Present/Simple Conditional (θα έγραφα) | Greek Grammar

This is the everyday conditional — the one you will use dozens of times a day once it is in your active grammar. θα + the imperfect is Greek for English would: θα έγραφα "I would write", θα ήμουν "I would be", θα μπορούσα "I could". There is nothing new to memorise: if you can already form the imperfect, you can form the conditional by adding one syllable in front of it.

Form: θα in front of the imperfect

Only the verb moves through the persons; θα is frozen. Note what the imperfect's augment does — έ- appears only where it is stressed, which means it drops out in the 1st and 2nd plural. That is a property of the imperfect itself, worked out on the augment, and it carries straight over here.

Person	Conditional of γράφω	English
1sg	θα έγραφα	I would write
2sg	θα έγραφες	you would write
3sg	θα έγραφε	s/he would write
1pl	θα γράφαμε	we would write
2pl	θα γράφατε	you (pl.) would write
3pl	θα έγραφαν	they would write

The verbs you will actually reach for most are the irregular ones, and they are worth learning as whole words rather than as derivations:

Verb	Conditional	English
είμαι	θα ήμουν	I would be
έχω	θα είχα	I would have
θέλω	θα ήθελα	I would like
μπορώ	θα μπορούσα	I could / would be able to
ξέρω	θα ήξερα	I would know
λέω	θα έλεγα	I would say
πηγαίνω	θα πήγαινα	I would go
έρχομαι	θα ερχόμουν	I would come

One structural point that saves a lot of trouble: the conditional is built on the imperfective stem only. There is no perfective counterpart — θα έγραψα is not a variant of the conditional, it is θα plus the aorist, which Greek reads as an inference about the past ("he must have written"). So for "would", the imperfect is the only door.

Με τέτοια ζέστη, θα έμενα όλη μέρα στη θάλασσα.

me tétia zésti, tha émena óli méra sti thálasa

In heat like this, I'd stay at the beach all day.

Αν ήξερα ελληνικά, θα διάβαζα τον Καβάφη από το πρωτότυπο.

an íksera eliniká, tha dhiávaza ton Kaváfi apó to protótipo

If I knew Greek, I'd read Cavafy in the original.

Its job: the result of an unreal present

The conditional's home is the result clause of a condition that is not true. The αν-clause takes a plain imperfect — no θα, ever, on that side — and the result takes θα + imperfect. Both halves step one tense back, and that shared step back is what tells a Greek listener the whole thing is imaginary.

Αν είχαμε μεγαλύτερο σπίτι, θα κρατούσαμε και σκύλο.

an íchame meghalítero spíti, tha kratúsame ke skílo

If we had a bigger place, we'd keep a dog as well.

Αν με ρωτούσαν, θα έλεγα την αλήθεια χωρίς δεύτερη σκέψη.

an me rotúsan, tha élegha tin alíthia chorís dhéfteri sképsi

If they asked me, I'd tell the truth without a second thought.

Note that the time being talked about is now or in general, not the past, even though every verb in the sentence is a past form. The sentence-level pairing rules, including the mixed types, live on unreal conditionals.

💡

A production reflex worth drilling until it is automatic: an unreal conditional is αν + past — comma — θα + past. Both halves step back; only the second half gets θα. If a θα turns up right after αν, the sentence has one too many.

Στη θέση σου — advice with the condition left out

This is the construction to steal today. Στη θέση σου ("in your place") plus a conditional is how Greeks give advice, and it is far more common than any equivalent of "you should". The condition — if I were you — is stated by the prepositional phrase, so the verb only has to supply the result.

Στη θέση σου, δεν θα το σκεφτόμουν καθόλου.

sti thési su, dhen tha to skeftómun kathólu

If I were you, I wouldn't think twice about it.

Στη θέση σου θα του τηλεφωνούσα πρώτος, πριν το μάθει από άλλον.

sti thési su tha tu tilefonúsa prótos, prin to máthi apó álon

If I were you I'd call him first, before he hears it from someone else.

English says if I were you; Greek says in your place, and a word-for-word calque of the English is not how the thought is expressed. The same trick works with στη θέση του / στη θέση τους, and with any phrase that supplies a hypothetical setting: με άλλον διευθυντή, σε άλλη εποχή, χωρίς παιδιά.

Εγώ πάντως δεν θα ρίσκαρα τόσα λεφτά σε μια άγνωστη εταιρεία.

eghó pándos dhen tha rískara tósa leftá se mia ághnosti etería

Personally I wouldn't risk that much money on a company nobody's heard of.

Θα έλεγα, θα προτιμούσα — softening an opinion

Because the conditional declines to assert anything as fact, it is the natural home of the hedged opinion and the tentative proposal. Θα έλεγα (να)… is "I'd say / I'd suggest", Θα προτιμούσα… is "I'd rather", and Θα ήταν καλύτερα να… is "it would be better to". These are not politeness formulas aimed at a stranger — that is the polite conditional — they are how an ordinary opinion is put on the table without banging it down.

Θα έλεγα να το αφήσουμε για αύριο, είναι πολύ αργά τώρα.

tha élegha na to afísume ya ávrio, íne polí arghá tóra

I'd say we leave it for tomorrow — it's very late now.

Εγώ θα προτιμούσα να φύγουμε νωρίς, για να αποφύγουμε την κίνηση.

eghó tha protimúsa na fíghume norís, ya na apofíghume tin kínisi

I'd rather we left early, to avoid the traffic.

Θα ήταν κρίμα να μην το δεις τώρα που είσαι εδώ.

tha ítan kríma na min to dhis tóra pu íse edhó

It'd be a shame not to see it now that you're here.

Against the future: one particle, two meanings

The pair below is the whole lesson in two lines. Same θα, same verb, one different tense — and a promise becomes a refusal dressed up as a regret.

Θα σε βοηθήσω το Σάββατο, μην ανησυχείς καθόλου.

tha se voithíso to Sávato, min anisichís kathólu

I'll help you on Saturday, don't worry at all. (future — a promise)

Θα σε βοηθούσα ευχαρίστως, αλλά λείπω όλη την εβδομάδα.

tha se voithúsa efcharístos, alá lípo óli tin evdhomádha

I'd gladly help you, but I'm away all week. (conditional — it isn't going to happen)

💡

Greek marks with a tense what English marks with a whole different auxiliary. θα βοηθήσω = "I will help" — it is going to happen. θα βοηθούσα = "I would help" — it is not. When a Greek switches to the imperfect after θα, listen for the αλλά that is usually coming: the conditional is very often the polite front half of a refusal.

Two things this is not

English would has a second, much older job: the habitual past, as in "every summer we would swim till dark". That is not the conditional at all — Greek expresses it with the bare imperfect, no θα (κολυμπούσαμε), and it is treated on the habitual past. Test it with the substitution used to: if used to fits, drop the θα.

And in the other direction, θα + imperfect can be an inference about the past rather than a hypothesis: Θα ήταν αργά όταν γύρισαν is "it must have been late when they got back". Nothing in the form distinguishes the two readings, and Greeks rely entirely on the frame around them — an αν-clause or a "in your place" means hypothesis; a piece of evidence you are reasoning from means inference. Epistemic θα owns that side of the story.

Common Mistakes

1. Leaving the result clause in the future. After an unreal condition the result must step back with it. θα + present or θα + perfective is a plain future, and it clashes with the αν-clause in front of it.

❌ Αν ήμουν πλούσιος, θα ταξιδεύω σε όλο τον κόσμο.

Incorrect — an unreal condition takes θα + imperfect in the result: θα ταξίδευα. θα ταξιδεύω is a plain future.

✅ Αν ήμουν πλούσιος, θα ταξίδευα σε όλο τον κόσμο.

an ímun plúsios, tha taksídheva se ólo ton kózmo

If I were rich, I'd travel all over the world.

2. Using the aorist after θα for "would". English "would tell" contains a past-looking word, and learners reach for the nearest Greek past. But θα + aorist is read as a deduction about the past, so the sentence stops being a hypothesis.

❌ Αν με ρωτούσε ο δικαστής, θα είπα την αλήθεια.

Incorrect — a conditional result takes the imperfect: θα έλεγα. θα είπα is an inference about the past ('I must have said it').

✅ Αν με ρωτούσε ο δικαστής, θα έλεγα ακριβώς το ίδιο πράγμα.

an me rotúse o dhikastís, tha élegha akrivós to ídhio prághma

If the judge asked me, I'd say exactly the same thing.

3. Treating an implicit condition as a real one. In its advice sense, Στη θέση σου already states a condition that is false — you are not that person — so the verb after it must be a conditional, not a future. (The same phrase also means literally "in your stead", and there a plain future is right: Θα πάω εγώ στη θέση σου — "I'll go instead of you.")

❌ Στη θέση σου, θα δεχτώ αμέσως την προσφορά.

Incorrect as advice — read as

✅ Στη θέση σου, θα δεχόμουν αμέσως την προσφορά.

sti thési su, tha dhechómun amésos tin prosforá

If I were you, I'd accept the offer straight away.

Key Takeaways

θα + imperfect is Greek for would: θα έγραφα, θα ήμουν, θα μπορούσα. θα is invariable; the person lives on the verb.
The augment behaves as it does in the plain imperfect — έ- only where it is stressed, so 1pl/2pl are θα γράφαμε, θα γράφατε.
It is built on the imperfective stem only; θα + aorist (θα έγραψε) is not a conditional but an inference.
Its core job is the result clause of an unreal condition, with a bare imperfect in the αν-clause: Αν είχαμε μεγαλύτερο σπίτι, θα κρατούσαμε και σκύλο.
Στη θέση σου + conditional is the standard way to give advice — Greek says "in your place", not "if I were you".
Θα έλεγα / Θα προτιμούσα / Θα ήταν καλύτερα να hedge an opinion; the conditional is also the polite front half of most refusals (Θα σε βοηθούσα, αλλά…).
Do not use it for English's habitual would ("we would swim every summer") — that is the bare imperfect, no θα.

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