Σήμερα ξύπνησα νωρίς, αλλά δεν είμαι ακόμα πολύ ξύπνιος.

I woke up early today, but I’m not very awake yet.

Breakdown of Σήμερα ξύπνησα νωρίς, αλλά δεν είμαι ακόμα πολύ ξύπνιος.

• είμαι: to be
• πολύ: very
• δεν: not
• σήμερα: today

Questions & Answers about Σήμερα ξύπνησα νωρίς, αλλά δεν είμαι ακόμα πολύ ξύπνιος.

Why does the sentence use ξύπνησα and later ξύπνιος? Aren’t they the same word?

They are related, but they are different parts of speech:

• ξύπνησα = I woke up
  This is a verb.
• ξύπνιος = awake
  This is an adjective.

So the sentence moves from an action to a state:

• Σήμερα ξύπνησα νωρίς = Today I woke up early
• δεν είμαι ακόμα πολύ ξύπνιος = I’m not very awake yet/still

English does the same thing with wake up vs awake.

What tense is ξύπνησα?

ξύπνησα is the aorist form, first person singular: I woke up.

In this sentence, the aorist is used because waking up is seen as a completed event. You woke up at some point earlier today.

So:

• ξυπνάω / ξυπνώ = I wake up / I am waking up
• ξύπνησα = I woke up

Even though the sentence starts with Σήμερα (today), Greek still uses the aorist because the action is finished.

Why is there no εγώ for I?