Learn Hardcore Greek: Ο ίδιος τεχνικός θα επισκευάσει αύριο και το πληκτρολόγιο, που έχει κι αυτό μια μικρή βλάβη. - The same technician will also repair the keyboard tomorrow, which also has a small fault.

“Same” (like English same):
- ο ίδιος τεχνικός = the same technician (as before / as mentioned)
- την ίδια μέρα = the same day
Emphatic “himself / herself / itself”:
- ο ίδιος πήγε εκεί = he himself went there
- η ίδια το είπε = she herself said it

In ο ίδιος τεχνικός θα επισκευάσει…, it implies:
The same technician (as the one we already talked about) will repair…
Without ίδιος, ο τεχνικός θα επισκευάσει… would just be the technician will repair…, with no “same” / “that same person” nuance.

Could we say ο ίδιος ο τεχνικός instead of ο ίδιος τεχνικός? What is the difference?

Yes, you can say both:

ο ίδιος τεχνικός
ο ίδιος ο τεχνικός

The version ο ίδιος ο τεχνικός sounds a bit more emphatic, like “that same technician himself”. Adding the article ο before τεχνικός after ίδιος is a common way in Greek to increase emphasis:

ο ίδιος άνθρωπος vs ο ίδιος ο άνθρωπος
η ίδια γυναίκα vs η ίδια η γυναίκα

Meaning difference is small; it’s mainly a matter of emphasis and style.

How does θα επισκευάσει express the future? Is this a special tense?

Θα επισκευάσει is the normal way to express the future in Modern Greek.

Structure:

θα (particle marking future)
επισκευάσει (aorist form of the verb επισκευάζω in the subjunctive-like form)

In modern grammar descriptions, you often just learn:

θα + present → future with ongoing / repeated sense
θα + aorist → future with single, complete action

Here it’s θα επισκευάσει (aorist):

Focus on the completion of the repair tomorrow:
He will repair (fix) the keyboard tomorrow.

So θα is the general future marker, and the verb form after it (here επισκευάσει) tells you the aspect (complete vs ongoing).

Why is αύριο placed after θα επισκευάσει? Can it move to other positions?

Yes, αύριο (tomorrow) is quite flexible in position. All of these are possible:

Ο ίδιος τεχνικός θα επισκευάσει αύριο και το πληκτρολόγιο…
Ο ίδιος τεχνικός αύριο θα επισκευάσει και το πληκτρολόγιο…
Αύριο ο ίδιος τεχνικός θα επισκευάσει και το πληκτρολόγιο…
Ο ίδιος τεχνικός θα επισκευάσει και το πληκτρολόγιο αύριο…

They all mean essentially the same: tomorrow the same technician will also repair the keyboard.

Differences are mostly in rhythm and slight emphasis:

Αύριο ο ίδιος τεχνικός… puts a bit more focus on tomorrow.
Ο ίδιος τεχνικός αύριο θα επισκευάσει… can sound a bit more conversational.

The version in the sentence (θα επισκευάσει αύριο) is very natural and neutral.

What is the function of και before το πληκτρολόγιο? Is it “and” or “also”?

Here και is best understood as “also / too / as well”, not simply “and”.

…θα επισκευάσει αύριο και το πληκτρολόγιο…
= …will also repair the keyboard tomorrow…

It implies that the technician is already repairing something else, and in addition he will repair the keyboard.

Compare:

Θα επισκευάσει τον υπολογιστή και το πληκτρολόγιο.
Here και is simple “and” joining two objects.
Θα επισκευάσει και το πληκτρολόγιο.
Implies: besides whatever else, the keyboard as well.

So, και can mean both:

“and” (connecting two items), and
“also / even” when placed in front of a single element for emphasis.

Why is there a comma before που: …, που έχει κι αυτό μια μικρή βλάβη?

The comma marks a non‑restrictive (non‑defining) relative clause.

το πληκτρολόγιο, που έχει κι αυτό μια μικρή βλάβη
= the keyboard, which also has a small fault

The information “which also has a small fault” is additional, not needed to identify which keyboard we mean. It’s like a comment.

If you remove the comma:

το πληκτρολόγιο που έχει κι αυτό μια μικρή βλάβη

Then που έχει κι αυτό μια μικρή βλάβη becomes essential to identify the keyboard:
the keyboard that has a small fault (as opposed to other keyboards).

In practice, Greeks often omit commas, but here the comma is correct and shows that the clause is parenthetical / extra information.

What does που do here, and could we use το οποίο instead?

Που is a very common relative pronoun in Modern Greek, equivalent to “who / which / that” in English:

το πληκτρολόγιο, που έχει… = the keyboard, which has…

It does not change form for gender, number or case (unlike older ὅς, ἥ, ὅ in Ancient Greek).

You can replace it with το οποίο:

το πληκτρολόγιο, το οποίο έχει κι αυτό μια μικρή βλάβη

Differences:

που is neutral, everyday, and very frequent in speech and writing.
το οποίο is more formal, a bit heavier in style.

Meaning is the same in this sentence.

What is κι αυτό exactly, and why κι instead of και?

Κι αυτό is simply the contracted form of και αυτό = “and it / it too / it also”.

Form:
- και + αυτό → κι αυτό
  Greek often changes και to κι before a word that begins with a vowel, for easier pronunciation, just like a → an in English:
- και αυτό → κι αυτό
- και είναι → κι είναι
Meaning here:
…που έχει κι αυτό μια μικρή βλάβη
= …which also has a small fault
or more literally …which has a small fault too.

So κι αυτό emphasizes that the keyboard also has a problem, just like something else mentioned earlier.

Why is κι αυτό placed after έχει (as έχει κι αυτό) and not before it?

Word order in Greek is flexible, but έχει κι αυτό is the most natural here for “it also has”.

που έχει κι αυτό μια μικρή βλάβη = which also has a small fault

Other possibilities:

που κι αυτό έχει μια μικρή βλάβη – also possible, a bit more emphatic on κι αυτό (“it too has…”).
που έχει μια μικρή βλάβη κι αυτό – possible, but the κι αυτό feels more like “the small fault too”, and the rhythm is less natural in this exact sentence.

Placing κι αυτό right after the verb is the standard pattern for “subject also does X”:

το παιδί τρώει κι αυτό. = The child is eating too.
δουλεύω κι εγώ. = I work too.

Why is μια μικρή βλάβη feminine when το πληκτρολόγιο is neuter?

Because βλάβη is a separate noun with its own gender:

το πληκτρολόγιο (neuter) = the keyboard
η βλάβη (feminine) = the fault / malfunction

The phrase μια μικρή βλάβη is built around βλάβη:

μια – feminine singular indefinite article
μικρή – feminine singular form of the adjective μικρός
βλάβη – feminine noun

All three (μια, μικρή, βλάβη) agree in gender (feminine), number (singular), and case (nominative). The fact that πληκτρολόγιο is neuter doesn’t matter here; it’s not the noun being described by μικρή.

What is the difference between βλάβη and ζημιά? Could we say μια μικρή ζημιά instead?

Both can be translated as “damage / fault / problem”, but there is a nuance:

βλάβη is very common in technical / mechanical contexts:
- μηχανική βλάβη = mechanical fault
- βλάβη στο ίντερνετ = internet outage / fault
ζημιά is broader, more like damage / harm / loss:
- έπαθε ζημιά το αυτοκίνητο = the car got damaged
- του έκανε ζημιά = it harmed him

In this context (repairing a keyboard), μια μικρή βλάβη is slightly more technical: a small fault / malfunction.

You can say μια μικρή ζημιά στο πληκτρολόγιο and it’s understandable, but βλάβη sounds more like the usual technical word a repair technician would use.

Could we omit ο ίδιος and just say Ο τεχνικός θα επισκευάσει αύριο και το πληκτρολόγιο…? What changes?

Yes, grammatically it’s fine:

Ο τεχνικός θα επισκευάσει αύριο και το πληκτρολόγιο…

But you lose the nuance of “the same technician (as before)”.

With ο ίδιος τεχνικός:

We are clearly referring back to a technician already mentioned.
It stresses that it is the same person who will also repair the keyboard.

Without ο ίδιος, it just introduces a / the technician with no “same as previously mentioned” emphasis. Context might still make it obvious, but the sentence itself no longer highlights that identity.

Is there any difference in meaning between θα επισκευάσει and something like πρόκειται να επισκευάσει for the future?

Both can talk about a future event, but:

θα επισκευάσει is the normal, neutral future:
- Ο ίδιος τεχνικός θα επισκευάσει αύριο…
  = The same technician will repair it tomorrow.
πρόκειται να επισκευάσει is more like “is going to repair / is about to repair / is scheduled to repair”, and often sounds:
- a bit more formal or
- like you are talking about a plan / arrangement.

In this sentence, using θα επισκευάσει is the most natural and direct choice.