Χτες είχαμε μικρό καβγά με τον αδερφό μου για τις δουλειές του σπιτιού.

Yesterday we had a small argument with my brother about the house chores.

Breakdown of Χτες είχαμε μικρό καβγά με τον αδερφό μου για τις δουλειές του σπιτιού.

• το σπίτι: the house
• έχω: to have
• μου: my
• με: with
• χτες: yesterday
• μικρός: small
• ο αδερφός: the brother
• για: about
• ο καβγάς: the argument
• η δουλειά: the chore

Questions & Answers about Χτες είχαμε μικρό καβγά με τον αδερφό μου για τις δουλειές του σπιτιού.

Why is it Χτες here and sometimes I see Χθες with a θ? Is there any difference?

Both Χτες and Χθες mean “yesterday” and are pronounced the same way: /xtes/.

• Χτες: more common in everyday, informal writing.
• Χθες: more traditional / slightly more formal spelling.

In speech there is no difference at all; you can treat them as the same word.

Can I change the position of Χτες in the sentence? For example, can I say Είχαμε μικρό καβγά με τον αδερφό μου χτες?

Yes, you can move Χτες (yesterday) without changing the meaning. All of these are natural:

• Χτες είχαμε μικρό καβγά με τον αδερφό μου…
• Είχαμε μικρό καβγά με τον αδερφό μου χτες…
• Είχαμε χτες μικρό καβγά με τον αδερφό μου…

Greek word order is quite flexible. Time expressions like χτες often come at the beginning, but putting them later is also fine.

What tense is είχαμε here? Is it “we were having” or “we had”?

Είχαμε is the past tense of έχω (to have). In English it corresponds to “we had” here.

Modern Greek uses the same past form είχαμε for both a simple past (“we had once”) and a continuous past (“we were having / used to have”). The context decides:

• In this sentence, Χτες είχαμε μικρό καβγά…, it clearly refers to one event yesterday, so you understand it as “we had a small argument yesterday.”

Why is there no “we” (εμείς) in the sentence? Shouldn’t it be Εμείς είχαμε μικρό καβγά?

Greek usually drops subject pronouns because the verb ending already shows who the subject is.

• είχαμε clearly shows 1st person plural = “we had”
• So saying εμείς is not necessary.

You would add εμείς only for emphasis or contrast:

• Εμείς είχαμε μικρό καβγά, όχι αυτοί.
  • We had a small argument, not them.

Why is it μικρό καβγά and not μικρός καβγάς?

Because καβγά here is the object of the verb (είχαμε), so it’s in the accusative case, not nominative.

• Nominative (subject): (ο) μικρός καβγάς – “the small fight” (as subject)
• Accusative (object): (τον) μικρό καβγά – “(the) small fight” (as object)

In the sentence:

• είχαμε μικρό καβγά → “we had a small fight”

The adjective μικρό agrees with καβγά in:

• gender: masculine
• number: singular
• case: accusative

Where is the English “a” in “a small fight”? Why doesn’t Greek say έναν μικρό καβγά?

Greek does not need an indefinite article here. It can express “a small fight” simply with adjective + noun:

• μικρό καβγά → literally “small fight” = “a small fight”

You can also say:

• Χτες είχαμε έναν μικρό καβγά…

This is also correct and quite common. The version without έναν is a bit more compact and colloquial, but both are idiomatic.

Why is it καβγά and not καβγάς? What are the different forms of this word?

Καβγάς is a masculine noun. Its main singular forms are:

• Nominative (subject): ο καβγάς
• Genitive: του καβγά
• Accusative (object): τον καβγά
• Vocative: καβγά

In the sentence, καβγά is the object of είχαμε, so it’s in the accusative:

• είχαμε (τον) μικρό καβγά

The article τον is often dropped in casual speech/writing, but the case is still accusative.

In με τον αδερφό μου, why do we use τον and not ο or του?

The preposition με (“with”) always takes the accusative case.

The masculine definite article in the accusative singular is τον:

• Nominative: ο αδερφός (the brother – subject)
• Accusative: τον αδερφό (the brother – object / after preposition)

So after με you must say:

• με τον αδερφό μου – with my brother

ο is nominative, του is genitive; neither fits after με.

Why is it αδερφό and not αδερφός? And what does μου do here?

Αδερφός (or αδελφός) means “brother”.

Forms:

• Nominative: ο αδερφός – subject
• Accusative: τον αδερφό – object or after preposition

In με τον αδερφό μου:

• με requires accusative → τον αδερφό
• μου is the possessive pronoun “my”, attached after the noun (it’s an enclitic)

So με τον αδερφό μου means “with my brother.”

What exactly does δουλειές του σπιτιού mean? Isn’t δουλειές just “jobs” or “work”?

The noun δουλειά means “work”, “job”, “task”. Its plural δουλειές can mean:

• jobs / tasks in general
• or, in this fixed phrase, household chores

The expression δουλειές του σπιτιού literally means “the house’s jobs/tasks” → idiomatically, “housework, chores.”

So:

• δουλειές του σπιτιού = “household chores”, “housework”.

Why is it του σπιτιού and not του σπίτι? How is σπίτι declined?

Σπίτι is a neuter noun. In the genitive singular it changes to σπιτιού.

Main singular forms:

• Nominative / Accusative: το σπίτι – “the house”
• Genitive: του σπιτιού – “of the house”

So του σπιτιού literally means “of the house”.

In δουλειές του σπιτιού, του σπιτιού tells you whose δουλειές they are: the house’s tasks → “household chores.”

What does για do in για τις δουλειές του σπιτιού? Is it “for” or “about”?

The preposition για can mean “for” or “about,” depending on context.

Here, για τις δουλειές του σπιτιού is best understood as:

• “about the housework / about the chores”

You could also loosely feel it as “over the chores” (i.e. they argued “over” the chores).

Grammatically:

• για is followed by the accusative → τις δουλειές
• του σπιτιού is genitive, linked to δουλειές (“the chores of the house”).