Learn Hardcore Greek: Χτες προβαλλόταν μια παλιά ελληνική ταινία, αλλά εγώ ήμουν τόσο κουρασμένος που δεν πήγα. - Yesterday an old Greek movie was being shown, but I was so tired that I didn’t go.

So it literally means “was being shown / was showing” (ongoing in the past), with the film as the thing being shown, not as the doer of the action.

That’s why Χτες προβαλλόταν μια παλιά ελληνική ταινία corresponds to English “Yesterday an old Greek movie was being shown / was on.”

Why is the imperfect προβαλλόταν used instead of the aorist προβλήθηκε?

Both are past tense, but they focus on different things:

Προβαλλόταν (imperfect):
- Ongoing / in-progress past action
- “At that time yesterday, the movie was in the middle of being shown.”
Προβλήθηκε (aorist passive):
- Completed event in the past
- “The movie was shown yesterday” (as a whole event, viewed from the outside)

In this sentence, προβαλλόταν fits better because the focus is on what was on at that time, which provides the background to your own state (I was so tired that I didn’t go). It’s like English preferring “A movie was playing” rather than “A movie was screened” in this context.

Why is a passive form (προβαλλόταν) used at all? Could we say it with an active verb instead?

Greek, like English, often talks about films in the passive:

Χτες προβαλλόταν μια παλιά ελληνική ταινία.
“Yesterday an old Greek movie was being shown.”

This keeps the focus on the film, not on who is showing it (the cinema, TV channel, etc.), which is usually unimportant.

You can use active alternatives, for example:

Χτες έπαιζε μια παλιά ελληνική ταινία στην τηλεόραση.
“Yesterday an old Greek movie was on TV.”
Χτες έδειχναν μια παλιά ελληνική ταινία στο σινεμά.
“Yesterday they were showing an old Greek movie at the cinema.”

All are natural. Προβαλλόταν is just the standard neutral verb for “was being screened / was on (the program).”

Why is the subject after the verb in προβαλλόταν μια παλιά ελληνική ταινία?

Greek word order is quite flexible. Here:

Verb first, subject after:
Προβαλλόταν μια παλιά ελληνική ταινία.

This is very natural when the subject is indefinite (introduced by μια) and new information. It’s similar to English:

“There was an old Greek film playing yesterday.”

If you put the subject in front:

Μια παλιά ελληνική ταινία προβαλλόταν χτες.

this sounds more like you’re talking about that film specifically, and then adding the information that it was being shown yesterday. Both are correct; it’s mainly a matter of information flow and emphasis.

Why is it μια παλιά ελληνική ταινία and not something else? What’s going on with the article and the adjectives?

Breakdown:

μια – feminine, singular, indefinite article (“a/an”)
παλιά – adjective, “old”
ελληνική – adjective, “Greek”
ταινία – noun, feminine, “movie / film”

All the adjectives agree with ταινία in gender (feminine), number (singular), case (nominative):

μια παλιά ελληνική ταινία
(fem. sg. nom.) (fem. sg. nom.) (fem. sg. nom.)

Typical adjective order is:

article + adjectives + noun
μια παλιά ελληνική ταινία

You could also say:

μια ελληνική παλιά ταινία

which is grammatical, but the nuance of which adjective feels more “central” can shift slightly. In everyday speech, μια παλιά ελληνική ταινία is the most natural order.

What’s the difference between μια and μία? Why is it μια here?

In modern Greek:

Both μια and μία are pronounced [mia].
Μια is usually written as the indefinite article (“a/an”).
Μία is more often written as the numeral “one”.

For example:

Έχω μια αδελφή. – “I have a sister.” (just some sister)
Έχω μία αδελφή. – “I have one sister.” (emphasis on the number)

In practice, in informal writing they’re often mixed, and context + intonation make the meaning clear.

In your sentence we want “a(n) old Greek film”, not “one (as opposed to two) old Greek films,” so μια (article) is the appropriate spelling.

What kind of word is κουρασμένος and why does it look like that?

Κουρασμένος is a past/passive participle used as an adjective:

From κουράζομαι – “to get tired” / “to be tired out”
Masculine, singular, nominative: κουρασμένος
Feminine: κουρασμένη
Neuter: κουρασμένο

In the sentence:

(εγώ) ήμουν τόσο κουρασμένος
“I was so tired”

it agrees with the subject εγώ in gender and number. With a woman speaking, you’d say:

Ήμουν τόσο κουρασμένη που δεν πήγα.

So it works just like an adjective such as κουρασμένος = tired.

What is ήμουν grammatically, and is ήμουνα different?

Ήμουν is:

1st person singular
Imperfect tense
Of the verb είμαι (“to be”)

So ήμουν = “I was” (describing a state in the past).

A common alternative form is ήμουνα. Difference:

ήμουν – a bit more neutral/standard, more common in writing
ήμουνα – very common in speech, slightly more colloquial in feel

Both are correct; choosing one or the other does not change the meaning.

A mini-paradigm (neutral forms):

εγώ ήμουν – I was
εσύ ήσουν – you were
αυτός/αυτή/αυτό ήταν – he/she/it was
εμείς ήμασταν – we were
εσείς ήσασταν – you (pl.) were
αυτοί/αυτές/αυτά ήταν – they were

Why is the pronoun εγώ used? Could we just say ήμουν τόσο κουρασμένος?

Greek usually drops subject pronouns because the verb ending shows the person:

Ήμουν τόσο κουρασμένος που δεν πήγα.
is fully grammatical.

Adding εγώ adds emphasis or contrast:

…αλλά εγώ ήμουν τόσο κουρασμένος…
“but I was so tired…”

It contrasts you (the speaker) with the previous situation:

A nice old movie was on, but I, on the other hand, was so tired that I didn’t go.

So εγώ here is like stressing I in English:
“but *I was so tired that I didn’t go.”*

How does the structure τόσο… που… work in ήμουν τόσο κουρασμένος που δεν πήγα?

Τόσο… που… is a very common result construction:

τόσο
- adjective/adverb
- που
  - clause

Meaning: “so … that …”

In your sentence:

τόσο κουρασμένος – so tired
που δεν πήγα – that I didn’t go

So:
Ήμουν τόσο κουρασμένος που δεν πήγα.
= “I was so tired that I didn’t go.”

Other examples:

Ήταν τόσο αργά που δεν είχε λεωφορεία.
“It was so late that there were no buses.”
Μιλούσε τόσο γρήγορα που δεν τον καταλάβαινα.
“He spoke so fast that I couldn’t understand him.”

A slightly more formal version is τόσο… ώστε…, e.g.
Ήμουν τόσο κουρασμένος ώστε δεν πήγα. (more formal, written style).

Why is it δεν πήγα (aorist) and not δεν πήγαινα (imperfect)?

The contrast is about aspect:

πήγα – aorist: one complete event (“I went”)
πήγαινα – imperfect: ongoing / repeated action (“I was going / I used to go / I would go”)

With negation:

δεν πήγα – “I didn’t go (on that one occasion).”
→ one specific event that did not happen yesterday.
δεν πήγαινα – “I wasn’t going / I didn’t use to go.”
→ would sound like a background process or a habit, and would need a different context.

Here we’re talking about one screening of a movie yesterday and a single decision not to go, so δεν πήγα (aorist) is the natural choice.

How does δεν work here? Why is it in front of πήγα?

In standard modern Greek:

δεν is the regular negation for indicative verbs (most normal verb forms).
It comes directly before the verb:
- δεν πήγα – “I didn’t go”
- δεν ήμουν – “I wasn’t”

In fast speech, many people pronounce it as δε before a consonant:

Δε πήγα.

Spelling in careful writing is usually δεν, though you will see δε in informal texts.

Important contrast:

δεν – for indicative forms (past, present, future statements)
μη(ν) – for non‑indicative (imperative, subjunctive, some infinitival-like forms), e.g.
- να μην πάω – “so that I don’t go”
- μην πας! – “don’t go!”

What’s the difference between χτες and χθες?

Both χτες and χθες mean “yesterday” and are pronounced the same: [xtes].

χτες – more modern / colloquial spelling
χθες – more traditional / conservative spelling

You’ll see both in writing; neither is wrong. Many contemporary writers prefer χτες for everyday style.

Could we or should we add a place after δεν πήγα, like “to the cinema”?

Yes, you can make it more explicit if you want, for example:

…που δεν πήγα στο σινεμά. – “…that I didn’t go to the cinema.”
…που δεν πήγα στον κινηματογράφο. – same meaning, a bit more formal.
…που δεν πήγα να τη δω. – “…that I didn’t go to see it.”

In the original sentence, the destination is understood from context (the place where the film was being shown), so native speakers are perfectly happy with the shorter:

…που δεν πήγα. – “…that I didn’t go (there).”

Why is there a comma before αλλά in …, αλλά εγώ ήμουν τόσο κουρασμένος…?

In Greek punctuation, αλλά (“but”) usually takes a comma before it when it connects two clauses with their own verbs:

Χτες προβαλλόταν μια παλιά ελληνική ταινία, αλλά εγώ ήμουν τόσο κουρασμένος…
Clause 1: Χτες προβαλλόταν…
Clause 2: εγώ ήμουν…

Compare:

Θέλω αλλά δεν μπορώ. – also with a comma in careful writing:
Θέλω, αλλά δεν μπορώ.

You generally don’t use a comma if αλλά only connects short phrases inside one clause, but in practice many people still put it. In your sentence, with two full clauses, the comma is absolutely standard and expected.