Στο γυμνάσιο είχα έναν συμμαθητή και μια συμμαθήτρια που μιλούσαν πάντα ελληνικά ο ένας με τον άλλον.

In middle school I had a male and a female classmate who always spoke Greek with each other.

Breakdown of Στο γυμνάσιο είχα έναν συμμαθητή και μια συμμαθήτρια που μιλούσαν πάντα ελληνικά ο ένας με τον άλλον.

• και: and
• μιλάω: to speak
• ελληνικά: in Greek
• έχω: to have
• σε: at
• πάντα: always
• που: who
• μία: one
• ένας: one
• το γυμνάσιο: the middle school
• ο συμμαθητής: the male classmate
• η συμμαθήτρια: the female classmate
• ο ένας με τον άλλον: each other

Questions & Answers about Στο γυμνάσιο είχα έναν συμμαθητή και μια συμμαθήτρια που μιλούσαν πάντα ελληνικά ο ένας με τον άλλον.

What exactly does Στο γυμνάσιο mean, and what is στο here?

Στο γυμνάσιο literally means in junior high school / in middle school (the school level roughly for ages 12–15 in Greece).

• στο is a contraction of σε
  • το
    
    • σε = in / at / to
    • το = the (neuter singular)

So στο γυμνάσιο = in the middle school and in context it means when I was in middle school.

Why is είχα used here? In English we usually say I had or there was – is there any nuance?

είχα is the imperfect tense of έχω (to have), so it means I had in the sense of I used to have.

In Greek, the imperfect (είχα) is used for:

• states or situations in the past that lasted for some time
• repeated or habitual actions in the past

Here, Στο γυμνάσιο είχα έναν συμμαθητή... suggests that during that whole period of middle school, the speaker had such classmates in their class. English might also express this nuance as Back in middle school, I had a classmate and a (female) classmate... or I used to have...

What is the difference between έναν συμμαθητή and μια συμμαθήτρια?

Both come from the same root:

• συμμαθητής = classmate (male)
• συμμαθήτρια = classmate (female)

The forms in the sentence:

• έναν συμμαθητή

  • έναν is the masculine accusative form of ένας (a / one)
  • συμμαθητή is the masculine accusative of συμμαθητής

• μια συμμαθήτρια

  • μια is the feminine accusative form of μία (a / one, usually pronounced mia)
  • συμμαθήτρια is both nominative and accusative feminine form here

So the sentence says the speaker had one male classmate and one female classmate.

Why is the verb μιλούσαν (they were speaking) in the plural, when the last noun before it is μια συμμαθήτρια (singular)?

Because μιλούσαν refers to both classmates together:

• έναν συμμαθητή (one male classmate)
• μια συμμαθήτρια (one female classmate)

Together, they form a compound subject: a (male) classmate and a (female) classmate. In Greek, when the subject has more than one person or thing, the verb takes the plural:

• ο Γιάννης και η Μαρία μιλούσαν = Yannis and Maria were talking

So που μιλούσαν πάντα ελληνικά means who always spoke Greek (they = the two classmates).

What does που do here? Could we use οι οποίοι instead?

που is a very common, informal relative pronoun in modern Greek. It works like who / that / which in English:

• ...συμμαθητή και μια συμμαθήτρια που μιλούσαν...
  = ...a male classmate and a female classmate who spoke...

You can use οι οποίοι instead, but it sounds more formal or written:

• ...έναν συμμαθητή και μια συμμαθήτρια, οι οποίοι μιλούσαν πάντα ελληνικά...

Differences:

• που – neutral, natural, everyday spoken Greek
• οι οποίοι – more formal, precise, often in writing, or for emphasis/clarity

Why is μιλούσαν, not μίλησαν? What is the tense here?

μιλούσαν is the imperfect tense of μιλάω (to speak / to talk). It describes:

• an ongoing action in the past
• a repeated or habitual action in the past

So μιλούσαν πάντα ελληνικά means they always used to speak Greek / they were always speaking Greek.

μίλησαν is the aorist (simple past) and would describe a single, completed action (they spoke once), which does not fit the meaning of always.

Why is ελληνικά written with a lowercase letter and without an article?

Two points:

1. Lowercase:
   In Greek, when you talk about the language, you usually write it with a lowercase adjective form:

   • ελληνικά = Greek (language)
   • αγγλικά = English (language)

   The capitalized forms Ελληνικά, Αγγλικά are often used as titles (e.g. on book covers, course names), but not normally inside a sentence.

2. No article:
   After verbs like μιλάω (to speak), ξέρω (to know), the language is usually used without an article:

   • μιλάω ελληνικά = I speak Greek
   • ξέρει αγγλικά = He/She knows English

   You can theoretically say μιλούν την ελληνική γλώσσα, but it sounds heavy or overly formal in everyday speech.

Is ελληνικά here a noun or an adverb? It looks like an adjective in the plural.

Formally, ελληνικά is the neuter plural of the adjective ελληνικός (Greek). But in this structure:

• μιλάνε ελληνικά
• γράφω ελληνικά

it functions like a noun meaning “(the) Greek language”, and in practice it behaves almost like an adverb: speak in Greek.

So you can think of μιλούσαν ελληνικά as either:

• literally: they were speaking Greek (language)
• or: they were speaking in Greek

Could we move πάντα to another position, like που πάντα μιλούσαν ελληνικά? Does the meaning change?

Yes, you can move πάντα, and Greek word order is fairly flexible. Some natural options:

• που μιλούσαν πάντα ελληνικά (original)
• που πάντα μιλούσαν ελληνικά
• που μιλούσαν ελληνικά πάντα (less common, but possible in speech)

All basically mean who always spoke Greek. The default and clearest is usually:

• μιλούσαν πάντα ελληνικά

Moving πάντα earlier (που πάντα μιλούσαν ελληνικά) can slightly emphasize the always, but the difference is subtle.

What does ο ένας με τον άλλον literally mean, and why is it used?

ο ένας με τον άλλον literally means the one with the other. It is the standard Greek way to say each other / one another.

Breakdown:

• ο ένας = the one (masculine, nominative)
• με = with
• τον άλλον = the other (masculine, accusative; άλλον is another form of άλλο = other)

So:

• μιλούσαν πάντα ελληνικά ο ένας με τον άλλον
  = they always spoke Greek with each other

Why is ο ένας masculine when one of the classmates is female?

In Greek, when you refer to a mixed-gender pair or group, the masculine is used as the default grammatical gender.

Here, the two people are:

• one male (συμμαθητής)
• one female (συμμαθήτρια)

When combining them in a phrase like ο ένας με τον άλλον, Greek uses masculine forms:

• ο ένας (masculine)
• τον άλλον (masculine)

If both were definitely female, you could use the feminine version (see next question), but with a mixed pair the masculine is standard.

How would this phrase change if both classmates were female, or both male?

If both are male:

• Nouns: δύο συμμαθητές (two male classmates)
• Reciprocal phrase: ο ένας με τον άλλον – stays exactly the same; it is already masculine.

If both are female:

• Nouns: δύο συμμαθήτριες (two female classmates)
• Reciprocal phrase usually becomes feminine:
  • η μία με την άλλη = the one (fem.) with the other (fem.)

Example:

• Είχα δύο συμμαθήτριες που μιλούσαν πάντα ελληνικά η μία με την άλλη.
  = I had two (female) classmates who always spoke Greek with each other.

Is there a difference in meaning or emphasis between Στο γυμνάσιο είχα... and Είχα στο γυμνάσιο...?

Yes, a small difference in emphasis.

• Στο γυμνάσιο είχα έναν συμμαθητή...
  Starts with στο γυμνάσιο, so it emphasizes the time/place context: Back in middle school, I had...

• Είχα στο γυμνάσιο έναν συμμαθητή...
  Starts with είχα, so it emphasizes the fact of having such classmates, and then specifies that this was in middle school. It’s still correct, just a bit less natural than the original word order in this particular sentence.

Both are grammatically OK, but the original version flows more naturally in storytelling.

Why isn’t there a subject pronoun like εγώ with είχα? How do we know it means I?

In Greek, subject pronouns (εγώ, εσύ, αυτός, etc.) are usually dropped, because the verb ending already shows the person.

• είχα can only mean I had (first person singular)
• είχες = you had
• είχε = he/she/it had

So a full form like Εγώ είχα έναν συμμαθητή... would sound marked or emphatic, like I had a classmate... (not someone else). In neutral sentences, εγώ is simply omitted.

Why is it τον άλλον and not just ο άλλος? What case is this?

τον άλλον is in the accusative case, because it is the object of the preposition με (with).

• ο άλλος = nominative (subject form): the other (one)
• τον άλλον = accusative (object form): the other (one) as object

In the phrase ο ένας με τον άλλον:

• ο ένας is the grammatical subject (nominative)
• τον άλλον is the object after με, so it must be accusative.

Modern Greek also allows τον άλλο (without final -ν) in many contexts; τον άλλον is a bit more careful or traditional, but both are common.