Όταν είμαι τεμπέλης, δεν διαβάζω και μόνο βλέπω τηλεόραση.

When I am lazy, I don't study and I only watch TV.

Breakdown of Όταν είμαι τεμπέλης, δεν διαβάζω και μόνο βλέπω τηλεόραση.

• είμαι: to be
• και: and
• δεν: not
• βλέπω: to see
• διαβάζω: to read
• όταν: when
• μόνο: only
• η τηλεόραση: the television
• τεμπέλης: lazy

Questions & Answers about Όταν είμαι τεμπέλης, δεν διαβάζω και μόνο βλέπω τηλεόραση.

What exactly does Όταν mean here? Is it more like “when” or “whenever”?

Όταν means when in the sense of “whenever / every time that” in this sentence.

The Greek present tense here (είμαι, διαβάζω, βλέπω) plus όταν gives a general, habitual meaning:

• Όταν είμαι τεμπέλης, δεν διαβάζω και μόνο βλέπω τηλεόραση.
  = When(ever) I’m lazy, I don’t study and I only watch TV.

If you were talking about one specific future time, Greek might use a different structure (often with θα or a subjunctive), but in this example it’s clearly a habitual situation, so όταν + present is exactly right and corresponds to English “when(ever)”.

Why is it είμαι τεμπέλης and not something like είμαι ο τεμπέλης or είμαι ένας τεμπέλης?

In Greek, after the verb είμαι (to be), you usually don’t use an article when you are describing someone’s quality, profession, or identity in general:

• είμαι τεμπέλης = I am lazy / I am a lazy person.
• είμαι γιατρός = I’m a doctor. (no article)
• είμαι φοιτητής = I’m a student. (no article)

If you said είμαι ο τεμπέλης, it would sound more like “I’m the lazy one”, referring to a specific, known lazy person in a particular context. That’s a different nuance.

Is τεμπέλης an adjective or a noun, and what are its other forms?

In practice, τεμπέλης is used as the normal word for “lazy” (for a person) and behaves a bit like both an adjective and a noun.

Common forms you’ll meet:

• Masculine: τεμπέλης – lazy (man)
  
  • είμαι τεμπέλης = I (male) am lazy.
• Feminine: τεμπέλα (very common), also τεμπέλισσα (more colloquial/playful)
  
  • είμαι τεμπέλα = I (female) am lazy.
• For describing things (a lazy afternoon, a lazy day), Greeks often use the related adjective τεμπέλικος, -η, -ο:
  • τεμπέλικο απόγευμα = a lazy afternoon.

For now, as a learner, you can safely remember:

• τεμπέλης for a lazy man,
• τεμπέλα for a lazy woman.

Why is the negation δεν and not μην in δεν διαβάζω?

Modern Greek has two main negative particles:

• δεν (or δε in speech) is used with the indicative mood (normal statements and questions in present, past, future):

  • δεν διαβάζω = I don’t read / I don’t study.
  • δεν είμαι = I am not.

• μην is used before subjunctive forms (with να, ας) and some imperatives:

  • να μην διαβάζεις = not to study / don’t study (habitually).
  • μην βλέπεις τόση τηλεόραση = don’t watch so much TV.

Since διαβάζω here is a simple present indicative (“I read / I study”), the correct negation is δεν:
δεν διαβάζω = I do not study / read.

Does διαβάζω here mean “to read” or “to study”?

In Greek, διαβάζω can mean both:

1. to read (books, newspapers, etc.)
2. to study (for school, exams, homework, etc.)

The exact meaning depends on context. With τεμπέλης and βλέπω τηλεόραση, it very naturally means “study”:

• Όταν είμαι τεμπέλης, δεν διαβάζω και μόνο βλέπω τηλεόραση.
  ≈ When I’m lazy, I don’t study; I just watch TV.

If you wanted to be explicit about “reading for fun”, you could say something like δεν διαβάζω βιβλία (I don’t read books).

Why is μόνο placed before βλέπω in μόνο βλέπω τηλεόραση? Could I say βλέπω μόνο τηλεόραση instead?

Both positions are possible, but the focus is slightly different.

1. μόνο βλέπω τηλεόραση
   Here μόνο modifies the whole action of watching TV. The sense is:

   • I just / only watch TV (as an activity), I don’t do anything else.

2. βλέπω μόνο τηλεόραση
   Here μόνο is closer to τηλεόραση, so the focus is more:

   • I watch only TV (and not, for example, movies online, YouTube, or read books).

In everyday speech, people use both, and often the context makes them almost equivalent. The original sentence, after δεν διαβάζω, makes “I just watch TV” feel natural, so μόνο βλέπω τηλεόραση fits well.

Why is there no article before τηλεόραση? Why not βλέπω την τηλεόραση?

In Greek, when you talk about watching TV in general (the medium), you usually say:

• βλέπω τηλεόραση = I watch TV.

No article is needed because this is like saying “I watch television (as an activity)”, not “I watch the TV set”.

You’d use an article when referring to a specific television set or when it’s clear you mean a particular object:

• Βλέπω την τηλεόραση που αγόρασα χθες.
  = I’m looking at the TV I bought yesterday.

In your sentence, it’s clearly about the activity of watching TV, so no article is correct.

Why is there a comma after Όταν είμαι τεμπέλης?

The comma separates the dependent clause from the main clause:

• Dependent (subordinate) clause: Όταν είμαι τεμπέλης (When I am lazy…)
• Main clause: δεν διαβάζω και μόνο βλέπω τηλεόραση (I don’t study and I just watch TV.)

In Greek, just like in English, it’s standard to put a comma after an initial “when”-clause that comes before the main sentence. So the punctuation here follows normal rules:

• Όταν είμαι τεμπέλης, δεν διαβάζω…
  = When I’m lazy, I don’t study…

Why is the subject pronoun εγώ not used? Could I say Όταν εγώ είμαι τεμπέλης?

Greek usually drops subject pronouns (like εγώ, εσύ, αυτός) because the verb ending already shows the subject:

• είμαι = I am → the -μαι ending tells you it’s “I”.
• διαβάζω = I read / study → the -ω ending is first person singular.
• βλέπω = I watch → again -ω.

So Όταν είμαι τεμπέλης… is perfectly natural and standard.

You can say Όταν εγώ είμαι τεμπέλης…, but then εγώ is emphatic, like:

• When *I am lazy (as opposed to someone else)…*

In neutral statements, Greek omits the pronoun.

Could I say Όταν τεμπελιάζω instead of Όταν είμαι τεμπέλης? Is there a difference?

Yes, you can say that, and it’s very natural:

• Όταν τεμπελιάζω, δεν διαβάζω και μόνο βλέπω τηλεόραση.

τεμπελιάζω is a verb meaning “to loaf around / to be lazy / to laze about”.

The nuance:

• είμαι τεμπέλης = I am lazy (a lazy person) – more about your character or state.
• τεμπελιάζω = I’m being lazy right now / I’m lazing about – more about your behaviour at that time.

In this general, habitual sentence, both forms work; Όταν είμαι τεμπέλης feels slightly more like a trait, Όταν τεμπελιάζω slightly more like what I do.

Why is the verb in the present tense and not future? Could I say Όταν θα είμαι τεμπέλης?

Here the present tense expresses a general, repeated situation:

• Όταν είμαι τεμπέλης, δεν διαβάζω και μόνο βλέπω τηλεόραση.
  = Whenever I’m lazy, I don’t study and I just watch TV.

This is a habitual fact, not one specific future time, so the present is correct.

Όταν θα είμαι τεμπέλης is not wrong in all contexts, but it would normally sound like you are talking about a particular future period (“When I will be lazy…”), which doesn’t fit the habitual meaning here. For the meaning of “whenever that happens”, Greek uses όταν + present very often, just as in this sentence.

Could I connect the clauses differently, for example: δεν διαβάζω, μόνο βλέπω τηλεόραση or δεν διαβάζω και βλέπω μόνο τηλεόραση? Do they mean the same?

Yes, you can change the connector and the position of μόνο slightly, with small differences in emphasis:

1. δεν διαβάζω και μόνο βλέπω τηλεόραση (original)

   • I don’t study and I just watch TV.
     Two actions in sequence: not studying and just watching TV.

2. δεν διαβάζω, μόνο βλέπω τηλεόραση

   • I don’t study; I only watch TV.
     The comma makes μόνο βλέπω τηλεόραση feel like a correction/contrast to the first part.

3. δεν διαβάζω και βλέπω μόνο τηλεόραση

   • I don’t study and I watch only TV.
     Here μόνο is closer to τηλεόραση, focusing more on the type of thing watched (only TV, not other media).

All are grammatically fine; the original one is a natural way to say “I don’t study, I just watch TV” in a single flow.