Έβαλα τις βαλίτσες στο πορτμπαγκάζ και τώρα είμαστε έτοιμοι να φύγουμε.

Έβαλα is the aorist form of βάζω and means I put / I placed / I loaded as a single completed action.

It is 1st person singular, so the subject is I.

It does not look like βάζω because this verb has a different aorist stem:

• present: βάζω
• aorist: έβαλα

That is very common in Greek: some verbs change stem in the past.

Because βαλίτσες is the direct object of Έβαλα.

After a transitive verb like βάζω, the thing affected by the action goes in the accusative case. So:

• nominative: οι βαλίτσες = the suitcases as the subject
• accusative: τις βαλίτσες = the suitcases as the object

Here, I am doing the action, and the suitcases are what I put somewhere, so Greek uses τις βαλίτσες.

στο is a contraction of σε + το.

So:

• σε = in / to / at
• το πορτμπαγκάζ = the trunk / boot

Together:

• σε το πορτμπαγκάζ → στο πορτμπαγκάζ

This is completely normal in Greek. You will often see:

• στο = σε το
• στη = σε τη(ν)
• στον = σε τον

After σε, Greek normally uses the accusative, so στο πορτμπαγκάζ is functioning as an accusative phrase.

The noun πορτμπαγκάζ is a borrowed word and is often treated as indeclinable, meaning the noun itself does not visibly change form. The article carries the grammatical information:

• το πορτμπαγκάζ
• στο πορτμπαγκάζ

So even though the noun looks the same, the article tells you how it is being used.

Yes. πορτμπαγκάζ is a very common everyday word for a car’s trunk or boot.

It is a loanword, but it sounds completely natural in modern spoken Greek. A more formal expression might be something like χώρος αποσκευών, but in normal conversation πορτμπαγκάζ is very common.

The verb είμαστε means we are.

Greek often leaves out the subject pronoun because the verb ending already shows the person and number. So είμαστε already tells you the subject is we.

In this sentence, the speaker first says Έβαλα = I put, and then switches to είμαστε = we are, meaning that the speaker is talking about a group that includes them.

So the idea is:

• I loaded the suitcases
• and now we are ready to leave

The adjective has to agree with the subject.

Since the verb is είμαστε = we are, the adjective must be plural.

• έτοιμος = singular masculine
• έτοιμη = singular feminine
• έτοιμοι = plural masculine
• έτοιμες = plural feminine

έτοιμοι is used for:

• a group of men, or
• a mixed group of men and women

If the speaker were talking about a group of only women, it would be είμαστε έτοιμες.

Modern Greek does not use an infinitive the way English does.

Instead of saying something like to leave, Greek normally uses να + verb form:

• να φύγουμε

So έτοιμοι να φύγουμε literally means something like ready that we leave, but in natural English it is simply ready to leave.

This is one of the biggest structural differences between English and Greek.

Both come from the verb φεύγω = I leave, but they are different forms.

• φεύγουμε is the present form: we leave / we are leaving
• φύγουμε is the aorist subjunctive form used after να

In this sentence, να φύγουμε refers to one complete act of leaving, so the aorist form is the natural choice.

That is why έτοιμοι να φύγουμε sounds right: it means ready to leave now / ready to depart.

If you used να φεύγουμε, it would suggest something more ongoing, repeated, or less bounded, which does not fit as well here.

Because the sentence describes:

1. a completed action in the past
   
   • Έβαλα τις βαλίτσες στο πορτμπαγκάζ
2. the current result or situation
   • και τώρα είμαστε έτοιμοι να φύγουμε

So the grammar matches the logic of the situation:

• first, the speaker finished loading the suitcases
• now, as a result, the group is ready to go

This combination of aorist + τώρα + present is very natural in Greek.

A rough pronunciation is:

EV-ala tiz va-LEE-tses sto port-ba-GAZ ke TO-ra EE-maste E-ti-mi na FEE-ghu-me

A few useful points:

• τσ in βαλίτσες sounds like ts
• γκ in πορτμπαγκάζ is part of the borrowed pronunciation; you can think of it roughly as g in this word
• γ in φύγουμε is not a hard English g; it is a softer Greek sound
• the written accent mark shows where the stress goes:
  • Έβαλα
  • βαλίτσες
  • πορτμπαγκάζ
  • τώρα
  • έτοιμοι
  • φύγουμε

If you follow the stress marks carefully, your pronunciation will already sound much more natural.