Έσβησε ο φωτισμός ασφαλείας, με αποτέλεσμα να περιμένουμε.

What does Έσβησε mean here?

Here Έσβησε means went out, switched off, or stopped working.

It comes from the verb σβήνω = to extinguish / to switch off / to go out.

In this sentence, it is the aorist form, so it refers to a completed event in the past:

• σβήνω = I switch off / I go out
• έσβησε = it switched off / it went out

Because the subject is ο φωτισμός ασφαλείας, the meaning is:

• the emergency lighting went out

Why is Έσβησε in the active form if the English meaning is went out?

Greek often uses the active form of σβήνω both transitively and intransitively.

So:

• Έσβησα το φως = I switched off the light
• Έσβησε το φως = The light went out

This is very normal Greek. Even though English uses an intransitive phrase like went out, Greek can still use the active verb form.

Why is the subject ο φωτισμός ασφαλείας after the verb?

Greek word order is much more flexible than English word order.

So both of these are possible:

• Έσβησε ο φωτισμός ασφαλείας
• Ο φωτισμός ασφαλείας έσβησε

The version with the verb first is very natural in narration, especially when introducing an event:

• Έσβησε... = The lighting went out...

English usually requires subject + verb, but Greek does not.