Breakdown of Έχοντας φάει δύο κομμάτια πίτα, δεν ήμουν πια νηστικός, αλλά δεν ήμουν και πολύ χορτάτος.
είμαι
to be
τρώω
to eat
πολύ
very
έχω
to have
Questions & Answers about Έχοντας φάει δύο κομμάτια πίτα, δεν ήμουν πια νηστικός, αλλά δεν ήμουν και πολύ χορτάτος.
What does Έχοντας φάει mean, and how is it different from just saying έφαγα?
Έχοντας φάει means having eaten.
It is an introductory phrase that gives background to the main clause, something like:
- Having eaten two pieces of pie...
- After eating two pieces of pie...
By contrast, έφαγα means I ate and is a normal finite verb.
So:
- Έφαγα δύο κομμάτια πίτα = I ate two pieces of pie
- Έχοντας φάει δύο κομμάτια πίτα, ... = Having eaten two pieces of pie, ...
In this sentence, the speaker is not mainly telling us the action of eating; they are setting up the situation before telling us how they felt afterward.
What exactly is έχοντας?
Έχοντας is an adverbial participle of έχω.
It is invariable, which means it does not change for:
- person
- number
- gender
So you use έχοντας the same way whether the subject is I, you, he, she, we, etc.
In this sentence, έχοντας works together with φάει to mean having eaten.
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