Free Relatives: όποιος, ό,τι, όσος, όπου | Greek Grammar

An ordinary relative clause needs something to hang on: ο άντρας που ήρθε is useless without ο άντρας. A free relative carries its own antecedent inside itself. Όποιος θέλει does not mean "who wants" but "anyone who wants"; ό,τι θέλεις is not "what you want" but "whatever you want". One word does the job of English the person who, the thing that, the amount that.

There are six of them, they all begin with ό-, and they line up with the question words so neatly that the pattern is worth learning as a pattern even though the history behind it is not that tidy.

Question word	Free relative	English
ποιος;	όποιος(declines)	whoever, whichever
τι;	ό,τι(fixed)	whatever, everything that
πόσος;	όσος(declines)	as much / as many as
πού;	όπου(fixed)	wherever, where
πότε;	όποτε(fixed)	whenever
πώς;	όπως(fixed)	however, the way that

όποιος: the declinable one

όποιος, όποια, όποιο declines like any -ος / -α / -ο word, with the stress locked on the first syllable: όποιου, όποιας, όποιον, όποιοι, όποιες, όποια, όποιων, όποιους. It refers to people far more often than to things, and it carries a strong flavour of free choice — "anyone at all who", "whichever one you like".

Όποιος φύγει τελευταίος, ας κλείσει τα φώτα.

ópios fíyi teleftéos, as klísi ta fóta

Whoever leaves last should turn the lights off.

Όσοι ήρθαν στην πρόβα ξέρουν τι έγινε.

ósi írthan stin próva ksérun ti éyine

Those who came to the rehearsal know what happened.

The second one is όσοι, not όποιοι, and the difference is real: όποιοι would mean "whichever people, any people at all", while όσοι means "all the ones who, as many as". English collapses both into those who and leaves you no signal at all.

The case question

A free relative has two clauses making demands on it — the one it sits in, and the one it introduces — and they do not always want the same case. Greek normally resolves this in favour of the main clause.

Δώσ' το σε όποιον το χρειάζεται περισσότερο.

dhós' to se ópion to chriázete perisótero

Give it to whoever needs it most.

Θα βοηθήσω όποιον μου το ζητήσει ευγενικά.

tha voithíso ópion mu to zitísi evyeniká

I'll help anyone who asks me nicely.

In both sentences the pronoun is the subject of the relative verb (χρειάζεται, ζητήσει) and would be nominative if that were the only consideration. It is accusative instead, because the main clause needs an accusative — after σε in the first, as the object of βοηθήσω in the second. This is worth flagging because it is the opposite of what a careful learner deduces from the ο οποίος rule, where case always comes from inside the clause.

Be honest about the limits of that generalisation, though: the pull of the main clause is a tendency, not a requirement, and the form the relative clause wants also occurs, particularly when the two clauses are long enough that the second one dominates. Where both clauses want the same case — which is most of the time — the question never arises.

ό,τι and the comma

ό,τι means "whatever, everything that". It never changes form. And it is spelled with a comma inside it, for a reason that has nothing to do with punctuation: it exists purely to keep the word visually apart from ότι, the conjunction "that". The two are pronounced identically — both are óti, with no difference in stress, length or anything else a transcription could show — so the comma is the only signal in the entire language, and it lives only on the page.

Φάε ό,τι βρεις στο ψυγείο, δεν πρόλαβα να μαγειρέψω.

fáe óti vris sto psiyío, dhen prólava na mayirépso

Eat whatever you find in the fridge, I didn't get round to cooking.

Μου είπε ό,τι ήξερε και έφυγε τρέχοντας για το αεροδρόμιο.

mu ípe óti íksere ke éfiye tréchondas ya to aerodhrómio

He told me everything he knew and rushed off to the airport.

Μου είπε ότι δεν θα προλάβει να έρθει.

mu ípe óti dhen tha prolávi na érthi

He told me that he won't make it in time.

Two of those three sentences begin identically — Μου είπε ό,τι… and Μου είπε ότι… — and mean quite different things. The test is substitution. If you can put οτιδήποτε or αυτό που in the slot, it is ό,τι. If you can put πως in the slot, it is ότι.

💡

Say the sentence with "everything that" and then with "that". He told me everything that he knew works → ό,τι. He told me that he won't make it works → ότι. Native speakers get this wrong in writing all the time, so nobody will think less of you for checking — but the two spellings genuinely say different things.

ό,τι also anchors a set of very high-frequency fixed phrases, and the comma survives in every one of them.

Απ' ό,τι κατάλαβα, δεν θα έρθει κανείς από το γραφείο.

ap' óti katálava, dhen tha érthi kanís apó to ghrafío

From what I gather, nobody from the office is coming.

Ό,τι και να πεις, δεν πρόκειται να αλλάξει γνώμη.

óti ke na pis, dhen prókite na aláksi ghnómi

Whatever you say, he isn't going to change his mind.

Αυτό που είπε στη σύσκεψη ήταν ό,τι να 'ναι.

aftó pu ípe sti sískepsi ítan óti na 'ne

What he said in the meeting was complete nonsense. (informal — ό,τι να 'ναι is very current slang for 'any old rubbish')

The full spelling rule, including the cases where even careful writers hesitate, is on ότι or ό,τι?.

ό,τι against αυτό που

Both translate as English what, and they are not interchangeable. αυτό που points at one definite thing already in play; ό,τι is open-ended, covering everything that fits.

Αυτό που μου είπε χθες δεν μου βγαίνει από το μυαλό.

aftó pu mu ípe chthes dhen mu vyéni apó to mialó

What he said to me yesterday won't get out of my head. (one specific remark)

Πες μου ό,τι θυμάσαι, ακόμα και μικρές λεπτομέρειες.

pes mu óti thimáse, akóma ke mikrés leptoméries

Tell me whatever you remember, even small details. (open-ended, no particular thing)

όσος: quantity

όσος, όση, όσο declines and matches its noun in gender, number and case. It means "as much as, as many as, all that there is", and it is the natural way to say English as many … as you want.

Πάρε όσα βιβλία θέλεις, δεν τα χρειάζομαι πια.

páre ósa vivlía thélis, dhen ta chriázome pia

Take as many books as you like, I don't need them any more.

Neuter όσο on its own also runs the correlative pattern όσο… τόσο, which is how Greek builds the more … the more.

Όσο περισσότερο περιμένεις, τόσο πιο δύσκολο γίνεται.

óso perisótero periménis, tóso pio dhískolo yínete

The longer you wait, the harder it gets.

The rest of that correlative machinery, including όσο για ("as for") and the temporal όσο ("while, as long as"), is on correlative constructions.

The adverbial three: όπου, όποτε, όπως

These never change shape and behave as conjunctions as much as pronouns.

Όπου πας, κουβαλάς τα ίδια προβλήματα.

ópu pas, kuvalás ta ídhia provlímata

Wherever you go, you take the same problems with you.

Όποτε τον παίρνω τηλέφωνο, είναι πάντα σε σύσκεψη.

ópote ton pérno tiléfono, íne pánda se sískepsi

Whenever I ring him he's always in a meeting.

Κάν' το όπως ξέρεις, εγώ δεν ανακατεύομαι.

kán' to ópos kséris, eghó dhen anakatévome

Do it however you know how — I'm staying out of it.

όπου does double duty: as a free relative ("wherever") and, with a place antecedent in front of it, as an ordinary relative adverb meaning "where" — το χωριό όπου γεννήθηκε. That second use belongs to relatives after prepositions, where it competes with στο οποίο. όπως likewise leans towards comparison, and its overlap with σαν is worked out on όπως and σαν.

The -δήποτε series

Add -δήποτε to any of these stems and you get the reinforced "any … whatsoever" forms — οποιοσδήποτε, οτιδήποτε, οσοσδήποτε, οπουδήποτε, οποτεδήποτε. They are free-choice indefinites rather than relatives, and their inflection, register and everyday alternatives are set out on indefinite pronouns.

One member of the family has broken away, and it belongs here rather than there. οπωσδήποτε no longer means "in whatever manner" — it has hardened into an adverb meaning "definitely, without fail", and it is extremely common.

Να με πάρεις οπωσδήποτε πριν φύγεις για το αεροδρόμιο.

na me páris oposdhípote prin fíyis ya to aerodhrómio

Make absolutely sure you call me before you leave for the airport.

Concessive: όποιος κι αν, ό,τι και να

Put κι αν or και να after any of these and the clause becomes concessive: "no matter who / what / where". This is the everyday way Greek says whatever happens, no matter what.

Όπου κι αν πήγαμε το Σάββατο, ήταν όλα κλειστά.

ópu ki an píghame to Sávato, ítan óla klistá

No matter where we went on Saturday, everything was shut.

Common Mistakes

1. Writing ότι where the sense is "whatever". The single most common Greek spelling error there is, and it is made by natives as often as by learners.

❌ Πάρε ότι θέλεις από το τραπέζι, θα τα πετάξουμε ούτως ή άλλως.

Incorrect — the sense is 'whatever you want', which is the pronoun ό,τι, with the comma.

✅ Πάρε ό,τι θέλεις από το τραπέζι, θα τα πετάξουμε ούτως ή άλλως.

páre óti thélis apó to trapézi, tha ta petáksume útos i álos

Take whatever you want off the table, we're throwing it all out anyway.

2. Writing ό,τι where the sense is "that". The over-correction, and just as wrong in the other direction.

❌ Νομίζω ό,τι θα βρέξει το απόγευμα, πάρε ζακέτα.

Incorrect — this introduces a reported thought, so it is the conjunction ότι, with no comma.

✅ Νομίζω ότι θα βρέξει το απόγευμα, πάρε ζακέτα.

nomízo óti tha vréksi to apóyevma, páre zakéta

I think it's going to rain this afternoon — take a cardigan.

3. Leaving όποιος undeclined. It looks like a fixed word because ό,τι and όπου are fixed, but it is an ordinary declining pronoun.

❌ Δώσε τη δουλειά σε όποιος τη θέλει πραγματικά.

Incorrect — σε governs the accusative, so the form is όποιον.

✅ Δώσε τη δουλειά σε όποιον τη θέλει πραγματικά.

dhóse ti dhuliá se ópion ti théli praghmatiká

Give the job to whoever actually wants it.

4. Using neuter όσο with a countable noun. όσος agrees with its noun like an adjective, and μολύβια is neuter plural.

❌ Πάρε όσο μολύβια χρειάζεσαι για την τάξη.

Incorrect — όσος agrees with the noun: όσα μολύβια. όσο is for uncountables (όσο νερό θέλεις).

✅ Πάρε όσα μολύβια χρειάζεσαι για την τάξη.

páre ósa molívia chriázese ya tin táksi

Take as many pencils as you need for the class.

5. Confusing όποτε with οπότε. One letter of stress apart. όποτε is the free relative "whenever"; οπότε is a connective meaning "so, and at that point".

❌ Έβρεχε πολύ, όποτε μείναμε σπίτι και παίξαμε χαρτιά.

Incorrect — the sense here is 'so, and so', which is οπότε with the stress on the second syllable.

✅ Έβρεχε πολύ, οπότε μείναμε σπίτι και παίξαμε χαρτιά.

évreche polí, opóte míname spíti ke péksame chartiá

It was pouring, so we stayed in and played cards.

Key Takeaways

A free relative includes its own antecedent: όποιος = "anyone who", ό,τι = "everything that", όσος = "as much as".
όποιος and όσος decline; ό,τι, όπου, όποτε, όπως are fixed.
όποιος is free choice ("whichever"), όσος is exhaustive ("all the ones that") — English merges both into those who.
When the two clauses want different cases, the free relative usually takes the case the main clause needs — σε όποιον το χρειάζεται — though this is a tendency rather than a rule.
ό,τι and ότι are pronounced identically. The comma is orthography, not sound, and it is the only thing separating "whatever" from "that". Test by substituting οτιδήποτε / αυτό που against πως.
αυτό που is one definite thing; ό,τι is open-ended.
-δήποτε reinforces ("any at all"), except οπωσδήποτε, which has drifted to mean "definitely, without fail".
κι αν / και να after any of them makes the clause concessive: ό,τι και να πεις, όπου κι αν πας.

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