Half of everything you point at in a conversation is not a thing. It is what somebody just said, the situation you are both looking at, the plan that has fallen apart, the whole mess of it. English handles that with this, that, it and so, more or less interchangeably. Greek handles it with the neuter demonstrative αυτό — and with its plural αυτά when what you are pointing at is a set of statements or events rather than one.
This is the same word you use for an object you cannot name (Τι είναι αυτό;), which is covered on demonstrative pronouns. What changes here is what it is standing for: not a thing with a gender, but a chunk of the conversation.
The clitic το and the strong αυτό split the work
Greek has two words for "that idea", and they are not alternatives — they live in different slots. The unstressed clitic το is the everyday one, and it has a page of its own: the clitic το for clauses. Everything below is about the strong αυτό, which exists because a clitic is welded to its verb and can never be separated from it. That one fact rules out four jobs: sitting in the topic slot at the front of the clause detached from the verb, following a preposition, standing alone as a one-word answer, and being coordinated with και.
Δεν το ήξερα καθόλου, ούτε το φαντάστηκα.
dhen to íksera kathólu, úte to fandástika
I had no idea, and I didn't suspect it either. (the clitic — neutral, no weight on the idea)
Αυτό δεν το ήξερα, πότε το αποφάσισαν;
aftó dhen to íksera, póte to apofásisan;
That I didn't know — when did they decide it? (the strong form singles out one part of what was said)
Look carefully at the second sentence: both words are in it. The strong αυτό sits at the front carrying the emphasis, and the clitic το stays in front of the verb doing the grammar. That pairing is obligatory when a fronted phrase is a topic, and it is the ordinary shape of this construction — the mechanics are on clitic doubling.
— Και τι έγινε στο τέλος; — Αυτό ακριβώς προσπαθώ να μάθω.
— ke ti éyine sto télos; — aftó akrivós prospathó na mátho
— And what happened in the end? — That's exactly what I'm trying to find out.
αυτά: the things that were said and done
The plural αυτά covers a set of statements, events or circumstances taken together. English usually says all this, what you said, everything that happened — and Greek is doing it with two syllables.
Με αυτά που είπες χθες, στενοχώρησες πολύ κόσμο.
me aftá pu ípes chthes, stenochórises polí kózmo
With what you said yesterday, you upset a lot of people.
Μετά απ' όλα αυτά, δεν έχω κουράγιο να ξαναρχίσω.
metá ap' óla aftá, dhen écho kuráyo na ksanarchíso
After all that, I haven't got the heart to start again.
Άσε αυτά τώρα και πες μου τι θέλεις να κάνουμε.
áse aftá tóra ke pes mu ti thélis na kánume
Never mind all that now — tell me what you want us to do.
After a preposition, only the strong form fits
This is the slot where the clitic is simply not available, and it is where most of the high-frequency discourse expressions of Greek live. Learn them as fixed shapes; between them they cover a large share of everyday connective work.
| Shape | Meaning |
|---|---|
| γι' αυτό | that's why, so, for that reason |
| μ' αυτό / μ' αυτά | with that, by that |
| σ' αυτό | on that point, about that |
| απ' αυτό | from that, out of that |
| παρ' όλα αυτά | nevertheless, even so |
| εκτός απ' αυτό | apart from that, besides |
| μετά απ' αυτό | after that |
Δεν κοιμήθηκα καθόλου, γι' αυτό είμαι τόσο νευρικός σήμερα.
dhen kimíthika kathólu, y' aftó íme tóso nevrikós símera
I didn't sleep at all, that's why I'm so on edge today.
Σ' αυτό έχεις δίκιο, δεν το είχα σκεφτεί.
s' aftó échis dhíkio, dhen to ícha skeftí
You're right about that — I hadn't thought of it.
Παρ' όλα αυτά, δεν το μετανιώνω καθόλου.
par' óla aftá, dhen to metanióno kathólu
Even so, I don't regret it in the least.
Εκτός απ' αυτό, δεν έχω κανένα άλλο παράπονο.
ektós ap' aftó, dhen écho kanéna álo parápono
Apart from that, I've got no complaints at all.
γι' αυτό has drifted furthest from its parts. Literally "for that", it is now one of the commonest connectives in spoken Greek, sitting at the head of a clause and meaning simply so or that's why — with no particular "that" you could point to. Its full range, including γι' αυτόν τον λόγο and the more formal alternatives, is on γι' αυτό: saying 'therefore'.
με αυτόν τον τρόπο, and the everyday word for it
με αυτόν τον τρόπο ("in this way") is the one to be careful with, for two reasons. First, the preposition is με, not σε — English in is misleading here. Second, it is a written phrase: in conversation Greek says έτσι, one word, and the long version sounds like a report.
Με αυτόν τον τρόπο εξοικονομούμε χρόνο και χρήμα.
me aftón ton trópo eksikonomúme chróno ke chríma
In this way we save both time and money. (formal / written)
Έτσι γλιτώνουμε και χρόνο και λεφτά.
étsi ghlitónume ke chróno ke leftá
That way we save time and money. (everyday spoken)
Both are correct; they belong to different documents. If you are writing a report, με αυτόν τον τρόπο is exactly right. If you are explaining something to a friend, it is three words too many.
Pointing forward, not back
αυτό can also announce something that has not been said yet. It sets up a colon, and the content follows.
Αυτό θέλω να σου πω: μην υπογράψεις τίποτα σήμερα.
aftó thélo na su po: min ipoghrápsis típota símera
This is what I want to tell you: don't sign anything today.
Αυτό που με ενοχλεί είναι ότι δεν με ρώτησε καν.
aftó pu me enochlí íne óti dhen me rótise kan
What bothers me is that he didn't even ask me.
The second pattern — Αυτό που… είναι ότι… — is Greek's everyday cleft, the structure that lets you put one element in the spotlight; it is developed on cleft sentences, and the ότι that follows on the complementizer ότι.
πράγμα που: when a whole clause is the antecedent
One neighbour worth knowing, because English pushes you straight into an error. English which can take an entire clause as its antecedent — he arrived late, which annoyed everyone. Greek's relative που does not work that way on its own: it wants a noun to attach to. The repair is to supply one, and the noun Greek supplies is πράγμα ("thing"), giving the fixed connective πράγμα που.
Ήρθε μισή ώρα αργότερα, πράγμα που εκνεύρισε όλη την παρέα.
írthe misí óra arghótera, prághma pu eknévrise óli tin paréa
He turned up half an hour late, which annoyed the whole group.
The relative που itself is on the relative που.
Fixed expressions to learn whole
Αυτό ήταν, τελειώσαμε. Πάμε σπίτι.
aftó ítan, teliósame. páme spíti
That's that, we're done. Let's go home.
Λοιπόν, αυτά. Τα λέμε την άλλη βδομάδα.
lipón, aftá. ta léme tin áli vdhomádha
Right, that's it from me. See you next week. (informal — a standard way to close a call or a meeting)
Αυτό μας έλειπε τώρα, να χαλάσει και το πλυντήριο!
aftó mas élipe tóra, na chalási ke to plindírio
That's all we needed — the washing machine breaking down as well! (informal, ironic)
The bare αυτά as a sign-off is worth singling out: it is how Greek speakers end a phone call, a voice message or a presentation, and it is completely unpredictable from the parts. More closing moves of this kind are on λοιπόν.
Common Mistakes
1. Building "that's why" word by word. English that is why is three separable words; Greek has one frozen connective and no room for είναι.
❌ Αυτό είναι γιατί δεν σου τηλεφώνησα χθες.
Incorrect — Greek does not build 'that's why' out of αυτό + είναι + γιατί. The connective is γι' αυτό: Γι' αυτό δεν σου τηλεφώνησα.
✅ Είχα χάσει το κινητό μου· γι' αυτό δεν σου τηλεφώνησα χθες.
ícha chási to kinitó mu· y' aftó dhen su tilefónisa chthes
I'd lost my phone — that's why I didn't ring you yesterday.
2. Using αυτό as the "that" which introduces a clause. English uses one word for the pronoun and for the complementizer; Greek uses two completely different ones.
❌ Ξέρω αυτό ήρθε αργά, αλλά δεν πειράζει.
Incorrect — the 'that' introducing a clause is ότι, not the pronoun αυτό: Ξέρω ότι ήρθε αργά.
✅ Ξέρω ότι ήρθε αργά, αλλά δεν ήταν δικό του το φταίξιμο.
kséro óti írthe arghá, alá dhen ítan dhikó tu to ftéksimo
I know he arrived late, but it wasn't his fault.
3. Putting σε in front of τρόπο. English in this way supplies the wrong preposition, and the phrase is fixed.
❌ Σε αυτόν τον τρόπο θα τελειώσουμε πιο γρήγορα.
Incorrect — 'in this way' takes με: Με αυτόν τον τρόπο θα τελειώσουμε πιο γρήγορα.
✅ Με αυτόν τον τρόπο θα τελειώσουμε πιο γρήγορα και με λιγότερα λάθη.
me aftón ton trópo tha teliósume pio ghríghora ke me lighótera láthi
This way we'll finish faster and with fewer mistakes.
4. Reaching for εκείνο to pick up something just said. A statement that has only this second left the other person's mouth is the opposite of distant, so the word for it is αυτό.
❌ Δεν ήξερα εκείνο, μου το λες τώρα πρώτη φορά.
Incorrect on two counts — a statement just made is picked up with αυτό, not εκείνο; and a strong demonstrative object goes to the front with the clitic resuming it: Αυτό δεν το ήξερα.
✅ Αυτό δεν το ήξερα και με ξάφνιασε πολύ, να είμαι ειλικρινής.
aftó dhen to íksera ke me ksáfniase polí, na íme ilikrinís
I didn't know that, and it took me completely by surprise, to be honest.
5. Using the strong αυτό where the clitic is enough. Both sentences below are correct, and the difference is what they claim, not whether they are Greek.
Δεν το πίστεψα με τίποτα όταν το άκουσα.
dhen to pístepsa me típota ótan to ákusa
I didn't believe it for a second when I heard it. (neutral — the clitic simply refers back)
Αυτό δεν το πίστεψα με τίποτα, τα υπόλοιπα ναι.
aftó dhen to pístepsa me típota, ta ipólipa ne
That bit I didn't believe for a second — the rest of it, yes. (the strong form picks one part out of several)
Key Takeaways
- Neuter αυτό stands for a whole statement or situation, and plural αυτά for a set of them: Αυτό δεν το ήξερα, Με αυτά που είπες.
- The clitic το is the neutral everyday version; the strong αυτό is what you need to front as a topic, follow a preposition, stand alone or coordinate. When αυτό is fronted as a topic, both appear.
- The preposition slot is where the fixed shapes live: γι' αυτό, σ' αυτό, απ' αυτό, παρ' όλα αυτά, εκτός απ' αυτό, μετά απ' αυτό.
- γι' αυτό has frozen into a connective meaning so, that's why, with no particular "that" behind it.
- με αυτόν τον τρόπο takes με, not σε, and belongs to writing; the spoken word for it is έτσι.
- αυτό also points forward: Αυτό θέλω να σου πω:…, and the cleft Αυτό που με ενοχλεί είναι ότι….
- A whole clause cannot be the antecedent of που on its own — Greek supplies a noun and says πράγμα που.
- Learn Αυτό ήταν, the sign-off Αυτά (informal) and the ironic Αυτό μας έλειπε! (informal) as whole units.
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Start learning Greek →Related Topics
- The Clitic το for Clauses and 'It'B1 — Το ξέρω, Το κατάλαβα, Δεν το πιστεύω — the neuter clitic that stands for a whole idea rather than a thing, and that Greek supplies in places where English leaves the verb bare or says 'so'. Covers the το that anticipates a ότι- or να-clause, the trap of το ότι where το is the article instead, and the fact that Greek has no subject 'it' for το to be confused with.
- Demonstrative PronounsA2 — What happens to αυτός and εκείνος when you take the noun away: the ending has to remember the noun's gender (Ποια θέλεις; — Αυτή), the one-word answer has to copy the question's case (Ποιον; — Αυτόν), neuter αυτό becomes the word for anything you cannot name, and pointing at a person with Αυτός sounds a lot colder than English 'he'.
- Clitic Doubling (Object Reduplication)B2 — Τον Γιάννη τον είδα χθες — the object is named and then said again as a clitic, and the doubling is not redundancy but a signal that the object is old news. The topic reading, the right-dislocated afterthought (Την ξέρω την ιστορία), the environments that force the clitic and the one that forbids it, and why a fronted object without a clitic means something completely different.