Learn Hardcore Greek: Η οικονομική κρίση ήταν δύσκολη για την οικογένειά μου, γιατί ο παππούς μου είχε δάνειο για το σπίτι. - The economic crisis was hard for my family, because my grandfather had a loan for the house.

Η οικονομική κρίση = the economic crisis
Here it refers to a specific, known crisis (e.g. the 2008 economic crisis), so Greek naturally uses the article.

If you removed the article (Οικονομική κρίση ήταν δύσκολη...), it would sound incomplete or like a headline/title, not a normal sentence. In standard spoken and written Greek, you almost always need the article with concrete, known things like this.

Why is it ήταν δύσκολη and not ήταν δύσκολο?

The adjective must agree in gender, number, and case with the noun it describes.

κρίση (crisis) is:
- feminine
- singular
- nominative (subject of the sentence)

So the adjective δύσκολος (difficult) must match:

masculine: δύσκολος
feminine: δύσκολη
neuter: δύσκολο

Because η κρίση is feminine, we say:

Η οικονομική κρίση ήταν δύσκολη.

If you said ήταν δύσκολο, it would sound wrong to a native speaker here.

Why is it δύσκολη για την οικογένειά μου and not δύσκολη σε την οικογένειά μου?

In Greek, some adjectives naturally pair with certain prepositions. For δύσκολος/δύσκολη/δύσκολο, the usual pattern for “difficult for someone” is:

δύσκολος για κάποιον = difficult for someone

So we say:

ήταν δύσκολη για την οικογένειά μου
= it was difficult for my family

Using σε here (δύσκολη σε την οικογένειά μου) is ungrammatical.
Σε can work with other adjectives or verbs (e.g. χρήσιμος σε, αρέσει σε), but not with δύσκολος in this meaning.

Why is it για την οικογένειά μου and not για η οικογένειά μου?

After most prepositions in Greek, the noun goes into the accusative case.

Preposition: για (for)
Noun: η οικογένεια (family)
- nominative: η οικογένεια
- accusative: την οικογένεια

So:

για + την οικογένειά μου

Using για η οικογένειά μου keeps the nominative form η, which is wrong after a preposition. The correct pattern is always:

για + τον / την / το + noun in accusative

Why does οικογένειά have an accent on the last syllable in την οικογένειά μου?

The basic word is:

η οικογένεια (family) → accent on -γέ-

When you add an enclitic pronoun like μου (my) after the noun, the accent often shifts or adds to keep the word properly stressed according to Greek rules.

So:

η οικογένεια → την οικογένειά μου

The extra accent on the last syllable shows that the noun is taking an enclitic pronoun (μου). It’s a regular spelling rule in Greek when a word with a single accent is followed by an enclitic.

Why is μου (my) placed after the noun (οικογένειά μου, παππούς μου) and not before, like in English “my family”, “my grandfather”?

Greek possessive pronouns like μου, σου, του, της, μας, σας, τους are clitics and normally come after the noun they modify:

η οικογένειά μου = my family
ο παππούς μου = my grandfather
το σπίτι μου = my house

Putting them before the noun (μου οικογένεια) is not standard. You can sometimes put a strong form before the noun for emphasis (e.g. η δική μου οικογένεια = my family (as opposed to someone else’s)), but the normal possessive always follows the noun.

Why is there a comma before γιατί in ..., γιατί ο παππούς μου είχε δάνειο...?

Here γιατί means because, introducing a subordinate clause that gives the reason:

Main clause: Η οικονομική κρίση ήταν δύσκολη για την οικογένειά μου
Subordinate clause: γιατί ο παππούς μου είχε δάνειο για το σπίτι

In Greek, it is very common (and usually correct) to put a comma before conjunctions like γιατί, επειδή, όταν, αν when they introduce a reason or condition:

..., γιατί ... = ..., because ...

So the comma here separates the main statement from the explanation.

What is the difference between γιατί and επειδή? Could we say ..., επειδή ο παππούς μου είχε δάνειο... instead?

Both can mean because, but there are some nuances:

γιατί
- means why in questions:
  - Γιατί ήταν δύσκολη; = Why was it difficult?
- means because in answers/statements:
  - Ήταν δύσκολη, γιατί ο παππούς μου είχε δάνειο.
επειδή
- only means because (not why).
- often a bit more formal or explicit as a “because”.

In this sentence, you can say:

..., επειδή ο παππούς μου είχε δάνειο για το σπίτι.

It’s grammatical and natural. Γιατί is perhaps a bit more common in everyday speech, but both work.

Why do we say ο παππούς μου with the article ο? In English we don’t say “the my grandfather”.

In Greek, family members and close relations almost always take the definite article when you specify whose they are:

ο παππούς μου = my grandfather
η γιαγιά μου = my grandmother
ο αδερφός μου = my brother
η μητέρα μου = my mother

The pattern is:

ο/η/το + noun (person) + μου/σου/του/...

Leaving out the article (παππούς μου είχε δάνειο) is possible in very limited stylistic contexts (poetry, headlines), but in normal speech you use ο παππούς μου.

Why is it είχε δάνειο (he had a loan) and not something like πήρε δάνειο (he took/got a loan)?

είχε δάνειο (from έχω = to have) describes a state in the past:
- He had a loan; the loan existed/was ongoing at that time.
πήρε δάνειο (from παίρνω = to take) describes an event:
- He took out / got a loan (the action of signing / receiving the money).

In this sentence, the idea is that during the economic crisis, your grandfather was already paying off a loan, so:

ο παππούς μου είχε δάνειο για το σπίτι
= my grandfather had a loan for the house (an ongoing obligation)

If you said:

..., γιατί ο παππούς μου πήρε δάνειο για το σπίτι.

you’d be emphasizing the moment he took the loan, which doesn’t fit as well with “the crisis was difficult” as an ongoing situation.

Why don’t we say είχε ένα δάνειο (he had a loan)? Why is there no ένα?

In Greek, you don’t always need the indefinite article ένας / μία / ένα where English uses “a/an”.

With abstract or countable nouns used in a general sense, it’s common just to use the bare noun in the singular:

είχε δάνειο = he had a loan
έχει παιδί = he has a child
έχω δουλειά = I have work / a job

You could say είχε ένα δάνειο, and it’s not wrong, but it slightly emphasizes one specific loan, possibly contrasting with more loans. In this context, είχε δάνειο is more neutral and natural.

What does για το σπίτι mean exactly here? Is it “for the house”, “on the house”, or “to buy the house”?

για το σπίτι literally means for the house. Here it expresses purpose or relation:

είχε δάνειο για το σπίτι
= he had a loan for the house
= he had a mortgage / home loan (a loan related to the house)

If you wanted to be more explicit, you could also say:

είχε δάνειο για να αγοράσει το σπίτι
= he had a loan in order to buy the house

But in everyday Greek, δάνειο για το σπίτι is enough to convey a housing loan / mortgage.

Why is it την οικογένειά μου and not τη οικογένειά μου? I’ve seen both τη and την.

The feminine accusative singular article has two written forms:

τη
την

Modern spelling rules:

Before vowels and before κ, π, τ, ξ, ψ, you normally keep the ν:
- την οικογένεια, την κρίση, την πόρτα, την τράπεζα
Before other consonants, many people write τη:
- τη ζωή, τη μαμά

So in για την οικογένειά μου, the noun starts with a vowel (ο-), so the standard form is την.

In speech, though, many people pronounce it very lightly, and in informal writing you’ll sometimes see τη everywhere. But την οικογένειά μου is the standard spelling here.

Could the word order be different, like Ο παππούς μου είχε δάνειο για το σπίτι, γι’ αυτό η οικονομική κρίση ήταν δύσκολη για την οικογένειά μου?

Yes, you can change the word order and even the connector to sound more natural in different contexts.

Original:

Η οικονομική κρίση ήταν δύσκολη για την οικογένειά μου, γιατί ο παππούς μου είχε δάνειο για το σπίτι.

Alternative (cause first, result second):

Ο παππούς μου είχε δάνειο για το σπίτι, γι’ αυτό η οικονομική κρίση ήταν δύσκολη για την οικογένειά μου.
= My grandfather had a loan for the house; that’s why the economic crisis was difficult for my family.

Both are grammatical and natural.
The original stresses the crisis first; the alternative stresses the loan as the cause.