Learn Hardcore Greek: Στο χωριό έχει λίγη κίνηση το βράδυ· στην πρωτεύουσα, αντίθετα, οι δρόμοι έχουν πολλά αυτοκίνητα. - In the village there is little traffic in the evening; in the capital, on the contrary, the roads have many cars.

Using the article here (το / την) means “in the (specific/generalized) village / capital”, not “in a village / a capital” in a random sense. Greek uses the definite article much more broadly than English — often where English uses no article at all.

You can say σε χωριό or σε πρωτεύουσα, but that would sound like “in a village / a capital city (not specified which)”, which doesn’t fit the general contrast the sentence is making between “the village” and “the capital” as types of places.

Why does the sentence use έχει λίγη κίνηση instead of something like υπάρχει λίγη κίνηση or είναι λίγη κίνηση?

In modern spoken Greek, έχει is very commonly used impersonally with the meaning “there is / there are”, especially for:

Weather: Έχει ήλιο, έχει ζέστη
General presence: Έχει κόσμο, έχει φασαρία

So:

Στο χωριό έχει λίγη κίνηση το βράδυ
≈ “In the village there is little traffic at night.”

You could also say:

Στο χωριό υπάρχει λίγη κίνηση το βράδυ.
This is correct but sounds a bit more formal or bookish.
είναι λίγη κίνηση is not natural Greek in this meaning.

So έχει here is the natural, everyday choice to express “there is (some) traffic.”

Why is it λίγη κίνηση and not λίγο κίνηση?

Grammatically:

κίνηση is a feminine singular noun.
The adjective λίγος (“little / few”) must agree in gender, number, and case:
- masculine: λίγος
- feminine: λίγη
- neuter: λίγο

So λίγη κίνηση is the straightforward noun phrase “little traffic / little movement”.

However, you may also hear:

Έχει λίγο κίνηση.

Here λίγο is not an adjective but an adverb (“a little”), modifying the whole idea “there is traffic”. It’s a bit like saying:

Έχει λίγο κίνηση ≈ “There is a bit of traffic.”
Έχει λίγη κίνηση ≈ “There is little traffic.”

Both are used; the version in your sentence treats λίγη κίνηση as a noun phrase (“a small amount of traffic”).

What exactly does κίνηση mean here? I thought it meant “movement”.

κίνηση literally means “movement”, but in everyday Greek it also very commonly means “traffic” (of vehicles) when talking about roads:

Έχει πολλή κίνηση στον δρόμο. – “There is a lot of traffic on the road.”
Ήταν ώρα αιχμής, είχε φοβερή κίνηση. – “It was rush hour; the traffic was terrible.”

So in your sentence:

έχει λίγη κίνηση το βράδυ
→ “there is little traffic at night.”

Context (roads, cars) makes the “traffic” meaning clear.

Why is it το βράδυ and not just βράδυ?

Time expressions in Greek often take the definite article where English does not:

το πρωί – in the morning
το μεσημέρι – at noon
το βράδυ – in the evening / at night

So:

Στο χωριό έχει λίγη κίνηση το βράδυ. → “In the village there is little traffic at night.”

You can sometimes omit the article (e.g. in very short phrases or colloquial speech: βράδυ θα βγούμε;), but in full sentences like this, το βράδυ is the natural, default form.

What is the raised dot · in the middle of the sentence? Is it a semicolon?

The · is the Greek ano teleia (άνω τελεία). Functionally, it’s closest to an English semicolon or colon: it separates two closely related clauses or marks a break stronger than a comma but weaker than a full stop.

So your sentence:

…το βράδυ· στην πρωτεύουσα, αντίθετα, οι δρόμοι…

is like:

“…at night; in the capital, by contrast, the roads…”

Be careful: in Greek, the question mark is ; (semicolon shape), while the raised dot · is the punctuation you see here.

Why is αντίθετα set off by commas, and what does it do in the sentence?

Αντίθετα is an adverb meaning “on the contrary / by contrast / conversely”.

In the sentence:

…το βράδυ· στην πρωτεύουσα, αντίθετα, οι δρόμοι έχουν…

αντίθετα is used as a sentence adverb, commenting on the whole clause (“in contrast to what I just said about the village”). As in English with “by contrast”, it’s normally written:

at the start of the clause, and
separated by commas when it’s inserted into the flow of the sentence.

You could also put it right at the beginning:

Αντίθετα, στην πρωτεύουσα οι δρόμοι έχουν πολλά αυτοκίνητα.

Same meaning, slightly different rhythm.

Could we leave out αντίθετα? Would the meaning change?

Yes, grammatically you can omit it:

Στο χωριό έχει λίγη κίνηση το βράδυ· στην πρωτεύουσα οι δρόμοι έχουν πολλά αυτοκίνητα.

The basic contrast is still clear from the content itself (village = little traffic, capital = many cars), but:

With αντίθετα: the contrast is made explicit (“on the contrary, by contrast”).
Without αντίθετα: it’s still a contrast, but stated more plainly, without the explicit “on the other hand” signal.

So αντίθετα just strengthens the contrast rhetorically.

Why does it say οι δρόμοι έχουν πολλά αυτοκίνητα instead of something like “there are a lot of cars on the roads”?

Greek often uses έχω with places to mean “there are X in/at that place”:

Η πόλη έχει πολλά πάρκα. – “The city has many parks.”
Ο κήπος έχει λουλούδια. – “The garden has flowers.”

So:

οι δρόμοι έχουν πολλά αυτοκίνητα literally: “the roads have many cars” functionally: “there are many cars on the roads / the roads are full of cars.”

An alternative Greek phrasing would be:

Στους δρόμους υπάρχουν πολλά αυτοκίνητα.

This is correct but more formal and less idiomatic in everyday speech than οι δρόμοι έχουν πολλά αυτοκίνητα.

Why is it πολλά αυτοκίνητα without an article, but οι δρόμοι with an article?

Two different things are happening:

οι δρόμοι – definite plural
- Using οι points to “the roads (in general, in this capital we’re talking about)”.
- Greek often uses the definite article with generic or specific groups: οι δρόμοι, τα παιδιά, οι άνθρωποι.
πολλά αυτοκίνητα – quantified plural, indefinite
- When you have a quantity word (πολλοί / πολλές / πολλά, λίγοι / λίγες / λίγα, μερικοί / μερικές / μερικά, numbers, etc.), you normally omit the article:
  - πολλά αυτοκίνητα, λίγα σπίτια, τρεις άνθρωποι.
- Adding τα here (τα πολλά αυτοκίνητα) would mean “the many cars” – a specific subset, and that’s not what’s intended.

So: οι δρόμοι = “the roads”, πολλά αυτοκίνητα = “many cars” (in general, not a particular set already known).

Why is it πολλά αυτοκίνητα (neuter) and not πολλοί αυτοκίνητα?

Αυτοκίνητο is a neuter noun:

singular: το αυτοκίνητο
plural: τα αυτοκίνητα

The adjective/quantifier πολύς (“much/many”) must agree in gender and number:

masculine plural: πολλοί (e.g. πολλοί άνθρωποι)
feminine plural: πολλές (e.g. πολλές πόλεις)
neuter plural: πολλά (e.g. πολλά αυτοκίνητα)

Since αυτοκίνητα is neuter plural, the correct form is πολλά αυτοκίνητα.

Could we change the word order in έχει λίγη κίνηση το βράδυ? For example, say το βράδυ έχει λίγη κίνηση?

Yes, Greek word order is fairly flexible, and these are all natural:

Στο χωριό το βράδυ έχει λίγη κίνηση.
Στο χωριό έχει λίγη κίνηση το βράδυ.
Το βράδυ στο χωριό έχει λίγη κίνηση.

All mean essentially the same thing: “In the village, at night there is little traffic.”

Differences are subtle and mostly about emphasis / rhythm:

Putting το βράδυ first (Το βράδυ στο χωριό…) slightly emphasizes the time.
The original order Στο χωριό έχει λίγη κίνηση το βράδυ sounds very natural and neutral, with a gentle emphasis on λίγη κίνηση (“little traffic”) in the middle.

What is η πρωτεύουσα exactly? Does it just mean “capital city”?

Yes. πρωτεύουσα is a feminine noun meaning “capital (city)”, the main city of a country or region:

η πρωτεύουσα της Ελλάδας είναι η Αθήνα. – “The capital of Greece is Athens.”

It comes from πρώτος (“first”) + a verbal element related to “place”/“position”, so literally something like “first/primary place”.

In your sentence, στην πρωτεύουσα just means “in the capital (city)”, contrasted with στο χωριό – “in the village.”