Ακούσαμε έναν ασυνήθιστο ήχο.

We heard an unusual sound.

Breakdown of Ακούσαμε έναν ασυνήθιστο ήχο.

• ένας: one
• ακούω: to hear
• ο ήχος: the sound
• ασυνήθιστος: unusual

Questions & Answers about Ακούσαμε έναν ασυνήθιστο ήχο.

What does Ακούσαμε mean exactly, and what tense is it?

Ακούσαμε means we heard.

It is the aorist form of ακούω (to hear / to listen to). In Modern Greek, the aorist usually describes a single completed action in the past.

So:

• ακούω = I hear / I listen
• άκουσα = I heard
• ακούσαμε = we heard

A useful comparison:

• Ακούγαμε = we were hearing / we used to hear
• Ακούσαμε = we heard (completed event)

So this sentence presents the hearing as one finished event.

Why isn’t there a separate word for we in the sentence?

Because Greek often doesn’t need subject pronouns when the verb ending already shows who the subject is.

Here, the ending -σαμε in Ακούσαμε tells you the subject is we.

So Greek can simply say:

• Ακούσαμε = we heard

If you added εμείς (we), it would usually sound emphatic or contrastive:

• Εμείς ακούσαμε έναν ασυνήθιστο ήχο.
  = We heard an unusual sound. (maybe not someone else)

Why is it έναν and not ?