Learn Hardcore Greek: Όταν είμαι λυπημένος, ένα μικρό ποίημα με βοηθάει να χαλαρώσω. - When I am sad, a short poem helps me relax.

λυπημένος is an adjective meaning “sad” (masculine, singular).
The (understood) subject is I, and if the speaker is male, that’s masculine singular, so we use λυπημένος.
If a woman were speaking, she would say είμαι λυπημένη (feminine singular).
Neuter would be λυπημένο (for a neuter noun, e.g. το παιδί είναι λυπημένο – “the child is sad”).

λύπη is a noun (“sadness”), so είμαι λύπη would sound like “I am sadness,” which is wrong in normal Greek, just like in English.

λυπηρό is an adjective meaning “sad / regrettable” about situations, not about a person’s emotional state. You would say είναι λυπηρό που… (“it is sad that…”), but not είμαι λυπηρό for “I’m sad.”

What is the role of Όταν here, and why is the verb after it in the present tense (είμαι)?

Όταν means “when” in the sense of “whenever / every time that,” introducing a time clause.

In Όταν είμαι λυπημένος, the present tense είμαι is used not for a single moment, but for a general, habitual situation:

Όταν είμαι λυπημένος, …
= “When(ever) I’m sad, …” (in general, any time that happens)

If you were talking about one specific incident in the past, you could use the past tense:

Όταν ήμουν λυπημένος, ένα μικρό ποίημα με βοήθησε να χαλαρώσω.
“When I was sad, a short poem helped me relax.”

So: Όταν + present here = a general rule / repeated situation.

Why is there a comma after λυπημένος?

Greek uses a comma between:

A dependent clause (here: Όταν είμαι λυπημένος)
And the main clause (here: ένα μικρό ποίημα με βοηθάει να χαλαρώσω)

This is especially standard when the dependent clause comes first in the sentence, just like in English:

“When I am sad, a short poem helps me relax.”

If you reverse the order, the comma is often optional:

Ένα μικρό ποίημα με βοηθάει να χαλαρώσω όταν είμαι λυπημένος.
(Often written without a comma.)

Why is it ένα μικρό ποίημα and not μικρό ένα ποίημα or ένα ποίημα μικρό?

The normal word order in Greek for “a small X” is:

(article) + (adjective) + noun

So:

ένα μικρό ποίημα = a small/short poem

Other examples:

ένα ωραίο βιβλίο – a nice book
μια παλιά φωτογραφία – an old photograph

You can put the adjective after the noun (ένα ποίημα μικρό) but that sounds marked/poetic or emphatic. For regular speech, ένα μικρό ποίημα is the natural order.

Putting μικρό in front of ένα (μικρό ένα ποίημα) is ungrammatical in standard Greek.

What does με mean in με βοηθάει, and why is it before the verb?

Here με is the unstressed object pronoun “me” in the accusative case:

με βοηθάει = “(it) helps me”

Greek object pronouns like με usually go before the verb in simple sentences:

με βλέπει – he/she sees me
σε ακούω – I hear you
μας καλούν – they are calling us

You can also say βοηθάει εμένα (“it helps me”) with the full stressed pronoun εμένα after the verb, often for emphasis. But the normal everyday form is με βοηθάει.

What’s the difference between με and με meaning “with”? How do I know which one it is?

The form με can be:

The weak object pronoun “me” (accusative)
- με βοηθάει – it helps me
- με περιμένουν – they’re waiting for me
The preposition “with”
- με ένα φίλο – with a friend
- με χαρά – with pleasure

You tell them apart by their position and what follows:

If με is right before a verb with nothing in between (με βοηθάει, με βλέπει), it’s almost always the object pronoun “me.”
If με is followed by a noun or article (με ένα ποίημα, με τον πατέρα μου), it’s the preposition “with.”

Why is it βοηθάει and not just βοηθά?

The base verb is βοηθάω (or βοηθώ) = “to help.”

For the 3rd person singular present (“he/she/it helps”), there are two common forms:

βοηθάει
βοηθά

Both are correct and widely used. The -ει version (βοηθάει) is slightly more colloquial in many speakers’ usage; βοηθά can sound a bit more “written” or short.

So you could also say:

Όταν είμαι λυπημένος, ένα μικρό ποίημα με βοηθά να χαλαρώσω.

Meaning is the same in this context.

What exactly is να χαλαρώσω grammatically, and why isn’t there an infinitive like in English (“to relax”)?

Modern Greek does not use an infinitive like English. Instead, it uses να + subjunctive.

χαλαρώσω is the aorist subjunctive, 1st person singular of χαλαρώνω (“to relax” / “to unwind”).
να χαλαρώσω ≈ “(for) me to relax” / “to relax.”

After many verbs (want, try, help, decide, start, etc.), Greek uses να + subjunctive:

θέλω να χαλαρώσω – I want to relax
προσπαθώ να διαβάσω – I try to read

In our sentence, με βοηθάει να χαλαρώσω literally is “it helps me to relax,” with να χαλαρώσω filling the role that an infinitive would have in English.

Why is the form χαλαρώσω (aorist) and not χαλαρώνω (present) after να?

Greek distinguishes between:

να + present subjunctive (ongoing / repeated action)
να + aorist subjunctive (single, whole action / result)

Here, να χαλαρώσω (aorist) focuses on the result: reaching a relaxed state.

Compare:

με βοηθάει να χαλαρώνω – it helps me to be in the process of relaxing (more like supporting an ongoing habit)
με βοηθάει να χαλαρώσω – it helps me to relax (to get from tense → relaxed)

In this sentence, the natural choice is the aorist (χαλαρώσω), because the idea is “helps me (so that I end up) relaxed.”

Why don’t we say εγώ (I) anywhere? How do we know the subject is “I”?

Greek verbs are conjugated, and the ending shows the subject:

είμαι – I am
είσαι – you are
είναι – he/she/it is

Because είμαι already means “I am,” you don’t need the pronoun εγώ:

Όταν είμαι λυπημένος… – literally “When am-sad…”

Using εγώ is mostly for emphasis or contrast:

Όταν εγώ είμαι λυπημένος, ένα μικρό ποίημα με βοηθάει…
“When I am sad, a small poem helps me…” (implying maybe not others)

In normal, neutral sentences, Greeks usually omit subject pronouns unless they want to stress them.

Why is ποίημα neuter (ένα μικρό ποίημα) and not masculine or feminine?

In Greek, every noun has a grammatical gender (masculine, feminine, or neuter), and the article and adjectives must agree with that gender.

το ποίημα – the poem (neuter)
ένα ποίημα – a poem (neuter)
ένα μικρό ποίημα – a small poem (article ένα and adjective μικρό are also in neuter singular)

Some common neuter patterns end in -μα, like:

το μάθημα – the lesson
το γράμμα – the letter (both written and alphabet letter)
το ποίημα – the poem

You must learn the gender with the noun, because it affects all the words around it (articles, adjectives, some pronouns).

Could we say Όταν λυπάμαι instead of Όταν είμαι λυπημένος? Is there a difference?

Yes, you can say:

Όταν λυπάμαι, ένα μικρό ποίημα με βοηθάει να χαλαρώσω.

λυπάμαι is a verb meaning “I am sad / I feel sorry,” while είμαι λυπημένος uses the adjective “sad.”

The nuance:

Όταν λυπάμαι – more like “when I feel sad,” focusing on the emotion.
Όταν είμαι λυπημένος – “when I am in a sad state/mood,” slightly more stative.

In everyday speech they are very close, and both are perfectly natural here.

How do you pronounce ποίημα, and why is it written with οι and η?

ποίημα is pronounced:

/ˈpi.ima/
Two i sounds in a row: ΠΟΙ-η-μα, with stress on the first syllable (ΠΟΙ).

Spelling:

οι → pronounced /i/
η → also pronounced /i/

So, although you see οιη in the first two syllables, they correspond to /pi.i/ in sound. Greek has several different letters/digraphs (ι, η, υ, ει, οι, υι) that are all pronounced /i/ in modern speech, but they’re kept in spelling for historical reasons.