Learn Hardcore Greek: Στο προάστιο όπου μένω, έχουμε ήσυχους δρόμους και λίγο θόρυβο. - In the suburb where I live, we have quiet streets and little noise.

που (without an accent) is the usual everyday relative particle, very common in spoken Greek.
όπου is a bit more formal or “bookish” and explicitly points to a place.

In many everyday contexts, που and όπου are interchangeable when they refer to “where”. So:

Το προάστιο όπου μένω and
Το προάστιο που μένω

are both natural; όπου just sounds slightly more careful or literary.

Note: πού with an accent is a question word (where?), different from που (relative particle).

Why is there a comma after μένω?

The comma separates the relative clause from the main clause.

Relative clause: όπου μένω (where I live)
Main clause: έχουμε ήσυχους δρόμους και λίγο θόρυβο (we have quiet streets and little noise)

So the structure is:

Στο προάστιο όπου μένω, → introductory phrase with a relative clause
έχουμε… → main statement

In Greek, it is standard to put a comma after a subordinate clause or an introductory phrase when the main clause follows, just like in English:

In the suburb where I live, we have…

Why is μένω used here instead of ζω or κατοικώ?

All three verbs can relate to “living,” but they differ slightly:

μένω
Very common and neutral. Means to stay or to live (reside) somewhere.
- Μένω στο προάστιο. = I live in the suburb.
ζω
More general: to live, to be alive, to experience life. Can also mean live in a place, but it feels less like “reside at an address” and more like “live (one’s life) in a place.”
- Ζω στην Αθήνα. = I live in Athens (my life is in Athens).
κατοικώ
More formal, like reside.
- Κατοικώ στο προάστιο. = I reside in the suburb (sounds official/formal).

In everyday speech about where you live (your home), μένω is the most natural choice.

Where is the subject “we” in έχουμε? Why isn’t εμείς written?

Greek is a “pro-drop” language: personal subject pronouns (I, you, we, etc.) are often omitted because the verb ending already shows the subject.

έχω = I have
έχεις = you (singular) have
έχει = he/she/it has
έχουμε = we have
έχετε = you (plural/formal) have
έχουν = they have

So έχουμε already means we have. You only add εμείς when you want to emphasize or contrast:

Εμείς έχουμε ήσυχους δρόμους, αυτοί έχουν πολύ θόρυβο.
We have quiet streets, they have a lot of noise.

Why is it ήσυχους δρόμους and not ήσυχοι δρόμοι?

Because ήσυχους δρόμους is the direct object of the verb έχουμε, so it must be in the accusative case, plural.

Basic form (nominative singular):

ήσυχος δρόμος = a quiet street

In the plural accusative (object):

(έχουμε) ήσυχους δρόμους = (we have) quiet streets

If they were the subject of the sentence, you’d use nominative:

Ήσυχοι δρόμοι υπάρχουν στο προάστιο.
Quiet streets exist in the suburb.

But with έχουμε, ήσυχους δρόμους is what “we have”, so it goes to accusative.

Why does the adjective ήσυχους end in -ους?

Adjectives in Greek must agree with the noun in:

gender
number
case

δρόμους is:

masculine
plural
accusative

So the adjective ήσυχος (quiet) takes the same form:

masculine plural accusative → ήσυχους

Patterns for a typical adjective like ήσυχος:

Singular:
- masculine: ήσυχος
- feminine: ήσυχη
- neuter: ήσυχο
Plural nominative:
- masculine: ήσυχοι
- feminine: ήσυχες
- neuter: ήσυχα
Plural accusative (masculine):
- ήσυχους (matching δρόμους)

Why is there no article (no τους) before ήσυχους δρόμους?

έχουμε ήσυχους δρόμους means we have quiet streets in a general / indefinite sense. You are not talking about a specific, known set of quiet streets; you’re describing a characteristic of the area.

If you said:

έχουμε τους ήσυχους δρόμους

it would sound like you are referring to some particular quiet streets already known in the context (e.g. those quiet streets we talked about).

So:

ήσυχους δρόμους (no article) → some/quiet streets in general
τους ήσυχους δρόμους (with article) → the specific quiet streets

What exactly does λίγο θόρυβο mean, and why is it λίγο and not λίγος?

λίγο θόρυβο means a little noise / little noise (not much noise).

θόρυβο is masculine accusative singular (object of έχουμε).
The basic form is ο θόρυβος (nominative singular).

So the adjective λίγος (little, few, not much/many) must agree:

masculine
singular
accusative → λίγο

Hence:

λίγο θόρυβο = a small amount of noise

You can use the same pattern with other uncountable nouns:

λίγο νερό = a little water
λίγη ζάχαρη = a little sugar (feminine)
λίγο χρόνο = a little time

If you said λίγος θόρυβος, that would be nominative (subject), e.g.:

Λίγος θόρυβος δεν με ενοχλεί.
A little noise doesn’t bother me.

Can I change the word order after έχουμε, like έχουμε λίγο θόρυβο και ήσυχους δρόμους?

Yes. Greek word order is relatively flexible, so both are possible:

έχουμε ήσυχους δρόμους και λίγο θόρυβο
έχουμε λίγο θόρυβο και ήσυχους δρόμους

The difference is mostly emphasis and flow:

Putting ήσυχους δρόμους first slightly highlights the positive aspect (quiet streets) before mentioning the small amount of noise.
Switching them might slightly foreground the noise.

Grammatically, both are fine. Native speakers often prefer the more “pleasant” or “logical” order in context, but both are correct.

Does μένω here mean “I live” or “I’m living”? What aspect/tense is it?

μένω is in the present tense, which in modern Greek covers both:

I live (habitual, permanent)
I’m living (current, possibly temporary)

Context decides. In this sentence, we naturally understand it as I live (I reside), a relatively stable situation:

Στο προάστιο όπου μένω, έχουμε…
= In the suburb where I live, we have…

So Greek present μένω includes both English simple and continuous meanings.

How do you pronounce the main words in this sentence?

Approximate pronunciations (stressed syllable in CAPITALS, using English-like sounds):

Στο → stoh (like “stow”)
προάστιο → pro-AS-tee-o (the στυ sounds like sti-o, often heard as STYO)
όπου → O-poo
μένω → ME-no (e as in “met”, but a bit more closed)
έχουμε → E-hu-me
- χ is a voiceless sound, like German ch in Bach or Scottish loch
ήσυχους → EE-si-hus
- η / υ both sound like English ee
- χ again like in loch
δρόμους → DHRÓ-mus
- δ is like th in this
- ρ is rolled or tapped
λίγο → LEE-go (g as in “go”)
θόρυβο → THÓ-ree-vo
- θ is like th in think
- β is like English v

Spoken naturally, the whole sentence flows roughly as:

Sto pro-AS-tyo O-pu ME-no, E-hu-me EE-si-hus DHRÓ-mus ke LEE-go THÓ-ree-vo.

Could I move στο προάστιο όπου μένω to the end of the sentence?

Yes. Both of these are grammatically correct:

Στο προάστιο όπου μένω, έχουμε ήσυχους δρόμους και λίγο θόρυβο.
Έχουμε ήσυχους δρόμους και λίγο θόρυβο στο προάστιο όπου μένω.

Differences:

Initial position (Στο προάστιο όπου μένω…) puts more emphasis on the location first.
Final position (…στο προάστιο όπου μένω) sounds more like you say what you have, and then specify where at the end.

Greek allows such reordering quite freely; the choice mostly affects emphasis and style, not correctness.