Learn Hardcore Greek: Τη στιγμή που φτάνω στο σπίτι, η μαμά μου με παίρνει αγκαλιά. - The moment I arrive home, my mom hugs me.

It emphasizes the exact moment something happens, often with a slightly stronger or more dramatic feeling than plain όταν (“when”).
With όταν, the sentence would be:
Όταν φτάνω στο σπίτι, η μαμά μου με παίρνει αγκαλιά.
This is perfectly fine and a bit more neutral: “When I arrive home, my mom hugs me.”
With τη στιγμή που, it suggests more strongly that the hug happens right at that moment of arrival.

Why are both verbs (φτάνω, παίρνει) in the present tense? It sounds like a repeated action.

In Greek, the present tense is used not only for what’s happening now but also for:

Habitual / repeated actions (like English “whenever I arrive…”).
General truths or typical behavior.

So:

Τη στιγμή που φτάνω στο σπίτι, η μαμά μου με παίρνει αγκαλιά.
= “The moment I arrive home, my mom (always/typically) hugs me.”

If you wanted a specific past event, you’d switch to past tenses:

Τη στιγμή που έφτασα στο σπίτι, η μαμά μου με πήρε αγκαλιά.
= “The moment I arrived home, my mom hugged me.”

What case is τη στιγμή, and why is it in the accusative without a preposition?

Τη στιγμή is in the accusative feminine singular:

η στιγμή (nominative) → τη στιγμή (accusative).

Here, it’s an example of the accusative of time: Greek often uses the accusative to express when something happens, especially in fixed expressions:

κάθε μέρα – “every day”
την ώρα που… – “the time when…”
τη στιγμή που… – “the moment when…”

So τη στιγμή doesn’t need a preposition like “at” or “on”; the accusative form plus context gives the temporal meaning.

What does φτάνω mean exactly, and how is it different from έρχομαι?

Φτάνω means “to arrive”, “to reach (a place or goal)”.

φτάνω στο σπίτι = “I arrive at home.”

Έρχομαι means “to come”, with more focus on the movement itself rather than the endpoint:

έρχομαι στο σπίτι = “I’m coming home.” (on my way / intention to come)

In context:

Όταν φτάνω στο σπίτι emphasizes the moment you get there,
while
Όταν έρχομαι στο σπίτι emphasizes the coming (the journey or act of coming).

In many everyday contexts, both can be used, but here φτάνω fits very naturally because we’re talking about what happens at the instant of arrival.

Why is it στο σπίτι? What is στο?

Στο is a contraction of σε + το:

σε = “in / at / to / into”
το = the neuter singular definite article (“the”).

So:

σε + το σπίτι → στο σπίτι = “to the house / at the house”.

Σπίτι is neuter, so it takes το in the nominative/accusative:

το σπίτι – “the house / the home”
στο σπίτι – “at home / to the house” (depending on the verb).

Sometimes I see σπίτι without στο or an article, like πάω σπίτι or είμαι σπίτι. Why is there στο σπίτι here?

Greek allows both:

πάω σπίτι, είμαι σπίτι – literally “I go home”, “I am home”
πάω στο σπίτι, είμαι στο σπίτι – literally “I go to the house”, “I am at the house”.

Rough tendency:

Without article/preposition (σπίτι) it feels a bit more like the idea of “home” as your place:
- Πηγαίνω σπίτι. – “I’m going home.”
With στο σπίτι, it can be slightly more concrete or neutral:
- Πηγαίνω στο σπίτι. – “I’m going to the house / to the home.”

In this sentence, φτάνω στο σπίτι is the most standard, neutral choice, but φτάνω σπίτι is also possible and natural, especially in speech.

Why does μαμά have the article η? In English we say “mom”, not “the mom”.

In Greek, family member nouns used as subjects or objects almost always take the definite article, especially when followed by a possessive pronoun:

η μαμά μου – literally “the mom of me” → “my mom”
ο μπαμπάς μου – “my dad”
η αδερφή μου – “my sister”

So η μαμά μου is the normal way to say “my mom” in a sentence.

When you’re addressing your mother directly, you would usually drop the article and use the vocative:

Μαμά! – “Mom!”

What is μου in η μαμά μου? Is it like “my” or “of me”?

Μου here is the weak (clitic) genitive form of the first-person singular pronoun:

εγώ – I
μου – “of me / my” (unstressed, clitic form)

So η μαμά μου literally means “the mom of me” but functionally it’s just “my mom”.

Key points:

Μου follows the noun: η μαμά μου, not η μου μαμά.
It does not need an extra word like “of”; μου itself carries that meaning.

What is με in η μαμά μου με παίρνει αγκαλιά, and where does it usually go?

Με is the weak (clitic) accusative form of the first-person singular pronoun:

εγώ – I
με – me (direct object, unstressed/clitic)

In this sentence:

η μαμά μου – subject (“my mom”)
με – direct object (“me”)
παίρνει αγκαλιά – verb phrase (“takes (me) in her arms / hugs (me)”)

In standard word order with a finite verb, με goes before the verb:

Η μαμά μου με παίρνει αγκαλιά.

It can move in some structures:

After imperatives: Πάρε με αγκαλιά. – “Hug me.”
After certain particles: Θέλω να με πάρεις αγκαλιά. – “I want you to hug me.”

What does με παίρνει αγκαλιά literally mean? Why use παίρνω and αγκαλιά instead of just a verb for “to hug”?

Literally, με παίρνει αγκαλιά is:

παίρνω – “I take”
αγκαλιά – “hug / embrace / (the) arms”
με παίρνει αγκαλιά – “she takes me in (her) arms.”

It is a very common idiomatic expression meaning “to hug someone”.

So:

Η μαμά μου με παίρνει αγκαλιά.
= literally “My mom takes me in her arms.”
= naturally “My mom hugs me.”

Greek also has the verb αγκαλιάζω (“to hug”):

Η μαμά μου με αγκαλιάζει. – “My mom hugs me.”

Both are correct; με παίρνει αγκαλιά often sounds a bit more vivid or affectionate.

What case is αγκαλιά here, and why doesn’t it have an article?

Αγκαλιά is feminine, accusative singular:

η αγκαλιά (nominative) → την αγκαλιά (accusative with article).

In με παίρνει αγκαλιά, αγκαλιά functions almost like an internal object in a fixed expression:

Verb παίρνω
- bare noun αγκαλιά
Together they form the idiom παίρνω κάποιον αγκαλιά – “to hug someone.”

In many such idiomatic verb–noun combinations, Greek omits the article:

κάνω μπάνιο – “I take a bath”
κάνω δουλειά – “I do work”
παίρνω αγκαλιά – “I take (someone) in my arms / hug (someone)”

What is που doing in τη στιγμή που φτάνω στο σπίτι? Is it like “who/that/which” or like “when”?

Here που is an invariable relative particle that introduces a subordinate clause.

In τη στιγμή που φτάνω στο σπίτι it functions much like “when” or “that” in English:

Literally: “the moment that I arrive home”
Functionally: “the moment (when) I arrive home”.

You could theoretically think of it as replacing a more formal όπου (“where/when”), but in everyday modern Greek, που is by far the most common choice.

So:

τη στιγμή που φτάνω… – “the moment (that/when) I arrive…”

Can we change the word order, like Με παίρνει αγκαλιά η μαμά μου? Would it still mean the same?

Yes, Greek word order is relatively flexible because the roles are marked by endings and clitics, not just by position.

All of these are possible and grammatical:

Η μαμά μου με παίρνει αγκαλιά. (neutral, most common)
Με παίρνει αγκαλιά η μαμά μου. (emphasis on me / the action, then clarifying who does it)

The meaning (“My mom hugs me”) stays the same. The differences are mainly about emphasis and information structure, not about basic grammar.

What you can’t do is break the clitic and verb in odd ways that sound unnatural, like:

η μαμά μου αγκαλιά με παίρνει – this is not natural word order.

The safest, most neutral version is the original:

Η μαμά μου με παίρνει αγκαλιά.

Why is there a comma after σπίτι? Do we always need a comma between these clauses?

Yes, in standard punctuation you put a comma between a preceding subordinate clause and the main clause:

Τη στιγμή που φτάνω στο σπίτι, η μαμά μου με παίρνει αγκαλιά.

Structure:

Τη στιγμή που φτάνω στο σπίτι – subordinate clause (time)
η μαμά μου με παίρνει αγκαλιά – main clause

If the main clause came first, you would usually still use a comma:

Η μαμά μου με παίρνει αγκαλιά, τη στιγμή που φτάνω στο σπίτι.

So the comma marks the boundary between the time clause and the main statement.