Breakdown of Πριν έρθουν οι καλεσμένοι, το σαλόνι σφουγγαριζόταν και καθαριζόταν προσεκτικά.
Questions & Answers about Πριν έρθουν οι καλεσμένοι, το σαλόνι σφουγγαριζόταν και καθαριζόταν προσεκτικά.
In Greek, after πριν (“before”) introducing a clause, you normally use the subjunctive, not the indicative or the future.
- έρθουν is the aorist subjunctive, 3rd person plural of έρχομαι (“to come”).
- πριν + (να) + subjunctive is the standard pattern for “before (someone) does/did something” when it refers to a specific event:
- Πριν έρθουν οι καλεσμένοι… = “Before the guests came / had come…”
- You do not say:
- ✗ Πριν ήρθαν οι καλεσμένοι
- ✗ Πριν θα έρθουν οι καλεσμένοι
These are ungrammatical in this temporal “before” sense. Greek does not use the future tense after πριν like English does (“before they will come” – which is wrong even in English) and it does not use a bare past indicative ήρθαν there either. It uses the subjunctive έρθουν to mark this as a dependent time clause.
έρθουν and έρχονται differ in aspect and (in practice) in mood:
- έρθουν: aorist subjunctive, 3rd plural.
- Views the action as a single, complete event (“the guests arrive” as one unit).
- έρχονται: present indicative (and also the form used for present subjunctive).
- Views the action as ongoing or repeated (“they are coming / they usually come”).
After πριν, you almost always use the aorist subjunctive to refer to a specific, one‑time event in relation to another event:
- Πριν έρθουν οι καλεσμένοι… = before they (actually, once) arrived.
Using a present form (ερ́χονται) after πριν would sound wrong or at least very odd here, because you are not talking about an ongoing process but about the completion of their arrival that marks the time limit of the cleaning.
Yes, you may also hear or read:
- Πριν να έρθουν οι καλεσμένοι…
The difference:
- πριν έρθουν (without να) is standard, neutral modern Greek and the most common in writing.
- πριν να έρθουν occurs in speech and in some regional / informal varieties. Some grammars and teachers regard να here as unnecessary or slightly colloquial, but it is widely used and understood.
In terms of meaning, there is no real difference: both take the subjunctive and both mean “before (they) come / came” in this context.
Both verbs are in:
- Imperfect tense
- Middle–passive voice
- 3rd person singular
Formally:
- σφουγγαριζόταν ← imperfect middle–passive of σφουγγαρίζω (“to mop”)
- καθαριζόταν ← imperfect middle–passive of καθαρίζω (“to clean”)
Functionally, they mean:
- το σαλόνι σφουγγαριζόταν = “the living room was being mopped”
- το σαλόνι καθαριζόταν = “the living room was being cleaned”
So the pattern is: [subject] + [imperfect passive] → “was being [verb]-ed”.
The choice of tense here expresses how the action is viewed in the past:
Imperfect (σφουγγαριζόταν, καθαριζόταν):
- Describes an ongoing, continuous or repeated action in the past.
- Fits well with the idea of preparation happening over a period of time before the guests arrived.
- Rough English equivalent: “was being mopped and cleaned”.
Aorist passive (σφουγγαρίστηκε, καθαρίστηκε):
- Describes a completed event, seen as a whole.
- Θα ήταν:
- Πριν έρθουν οι καλεσμένοι, το σαλόνι σφουγγαρίστηκε και καθαρίστηκε προσεκτικά.
→ “Before the guests came, the living room was (got) mopped and cleaned carefully (once, as completed actions).”
- Πριν έρθουν οι καλεσμένοι, το σαλόνι σφουγγαρίστηκε και καθαρίστηκε προσεκτικά.
In the original, the imperfect emphasizes the process of cleaning going on before the arrival, not just the fact that it was completed.
In this sentence, το σαλόνι is the subject, not the object.
Why?
- In the active voice, you would say:
- Κάποιος σφουγγάριζε το σαλόνι.
- Subject: κάποιος (“someone”)
- Object: το σαλόνι
- Κάποιος σφουγγάριζε το σαλόνι.
- In the passive voice, the object of the active becomes the subject:
- Το σαλόνι σφουγγαριζόταν.
- Subject: το σαλόνι
- The agent (the person who’s mopping) is not mentioned.
- Το σαλόνι σφουγγαριζόταν.
So although in English you tend to think “mop the living room” with “the living room” as an object, in the Greek passive structure it is grammatically the subject of the verb in the middle–passive form.
The verbs agree with the subject, not with the number of actions:
- Subject: το σαλόνι → 3rd person singular
- Verbs:
- σφουγγαριζόταν (3rd singular)
- καθαριζόταν (3rd singular)
When you have one subject doing/undergoing multiple actions connected by και (“and”), each verb simply agrees with the same subject:
- Το σαλόνι σφουγγαριζόταν και καθαριζόταν.
- Similarly:
- Ο Γιάννης έτρωγε και μιλούσε. = “Yannis was eating and talking.”
Here it is simply passive, not reflexive in meaning.
- Modern Greek uses the middle–passive endings (e.g. -όταν, -όμουν, -όμαστε) for several functions:
- True passive:
- Το σαλόνι σφουγγαριζόταν. = “The living room was being mopped (by someone).”
- Reflexive:
- Ντύνεται. = “He/She gets dressed (dresses himself/herself).”
- “Middle”/intransitive uses:
- Ανοίγεται η πόρτα. = “The door opens (is opening).”
- True passive:
In this sentence, the obvious interpretation is passive: people are cleaning the living room, but the agent is not mentioned.
They overlap in meaning, but they are not exactly the same:
- σφουγγαρίζω = “to mop (the floor)”, specifically with a mop/sponge and water.
- καθαρίζω = “to clean” in a general sense (dusting, tidying, wiping surfaces, etc.).
By using both:
- σφουγγαριζόταν και καθαριζόταν, the speaker suggests that:
- the floor was being mopped specifically, and
- the room in general was being cleaned (maybe dusted, tidied, etc.)
So it gives a sense of thorough cleaning, not mere redundancy.
προσεκτικά is an adverb meaning “carefully”.
In this sentence, at the end:
- …σφουγγαριζόταν και καθαριζόταν προσεκτικά.
it naturally modifies both verbs, indicating how the mopping and cleaning were done: carefully.
Common possible positions:
- At the end, as in the original:
- Το σαλόνι σφουγγαριζόταν και καθαριζόταν προσεκτικά.
- Before the verbs (a bit more marked/emphatic):
- Το σαλόνι προσεκτικά σφουγγαριζόταν και καθαριζόταν. (less natural)
- Between the verbs (awkward, usually avoided):
- ✗ σφουγγαριζόταν προσεκτικά και καθαριζόταν
The original placement at the end is the most natural and clearly understood to apply to both actions.
Yes. Greek word order is quite flexible. You can say either:
- Πριν έρθουν οι καλεσμένοι, το σαλόνι σφουγγαριζόταν και καθαριζόταν προσεκτικά.
- Το σαλόνι σφουγγαριζόταν και καθαριζόταν προσεκτικά πριν έρθουν οι καλεσμένοι.
Both are grammatical and natural. The differences are mainly in emphasis and flow:
- Starting with Πριν έρθουν οι καλεσμένοι highlights the time condition (“Before the guests came…”).
- Starting with Το σαλόνι σφουγγαριζόταν… focuses first on what was happening to the living room, and then adds the time frame.
The comma is needed when the πριν–clause comes first, and usually omitted when it comes second, exactly as in English with “Before…” clauses.
καλεσμένοι is historically a participle (a verbal adjective) of the verb καλώ (“to call, to invite”):
- καλεσμένος (masc. sg.) = “invited (one)” → “guest”
- καλεσμένοι (masc. pl.) = “invited (ones)” → “guests”
Grammatically in this sentence:
- οι καλεσμένοι = nominative plural, masculine, with definite article.
- It functions as a noun (“the guests”), even though its form is adjectival.
So:
- Πριν έρθουν οι καλεσμένοι… = “Before the invited ones (the guests) arrived…”
You can think of it as a noun that comes from a past participle, similar to English “the invited” used as a noun.