Learn Hardcore Greek: Χτες το βράδυ είχε έναν ξαφνικό δυνατό αέρα και δεν κοιμήθηκα καλά. - Last night there was a sudden strong wind and I didn’t sleep well.

In είχε έναν ξαφνικό δυνατό αέρα, the verb είχε (from έχω, to have) is used in an impersonal way, similar to there was in English.

Literally, this part is: There was a sudden strong wind.
Grammatically, είχε is 3rd person singular, past tense (imperfect), but there is no real subject expressed like he/she/it.
Greek often uses έχω (in είχε) impersonally for:
- Weather: Είχε ήλιο = There was sun / It was sunny
- Environmental conditions: Είχε κίνηση = There was traffic

So here, είχε works like English there was, and the logical subject is the situation or environment, not a specific pronoun like it.

How would you literally translate είχε έναν ξαφνικό δυνατό αέρα, and how does that relate to it was windy in English?

Literally:

είχε = there was / it had
έναν ξαφνικό δυνατό αέρα = a sudden strong wind

So a fairly literal translation is:

There was a sudden strong wind.

Natural English would more likely say:

It was suddenly very windy last night, and I didn’t sleep well.
There was a sudden strong wind last night, and I didn’t sleep well.

The key point:

Greek often prefers “there was a wind” (using είχε)
English often prefers “it was windy” (using it is + adjective)

So Greek uses a noun (αέρας, wind), whereas English often uses an adjective (windy).

Why is it έναν ξαφνικό δυνατό αέρα and not ένας ξαφνικός δυνατός αέρας?

Because έναν ξαφνικό δυνατό αέρα is in the accusative case as the direct object of είχε.

Nominative (subject): ένας ξαφνικός δυνατός αέρας = a sudden strong wind (as subject)
Accusative (object): έναν ξαφνικό δυνατό αέρα = a sudden strong wind (as object)

In the sentence:

Verb: είχε (had / there was)
Direct object: έναν ξαφνικό δυνατό αέρα

All three words agree in:

Gender: masculine
Number: singular
Case: accusative

So:

ένας ξαφνικός δυνατός αέρας would be fine if “a sudden strong wind” were the subject, e.g.
Ένας ξαφνικός δυνατός αέρας σηκώθηκε. = A sudden strong wind rose.
But here, it’s the thing that “it had / there was”, so accusative is required.

Why are there two adjectives (ξαφνικό, δυνατό) before αέρα? Is this order fixed?

Both ξαφνικό (sudden) and δυνατό (strong) describe αέρα (wind). In Greek, multiple adjectives usually come before the noun and all agree with it:

έναν ξαφνικό δυνατό αέρα
- έναν: masc. sing. acc. (article)
- ξαφνικό: masc. sing. acc. (adjective)
- δυνατό: masc. sing. acc. (adjective)
- αέρα: masc. sing. acc. (noun)

Order is somewhat flexible, and native choice can be based on rhythm or nuance. You could also hear:

έναν δυνατό, ξαφνικό αέρα
έναν δυνατό ξαφνικό αέρα

All of these are grammatically correct. The original ξαφνικό δυνατό slightly foregrounds suddenness first, then strength, but there is no strong grammatical rule forcing that specific order here.

What is the difference between αέρας and αέρα? And how is this different from άνεμος?

αέρας is the nominative singular form (dictionary form): air / wind.
αέρα is the accusative singular (and also the usual spoken genitive singular).

Nominative: ο αέρας (subject)
- Ο αέρας ήταν δυνατός. = The wind was strong.
Accusative: τον αέρα (object)
- Είχε έναν δυνατό αέρα. = There was a strong wind.

Meaning differences:

αέρας usually means wind in everyday speech (even though it literally can mean air).
άνεμος is also wind, a bit more literary/formal or used in certain fixed expressions:
- ισχυρός άνεμος = strong wind
- βόρειος άνεμος = north wind

In this casual, spoken-style sentence, αέρας is more natural than άνεμος.

Why is it Χτες το βράδυ? Could you say it differently?

Χτες το βράδυ literally means yesterday the evening, i.e. last night.

Χτες = yesterday (more colloquial spelling; χθες is more formal)
το βράδυ = the evening / at night

Common alternatives:

Χτες βράδυ – slightly more compact, also very common
Εχτές το βράδυ – another colloquial form of χτες
Το βράδυ on its own can mean in the evening / at night when context is clear:
- Το βράδυ είχε αέρα. = It was windy at night.

All forms like χτες το βράδυ, χτες βράδυ are normal and natural; including το is very common in time expressions (το πρωί, το μεσημέρι, το βράδυ).

What tense is κοιμήθηκα, and what is its basic meaning?

κοιμήθηκα is the aorist (simple past) form of the verb κοιμάμαι (to sleep).

Present: κοιμάμαι = I sleep / I am sleeping
Aorist (simple past): κοιμήθηκα = I slept

In the sentence δεν κοιμήθηκα καλά, it means:

I didn’t sleep well (that night).

There is no auxiliary verb like have; Greek uses simple verb forms for this tense. Context decides whether English prefers I didn’t sleep well or I haven’t slept well, and here it’s clearly last night, so I didn’t sleep well is best.

Why δεν κοιμήθηκα καλά and not something like δεν κοιμόμουν καλά? What is the difference?

Both are correct, but they express different aspects of the past:

δεν κοιμήθηκα καλά – aorist (simple past, completed event)
- Focus: one whole night / one event
- Meaning: I did not sleep well (that night, as a single occurrence).
δεν κοιμόμουν καλά – imperfect (ongoing or repeated past)
- Focus: a continuous or repeated situation over time
- Meaning: I wasn’t sleeping well / I used to not sleep well (over a period).

In this sentence, we are talking about one specific night (χτες το βράδυ), so the aorist δεν κοιμήθηκα καλά is the natural choice.

Why isn’t there a subject pronoun like εγώ before δεν κοιμήθηκα?

Greek is a pro‑drop language: the subject pronoun is usually omitted because the verb ending clearly shows the person.

κοιμήθηκα: the -ηκα ending marks 1st person singular → I slept.
δεν κοιμήθηκα is therefore understood as I didn’t sleep without needing εγώ.

You would add εγώ only for emphasis or contrast, for example:

Εγώ δεν κοιμήθηκα καλά.
= I didn’t sleep well (implying others maybe did).

Is the word order fixed? Could you move parts of the sentence around?

The word order is flexible in Greek. The original:

Χτες το βράδυ είχε έναν ξαφνικό δυνατό αέρα και δεν κοιμήθηκα καλά.

Other natural possibilities:

Είχε έναν ξαφνικό δυνατό αέρα χτες το βράδυ και δεν κοιμήθηκα καλά.
Χτες το βράδυ δεν κοιμήθηκα καλά, γιατί είχε έναν ξαφνικό δυνατό αέρα.
Δεν κοιμήθηκα καλά χτες το βράδυ, είχε έναν ξαφνικό δυνατό αέρα.

The meaning stays essentially the same; changes mainly affect emphasis and flow:

Starting with Χτες το βράδυ highlights the time.
Starting with Δεν κοιμήθηκα καλά highlights your bad sleep first.

Why is it δεν and not δε before κοιμήθηκα?

The full negative particle is δεν. In natural speech, it often sounds like δε before consonants, and in informal writing you can see δε as well.

Standard written form: δεν κοιμήθηκα καλά.
Informal / spoken-style spelling: δε κοιμήθηκα καλά.

Both are understood the same; δεν is the neutral, standard spelling.