Όταν το παιδί δεν θέλει να κοιμηθεί, ούτε το παραμύθι ούτε το νανούρισμα βοηθούν αμέσως.

Όταν means when and introduces a time clause.

So:

• Όταν το παιδί δεν θέλει να κοιμηθεί = When the child doesn’t want to fall asleep / go to sleep

In Greek, όταν is commonly used for things that happen generally or repeatedly, not just one single past event.

A native English speaker may expect something very close to English here, and it is:
Όταν works a lot like when in sentences such as When the child doesn’t want to sleep...

Yes. Παιδί is a neuter noun in Greek, so it takes the neuter article το.

• το παιδί = the child

This is about grammatical gender, not biological sex. Greek nouns belong to grammatical gender classes:

• masculine
• feminine
• neuter

So even if the child is a boy or a girl, παιδί is still grammatically neuter.

In Greek, δεν is the standard negation used with indicative verbs, and it normally comes right before the verb.

So:

• δεν θέλει = does not want / doesn’t want

That is why the sentence says:

• το παιδί δεν θέλει... = the child doesn’t want...

English learners sometimes want to place the negative elsewhere, but in Greek it usually sits directly before the verb it negates.

Modern Greek does not use the infinitive the way English does. Instead, it usually uses:

• να
  • finite verb form

So:

• θέλει να κοιμηθεί = literally something like wants that it fall asleep
• natural English: wants to go to sleep / wants to fall asleep

This is one of the most important differences between English and Greek.

Compare:

• English: I want to eat
• Greek: Θέλω να φάω

So here:

• δεν θέλει να κοιμηθεί = doesn’t want to go to sleep

This is a very important point.

• κοιμάται means he/she/it is sleeping or sleeps
• κοιμηθεί here is the aorist subjunctive form after να

After verbs like θέλω, Greek often uses the aorist subjunctive to express a single complete action. In this sentence, the idea is not to be in the state of sleeping, but to fall asleep / go to sleep.

So:

• να κοιμηθεί = to fall asleep / to go to sleep
• να κοιμάται would suggest to be sleeping, which is not the intended meaning here

English often uses sleep, but Greek makes a distinction that English may not make as clearly.

ούτε ... ούτε means neither ... nor.

So:

• ούτε το παραμύθι ούτε το νανούρισμα = neither the story nor the lullaby

This is the standard Greek way to connect two negative alternatives.

A useful pattern is:

• ούτε Α ούτε Β

Examples:

• Ούτε ο καφές ούτε το τσάι = Neither the coffee nor the tea
• Ούτε μιλάει ούτε ακούει = He neither speaks nor listens

In your sentence, it links two subjects: the story and the lullaby.

Because together they form a compound subject:

• ούτε το παραμύθι ούτε το νανούρισμα = neither the story nor the lullaby

Even though each noun is singular, there are two things being mentioned, so Greek normally uses a plural verb:

• βοηθούν = help

This is similar to English, where many speakers also prefer a plural idea in such coordinated subjects, even with neither...nor structures.

So the logic is:

• one thing → singular verb
• two coordinated things → often plural verb

Greek uses the definite article much more regularly than English.

Here, each noun has its own article:

• το παραμύθι = the story/fairy tale
• το νανούρισμα = the lullaby

This is completely normal in Greek, especially with a structure like ούτε ... ούτε. Greek usually repeats the article with each noun rather than sharing one article across both.

So Greek prefers:

• ούτε το παραμύθι ούτε το νανούρισμα

rather than something more compressed.

Also, in context, the article can refer to a familiar kind of thing: the bedtime story, the lullaby.

Παραμύθι literally means fairy tale or story, and in this context it most naturally means a bedtime story.

Depending on context, παραμύθι can mean:

• fairy tale
• made-up story
• children’s story

Here, because the sentence is about a child not wanting to sleep, the natural meaning is:

• the bedtime story

So το παραμύθι is not just any story in the world; it is the familiar story told to help the child sleep.

Νανούρισμα means lullaby.

It comes from the idea of soothing a child to sleep. So in this sentence:

• το νανούρισμα = the lullaby

This is a useful word to remember because it is very specific and common in family/child-related contexts.

Βοηθούν is the 3rd person plural present active form of βοηθώ (to help).

So:

• βοηθώ = I help
• βοηθάς = you help
• βοηθά / βοηθεί = he/she/it helps
• βοηθούμε = we help
• βοηθάτε = you all help
• βοηθούν = they help

In the sentence:

• ούτε το παραμύθι ούτε το νανούρισμα βοηθούν αμέσως
• neither the story nor the lullaby helps immediately

Greek uses the plural because the subject consists of two coordinated items.

You may also hear βοηθάνε in everyday speech. That is a common spoken alternative to βοηθούν.

Αμέσως means immediately, right away, or at once.

So:

• βοηθούν αμέσως = help immediately / help right away

Greek word order is fairly flexible, and adverbs like αμέσως can often move around. Putting it at the end is very natural and gives a neat closing emphasis:

• ούτε το παραμύθι ούτε το νανούρισμα βοηθούν αμέσως

You could also see other positions in other contexts, but the final placement is perfectly normal.

The comma separates the introductory time clause from the main clause.

Structure:

• Όταν το παιδί δεν θέλει να κοιμηθεί, = subordinate clause
• ούτε το παραμύθι ούτε το νανούρισμα βοηθούν αμέσως. = main clause

This is very similar to English punctuation:

• When the child doesn’t want to go to sleep, neither the story nor the lullaby helps immediately.

So the comma is there for the same basic reason: it marks the boundary between the opening clause and the main statement.

More specifically, fall asleep / go to sleep is better.

Because of να κοιμηθεί, the Greek focuses on the action of entering sleep, not simply the state of sleeping.

So the most accurate English renderings are:

• When the child doesn’t want to go to sleep, neither the story nor the lullaby helps immediately.
• When the child doesn’t want to fall asleep, neither the story nor the lullaby helps right away.

A simpler translation with sleep may still appear, but it misses that small grammatical nuance.

Yes, completely normal.

The sentence is structured like this:

1. Όταν-clause first
   
   • Όταν το παιδί δεν θέλει να κοιμηθεί
2. main clause second
   
   • ούτε το παραμύθι ούτε το νανούρισμα βοηθούν αμέσως

This order is very natural because Greek often places the time/background information first, then gives the main result or comment.

So the sentence feels natural and idiomatic, not unusually literary or awkward.