Learn Hardcore Greek: Σήμερα στο εργοστάσιο γίνεται απεργία και πολλοί εργαζόμενοι μένουν σπίτι. - Today there is a strike at the factory and many workers are staying at home.

If you used είναι (είναι απεργία), it would sound odd or incomplete in Greek. For events, Greek usually prefers γίνεται to express that something is taking place.

So:

Σήμερα στο εργοστάσιο γίνεται απεργία
= Today, at the factory, a strike is taking place / There is a strike at the factory today.

Why is it στο εργοστάσιο and not just σε εργοστάσιο?

Στο is the contraction of σε + το:

σε = at / in / to
το = the (neuter, singular)

So στο εργοστάσιο literally means at the factory.

Using the article το shows that we are talking about a specific factory that is known from the context (for example, the factory where the speaker works).

If you said σε εργοστάσιο (without the article το), it would mean at a factory, which sounds more vague and less natural here.

Why does απεργία appear without the article? Why not γίνεται η απεργία?

In Greek, countable nouns can often appear without an article when we introduce an event or something that is happening in general:

γίνεται απεργία = a strike is happening / there is (some) strike

If you said:

γίνεται η απεργία
this would usually be understood as the strike is taking place – a specific strike that has already been clearly defined (for example, the strike we have been talking about).

In your sentence, γίνεται απεργία simply presents the fact that there is a strike today, not necessarily a previously defined one, so no article is needed and it sounds very natural.

How does πολλοί εργαζόμενοι work grammatically?

Πολλοί εργαζόμενοι is the subject of μένουν.

πολλοί = many (masculine, nominative, plural)
εργαζόμενοι = workers / employees (masculine, nominative, plural)

They agree in:

gender: masculine
number: plural
case: nominative (the case used for subjects)

So:

Πολλοί εργαζόμενοι μένουν σπίτι.
= Many workers stay at home.

If you were talking about many female workers only, you would say:

Πολλές εργαζόμενες μένουν σπίτι.

What is the nuance of εργαζόμενοι compared to other words for “workers”, like εργάτες?

Both can be translated as workers, but they have different shades of meaning:

εργαζόμενοι
- More general and neutral.
- Can mean employees, working people in almost any kind of job.
- Often used in news, formal language, union announcements, etc.
εργάτες
- More specific: manual workers / laborers, typically in physical or blue-collar jobs.
- Has a slightly more concrete, “hands-on” feel.

In a sentence about a factory strike that concerns the workforce in general, εργαζόμενοι is very natural and slightly more formal.

Why is it μένουν σπίτι and not μένουν στο σπίτι?

Both exist, but they are not used in the same way.

Μένουν σπίτι (without article or preposition here) is a fixed, idiomatic pattern in Greek:

μένω σπίτι = I stay (at) home

With certain common places and verbs of motion or staying (e.g. μένω, πηγαίνω, έρχομαι), Greek can drop the article and preposition and just use the bare noun:

πάω σπίτι = I go home
είμαι σπίτι = I am at home
έρχομαι σπίτι = I come home

Μένουν στο σπίτι is also correct, but it tends to mean they stay in the (specific) house, emphasizing the physical building more, or a particular house.

In your sentence, μένουν σπίτι means simply they stay home, in a general, idiomatic way.

Why is σπίτι without the article here? Would το σπίτι change the meaning?

Yes, the presence or absence of the article changes the nuance.

μένουν σπίτι
idiomatic = they stay home (general place of living / home)
μένουν στο σπίτι
more literally = they stay in the house / at the house
(emphasis on a specific house or the building itself)

So, the version without the article is the standard way to say stay home in Greek, just as in English we do not usually say stay at the house unless we want that specific nuance.

Can the word order be different? For example, can I say Σήμερα γίνεται απεργία στο εργοστάσιο?

Yes. Greek word order is quite flexible. All these are grammatically correct:

Σήμερα στο εργοστάσιο γίνεται απεργία.
Σήμερα γίνεται απεργία στο εργοστάσιο.
Στο εργοστάσιο σήμερα γίνεται απεργία.

The differences are mostly about emphasis and rhythm.

Placing στο εργοστάσιο early (as in your original) slightly highlights the place.
Placing γίνεται απεργία right after σήμερα highlights the event happening today.

In everyday speech, all of these can sound natural; context and intonation usually carry the emphasis.

What tense and voice is γίνεται? Is it passive?

Γίνεται is:

present tense
middle/passive voice
3rd person singular of γίνομαι

Forms of γίνομαι in the middle/passive voice often do not feel “passive” in the English sense. Here, γίνεται απεργία means:

a strike is happening / is taking place

There is no clear “agent” doing something to someone; rather, an event occurs. This is a very common use of γίνομαι in Greek.

Why is the verb μένουν used and not something like κάθονται σπίτι?

Both are possible, but they have slightly different nuances:

μένουν σπίτι
= they stay home
Neutral, very common way to say they do not go out / do not go to work and remain at home.
κάθονται σπίτι
= literally they sit at home, but commonly used as they stay (around) at home / hang around at home.
It can sometimes imply they are not doing much, or just “sitting around”.

For a factual statement about a strike and workers not going to work, μένουν σπίτι is the most straightforward and neutral choice.

How does και function in this sentence? Is it just “and”, or does it carry any extra nuance?

Here και is simply the coordinating conjunction and, linking two clauses:

Σήμερα στο εργοστάσιο γίνεται απεργία
(και) πολλοί εργαζόμενοι μένουν σπίτι

So the structure is:

[There is a strike at the factory today] and [many workers stay home].

No special nuance (like and so, therefore) is required here. It just connects two related facts. Greek does not usually place a comma before και in a sentence like this, so writing:

... γίνεται απεργία και πολλοί εργαζόμενοι μένουν σπίτι.

is standard.

How are εργοστάσιο and εργαζόμενοι pronounced and stressed?

Stress placement is important in Greek. The stressed syllable is marked with the accent:

εργοστάσιο → er-go-STÁ-si-o
- Stress on the -στά- syllable.
- Roughly: er-go-STAH-see-o.
εργαζόμενοι → er-ga-ZÓ-me-ni
- Stress on the -ζό- syllable.
- Roughly: er-ga-ZO-me-nee.

Incorrect stress can make the word hard to recognize, so it’s useful to practice saying them aloud with the stress on the accented syllable.