Όταν τελειώσεις το βιβλίο, δώσ' το μου, γιατί η δασκάλα μού το ζήτησε.

When you finish the book, give it to me, because the teacher asked me for it.

Breakdown of Όταν τελειώσεις το βιβλίο, δώσ' το μου, γιατί η δασκάλα μού το ζήτησε.

• γιατί: because
• δίνω: to give
• μου: me
• το βιβλίο: the book
• όταν: when
• το: it
• τελειώνω: to finish
• η δασκάλα: the female teacher
• ζητάω: to ask for

Questions & Answers about Όταν τελειώσεις το βιβλίο, δώσ' το μου, γιατί η δασκάλα μού το ζήτησε.

What exactly does τελειώσεις express here, and why not τελειώνεις or θα τελειώσεις?

Τελειώσεις is the 2nd person singular aorist subjunctive of τελειώνω (“to finish”).

• Όταν τελειώσεις το βιβλίο = “When you (have) finished the book / When you finish the book (that one time).”
  The aorist here focuses on the completion of the action.

If you said:

• Όταν τελειώνεις το βιβλίο – present indicative: this sounds more like “Whenever you finish the book / When you (usually) finish the book,” a habitual meaning.
• Όταν θα τελειώσεις το βιβλίο – this combination with θα is generally wrong / non‑standard in modern standard Greek (more on that in another question).

So τελειώσεις is used because we are talking about one specific future event, and we care about the moment you have finished the book.

Why do we use όταν with the subjunctive (τελειώσεις) to talk about the future?

In modern Greek, for future time after “when”, the standard pattern is:

• όταν + subjunctive (no θα)

Examples:

• Όταν τελειώσεις το βιβλίο, δώσ' το μου.
  “When you finish the book, give it to me.”
• Όταν γυρίσεις, τηλεφώνησέ μου.
  “When you get back, call me.”

Compare:

• Όταν τελειώνεις το βιβλίο… – present indicative, used for habitual / repeated actions.
• Όταν τελειώσεις το βιβλίο… – subjunctive, used for a specific future event.

So όταν + τελειώσεις is the normal way to say “when you (will) finish” in Greek.

What tense and mood are τελειώσεις, δώσ', and ζήτησε?

• τελειώσεις:

  • aorist subjunctive, 2nd person singular
  • from τελειώνω – “(that) you finish / (when) you finish”

• δώσ' (from δώσε):

  • aorist imperative, 2nd person singular
  • from δίνω (“to give”)
  • δώσ' το μου = “give it to me”

• ζήτησε:

  • aorist indicative, 3rd person singular
  • from ζητάω / ζητώ (“to ask for, request”)
  • η δασκάλα μού το ζήτησε = “the teacher asked me for it”

All three use the aorist because we’re talking about single, completed actions (finish once, give once, asked once).

Why is there an apostrophe in δώσ' το? How is it pronounced?

Δώσ' το is a contracted form of δώσε το (“give it”).

• The final -ε in δώσε is dropped before το, and this is shown with an apostrophe: δώσ' το.
• Pronunciation: it’s basically /ðosto/ – said smoothly as one group: δώσ'το, not δώσε το with a clear extra syllable.

This type of contraction is very common with imperatives + pronouns:

• φέρε το → φέρ' το
• γράψε το → γράψ' το

In careful speech you can say δώσε το, but δώσ' το is very natural and colloquial.

Why is the object‑pronoun order δώσ' το μου and not δώσ' μου το?

Here we have two weak object pronouns after a positive imperative:

• το = direct object (“it” = the book)
• μου = indirect object (“to me”)

The basic rule in standard Greek is:

• When two weak pronouns come after the verb (as here, after an imperative), the order is:
  direct object (το/τον/την/τα/τους/τις) + indirect object (μου/σου/του/της/μας/σας/τους)

So:

• Δώσ' το μου. = “Give it to me.” (correct, standard)
• Δείξ' τα μας. = “Show them to us.”

When the verb is not in the imperative and the pronouns go before the verb, the order reverses:

• Μου το έδωσε. = “He/She gave it to me.”
• Μας τα έδειξε. = “He/She showed them to us.”

Note:
Δώσ' μου το βιβλίο is also correct, but that has one pronoun (μου) + a full noun (το βιβλίο), not two pronoun‑clitics. That’s a different structure from δώσ' το μου.

What’s the difference between μου and μού in this sentence?

In writing, the accent distinguishes two things:

1. Unaccented μου – usually:

   • weak pronoun “to me” after a verb, or
   • possessive “my” after a noun (η δασκάλα μου = “my teacher”)

2. Accented μού – used when:

   • we need to show it is a pronoun (“to me”) and not a possessive, or
   • we want to emphasize it: “to me”.

In the sentence:

• δώσ' το μου – μου is a weak pronoun after the verb; there’s no ambiguity, so no accent is needed.
• η δασκάλα μού το ζήτησε – μού comes before the verb and before another pronoun (το). Writing μού helps show:
  • it is an indirect object pronoun (“asked me for it”),
  • not η δασκάλα μου (“my teacher”),
  • and it can also carry a bit of emphasis: “The teacher asked me for it.”

You could also see:
Η δασκάλα μου μού το ζήτησε. = “My teacher asked me for it.”
Here μου is possessive (“my”) and μού is the object pronoun (“to me”).

In η δασκάλα μού το ζήτησε, what do μού and το each refer to?

• μού (indirect object, genitive): means “to me”. It corresponds to English “asked me for it”.
• το (direct object, accusative): means “it”, and refers back to το βιβλίο (“the book”).

So η δασκάλα μού το ζήτησε literally is:

• “The teacher from‑me it asked”
  → natural English: “The teacher asked me for it.”

Verb ζητάω / ζητώ often works like:

• ζητάω κάτι από κάποιον
  = “ask for something from someone”

Here κάτι is το and από κάποιον is expressed by the pronoun μού.

Can we say Όταν θα τελειώσεις το βιβλίο instead of Όταν τελειώσεις το βιβλίο?

In standard modern Greek, you normally do not use θα in όταν‑clauses referring to the future.

Correct patterns:

• Όταν τελειώσεις το βιβλίο, δώσ' το μου.
• Όταν τελειώσεις το βιβλίο, θα σου το δώσω.

But not (in standard Greek):

• Όταν θα τελειώσεις το βιβλίο, …

That form appears in some dialects and in influenced speech but is best avoided if you’re aiming for standard usage.

So:
Use όταν + subjunctive (no θα) for future “when” clauses.

Why do we say η δασκάλα with the article η? Is the article necessary?

Greek uses the definite article much more than English.

• η δασκάλα = “the teacher” (a specific teacher known in the context)
• English might say simply “the teacher” or even just “teacher” in some contexts, but Greek almost always needs the article.

Nuances:

• η δασκάλα μού το ζήτησε – “the teacher asked me for it” (the particular teacher both speakers know).
• η δασκάλα μου μού το ζήτησε – “my teacher asked me for it.”

If you drop the article and say just δασκάλα μού το ζήτησε, it sounds either very marked or incomplete; usually you’d say μια δασκάλα if you meant “a (random) teacher”.

So, yes, η is essentially required here in normal Greek.

Does γιατί here mean “why” or “because”, and how can I tell?

In Greek, γιατί can mean “why” or “because”. Context and punctuation tell you which.

Here:

• …, γιατί η δασκάλα μού το ζήτησε.
• There is no question mark, and γιατί introduces a reason for the previous command.

So it clearly means “because”:

• “Give it to me, because the teacher asked me for it.”

If it meant “why?”, you would expect:

• Γιατί η δασκάλα μού το ζήτησε;
  (with a question mark – in Greek, the question mark is written as ;)
  = “Why did the teacher ask me for it?”

Why are there commas after Όταν τελειώσεις το βιβλίο and before γιατί?

Two separate comma uses:

1. After the initial όταν‑clause

   • Όταν τελειώσεις το βιβλίο, δώσ' το μου, …
     A subordinate clause (Όταν τελειώσεις το βιβλίο) placed before the main clause is normally followed by a comma in Greek.

2. Before γιατί

   • …, δώσ' το μου, γιατί η δασκάλα μού το ζήτησε.
     Γιατί introduces a new clause of reason (“because the teacher asked me for it”), so it is usually separated by a comma from what comes before.

So the commas reflect both clause boundaries and normal Greek punctuation conventions.