Learn Hardcore Greek: Στη συνάντηση τους το έβαλα στην οθόνη και όλοι κατάλαβαν. - At the meeting I put it for them on the screen and everyone understood.

Keep -ν before:
- vowels: στην οθόνη, στην Αθήνα
- and usually κ, π, τ, ξ, ψ, μπ, ντ, γκ, τσ, τζ: στην πόλη, στην τσάντα
Drop -ν before most other consonants:
- στη συνάντηση, στη μέση, στη στάση

So:

στη συνάντηση (no -ν before σ)
στην οθόνη (keep -ν before the vowel ο)

What case is συνάντηση in here, and why?

Συνάντηση is in the accusative singular (η συνάντηση → τη συνάντηση).

Reason: the preposition σε (here in the form στη) always takes the accusative case:

σε
- nominative? ❌
σε
- accusative? ✅

So:

η συνάντηση (nom.) → στη συνάντηση (“at the meeting”)
η πόλη (nom.) → στην πόλη (“in the city”)

What exactly does τους mean here? Is it “their meeting” or “to them”?

In this sentence, τους is an indirect object pronoun meaning “to them”:

τους το έβαλα ≈ “I put it (on) for them / I put it to them”

If τους were possessive (“their meeting”), you would normally see it tightly joined to the noun and (in careful writing) with a shifted accent:

στη συνάντησή τους = at their meeting

In your sentence, the structure Στη συνάντηση | τους το έβαλα... is understood as:

“At the meeting, I put it on the screen for them…”

So τους = “to them”, not “their”, and it belongs with το έβαλα, not with συνάντηση.

Why is the pronoun order τους το έβαλα and not το τους έβαλα?

Modern Greek has a fairly fixed order for these unstressed object pronouns (clitics):

Indirect object pronoun (to whom?)
Direct object pronoun (what?)

So:

τους το έβαλα = (to-them it I-put)
μου το έδωσαν = they gave it to me
σου το είπα = I told it to you

The reverse order (το τους έβαλα) is not standard in modern Greek; it sounds wrong to native speakers in this context.

Who is the subject of έβαλα? There is no word for “I” in the sentence.

Greek is a “pro‑drop” language: subject pronouns (εγώ, εσύ, αυτός, etc.) are usually omitted because the verb ending shows the subject.

έβαλα is 1st person singular aorist: “I put (once)”.

So:

(Εγώ) το έβαλα στην οθόνη → the εγώ is normally dropped.
The subject “I” is understood from -α in έβαλα.

What tense and aspect is έβαλα, and how would it differ from έβαζα?

Έβαλα is:

tense: past
aspect: aorist (single, completed event)

It presents the action as a one‑off, whole event: “I put it on the screen (once, at that moment).”

Έβαζα is:

tense: past
aspect: imperfective (ongoing / repeated)

It would suggest ongoing or repeated action:

“I was putting it (on the screen)” / “I used to put it (on the screen).”

In your sentence, a single completed action at the meeting is meant, so έβαλα is the natural choice.

Literally το έβαλα στην οθόνη is “I put it on the screen”. Is this a usual way to mean “I showed it on the screen”?

Yes. In context, βάζω (κάτι) στην οθόνη is very commonly used to mean:

“I put it up on the screen / I displayed it on the screen.”

Some similar natural phrases:

το έβαλα στην οθόνη – I put it on the screen
το έβγαλα στην οθόνη – I brought it up on the screen
το έδειξα στην οθόνη – I showed it on the screen (more literally “showed”)

So although the literal basic meaning of βάζω is “to put”, the phrase is idiomatically fine for “I put it up on the screen for everyone to see.”

In στην οθόνη, why do we use the article? Could we say σε οθόνη instead?

In Greek, the definite article is used much more often than “the” in English. When we talk about a specific, known screen (e.g. the projector screen in that meeting), Greek normally uses the article:

στην οθόνη = “on the screen” (the one everyone knows about)

Σε οθόνη without the article would sound like “on a screen (some screen or other)” and is much less likely in this context. So:

Meeting context → στην οθόνη is the natural choice.

Why do we have Στη συνάντηση at the beginning? Could it go elsewhere?

Στη συνάντηση is a time/place expression (“at the meeting”). Greek word order is fairly flexible, so you could move it for different emphasis:

Στη συνάντηση τους το έβαλα στην οθόνη… (neutral: setting the scene first)
Τους το έβαλα στην οθόνη στη συνάντηση… (slightly more focus on what you did for them)
Τους το έβαλα στη συνάντηση στην οθόνη… (less natural, but still possible)

The basic rule: elements can move, but pronoun clusters like τους το έβαλα tend to stay together, and the verb with its little pronouns is usually near the middle or early in the clause.

In όλοι κατάλαβαν, why is όλοι masculine? Does it include women too?

Όλοι here is:

masculine plural, nominative
subject of κατάλαβαν.

In Greek, the masculine plural is the default for mixed or unspecified groups of people, even if many or most are women. So:

όλοι = everyone (masc. form, but includes women)
όλες = all (feminine plural) – used only when the group is known to be exclusively female.

So και όλοι κατάλαβαν means “and everyone understood,” regardless of gender.

What tense is κατάλαβαν, and how is it different from forms like καταλάβαιναν or καταλαβαίνουν?

Κατάλαβαν is:

tense: past
aspect: aorist
person: 3rd plural (“they understood”).

It presents understanding as a single, completed event: at that moment, they “got it”.

Compare:

καταλαβαίνουν – present: they understand (now / generally)
καταλάβαιναν – past imperfective: they were understanding / they used to understand (ongoing / repeated in the past)
θα καταλάβουν – future: they will understand

In your sentence, the point is that once you put it on the screen, they got it (then), so the aorist κατάλαβαν is appropriate.

Is the overall word order fixed, or could we say the same sentence in a different way?

Greek allows quite a lot of reordering, as long as the clitic pronouns stay in their proper slots. Possible variants (with slightly different emphasis) include:

Στη συνάντηση τους το έβαλα στην οθόνη και όλοι κατάλαβαν.
Στη συνάντηση τούς το έβαλα στην οθόνη και όλοι κατάλαβαν. (with written accent on τούς for clarity)
Τους το έβαλα στην οθόνη στη συνάντηση και όλοι κατάλαβαν.
Τους το έβαλα στηn οθόνη στη συνάντηση και κατάλαβαν όλοι.

The core that must stay together is:

τους το έβαλα (indirect clitic + direct clitic + verb)

Everything else (time/place phrases, όλοι) can move around for focus or style.