Learn Hardcore Greek: Τα παιδιά παίζουν χαλαρά στον κήπο, ενώ η γιαγιά τα κοιτάει από το μπαλκόνι. - The children play in a relaxed way in the garden, while grandma watches them from the balcony.

In Greek, παιδιά is neuter plural, so it takes the neuter plural definite article τα, not οι (which is the masculine/feminine plural article).

So:

το παιδί = the child
τα παιδιά = the children

Even though in English child/children are not neuter, in Greek they grammatically belong to the neuter gender.

Why is παίζουν translated as “are playing” and not “play”?

Greek doesn’t make a grammatical distinction between simple present and present continuous like English does. The present tense (ενεστώτας) generally covers both:

Τα παιδιά παίζουν can be:
- The children play (general habit), or
- The children are playing (right now)

The context here is clearly a current scene being described, so the natural English translation is “are playing.” Grammatically, though, it’s just Greek present tense.

What is the verb form παίζουν? Can you show the full present tense of παίζω?

Παίζουν is the 3rd person plural (they) of the verb παίζω (to play).

Present tense of παίζω:

(εγώ) παίζω – I play / I am playing
(εσύ) παίζεις – you play / you are playing (singular)
(αυτός/αυτή/αυτό) παίζει – he/she/it plays / is playing
(εμείς) παίζουμε – we play / we are playing
(εσείς) παίζετε – you play / you are playing (plural/polite)
(αυτοί/αυτές/αυτά) παίζουν – they play / they are playing

So in the sentence, παίζουν agrees with τα παιδιά (they).

What is χαλαρά doing in the sentence? Is it an adjective or an adverb?

Here χαλαρά is an adverb describing how the children are playing:

παίζουν χαλαρά = they are playing relaxed / in a relaxed way / casually

The base adjective is:

χαλαρός, -ή, -ό = relaxed

From the adjective, Greek forms an indeclinable adverb χαλαρά, which doesn’t change for gender or number and doesn’t agree with τα παιδιά. It just modifies the verb παίζουν.

How is στον κήπο formed, and why is it not just σε κήπο?

Στον κήπο is a contraction:

σε (in, at, to) + τον (masculine singular article, accusative) → στον
ο κήπος = the garden (nominative)
τον κήπο = the garden (accusative, object of the preposition)

So:

στον κήπο literally = in the garden

If you said σε κήπο (without the article) it would mean “in a garden”, more indefinite. With the article (στον κήπο), it’s a specific garden that both speaker and listener presumably know.

Why is it κήπο and not κήπος?

Κήπος is a masculine noun:

Nominative (subject): ο κήπος – the garden
Accusative (object / after many prepositions): τον κήπο – the garden

After σε (in, at, to) + the article τον, we use the accusative:

στον κήπο = in the garden

So κήπο is just the accusative form of κήπος.

What does ενώ mean exactly? Is it always best translated as “while”?

Ενώ is a conjunction. Its most common meanings:

while (two actions happening at the same time)
- Τα παιδιά παίζουν…, ενώ η γιαγιά τα κοιτάει…
  = The children are playing…, while grandma is watching them…
whereas, while in a contrastive sense:
- Εγώ δουλεύω, ενώ εσύ κάθεσαι.
  = I work, whereas you sit around.

In this sentence, it is primarily temporal (two things happening at the same time), not strongly contrastive, so “while” is a good translation.

Why is it η γιαγιά? What gender is this noun?

Γιαγιά means grandmother / grandma and is a feminine noun.

η γιαγιά = the grandmother / grandma
- η is the feminine singular article

Basic forms:

Nominative: η γιαγιά – the grandma (subject)
Accusative: τη(ν) γιαγιά – the grandma (object)

In the sentence, η γιαγιά is the subject of κοιτάει (is watching).

What does the pronoun τα in η γιαγιά τα κοιτάει refer to, and why is it τα and not τους?

The τα is a clitic object pronoun meaning “them”.

It refers back to τα παιδιά:

τα παιδιά → neuter plural
The matching object pronoun is τα (neuter plural: them)

Τους is the masculine plural object pronoun; you’d use it for a masculine group:

οι άντρες (the men) → τους (them)

Since παιδιά is neuter in Greek, we must use τα, not τους:

Η γιαγιά τα κοιτάει. = Grandma is looking at them (the children).

Why does τα come before the verb in τα κοιτάει? Can it go after the verb like in English?

In standard Greek, short object pronouns like τον, την, το, τους, τις, τα normally go before the verb in simple statements:

Η γιαγιά τα κοιτάει. = Grandma is watching them.

They only go after the verb in specific cases (like affirmative commands):

Κοίταξέ τα! = Look at them!

So you cannot say:

✗ Η γιαγιά κοιτάει τα (this is wrong)

The pronoun must appear as τα κοιτάει in this sentence structure.

What does κοιτάει mean, and are there other forms like κοιτά or κοιτάζει?

Κοιτάει means “(he/she) looks (at), is looking (at), watches, is watching.”

It’s the 3rd person singular of κοιτάω / κοιτάζω (to look at, to watch).

Modern Greek allows some variation in the present tense:

κοιτάει
κοιτά
κοιτάζει

All are understood and common; nuances are minimal in everyday speech:

Η γιαγιά τα κοιτάει.
Η γιαγιά τα κοιτά.
Η γιαγιά τα κοιτάζει.

All can mean “Grandma is watching them.”
Κοιτάει and κοιτά are very common in speech; κοιτάζει can feel a bit more “complete” or slightly more formal, depending on context.

What is the function of από in από το μπαλκόνι?

Από is a preposition meaning from (among other uses).

το μπαλκόνι = the balcony
από το μπαλκόνι = from the balcony

Here it indicates the point of view / location from which the grandmother is watching:

She is not on the garden; she is watching from up on the balcony.

In speech, από το is often pronounced απ’ το, but in writing both από το and απ’ το are correct.

What gender is το μπαλκόνι, and why is the article το?

Μπαλκόνι (balcony) is a neuter noun.

το μπαλκόνι = the balcony (nominative or accusative singular)

Neuter nouns in the singular take το as their definite article. Since μπαλκόνι is the object of από, it’s in the accusative, which for neuter looks the same as the nominative:

Nominative: το μπαλκόνι
Accusative: το μπαλκόνι

Can the word order of the sentence be changed, or is it fixed?

Greek word order is relatively flexible, so several variations are possible while keeping the same meaning, for example:

Η γιαγιά τα κοιτάει από το μπαλκόνι, ενώ τα παιδιά παίζουν χαλαρά στον κήπο.
Ενώ τα παιδιά παίζουν χαλαρά στον κήπο, η γιαγιά τα κοιτάει από το μπαλκόνι.

You can move phrases like από το μπαλκόνι or στον κήπο around for emphasis, but:

The article+noun need to stay together (e.g. η γιαγιά, τα παιδιά).
The clitic pronoun τα must stay attached to the verb group (τα κοιτάει, not separated or placed after the verb in a simple statement).

The original order is natural and neutral in tone.