Όταν έμενα μόνη μου, συνήθιζα να αφήνω τις σακούλες στην είσοδο και να τακτοποιώ τα ψώνια αργότερα.

Because έμενα is the imperfect, which is used for:

• an ongoing state in the past
• background information
• repeated or habitual situations

So Όταν έμενα μόνη μου means something like when I was living alone or back when I lived alone.

If you said όταν έμεινα, it would sound more like when I stayed/lived somewhere on one specific occasion or a completed event, not a general period of life.

Here it means live.

The verb μένω can mean different things depending on context, including:

• live / reside
• stay
• remain

In this sentence, because the speaker is talking about a home routine—leaving bags at the entrance and putting groceries away later—έμενα μόνη μου clearly means I lived alone.

μόνη μου means alone / by myself.

• μόνη = alone in the feminine singular
• μου literally looks like my, but in this expression it is part of the idiomatic way Greek says by myself / on my own

So:

• μόνη μου = if the speaker is female
• μόνος μου = if the speaker is male

Greek very often uses this pattern:

• μόνος μου = by myself
• μόνη της = by herself
• μόνοι μας = by ourselves

Using just μόνη is possible in some contexts, but μόνη μου is the more natural full expression for alone / on my own.

Yes, Greek could say άφηνα... και τακτοποιούσα..., and that would also suggest a repeated past action.

But συνήθιζα makes the idea of habit more explicit. It means:

• I used to
• I was in the habit of

So:

• συνήθιζα να αφήνω... = I used to leave...
• άφηνα... = I left / I would leave / I used to leave..., depending on context

Using συνήθιζα helps emphasize that this was the speaker’s normal routine.

Because after να, Greek does not use a past indicative form like English does.

In συνήθιζα να αφήνω... και να τακτοποιώ..., the past meaning comes from συνήθιζα. The verbs after να show the type of action, especially aspect.

Here να αφήνω and να τακτοποιώ are imperfective forms, which fit repeated/habitual actions very well.

A useful English comparison is:

• I used to leave the bags...

In English, leave itself is not a past-tense form there either; the past meaning comes from used to. Greek works similarly here.

Because each verb is part of its own να clause:

• να αφήνω
• να τακτοποιώ

So Greek normally says:

• συνήθιζα να αφήνω... και να τακτοποιώ...

Repeating να is the standard and natural structure. It clearly shows that both verbs depend on συνήθιζα.

Both are direct objects, so they are in the accusative.

• η σακούλα → τις σακούλες in the accusative plural
• τα ψώνια is a neuter plural noun, and in neuter plural the nominative and accusative often look the same

So:

• τις σακούλες = the bags
• τα ψώνια = the shopping / the groceries

A learner often notices the difference because the feminine plural changes more visibly than the neuter plural.

Yes, but in this sentence it is best understood as the groceries or the things I bought.

ψώνια literally relates to shopping / purchases, but in everyday Greek:

• κάνω ψώνια = I go shopping
• τα ψώνια can mean the groceries / the shopping / the purchases

Here, because the sentence mentions bags and putting things away at home, τα ψώνια most naturally means the groceries.

Literally, τακτοποιώ means something like:

• put in order
• arrange
• sort out
• tidy up

So τακτοποιώ τα ψώνια literally means put the shopping in order, but in natural English it usually means:

• put away the groceries
• sort out the shopping
• unpack and put things where they belong

So this is a very natural Greek way to describe putting groceries away after coming home.

στην is the contracted form of σε την.

So:

• σε + την → στην

And είσοδος means entrance / entryway. After σε, it appears here as είσοδοδο? No—the correct accusative form is είσοδο.

So στην είσοδο means:

• at the entrance
• in the entryway
• by the front door, depending on context

Mostly when, but because the sentence describes a repeated past habit, English can sometimes feel closer to whenever or back when.

So Όταν έμενα μόνη μου can be understood as:

• When I lived alone
• Back when I lived alone
• in some contexts, almost Whenever I was living alone

Greek όταν covers this kind of time reference naturally, and the habitual meaning is reinforced by the imperfect έμενα and συνήθιζα.

αργότερα means later or later on.

It tells us that the second action did not happen immediately:

• first: leave the bags at the entrance
• later: put the groceries away

So it helps create the sequence of the routine very naturally. In English, later is the most direct translation.