Στον πεζόδρομο συναντάω και γνωστούς και άγνωστους ανθρώπους από τη γειτονιά.

On the pedestrian street I meet both acquaintances and strangers from the neighborhood.

Breakdown of Στον πεζόδρομο συναντάω και γνωστούς και άγνωστους ανθρώπους από τη γειτονιά.

• από: from
• σε: on
• ο άνθρωπος: the person
• συναντάω: to meet
• η γειτονιά: the neighborhood
• και ... και: both ... and
• ο πεζόδρομος: the pedestrian street
• γνωστός: known
• άγνωστος: unknown

Questions & Answers about Στον πεζόδρομο συναντάω και γνωστούς και άγνωστους ανθρώπους από τη γειτονιά.

What does Στον mean here, and why is it written as one word?

Στον is a combination of the preposition σε (in, at, on, to) and the masculine definite article τον (the).

• σε + τον → στον
  So Στον πεζόδρομο means “On the / In the pedestrian street” or more loosely “On the pedestrian road”.

In Modern Greek, σε almost always contracts with the article:

• σε + τον = στον
• σε + τον δρόμο = στον δρόμο (in/on the road)
• σε + το σπίτι = στο σπίτι (at home / in the house)

Why is πεζόδρομο in that form? What case is it?

πεζόδρομο is the noun πεζόδρομος (pedestrian street) in the accusative singular:

• Nominative: ο πεζόδρομος (subject form)
• Accusative: τον πεζόδρομο (object / after prepositions)

The preposition σε (inside στον) always takes the accusative case, so we must say στον πεζόδρομο, not στος πεζόδρομος or anything else.

Is there any difference between συναντάω and συναντώ?

συναντάω and συναντώ are simply two present forms of the same verb συναντώ (to meet).

• Both mean “I meet” / “I run into”.
• συναντάω is a bit more colloquial and common in speech.
• συναντώ sounds slightly more formal or “dictionary-like”, but is also used in everyday language.

You can safely use either in most contexts:
Στον πεζόδρομο συναντάω… = Στον πεζόδρομο συναντώ…

Where is the word “I” in this sentence?

Greek usually drops the subject pronoun because it is included in the verb ending.

The ending -άω in συναντάω tells us the subject is “I” (first person singular):

• (εγώ) συναντάω = I meet

So εγώ (I) is understood and normally omitted:

• Στον πεζόδρομο συναντάω… = In the pedestrian street, I meet…

What does the pattern και γνωστούς και άγνωστους mean? Why is και repeated?

The structure και … και … in Greek corresponds to “both … and …” in English.

So:

• και γνωστούς και άγνωστους ≈ both familiar (known) people and strangers

Repeating και before each item is the normal Greek way to express “both A and B”, and it often adds a bit of balance or emphasis to each part:

• Τρώω και ψάρι και κρέας. = I eat both fish and meat.

Why do γνωστούς, άγνωστους, and ανθρώπους all end in -ους?

Because they all agree in gender, number, and case:

• άνθρωπος (person) → ανθρώπους (people) – masculine, plural, accusative
• γνωστός (known/familiar) → γνωστούς – masculine, plural, accusative
• άγνωστος (unknown/strange) → άγνωστους – masculine, plural, accusative

γνωστούς and άγνωστους are adjectives describing ανθρώπους, so they must match it:

• masculine
• plural
• accusative (because they are the direct object of συναντάω)

What is the difference between γνωστός and φίλος?

• γνωστός literally means “known” and usually corresponds to “acquaintance” rather than close friend.
• φίλος means “friend” in the stronger sense.

So in this sentence:

• γνωστούς ανθρώπους = people I know (acquaintances / familiar faces), not necessarily close friends.
• άγνωστους ανθρώπους = strangers, people I don’t know at all.

Is the word ανθρώπους necessary here? Could you leave it out?

You can leave it out; the sentence would still be correct and natural:

• Στον πεζόδρομο συναντάω και γνωστούς και άγνωστους (από τη γειτονιά).

In that case, γνωστούς and άγνωστους are understood as “known people” and “unknown people”.
Including ανθρώπους just makes it a bit more explicit and slightly more “spelled out”, but it is not required.

What exactly does από τη γειτονιά mean here?

από τη γειτονιά literally means “from the neighborhood”.

In context it means:

• people who are from my neighborhood / who belong to the neighborhood, not just people physically in that place at the moment.

So the idea is:
On the pedestrian street, I meet both familiar and unfamiliar people who are from the neighborhood.

Why is it τη γειτονιά and not την γειτονιά?

The full form is την γειτονιά (feminine accusative singular).
In modern spoken and often written Greek, the final -ν of την is dropped before many consonants, especially γ, κ, π, τ, μ, ν, ξ, ψ.

So:

• την γειτονιά → τη γειτονιά

Both spellings are understood; τη γειτονιά reflects the common pronunciation. In more formal writing, some people keep την everywhere.

Why does the sentence start with Στον πεζόδρομο? Could the word order be different?

Yes, the word order in Greek is relatively flexible. You could also say:

• Συναντάω και γνωστούς και άγνωστους ανθρώπους από τη γειτονιά στον πεζόδρομο.

By putting Στον πεζόδρομο at the beginning, the speaker emphasizes the place:

• “On the pedestrian street, I (habitually) meet…”

So the chosen word order highlights the location first, but the basic meaning is the same.

Does συναντάω here mean something like “I am meeting” or “I meet (in general)”?

Greek present tense covers both simple present and present continuous meanings in English.

So συναντάω can mean:

• I meet (habitually, generally)
• I am meeting (right now, in progress)

From context (no time marker, reference to a typical place), this sentence is best understood as a habitual action:

• “On the pedestrian street I (tend to) meet both familiar and unfamiliar people from the neighborhood.”

Could you use an indefinite article here, like σε έναν πεζόδρομο?

Yes, grammatically you could say:

• Σε έναν πεζόδρομο συναντάω… = On a pedestrian street I meet…

However:

• Στον πεζόδρομο with the definite article sounds like a specific, known place (e.g. the main pedestrian street in the area).
• Σε έναν πεζόδρομο would sound like any pedestrian street, not a particular one the speaker and listener both recognize.

In everyday conversation about your own neighborhood, Στον πεζόδρομο (the known local pedestrian street) is the more natural choice.