Breakdown of Το βράδυ το γραφείο είναι κενό και μπορώ να δουλεύω ήρεμα.
Questions & Answers about Το βράδυ το γραφείο είναι κενό και μπορώ να δουλεύω ήρεμα.
In Greek, times of day are very often used with the definite article to mean “in the … / at …” in a general, habitual way:
- το πρωί – in the morning
- το μεσημέρι – at noon / midday
- το βράδυ – in the evening / at night
So Το βράδυ here means “In the evening / At night (in general)”, not “the specific evening”.
Saying just βράδυ on its own would sound incomplete here, more like just naming the time of day as a bare noun. For this kind of time expression, you normally need το.
In Greek, each noun phrase needs its own article if it’s definite. So:
- Το βράδυ – the evening / at night
- το γραφείο – the office
You cannot drop the article in front of γραφείο here.
Το βράδυ γραφείο είναι κενό is ungrammatical in standard Greek.
The normal options are:
- Το βράδυ το γραφείο είναι κενό.
- Το γραφείο είναι κενό το βράδυ.
Both keep the article το with γραφείο.
Το γραφείο can mean both:
- desk (the piece of furniture)
- office (the workplace / room / department)
In this sentence:
Το βράδυ το γραφείο είναι κενό…
At night the office is empty…
Context suggests office:
- Talking about being able to work peacefully is more naturally about a workplace being empty of people, not a physical desk being empty of objects.
- Saying “the desk is empty at night and I can work peacefully” is possible, but less natural.
So το γραφείο is understood as “the office” here.
The adjective must agree in gender, number, and case with the noun it describes.
- το γραφείο – neuter, singular, nominative
- Forms of κενός (empty):
- masculine: κενός
- feminine: κενή
- neuter: κενό
Because γραφείο is neuter, the correct form is κενό:
- το γραφείο είναι κενό – the office is empty
κενός (masc.) and κενή (fem.) would be used with masculine or feminine nouns, not with γραφείο.
Both κενό and άδειο can mean “empty”, and you can say:
- Το βράδυ το γραφείο είναι άδειο.
In everyday speech, άδειο is actually more common for “empty” in general.
Nuance (not always strict, but useful):
άδειο – empty of contents or people; the usual everyday word
- Το ποτήρι είναι άδειο. – The glass is empty.
- Το γραφείο είναι άδειο. – The office is empty (nobody is there).
κενό – empty, but also used more in abstract or formal contexts:
- κενό διάστημα – empty space
- κενή θέση – vacant position / vacancy
In this sentence, είναι κενό is totally correct; είναι άδειο would sound even more colloquial and natural for “no one is there.”
Greek has two aspects for verbs:
- δουλεύω – imperfective aspect (ongoing / repeated activity)
- δουλέψω – perfective aspect (one whole, completed event)
With μπορώ να…, the choice changes the meaning:
- μπορώ να δουλεύω – I can work (in general, continuously, habitually)
- μπορώ να δουλέψω – I can manage to work (once, get some work done / succeed in working)
In the sentence:
Το βράδυ το γραφείο είναι κενό και μπορώ να δουλεύω ήρεμα.
The idea is that whenever it’s night, the speaker can work peacefully for a period of time, not just “get one piece of work done.” So the imperfective δουλεύω is the natural choice.
Greek is a pro‑drop language: subject pronouns (like εγώ, “I”) are often omitted because the verb ending already shows the person:
- μπορώ = I can
- μπορείς = you can
- μπορεί = he / she / it can
So μπορώ να δουλεύω already clearly means “I can work.”
You can say Εγώ μπορώ να δουλεύω ήρεμα, but:
- It adds emphasis to εγώ = I (as opposed to someone else).
- It’s like saying “I can work peacefully” with stress on “I”.
In this neutral sentence, the unmarked, natural form is without εγώ.
Ήρεμα is an adverb, meaning “calmly, peacefully.”
It comes from the adjective ήρεμος (calm):
- adjective:
- ήρεμος (masc.)
- ήρεμη (fem.)
- ήρεμο (neut.)
- adverb:
- ήρεμα – calmly
In the sentence:
…και μπορώ να δουλεύω ήρεμα.
ήρεμα describes how the person works, so it functions as an adverb:
“I can work calmly / in a calm way.”
Yes, you could say:
- …και μπορώ να δουλεύω ήσυχα.
Both ήρεμα and ήσυχα can be translated as “quietly / peacefully”, but there is a slight nuance:
- ήρεμα – more about inner calm, lack of stress
- I’m not stressed or disturbed; I’m calm while working.
- ήσυχα – more about external quietness / low noise
- It’s quiet around me; there is no noise or disturbance.
In many contexts they overlap, and both sound natural here; ήρεμα focuses a bit more on calm working conditions, ήσυχα on quietness.
Yes, that word order is perfectly correct:
- Το βράδυ το γραφείο είναι κενό…
- Το γραφείο είναι κενό το βράδυ…
Both mean essentially the same: “At night the office is empty…”
Nuance:
- Starting with Το βράδυ makes the time a bit more prominent:
- “At night, the office is empty…”
- Starting with Το γραφείο makes the office the starting point:
- “The office is empty at night…”
But in everyday speech, there is no real difference in meaning here; both are natural.
In Greek (as in English), the present tense can describe:
What is happening now
- Τώρα το γραφείο είναι κενό. – Right now the office is empty.
Regular or general habits / repeated situations
- Κάθε βράδυ το γραφείο είναι κενό. – Every night the office is empty.
Your sentence:
Το βράδυ το γραφείο είναι κενό και μπορώ να δουλεύω ήρεμα.
is naturally understood as a habitual / general statement:
“At night, (in general) the office is empty and I can work peacefully.”
Not just one specific night, but a regular situation.