Το βράδυ παίζουμε σκάκι και ένα επιτραπέζιο παιχνίδι με την παρέα μου, και ο αντίπαλός μου πάντα γελάει.

Το βράδυ literally means “the evening” or “the night (time in the evening)”.

In Greek, it’s very common to use the definite article (το, η, ο) with time expressions to mean “in the …” in a general or habitual sense:

• Το πρωί – in the morning
• Το απόγευμα – in the afternoon
• Το βράδυ – in the evening / at night

So Το βράδυ παίζουμε… can mean:

• “In the evenings we play…” (habitual), or
• “Tonight we’re playing…” (if the context is about tonight)

The article Το is neuter singular, agreeing with βράδυ (a neuter noun).

In Greek, the subject pronoun (εγώ, εσύ, αυτός, εμείς, etc.) is usually dropped, because the verb ending already shows the subject.

• παίζω – I play
• παίζεις – you (sg.) play
• παίζει – he/she/it plays
• παίζουμε – we play
• παίζετε – you (pl.) play
• παίζουν(ε) – they play

So παίζουμε on its own clearly means “we play / we are playing”.

You could say Εμείς παίζουμε σκάκι…, but εμείς is normally added only for emphasis, like “We (as opposed to others) play chess…”.

σκάκι (chess) is treated more like a mass noun or an activity, similar to English when we say:

• “We play chess” (not “the chess”)
• “We play football” (often without “the” in a general sense)

In Greek, with names of games, sports, and some activities, it’s common to use no article:

• παίζω ποδόσφαιρο – I play football/soccer
• παίζω τένις – I play tennis
• παίζω σκάκι – I play chess

But ένα επιτραπέζιο παιχνίδι literally means “a board game”. Here we are talking about one unspecified, countable object, so Greek uses the indefinite article ένα (“a/an”).

So:

• σκάκι – an activity, used without article here
• ένα επιτραπέζιο παιχνίδι – a board game (one, not specified which)

επιτραπέζιο παιχνίδι literally means “table-top game” or “board game”.

• παιχνίδι – game, toy (neuter noun)
• επιτραπέζιο – “table-top / board (game)” (adjective used as an attributive adjective here)

Gender and case agreement:

• παιχνίδι is neuter singular, accusative here (as a direct object).

• The adjective επιτραπέζιο must match the noun in gender, number, and case:

  • neuter singular nominative/accusative: επιτραπέζιο παιχνίδι
  • plural: επιτραπέζια παιχνίδια (“board games”)

So ένα επιτραπέζιο παιχνίδι =
ένα (neuter singular) + επιτραπέζιο (neuter singular) + παιχνίδι (neuter singular).

παρέα is a very common everyday word that means roughly:

• group of friends
• company in the sense of “people you hang out with”

So με την παρέα μου means “with my group of friends / with my friends”.

It doesn’t mean a business company (that would be εταιρεία). It’s more about social company and often implies people you regularly spend time with in a relaxed way (going out, chatting, playing games, etc.).

The preposition με (“with”) in modern Greek always takes the accusative case.

• παρέα is a feminine noun.
• Nominative singular: η παρέα
• Accusative singular: την παρέα

Since it follows με, it must be in the accusative:

• με την παρέα μου – with my group of friends

The μου (“my”) is an enclitic possessive pronoun and does not change the case; it simply shows possession: την παρέα μου = “my group (of friends)”.

In Greek, when you use possessive pronouns like μου (my), σου (your), του (his), etc., you normally also use the definite article:

• ο φίλος μου – my friend
• η μητέρα σου – your mother
• το βιβλίο του – his book
• ο αντίπαλός μου – my opponent

The pattern is:
article + noun + possessive.

If you say just αντίπαλός μου without ο, it can sound more poetic, stylistic, or like part of a longer phrase, but in normal everyday speech you almost always include the article.

So ο αντίπαλός μου is the natural, standard way to say “my opponent.”

The base word is ο αντίπαλος (“opponent”), with the stress on -ντί-: αν-ΤΊ-πα-λος.

When you add an enclitic pronoun like μου, σου, του, Greek often adds a second stress mark on the last syllable of the noun to keep the stress rule of the language:

• ο αντίπαλος μου → written correctly as ο αντίπαλός μου

So you see an extra accent on -λός. This indicates the word is now stressed on two syllables in writing, but in normal speech it just keeps the natural rhythm; it doesn’t sound like two strong stresses.

This is a standard spelling rule when a word with final stress on the third-from-last syllable is followed by an enclitic (like μου).

The comma separates two clauses:

1. Το βράδυ παίζουμε σκάκι και ένα επιτραπέζιο παιχνίδι με την παρέα μου
2. και ο αντίπαλός μου πάντα γελάει

Together:
Το βράδυ παίζουμε σκάκι και ένα επιτραπέζιο παιχνίδι με την παρέα μου, και ο αντίπαλός μου πάντα γελάει.

The second και is linking a new clause: “and my opponent always laughs.”
Using a comma here is acceptable, because we are joining two fairly complete ideas.

You could also write it without the comma:

• …με την παρέα μου και ο αντίπαλός μου πάντα γελάει.

In modern informal Greek, both ways are often seen. The comma slightly emphasizes the pause between what we do and what my opponent does.

Yes. πάντα (“always”) is an adverb and has some flexibility in word order.

Possible positions:

• ο αντίπαλός μου πάντα γελάει – my opponent always laughs
• ο αντίπαλός μου γελάει πάντα – my opponent laughs always
• πάντα ο αντίπαλός μου γελάει – always my opponent laughs (slightly more emphatic/focused)

All are grammatically correct.
The most neutral and common in everyday speech is probably:

• ο αντίπαλός μου πάντα γελάει

The verb is γελάω / γελώ – “to laugh”.

The 3rd person singular present forms you’ll see are:

• γελάει (ge-lá-ee)
• γελά (ge-lá)

Both mean “he/she/it laughs / is laughing”.

γελάει is more common in everyday modern Greek spelling and speech.
γελά is shorter and also correct; it can sound a bit more formal/standard or simply a variant. In conversation you’ll hear γελάει very often.

So here, ο αντίπαλός μου πάντα γελάει = “my opponent always laughs.”

Το βράδυ can mean either, depending on context:

1. Habitual/general:
   Το βράδυ παίζουμε σκάκι… – “In the evenings we play chess…”
   (a repeated habit, a general routine)

2. Specific (tonight):
   If the conversation is about today’s plans or a specific day, Το βράδυ can be understood as “this evening / tonight”:

   • Σήμερα το βράδυ παίζουμε σκάκι… – Tonight we’re playing chess…

Without extra context, Το βράδυ παίζουμε… is slightly more naturally heard as a habitual action, but it can be understood as “tonight” in the right situation.

Yes, you can move με την παρέα μου earlier:

• Το βράδυ παίζουμε σκάκι και ένα επιτραπέζιο παιχνίδι με την παρέα μου…
• Το βράδυ, με την παρέα μου, παίζουμε σκάκι και ένα επιτραπέζιο παιχνίδι…

Both are correct and the basic meaning is the same: “In the evening, I play with my group of friends…”

Word order in Greek is relatively flexible. Moving με την παρέα μου earlier can:

• Slightly emphasize with my friends (“In the evening, with my friends, we play…”).
• Sound a bit more structured or written if you separate it with commas.

But it doesn’t change who is playing with whom or what is being played.

ένα επιτραπέζιο παιχνίδι is in the accusative case, because it is a direct object of the verb παίζουμε (“we play”).

• We play what? → σκάκι and ένα επιτραπέζιο παιχνίδι

For neuter nouns, nominative and accusative singular look the same:

• nominative: το παιχνίδι – the game
• accusative: το παιχνίδι – the game (object)

And with the indefinite article:

• ένα παιχνίδι – a game (subject or object, same form in neuter)

So grammatically, we know it’s accusative (object) because of its role in the sentence (after the verb παίζουμε), not from a different ending.