Learn Hardcore Greek: Όταν γυρίζω σπίτι, βλέπω ότι η μπαταρία του κινητού μου είναι άδεια, γιατί ξέχασα τον φορτιστή. - When I get home, I see that my phone's battery is empty, because I forgot the charger.

Modern Greek often uses the present tense for vivid narration of past events. This is sometimes called the “historical” or “narrative present”.

Όταν γυρίζω σπίτι, βλέπω…
Literally: When I return home, I see…
Functionally: When I got home, I saw… (telling a past story in a vivid way)

Grammatically, the sentence mixes:

Present: γυρίζω, βλέπω, είναι
Aorist (simple past): ξέχασα

This is normal in storytelling: the present makes the scene feel immediate, and the aorist ξέχασα refers to the earlier, completed action of forgetting.

If you wanted a plain past description, you could say:

Όταν γύρισα σπίτι, είδα ότι η μπαταρία του κινητού μου ήταν άδεια, γιατί είχα ξεχάσει τον φορτιστή.
(When I got home, I saw that my phone battery was dead, because I had forgotten the charger.)

What is the difference between γυρίζω and επιστρέφω? Can I use επιστρέφω here instead?

Both can mean to return, but they differ a bit in usage and feel.

γυρίζω σπίτι
- Very common in everyday speech
- Slightly more colloquial / informal
- Literally also means I turn or I go around, but with σπίτι it means go back home.
επιστρέφω σπίτι
- Slightly more formal or neutral
- Often used in writing, announcements, or more formal contexts

In this sentence you can say:

Όταν επιστρέφω σπίτι, βλέπω ότι…

It will sound a bit more formal or neutral than γυρίζω σπίτι, but it is correct.

Why is it γυρίζω σπίτι and not γυρίζω στο σπίτι?

With certain verbs of motion, Greek often drops the preposition and uses a bare noun for destinations that are understood as a kind of “home base” or very familiar place.

Common patterns:

πάω σπίτι – I go home
έρχομαι σπίτι – I come home
γυρίζω σπίτι – I return home

Adding στο is not wrong, but it changes the nuance slightly:

γυρίζω σπίτι – natural, idiomatic home-meaning
γυρίζω στο σπίτι – more like I return to the house (building), a bit more concrete or specific

In everyday speech, γυρίζω σπίτι is the default when you mean go back home.

What does όταν do here? Is it like “if” or “when”, and does it need a special tense or mood after it?

Όταν introduces a time clause and usually corresponds to English when.

In your sentence:

Όταν γυρίζω σπίτι… – When I return home…

Points to note:

Όταν
- indicative
- It normally takes the indicative (e.g., γυρίζω, γύρισα, θα γυρίσω), not the subjunctive.
- For a simple, one-time past event you’d use a past tense:
  - Όταν γύρισα σπίτι, είδα ότι… – When I got home, I saw that…
Habitual vs single event
- Όταν γυρίζω σπίτι, βλέπω… can also mean a repeated action:
  Whenever I get home, I see…
Όταν is not αν (“if”):
- Όταν = when (time)
- Αν = if (condition)
  Example:
- Αν γυρίσω σπίτι νωρίς, θα μαγειρέψω. – If I get home early, I’ll cook.

What is ότι doing here? Is it the same as πως or the same as τι?

In this sentence, ότι is a conjunction meaning that (introducing a subordinate clause), not the question word what.

βλέπω ότι η μπαταρία… είναι άδεια
– I see that the battery… is empty.

Clarifications:

ότι (with stress on the first syllable, usually written without accent in modern spelling)
- Conjunction: that
- Example: Ξέρω ότι έχεις δίκιο. – I know that you’re right.
τι
- Question word: what?
- Example: Τι βλέπεις; – What do you see?
πως can also mean that in many contexts and can often replace ότι:
- βλέπω πως η μπαταρία… είναι άδεια – also acceptable.
  In careful writing, ότι is more standard for that as a conjunction.

Why is it η μπαταρία and not just μπαταρία? Do I always need the article?

Greek uses the definite article much more than English. Here, η μπαταρία means “the battery”, referring to a specific, known battery (the one in your phone).

η μπαταρία του κινητού μου – the battery of my phone

You typically use the article:

For specific things:
Πού είναι το βιβλίο; – Where is the book?
With possessive genitives:
η μπαταρία του κινητού μου – the battery of my phone
With body parts, family members, etc., where English often omits the or uses my.

You would drop the article in more generic or indefinite statements, e.g.:

Χρειάζομαι μπαταρία. – I need a battery. (any battery)

How does του κινητού μου work? Why is the possessive both του κινητού and μου?

The phrase του κινητού μου is a double possessive structure common in Greek:

η μπαταρία – the battery (feminine, nominative)
του κινητού – of the mobile phone (genitive, singular, neuter)
μου – my (clitic pronoun, genitive)

So η μπαταρία του κινητού μου literally is:

the battery of-the mobile (phone) of-me

This is normal Greek and not redundant. A few points:

του κινητού is genitive of το κινητό (the mobile phone).
It specifies which battery: the phone’s battery.
μου marks whose phone it is (mine).
It attaches after the whole noun phrase:
- το κινητό μου – my phone
- η μπαταρία του κινητού μου – the battery of my phone

You cannot normally say:

η μπαταρία μου του κινητού – this sounds wrong/unnatural.

Why is η μπαταρία feminine but του κινητού neuter? How does agreement work with άδεια?

Each noun in Greek has a fixed grammatical gender:

η μπαταρία – feminine
το κινητό – neuter
ο φορτιστής – masculine

Agreement rules:

Articles and adjectives agree with the noun they belong to in gender, number, case.
In η μπαταρία του κινητού μου είναι άδεια:
- η (fem. nom. sg.) agrees with μπαταρία
- άδεια (fem. nom. sg.) also agrees with μπαταρία
του κινητού is genitive of a different noun (κινητό), so it keeps its own gender and case; it doesn’t control agreement of άδεια.

The adjective άδειος (empty) has:

Masculine: άδειος
Feminine: άδεια
Neuter: άδειο

Here we use άδεια because μπαταρία is feminine:

Η μπαταρία είναι άδεια.
Το κινητό είναι άδειο.
Ο φορτιστής είναι άδειος.

Does η μπαταρία είναι άδεια literally mean “the battery is empty”? Is this the normal way to say “my phone battery is dead”?

Yes, η μπαταρία είναι άδεια literally means the battery is empty, and it is a perfectly normal way to say that the battery is dead / has no charge.

Other common ways to express similar ideas:

Η μπαταρία τελείωσε. – The battery ran out / is finished.
Μου τελείωσε η μπαταρία. – My battery ran out.
Έπεσε η μπαταρία. (colloquial) – The battery died / went down.
Δεν έχει μπαταρία. – It has no battery (charge).

But in a neutral description like your sentence,
η μπαταρία του κινητού μου είναι άδεια is natural and clear.

What’s the difference between γιατί and επειδή? Could I say επειδή ξέχασα τον φορτιστή instead?

Both γιατί and επειδή can mean because, but they differ slightly in usage and tone.

γιατί
- Means both why (in questions) and because (as an answer/explanation).
- Very common in speech, neutral.
επειδή
- Only means because.
- Often slightly more “explanatory” or explicit, sometimes preferred in more careful/structured speech.

In your sentence:

…είναι άδεια, γιατί ξέχασα τον φορτιστή.
…είναι άδεια, επειδή ξέχασα τον φορτιστή.

Both are correct. γιατί feels very natural and everyday. επειδή may sound a bit more formal or explicit, but it’s also fine.

Why is it ξέχασα and not a present form like ξεχνάω? What’s the nuance?

Ξέχασα is the aorist (simple past) of ξεχνάω / ξεχνώ (to forget).

ξεχνάω / ξεχνώ – I forget / I am forgetting (present, ongoing or habitual)
ξέχασα – I forgot (a single, completed past action)

In your sentence:

…γιατί ξέχασα τον φορτιστή.
– because I forgot the charger. (one specific event in the past)

You would use ξεχνάω for ongoing or habitual forgetting:

Πάντα ξεχνάω τον φορτιστή. – I always forget the charger.
Ξεχνάω πού τον έβαλα. – I’m forgetting where I put it.

Here, you’re referring to one particular time you forgot it, so the aorist ξέχασα is correct.

Why do we say τον φορτιστή and not just φορτιστής or το φορτιστή?

τον φορτιστή is masculine accusative singular:

Nominative: ο φορτιστής – the charger (subject)
Accusative: τον φορτιστή – the charger (object)

In ξέχασα τον φορτιστή:

φορτιστή is the direct object of ξέχασα, so it must be in the accusative case.
The correct masculine article in accusative singular is τον, not το.

Forms:

ο φορτιστής (nom.) – subject
Ο φορτιστής είναι καινούργιος. – The charger is new.
τον φορτιστή (acc.) – object
Ξέχασα τον φορτιστή. – I forgot the charger.

Can I change the word order, like ξέχασα τον φορτιστή, γι’ αυτό η μπαταρία… είναι άδεια? How flexible is the word order here?

Greek word order is fairly flexible, and your alternative is perfectly natural. You can say:

Η μπαταρία του κινητού μου είναι άδεια, γιατί ξέχασα τον φορτιστή.
Ξέχασα τον φορτιστή, γι’ αυτό η μπαταρία του κινητού μου είναι άδεια.
(I forgot the charger, that’s why my phone battery is empty.)

Some points:

γιατί vs γι’ αυτό
- γιατί = because
- γι’ αυτό = for that reason / that’s why
  So the structure changes slightly, but both are good explanations.
Emphasis with order
Greek often puts what is new or emphasized later in the sentence or right before the verb. For example:
- Τον φορτιστή ξέχασα. – Emphasis on the charger specifically.

In your original sentence, the word order is neutral and natural. Other orders are possible mainly for emphasis or style.

What exactly does κινητό mean here? Is it short for something, and is it always neuter?

Yes, το κινητό is neuter and, in everyday speech, it’s short for το κινητό τηλέφωνο (the mobile phone / cell phone).

Full: το κινητό τηλέφωνο – the mobile telephone
Short: το κινητό – the mobile (everyone understands this as mobile phone)

In your sentence:

του κινητού μου = of my mobile (phone)

κινητός as an adjective means mobile, movable:

κινητό τηλέφωνο – mobile phone
κινητό τηλέφωνο → κινητό (common shortening)

The noun το κινητό (phone) is always neuter.