Κάθε Τρίτη έχουν προπόνηση στο γήπεδο κοντά στο σπίτι μας.

Every Tuesday they have practice at the field near our house.

Breakdown of Κάθε Τρίτη έχουν προπόνηση στο γήπεδο κοντά στο σπίτι μας.

• το σπίτι: the house
• έχω: to have
• σε: at
• σε: to
• κοντά: near
• μας: our
• κάθε Τρίτη: every Tuesday
• η προπόνηση: the practice
• το γήπεδο: the field

Questions & Answers about Κάθε Τρίτη έχουν προπόνηση στο γήπεδο κοντά στο σπίτι μας.

In Κάθε Τρίτη, where is the idea of “on Tuesday”, and why is there no article like την?

Greek doesn’t need a separate word for “on” with days of the week in this pattern.

• κάθε = every / each
• So Κάθε Τρίτη = Every Tuesday, and the idea of “on” is already built into the structure.

You also don’t use an article after κάθε:

• κάθε μέρα – every day
• κάθε χρόνο – every year
• κάθε Τρίτη – every Tuesday

If you want “on Tuesday” referring to one specific Tuesday (not something that happens regularly), you normally say:

• την Τρίτη – on Tuesday

So:

• Κάθε Τρίτη έχουν προπόνηση… – Every Tuesday they have practice…
• Την Τρίτη έχουν προπόνηση… – On Tuesday they have practice… (this coming / that specific Tuesday)

Does Τρίτη here mean “Tuesday” or “third”? They look the same.

Here Τρίτη clearly means “Tuesday”, the day of the week.

Greek uses the same word τρίτη for:

1. The ordinal number “third” (feminine):
   
   • η τρίτη φορά – the third time
2. The day of the week “Tuesday”:
   
   • η Τρίτη – Tuesday

How do you know which it is?

• From context: Κάθε Τρίτη is a very standard way to say “every Tuesday”.
• If it were “third”, you would expect a noun after it, like η τρίτη σελίδα (the third page), η τρίτη μέρα (the third day).

About capitalization: in modern Greek, days of the week are often written with a lowercase initial (κάθε τρίτη), but many people (and many textbooks) also use a capital (κάθε Τρίτη) under the influence of English. Both are widely understood.

What grammatical form is Τρίτη here – what case and gender?

Τρίτη here is:

• Gender: feminine
• Number: singular
• Case: accusative (of time)

The accusative is used very often for expressions of time like:

• κάθε μέρα – every day
• κάθε χρόνο – every year
• κάθε Τρίτη – every Tuesday

For feminine nouns like η Τρίτη, the nominative and accusative forms look the same (Τρίτη), so you don’t see a change in the word itself, but grammatically it functions as an accusative of time.

What exactly is έχουν here, and why isn’t there a separate word for “they”?

έχουν is:

• the 3rd person plural form of the verb έχω (to have)
• Present tense: they have

Greek usually drops the subject pronoun (εγώ, εσύ, αυτός, αυτοί, etc.) because the verb ending already shows who the subject is.

• Έχουν προπόνηση. – They have practice.
  (No αυτοί is needed.)

You would include αυτοί only if you want to emphasize the subject:

• Αυτοί έχουν προπόνηση, όχι εμείς.
  They are the ones who have practice, not us.

Why is it έχουν προπόνηση (“they have practice”) and not something like κάνουν προπόνηση or another verb?

All of these are possible in Greek, but they sound slightly different:

• έχουν προπόνηση – they have practice
  
  • Very common, especially to talk about scheduled practice sessions.
• κάνουν προπόνηση – they do / are doing training
  
  • Focuses more on the activity of training.
• προπονούνται – they are training / they train (middle/passive of προπονῶ)
  
  • More formal or “sporty”; often used for athletes, teams, etc.

In your sentence:

• Κάθε Τρίτη έχουν προπόνηση…
  Emphasizes that every Tuesday there is a scheduled practice (like part of a weekly timetable).

You could also say:

• Κάθε Τρίτη κάνουν προπόνηση… – stylistically fine, just a slightly different feel.
• Κάθε Τρίτη προπονούνται… – also correct, sounds a bit more technical/sport-specific.

Why is there no article before προπόνηση? Why not την προπόνηση?

Greek doesn’t always use the definite article the same way English uses “the”.

With έχω + abstract / activity noun, especially for regular or habitual activities, Greek often omits the article:

• Έχω δουλειά. – I have work (to do).
• Έχει σχολείο. – He/she has school.
• Έχουν προπόνηση. – They have practice.

If you use the article, you’re usually talking about a specific, already known instance:

• Έχουν την προπόνηση στις έξι. – They have the (particular) practice at six.

In your sentence, Κάθε Τρίτη έχουν προπόνηση, it’s a regular, recurring activity, so omitting the article is the natural choice.

What exactly does στο in στο γήπεδο mean?

στο is a contraction of:

• σε + το → στο

σε is a very general preposition that can mean in, at, on, to, depending on context.
το is the neuter singular definite article (the).

So:

• στο γήπεδο literally = in/at the field
• In natural English here: at the field / at the sports ground

You’ll see this contraction all the time:

• σε + το → στο (neuter, singular)
• σε + τον → στον (masculine, singular)
• σε + την → στη(ν) (feminine, singular)
• σε + τα → στα (plural, neuter or common)

What does γήπεδο mean exactly? Is it just a soccer field?

το γήπεδο is a general word for a sports field / court / pitch, not only soccer.

Depending on the sport and context, γήπεδο can be:

• a soccer pitch
• a basketball court
• a volleyball court
• a tennis court (often with γήπεδο τένις)

So στο γήπεδο is best taken as “at the sports field / at the sports ground / at the court”, whatever is usual in the context (often soccer, but not necessarily).

Why is it κοντά στο σπίτι μας and not something like κοντά το σπίτι μας?

The adverb κοντά (“near”) normally combines with the preposition σε:

• κοντά σε = near to

Then, when σε is followed by the article το, they contract:

• σε + το σπίτι → στο σπίτι

So we get:

• κοντά στο σπίτι μας – near our house

You cannot say κοντά το σπίτι μας; you need κοντά σε + noun (with the article):

• κοντά σε μένα – near me
• κοντά στο σχολείο – near the school
• κοντά στο σπίτι μας – near our house

Why does μας (“our”) come after σπίτι and not before it, like in English “our house”?

Greek normally places possessive pronouns after the noun and its article:

• το σπίτι μας – our house
• η μητέρα μου – my mother
• το βιβλίο σου – your book

The typical pattern is:

article + noun + weak possessive pronoun
το σπίτι μας – the house our

If you want to emphasize the ownership, you can add δικός / δική / δικό before the noun:

• το δικό μας σπίτι – our house (not someone else’s)

But the basic, neutral way is exactly what you see in the sentence:

• στο σπίτι μας – at our house

Could the word order of the whole sentence change? For example, can Κάθε Τρίτη go later in the sentence?

Yes, Greek word order is quite flexible, especially with adverbial phrases like κάθε Τρίτη, στο γήπεδο, κοντά στο σπίτι μας.

Some natural variants:

• Κάθε Τρίτη έχουν προπόνηση στο γήπεδο κοντά στο σπίτι μας. (original)
• Έχουν προπόνηση κάθε Τρίτη στο γήπεδο κοντά στο σπίτι μας.
• Έχουν προπόνηση στο γήπεδο κοντά στο σπίτι μας κάθε Τρίτη.

The meaning stays the same; you are just changing what you foreground a bit. Putting Κάθε Τρίτη at the beginning makes the regularity of the event especially prominent.

What tense is έχουν here, and how does Greek express habitual actions like “every Tuesday they have practice”?

έχουν is in the simple present tense.

In Greek, the simple present is used for:

• actions happening now
• general truths
• habitual / repeated actions (often combined with words like κάθε, συχνά, πάντα, etc.)

So:

• Κάθε Τρίτη έχουν προπόνηση…
  = Every Tuesday they (habitually) have practice…

There is no special tense like English “used to” or “-s” for habits; the simple present plus a time phrase like κάθε Τρίτη does the job.

How could I extend this pattern to say “every Tuesday and Thursday” or “every other Tuesday”?

You can easily adapt κάθε + day:

• Κάθε Τρίτη και Πέμπτη έχουν προπόνηση.
  – Every Tuesday and Thursday they have practice.

For “every other Tuesday”, a natural way is:

• Κάθε δεύτερη Τρίτη έχουν προπόνηση.
  – Every second Tuesday they have practice.

You can also combine more days the same way:

• Κάθε Δευτέρα, Τετάρτη και Παρασκευή έχουν προπόνηση.
  – Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday they have practice.