Breakdown of Η τελευταία εβδομάδα του Μαρτίου είναι πάντα ήσυχη.
Questions & Answers about Η τελευταία εβδομάδα του Μαρτίου είναι πάντα ήσυχη.
In Greek, every noun has a grammatical gender: masculine, feminine, or neuter.
- Η is the feminine singular nominative definite article: η εβδομάδα (the week).
- Ο is masculine singular nominative: ο μήνας (the month).
- Το is neuter singular nominative: το βιβλίο (the book).
The noun εβδομάδα (week) is feminine, so it must take the feminine article η in the nominative case:
- Η εβδομάδα = the week
- Therefore: Η τελευταία εβδομάδα… = The last week…
In Greek, adjectives normally go before the noun when they are directly describing it (this is called the attributive position):
- η τελευταία εβδομάδα = the last week
You can also see a structure like:
- η εβδομάδα η τελευταία
This is possible, but it sounds more marked and can feel a bit emphatic or stylistic, something like “the week, the last one” in English. For everyday neutral speech, adjective + noun is the normal pattern:
- η μεγάλη πόλη (the big city)
- ο παλιός φίλος (the old friend)
- η τελευταία εβδομάδα (the last week)
Τελευταία is an adjective meaning last (in a sequence).
Greek adjectives agree with the noun in gender, number, and case:
- Masculine: τελευταίος (e.g., ο τελευταίος μήνας – the last month)
- Feminine: τελευταία (e.g., η τελευταία εβδομάδα – the last week)
- Neuter: τελευταίο (e.g., το τελευταίο γράμμα – the last letter)
Since εβδομάδα is feminine singular nominative, the adjective must also be feminine singular nominative:
- η τελευταία εβδομάδα = the last week
Του is not a preposition. It’s the genitive singular masculine/neuter form of the definite article ο/το.
In του Μαρτίου:
- Μάρτιος = March (masculine singular nominative)
- Μαρτίου = March (masculine singular genitive)
- του Μαρτίου literally = “of the March”
Greek uses the genitive case (with the article) where English uses “of”:
- η τελευταία εβδομάδα του Μαρτίου
= the last week of March
So του is the article in genitive, not a separate word meaning “of”.
Μάρτιος is the nominative form of the month’s name:
- Ο Μάρτιος είναι μήνας. – March is a month.
In η τελευταία εβδομάδα του Μαρτίου, March is used in a possessive / “of” sense: the last week of March.
Greek expresses this with the genitive case:
- Nominative: Μάρτιος
- Genitive: Μαρτίου
So του Μαρτίου = “of March”, which is why Μαρτίου (genitive) is used here.
In standard modern Greek prose, the verb είμαι (to be) is normally not omitted in sentences like this.
- Η τελευταία εβδομάδα του Μαρτίου είναι πάντα ήσυχη.
= The last week of March is always quiet.
Leaving out είναι (e.g. Η τελευταία εβδομάδα του Μαρτίου πάντα ήσυχη) would sound incorrect or very odd in most contexts.
So, unlike some languages that can drop “to be” in the present tense, Greek generally requires it in this kind of descriptive sentence.
Both πάντα and πάντοτε mean always and are usually interchangeable.
- είναι πάντα ήσυχη
- είναι πάντοτε ήσυχη
Differences:
- πάντα is more common and more colloquial in everyday speech.
- πάντοτε can sound a bit more formal, literary, or emphatic, but it’s still perfectly normal.
In everyday conversation, you’ll hear πάντα much more often.
ήσυχος / ήσυχη / ήσυχο is an adjective meaning quiet (or calm).
It must agree with the noun εβδομάδα in:
- Gender: feminine
- Number: singular
- Case: nominative (because it’s the subject complement)
So:
- Masculine: ήσυχος (e.g., ο ήσυχος δρόμος – the quiet street)
- Feminine: ήσυχη (e.g., η ήσυχη εβδομάδα – the quiet week)
- Neuter: ήσυχο (e.g., το ήσυχο χωριό – the quiet village)
In the sentence:
- Η τελευταία εβδομάδα … είναι … ήσυχη.
“Week” is feminine, so the adjective must be ήσυχη.
Yes, Greek word order is fairly flexible, especially for emphasis.
These are all grammatically correct:
- Η τελευταία εβδομάδα του Μαρτίου είναι πάντα ήσυχη. (neutral, standard)
- Η τελευταία εβδομάδα του Μαρτίου πάντα είναι ήσυχη. (slightly emphatic on “always”)
- Πάντα είναι ήσυχη η τελευταία εβδομάδα του Μαρτίου. (stronger emphasis on “always”)
What you can’t normally do is separate εβδομάδα from του Μαρτίου in an unnatural way (e.g. η τελευταία εβδομάδα είναι πάντα ήσυχη του Μαρτίου sounds wrong), because του Μαρτίου tightly belongs with εβδομάδα (“week of March”).
Key points:
- η is pronounced like “ee” in “see”.
- αι is pronounced like “e” in “bed”.
- ου is pronounced like “oo” in “food”.
- ευ is usually pronounced [ev] before voiced consonants and vowels.
So:
εβδομάδα = ev-tho-MA-tha (modern Greek θ = th in “think”)
- ευ → ev
- Stress on -μά-
Μαρτίου = mar-TEE-ou
- ου → oo
- Stress on -τί-
Approximate full sentence:
Η τελευταία εβδομάδα του Μαρτίου είναι πάντα ήσυχη.
ee te-lef-TE-a ev-tho-MA-tha tou mar-TEE-ou EE-ne PAN-da EE-see-chi
In Greek, just like in English, month names are proper nouns and are written with a capital initial letter:
- Ιανουάριος – January
- Φεβρουάριος – February
- Μάρτιος – March
- etc.
Even in the genitive:
- του Μαρτίου – of March
So Μαρτίου is capitalized because it is the name of the month, not a common noun.
You need the plural of both the noun and the adjective:
- Οι τελευταίες εβδομάδες του Μαρτίου είναι πάντα ήσυχες.
Breakdown:
- Οι – feminine plural nominative article
- τελευταίες – feminine plural nominative adjective (last)
- εβδομάδες – feminine plural nominative noun (weeks)
- του Μαρτίου – of March (genitive singular, same as before)
- είναι – are
- πάντα ήσυχες – always quiet (feminine plural nominative)
Both can sometimes be translated as quiet or calm, but they have slightly different typical uses:
ήσυχη
- Often: not noisy, peaceful.
- ήσυχη εβδομάδα, ήσυχος δρόμος, ήσυχη γειτονιά – quiet week / street / neighborhood.
ήρεμη
- Often: calm, not agitated, emotionally or in terms of movement.
- ήρεμη θάλασσα – calm sea
- ήρεμος άνθρωπος – calm person
- ήρεμη ζωή – calm life
In this sentence, ήσυχη fits very naturally:
Η τελευταία εβδομάδα του Μαρτίου είναι πάντα ήσυχη.
= “The last week of March is always quiet (not busy, not noisy).”