Ο δρόμος είναι ήσυχος τη νύχτα.

to be

Breakdown of Ο δρόμος είναι ήσυχος τη νύχτα.

• ο δρόμος: the road
• ήσυχος: calm
• τη νύχτα: at night

Questions & Answers about Ο δρόμος είναι ήσυχος τη νύχτα.

What does Ο mean, and why do we need it before δρόμος?

Ο is the definite article for masculine singular nouns in the nominative case. It corresponds to English “the”.

• Ο δρόμος = the road / the street
  Greek almost always uses an article with nouns, much more than English does, so you’ll see ο / η / το (the) very frequently.

What gender and form is δρόμος, and how do I know?

δρόμος is a masculine noun, nominative singular.

Clues:

• The article ο marks it as masculine.
• Many masculine nouns end in -ος in the nominative singular.

So:

• ο δρόμος = the road (subject of the sentence)

Why is the adjective ήσυχος in this particular form and not something like ήσυχη or ήσυχο?

Greek adjectives must agree with the noun in gender, number, and case.

• Noun: ο δρόμος → masculine, singular, nominative
• Adjective: ήσυχος → masculine, singular, nominative

Other forms of the same adjective:

• ήσυχος (masc.) – δρόμος
• ήσυχη (fem.) – πόλη (city) → η πόλη είναι ήσυχη
• ήσυχο (neuter) – χωριό (village) → το χωριό είναι ήσυχο

Could ήσυχος also mean “calm”? What’s the nuance?

Yes, ήσυχος can mean both:

• quiet / not noisy
• calm / not troubled

In this sentence, Ο δρόμος είναι ήσυχος τη νύχτα, it mainly means:

• The road is quiet at night (little traffic, little noise)

If you wanted “calm” in a more emotional sense about a person, you might also see ήρεμος, but ήσυχος is very common for “quiet street / quiet neighborhood / quiet person”.

Why is it τη νύχτα and not την νύχτα?

τη and την are both forms of the feminine accusative singular article (the = “την/τη”).

Modern spelling and usage often drop the final -ν before many consonants. So:

• την → τη before some consonants, including ν in everyday writing.

So:

• τη νύχτα and την νύχτα are both understandable;
• τη νύχτα is very common in modern texts and speech.

Functionally, it’s the same article: (την) νύχτα = “the night”.

Why is there no word for “at” in τη νύχτα even though the English is “at night”?

In Greek, time expressions are very often put in the accusative case without a preposition to mean “at / on / in (time)”.

So:

• τη νύχτα (accusative) → literally “the night”, but used as “at night”
• την Κυριακή → “on Sunday”
• κάθε μέρα → “every day”

You could say τη νύχτα with σε (e.g. τη νύχτα, στον δρόμο…), but when you just mean when (the time), accusative alone is the normal pattern.

What are τη and νύχτα grammatically?

• τη – definite article, feminine, singular, accusative (the)
• νύχτα – noun, feminine, singular, accusative (night)

Together: τη νύχτα = “the night” used as a time expression → “at night”.

Is the word order fixed? Could I say Τη νύχτα ο δρόμος είναι ήσυχος?

The word order is flexible in Greek. All of these are grammatically correct:

• Ο δρόμος είναι ήσυχος τη νύχτα.
• Τη νύχτα ο δρόμος είναι ήσυχος.
• Ο δρόμος τη νύχτα είναι ήσυχος.

The basic neutral order here is subject–verb–complement–time:
Ο δρόμος (subject) είναι (verb) ήσυχος (complement) τη νύχτα (time).

Moving τη νύχτα to the front (or earlier in the sentence) just adds a bit of emphasis on “at night”.

How do you pronounce Ο δρόμος είναι ήσυχος τη νύχτα?

Approximate phonetic transcription (Modern Greek):

• Ο δρόμος → [o ˈðromos]
  
  • δ like th in this
• είναι → [ˈine]
  
  • pronounced “íne” (EE-neh)
• ήσυχος → [ˈisixos]
  
  • both ή and υ here sound like ee
• τη νύχτα → [ti ˈnixta]
  
  • χ is a voiceless sound like the ch in German Bach or Scottish loch

Full sentence:
[o ˈðromos ˈine ˈisixos ti ˈnixta]

What’s the difference between δρόμος and words like οδός or δρόμοι?

• ο δρόμος – “the road / street / way” (singular)
• οι δρόμοι – “the roads / streets” (plural)
• η οδός – also “street/road”, but:
  • More formal and used mainly in street names:
    
    • Οδός Πατησίων = Patission Street

In everyday speech, you’ll mostly use δρόμος / δρόμοι.