Το ποντίκι του υπολογιστή είναι ακόμα χειρότερο, γιατί συχνά σταματάει ξαφνικά.

The computer mouse is even worse, because it often stops suddenly.

Breakdown of Το ποντίκι του υπολογιστή είναι ακόμα χειρότερο, γιατί συχνά σταματάει ξαφνικά.

• είμαι: to be
• γιατί: because
• συχνά: often
• ο υπολογιστής: the computer
• σταματάω: to stop
• ακόμα: even
• το ποντίκι: the mouse
• χειρότερος: worse
• ξαφνικά: suddenly

Questions & Answers about Το ποντίκι του υπολογιστή είναι ακόμα χειρότερο, γιατί συχνά σταματάει ξαφνικά.

Why is it Το ποντίκι and not something else? What gender is ποντίκι, and does it always mean a computer mouse?

Ποντίκι is a neuter noun in Greek, so it takes the neuter definite article το.

• Singular: το ποντίκι
• Plural: τα ποντίκια

The word ποντίκι means both:

• a real mouse (the animal), and
• a computer mouse.

In everyday speech, if people are talking about computers, το ποντίκι by itself is normally understood as the computer mouse. If there might be confusion, Greek often adds something like του υπολογιστή (“of the computer”) to clarify.

What exactly does του υπολογιστή mean grammatically, and how does it express “computer mouse”?

Του υπολογιστή is the genitive singular of ο υπολογιστής (computer).

• Nominative: ο υπολογιστής – the computer
• Genitive: του υπολογιστή – of the computer

So το ποντίκι του υπολογιστή literally means “the mouse of the computer”.

Greek very often uses this “X of Y” (Noun + genitive) structure where English uses a noun–noun compound like computer mouse, car door, phone screen, etc. Some more parallels:

• η οθόνη του κινητού – the screen of the phone → the phone screen
• η πόρτα του αυτοκινήτου – the door of the car → the car door

In this sentence, του υπολογιστή doesn’t really mean “owned by the computer”; it functions more like a classifier, turning “mouse” into “computer mouse”.

Why is the adjective χειρότερο here? Which adjective is it from, and why does it have that ending?

Χειρότερο is the comparative form of κακός (bad). In modern Greek:

• κακός / κακή / κακό → bad
• χειρότερος / χειρότερη / χειρότερο → worse

So (είναι) χειρότερο means “(it is) worse”.

The ending -ο in χειρότερο is neuter singular, because it has to agree with το ποντίκι, which is also neuter singular:

• το ποντίκι είναι χειρότερο – the mouse is worse
• ο υπολογιστής είναι χειρότερος – the computer is worse (masc.)
• η οθόνη είναι χειρότερη – the screen is worse (fem.)

You could say πιο κακό (“more bad”), but it sounds unnatural here. The usual, idiomatic form is χειρότερο for “worse”.

What is the role of ακόμα in είναι ακόμα χειρότερο? How is it different from πιο or ακόμη?

Here ακόμα works as an intensifier in front of a comparative.

• είναι χειρότερο → it is worse
• είναι ακόμα χειρότερο → it is even worse

So ακόμα in this position is like English “even” in “even worse”.

Details:

• ακόμα vs ακόμη:
  These are basically variants of the same word. Both can mean “still, yet, even”.

  • ακόμη is often felt as a bit more formal or written,
  • ακόμα is very common in everyday speech.
    In this sentence, you could also say είναι ακόμη χειρότερο with the same meaning.

• πιο means “more”.

  • είναι πιο κακό → it is more bad / worse (understandable but less natural)
  • είναι πιο καλό → it is better (more good)

Avoid “double” comparatives like πιο χειρότερο; that’s considered wrong or very non‑standard.

Γιατί can mean both “why” and “because”. How do I know which meaning it has here, and could I use επειδή instead?

In this sentence, γιατί clearly means “because”, since it introduces the reason for the first clause:

• Το ποντίκι του υπολογιστή είναι ακόμα χειρότερο, γιατί συχνά σταματάει ξαφνικά.
  → The computer mouse is even worse, *because it often stops suddenly.*

How to tell “why” vs “because”:

• As “why”:

  • Usually appears at the beginning of a question:
    
    • Γιατί σταμάτησε; – Why did it stop?
  • Intonation rises if spoken.

• As “because”:

  • Usually comes inside a sentence joining two clauses:
    
    • Δεν δουλεύει, γιατί είναι χαλασμένο. – It doesn’t work because it’s broken.
  • Intonation falls if spoken.

You can often replace causal γιατί with επειδή, which only means “because”, never “why”:

• …είναι ακόμα χειρότερο, επειδή συχνά σταματάει ξαφνικά.

That is fully correct and just a bit more formal/neutral in tone.

Where can I put συχνά in this sentence? Is συχνά σταματάει the only option?

Συχνά means “often” and it’s quite flexible in position. All of these are acceptable, with small differences in emphasis:

1. …γιατί συχνά σταματάει ξαφνικά.
   (neutral; very natural – “because it often stops suddenly”)

2. …γιατί σταματάει συχνά ξαφνικά.
   (also fine; slightly more emphasis on the verb σταματάει before saying how often)

3. …γιατί συχνά ξαφνικά σταματάει.
   (possible but feels a bit heavier / less smooth)

4. Συχνά, το ποντίκι του υπολογιστή είναι ακόμα χειρότερο, γιατί σταματάει ξαφνικά.
   (fronted συχνά for emphasis: “Often, the computer mouse is even worse, because…”)

General tendency:

• Adverbs of frequency (πάντα, συχνά, συνήθως, ποτέ) commonly go before the verb or right after it.
• Your original συχνά σταματάει is perfectly idiomatic and maybe the most straightforward.

What’s the difference between σταματάει and σταματά? Are both correct?

Both σταματάει and σταματά are correct 3rd person singular present forms of the verb σταματάω / σταματώ (“to stop”).

• 1st person: σταματάω or σταματώ – I stop
• 3rd person: σταματάει or σταματά – he/she/it stops

In practice:

• -άει forms (σταματάει) are very common in speech and feel a bit more casual.
• -ά forms (σταματά) are shorter and a bit more common in writing, but they’re also used in speech.

Meaning-wise, there is no difference. You can safely use either, just try to be consistent in the same text (don’t randomly mix σταματάει and μιλά etc. unless you have a stylistic reason).

What does ξαφνικά literally mean, and is it fixed at the end of the sentence? How is it related to ξαφνικός?

Ξαφνικά means “suddenly / all of a sudden”.

It is the adverb derived from the adjective ξαφνικός, -ή, -ό (sudden):

• ξαφνικός θάνατος – sudden death
• ξαφνικά – suddenly

Position:

• In your sentence, σταματάει ξαφνικά (“stops suddenly”) is very natural.
• You can also say ξαφνικά σταματάει for extra focus on the suddenness:
  
  • …γιατί ξαφνικά σταματάει.

Greek adverbs of manner (how something happens) commonly go after the verb, but they can be moved before the verb for emphasis. So ξαφνικά is not fixed to the end; its current position is just the most neutral.

Why is there a comma before γιατί? Are comma rules with “because” the same as in English?

The comma before γιατί marks the start of a separate clause giving a reason, much like in English:

• Το ποντίκι… είναι ακόμα χειρότερο, γιατί…
  → “The mouse is even worse, because…”

General tendencies (very similar to English):

• When the reason clause (γιατί… / επειδή…) comes after the main clause, a comma is very common:
  • Δεν δουλεύει, γιατί είναι χαλασμένο.
• When the reason clause comes first, you usually don’t put a comma before the main clause:
  • Επειδή είναι χαλασμένο δεν δουλεύει.

Greek punctuation is otherwise similar to English, except that Greek uses ; as a question mark. That doesn’t affect this sentence, but it’s useful to know.

Can I change the word order, for example: Το ποντίκι του υπολογιστή συχνά σταματάει ξαφνικά, γι’ αυτό είναι ακόμα χειρότερο? Is that equivalent?

Your alternative sentence is correct Greek, but it changes the structure and emphasis slightly:

• Original:
  Το ποντίκι του υπολογιστή είναι ακόμα χειρότερο, γιατί συχνά σταματάει ξαφνικά.
  → Main point: It is even worse, with γιατί… giving the reason.

• Alternative:
  Το ποντίκι του υπολογιστή συχνά σταματάει ξαφνικά, γι’ αυτό είναι ακόμα χειρότερο.
  → Main point: It often stops suddenly, and γι’ αυτό (“that’s why”) explicitly introduces the consequence.

So:

• The original is “It’s even worse, because it often stops suddenly.”
• The alternative is more like “It often stops suddenly; that’s why it’s even worse.”

Greek word order is relatively flexible, but changes in order often change what is being highlighted (cause vs result, focus on “worse” vs on “stops”, etc.).

The English could be “it often stops suddenly” or “it keeps stopping suddenly”. How does the Greek σταματάει cover this meaning?

Greek present tense σταματάει (imperfective aspect) is used both for:

• a general / habitual action:
  
  • Συχνά σταματάει ξαφνικά. → It often stops suddenly.
• something that keeps happening repeatedly over time:
  
  • In context, this can correspond to English “keeps stopping”.

Because Greek doesn’t have a separate progressive form like “is stopping” vs “stops”, the combination of present tense + adverb of frequency (συχνά) naturally expresses this repeated, annoying behavior.

If you wanted to stress the repetitive habit even more, you could say:

• Συνηθίζει να σταματάει ξαφνικά. – It tends to stop suddenly.
• Σταματάει συνέχεια ξαφνικά. – It keeps stopping / is constantly stopping suddenly.

Could I just say Το ποντίκι είναι ακόμα χειρότερο without του υπολογιστή? When is it okay to drop it?

Yes, you can say Το ποντίκι είναι ακόμα χειρότερο, and it’s perfectly correct. Whether you need του υπολογιστή depends on context:

• If everyone already knows you’re talking about a computer mouse (for example, you’ve just been discussing your PC), το ποντίκι alone is enough.
• του υπολογιστή is added when you want to avoid ambiguity (e.g. you might also be talking about a real mouse, or about several devices).

So:

• Το ποντίκι του υπολογιστή είναι ακόμα χειρότερο…
  – Explicit: The computer’s mouse / the computer mouse is even worse…

• Το ποντίκι είναι ακόμα χειρότερο…
  – Natural when the reference is clear from the situation (you’re obviously talking about computer gear).