Είχα να δω την πεθερά μου από τον Ιανουάριο, γιατί έμενε στο χωριό.

I hadn’t seen my mother-in-law since January, because she had been staying in the village.

Breakdown of Είχα να δω την πεθερά μου από τον Ιανουάριο, γιατί έμενε στο χωριό.

• έχω: to have
• να: to
• μου: my
• μένω: to live

Questions & Answers about Είχα να δω την πεθερά μου από τον Ιανουάριο, γιατί έμενε στο χωριό.

What does Είχα να δω mean here? Does it literally mean I had to see?

Here it does not mean obligation.

In this sentence, είχα να δω is the past version of a very common Greek pattern:

έχω / είχα να + verb

This can mean I haven’t / hadn’t done X for some time or it has / had been since I did X.

So:

Είχα να δω την πεθερά μου από τον Ιανουάριο
= I hadn’t seen my mother-in-law since January
or more literally
= It had been since January that I had seen my mother-in-law

Greek learners often confuse this with obligation, because έχω να + verb can sometimes also mean I have to do something in other contexts. But here, because of από τον Ιανουάριο, the time meaning is clearly intended.

How is είχα να δω different from δεν είχα δει?

They are related, but not identical.

δεν είχα δει simply means I had not seen.

είχα να δω adds the idea of elapsed time:

• δεν είχα δει την πεθερά μου = I had not seen my mother-in-law
• είχα να δω την πεθερά μου από τον Ιανουάριο = I hadn’t seen my mother-in-law since January

So είχα να δω is the more natural choice when Greek wants to emphasize how long it had been since the last time.