When you talk about how you feel about doing something — I like reading, I'm afraid to go, it's a shame to waste it — Greek routes the second verb through a να-clause. That much is predictable once you know that Greek has no infinitive. The real work of this page is the fork that opens up only with emotion and evaluation verbs: many of them can take either να or που, and the choice changes what you are reacting to. να presents the event as a prospect, an activity, or an experience; που presents it as a fact that has actually happened and caused your feeling. English blurs the two under a single "to" or "that," so this is a distinction you have to build from scratch.
Emotion and desire verbs take να
A large family of feeling-and-wanting verbs governs a να-clause whose verb agrees with its own subject. The most frequent ones:
| Verb | Meaning | Example frame |
|---|---|---|
| μου αρέσει να | I like V-ing | μου αρέσει να ταξιδεύω |
| προτιμώ να | I'd rather | προτιμώ να μείνω |
| ελπίζω να | I hope to / that | ελπίζω να προλάβω |
| φοβάμαι να | I'm afraid to | φοβάμαι να πάω |
| ανυπομονώ να | I can't wait to | ανυπομονώ να δω |
| βαριέμαι να (informal) | I can't be bothered to | βαριέμαι να μαγειρέψω |
Μου αρέσει να πίνω τον καφέ μου αργά το πρωί, χωρίς βιασύνη.
mu arési na píno ton kafé mu arghá to proí, chorís viasíni
I like drinking my coffee slowly in the morning, without any rush.
Προτιμώ να μείνω σπίτι απόψε, είμαι πτώμα από την κούραση.
protimó na míno spíti apópse, íme ptóma apó tin kúrasi
I'd rather stay home tonight, I'm dead tired.
Ανυπομονώ να δω τη φάτσα του όταν του πω τα νέα.
anipomonó na dho ti fátsa tu ótan tu po ta néa
I can't wait to see his face when I tell him the news.
Βαριέμαι να μαγειρέψω σήμερα, ας παραγγείλουμε κάτι.
variéme na mayirépso símera, as parangílume káti
I can't be bothered to cook today — let's just order something.
Notice that the verb after να still carries an aspect choice: μου αρέσει να ταξιδεύω (imperfective — travelling as a habit) versus θέλω να ταξιδέψω (perfective — one trip). Feeling verbs lean imperfective because they are usually about the activity as a whole; the full logic is on aspect in the subjunctive.
Evaluation: impersonal expressions + να
Greek judges an action with a small impersonal expression plus να: είναι κρίμα να (it's a shame to), αξίζει να (it's worth), είναι καλό / κακό να (it's good / bad to), καλύτερα να (better to), δεν είναι σωστό να (it isn't right to). These have no subject of their own — the person appears inside the να-clause.
Είναι κρίμα να μείνει το φαγητό και να το πετάξουμε.
íne kríma na míni to fayitó ke na to petáksume
It's a shame to let the food sit there and then throw it out.
Αξίζει να δεις αυτή την έκθεση πριν κλείσει την Κυριακή.
aksízi na dhis aftí tin ékthesi prin klísi tin Kiriakí
It's worth seeing this exhibition before it closes on Sunday.
Καλύτερα να του το πεις εσύ, από μένα δεν θα το ακούσει.
kalítera na tu to pis esí, apó ména dhen tha to akúsi
Better that you tell him yourself — he won't take it from me.
The real difficulty: να vs που
Here is where emotion verbs earn their own page. Several of them — χαίρομαι (I'm glad), λυπάμαι (I'm sorry), στενοχωριέμαι (I'm upset), με ενοχλεί (it bothers me) — accept both να and που, and the two are not interchangeable:
- που points at a real fact that has caused the feeling. The που-clause is asserted as true.
- να presents the event as a prospect, an activity, or a generic experience — not asserted, just entertained or enjoyed.
Compare the two readings of being glad:
Χαίρομαι που πέρασες τις εξετάσεις — σου το άξιζες.
chérome pu pérases tis eksetásis — su to áksizes
I'm glad you passed the exams — you deserved it.
Χαίρομαι να ακούω τα παιδιά να γελάνε στην αυλή.
chérome na akúo ta pedhiá na yeláne stin avlí
It gladdens me to hear the children laughing in the yard.
The first reacts to something that actually happened (you passed — a fact), so it needs που. The second is about the experience of hearing children laugh, an activity with no particular event behind it, so it takes να. This is exactly why the standard greeting is Χαίρομαι που σε βλέπω ("nice to see you" — the fact that you are here) and not χαίρομαι να σε βλέπω, which would mean "I enjoy the experience of seeing you," a very different, almost habitual, sentiment.
The same split runs through λυπάμαι:
Λυπάμαι που δεν μπόρεσα να έρθω στην κηδεία.
lipáme pu dhen bóresa na értho stin kidhía
I'm sorry I couldn't come to the funeral.
Λυπάμαι να σ' το πω, αλλά δεν πέρασες φέτος.
lipáme na sto po, alá dhen pérases fétos
I'm sorry to tell you this, but you didn't pass this year.
Again: που + a real fact (I couldn't come); να + the act I am reluctant to perform (to tell you). The full three-way system, including how these differ from ότι/πως, lives on να vs ότι/πως and the που / ότι complementizers.
φοβάμαι: "afraid to do" vs "afraid that"
φοβάμαι is the sharpest illustration, because English "afraid" hides two completely different structures. Φοβάμαι να + verb = "I'm afraid to do it" (you shrink from performing the act). To say "I'm afraid that something will happen," Greek switches to μήπως (or ότι) — a worry about an outcome, not a reluctance to act.
Φοβάμαι να οδηγώ με τόσο χιόνι στον δρόμο.
fováme na odhighó me tóso chióni ston dhrómo
I'm afraid to drive with so much snow on the road.
Φοβάμαι μήπως ξεχάσει πάλι το ραντεβού του.
fováme mípos ksechási páli to randevú tu
I'm afraid he might forget his appointment again.
The first is about you and an act you hesitate to do; the second is a fear about someone else's likely behaviour. Mix them up and you produce nonsense — you cannot be "afraid to" do the raining, so φοβάμαι να βρέξει is not Greek.
Where the experiencer sits: μου αρέσει
μου αρέσει deserves a footnote of its own, because its grammar is upside-down from English. Literally it is "to-me it-is-pleasing": the thing enjoyed is the subject, and you appear as a weak genitive pronoun (μου, σου, του, της…). That is why the pronoun never changes shape with the να-clause — it is glued to αρέσει, not to the action.
Της αρέσει να ζωγραφίζει, αλλά δεν το λέει σε κανέναν.
tis arési na zoghrafízi, alá dhen to léi se kanénan
She likes to draw, but she doesn't tell anyone.
The whole experiencer pattern — verbs that make you the genitive, not the nominative — is on the genitive experiencer.
Common Mistakes
1. Using ότι for the activity you enjoy. What you like doing is an activity, so μου αρέσει takes να (or που for a fact, never ότι).
❌ Μου αρέσει ότι διαβάζω βιβλία το βράδυ.
Incorrect — the activity you enjoy takes να: μου αρέσει να διαβάζω.
✅ Μου αρέσει να διαβάζω βιβλία το βράδυ.
mu arési na dhiavázo vivlía to vrádhi
I like reading books in the evening.
2. Dropping να after the emotion verb. There is no bare infinitive to fall back on — the second verb must come through να.
❌ Φοβάμαι πάω μόνος μου στον γιατρό.
Incorrect — the second verb needs να: φοβάμαι να πάω.
✅ Φοβάμαι να πάω μόνος μου στον γιατρό.
fováme na páo mónos mu ston yatró
I'm afraid to go to the doctor on my own.
3. Using να for "afraid that…". "Afraid to do" is να; "afraid that (something happens)" is μήπως / ότι.
❌ Φοβάμαι να βρέξει και να χαλάσει η εκδρομή.
Incorrect for 'afraid that it'll rain' — use μήπως: φοβάμαι μήπως βρέξει.
✅ Φοβάμαι μήπως βρέξει και χαλάσει η εκδρομή.
fováme mípos vréksi ke chalási i ekdhromí
I'm afraid it might rain and ruin the outing.
4. Using να for a completed fact that caused the feeling. A real, past event that makes you glad or sorry takes που — να can't govern a finished indicative.
❌ Χαίρομαι να ήρθες τελικά στο πάρτι.
Incorrect — a fact that happened takes που: χαίρομαι που ήρθες.
✅ Χαίρομαι που ήρθες τελικά στο πάρτι.
chérome pu írthes teliká sto párti
I'm glad you came to the party after all.
Key Takeaways
- Emotion, desire and evaluation predicates govern a να-clause whose verb agrees with its own subject: μου αρέσει να, προτιμώ να, φοβάμαι να, αξίζει να, είναι κρίμα να.
- With verbs that allow both, που marks a real fact that caused the feeling (χαίρομαι που ήρθες), while να marks a prospect, activity, or experience (χαίρομαι να ακούω μουσική).
- φοβάμαι να = afraid to do; φοβάμαι μήπως / ότι = afraid that something happens.
- μου αρέσει makes you the genitive experiencer (μου, σου, της…), not the subject.
- The deeper να / ότι / που contrast is on να vs ότι/πως.
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Start learning Greek →Related Topics
- να vs ότι/πως (that-Clauses)B1 — The core complementizer split — ότι and πως report something that IS the case, while να points at something wished-for, aimed-at, or merely possible — and how the same verb (λέω, ξέρω) can take either one with a change of meaning.
- Experiencer Clitics: μου αρέσειA2 — Μου αρέσουν τα λουλούδια is 'the flowers please me' — the thing is the subject and the person is a genitive clitic. The whole αρέσει / λείπει / φαίνεται / πάει family, why μου λείπεις inverts twice, the three ways to say your head hurts, and the sister family (με νοιάζει, σε πειράζει) that takes the accusative instead.