Breakdown of Στο μεσημεριανό βάζω πάντα ένα λαχανικό στο πιάτο μου.
Questions & Answers about Στο μεσημεριανό βάζω πάντα ένα λαχανικό στο πιάτο μου.
Στο is a contraction of σε + το.
- σε = in / at / on / to (a general preposition)
- το = the (neuter singular article, accusative case)
So:
- σε + το μεσημεριανό → στο μεσημεριανό
literally: in/at the lunch
Greek very often contracts σε + definite article:
- σε + τον → στον (e.g. στον φίλο = to the friend)
- σε + την → στην (e.g. στην πόλη = in the city)
- σε + το → στο (e.g. στο σπίτι = at home)
You almost always use the contracted form in normal speech and writing.
Both exist, but they mean different things.
στο μεσημεριανό = at lunch / at lunchtime
Focus: the meal time / eating situation
It’s like saying “At lunch, I always put a vegetable on my plate.”για μεσημεριανό = for lunch (as a meal)
Focus: what you choose as the meal itself
e.g. Τι έχεις για μεσημεριανό; = What do you have for lunch?
So your sentence:
- Στο μεσημεριανό βάζω πάντα ένα λαχανικό στο πιάτο μου.
is talking about your habit during lunch (at the midday meal), not about what you cook as lunch.
Literally, μεσημεριανό is an adjective meaning “midday / noon / lunchtime”.
In everyday Modern Greek it’s very common to drop the word φαγητό (food/meal) and just say:
- το μεσημεριανό = the midday meal → lunch
- το βραδινό = the evening meal → dinner
These are understood as nouns by themselves in daily speech.
So στο μεσημεριανό here is short for στο μεσημεριανό φαγητό, but the word φαγητό is omitted because it’s obvious from context.
Yes, βάζω literally = I put / I place.
In this sentence:
- βάζω … ένα λαχανικό στο πιάτο μου
literally: I put a vegetable on my plate
The focus is on the action of serving/placing the vegetable on your plate, not specifically on eating it (though that’s implied in context).
Greek would use different verbs depending on what you want to emphasize:
- βάζω ένα λαχανικό στο πιάτο μου
I put / include a vegetable on my plate. - τρώω πάντα ένα λαχανικό στο μεσημεριανό
I always eat a vegetable at lunch.
So βάζω captures the idea “I make sure there is a vegetable on my plate.”
Πάντα means always and is quite flexible in word order. All of these are grammatically correct:
- Στο μεσημεριανό βάζω πάντα ένα λαχανικό στο πιάτο μου.
- Στο μεσημεριανό πάντα βάζω ένα λαχανικό στο πιάτο μου.
- Πάντα στο μεσημεριανό βάζω ένα λαχανικό στο πιάτο μου.
- Βάζω πάντα ένα λαχανικό στο πιάτο μου στο μεσημεριανό.
The differences are about emphasis and flow:
- Βάζω πάντα… (verb + πάντα) is very natural and neutral: “I always put…”
- Πάντα βάζω… puts a bit more emphasis on always: “I always put…”
- Στο μεσημεριανό πάντα… emphasizes that this habit is specifically at lunch.
The version you have (βάζω πάντα) is one of the most common and natural placements.
Ένα λαχανικό = one / a vegetable (singular)
λαχανικά = vegetables (plural)
The singular here suggests something like:
- “I always make sure there is at least one vegetable on my plate.”
- or “I always put a vegetable on my plate” (general habit, one unit).
If you say:
- βάζω πάντα λαχανικά στο πιάτο μου,
that sounds more like “I always put vegetables (several kinds / pieces) on my plate.”
Both are correct; the choice depends on what you want to express. The given sentence focuses on at least one vegetable being present.
You normally need an article for a singular countable noun in this kind of sentence:
- βάζω πάντα ένα λαχανικό = I always put a vegetable.
- βάζω πάντα το λαχανικό = I always put the vegetable (a specific one you both know).
Just λαχανικό without an article is usually:
- either used in a general statement like Το λαχανικό είναι υγιεινό (The vegetable is healthy / Vegetables are healthy)
- or in special fixed expressions.
So here, ένα is the natural indefinite article: “a vegetable”.
Λαχανικό is neuter.
You can see this from:
- the article: ένα λαχανικό (neuter)
(masculine would be ένας, feminine μία/μια) - the ending: -ό is a very common neuter ending in Modern Greek (ουδέτερο).
Typical neuter patterns:
- το παιδί (child), το σπίτι (house), το βιβλίο (book), το λαχανικό (vegetable)
Over time you learn the gender mostly by memorizing each noun with its article:
- το λαχανικό (neuter), η ντομάτα (feminine), το καρότο (neuter), etc.
Two things are happening here:
Contraction again
σε + το → στο, just like earlier with στο μεσημεριανό:- σε το πιάτο → στο πιάτο
The possessive pronoun μου
In Greek, possessive pronouns are usually enclitic (they come after the noun):- το πιάτο μου = my plate
- το σπίτι σου = your house
- το βιβλίο του = his book
So:
- στο πιάτο μου = on/to my plate
literally: in/to the plate of-me
In Greek, the normal order is:
- article + noun + possessive pronoun
So:
- το πιάτο μου = the plate my → my plate
- η τσάντα σου = the bag your → your bag
- το αυτοκίνητό του = the car his → his car
Putting μου before the noun, like μου πιάτο, is not standard in Modern Greek (it can appear in some special emphatic or poetic uses, but not in normal speech).
So here:
- στο πιάτο μου is the regular, correct order.
Greek is a pro-drop language: it usually omits subject pronouns because the verb ending shows who the subject is.
The verb βάζω has the ending -ω, which marks 1st person singular (I):
- βάζω = I put
- βάζεις = you (sg.) put
- βάζει = he/she/it puts
- βάζουμε = we put
- βάζετε = you (pl.) put
- βάζουν(ε) = they put
So Στο μεσημεριανό βάζω πάντα… already clearly means “At lunch I always put…”.
You would add εγώ only for emphasis or contrast:
- Εγώ στο μεσημεριανό βάζω πάντα ένα λαχανικό στο πιάτο μου.
I (as for me) at lunch always put a vegetable on my plate.
Because:
Βάζω takes a direct object in the accusative:
- βάζω ένα λαχανικό → I put a vegetable (object in accusative)
The preposition σε (→ στο) also uses the accusative:
- σε + το πιάτο → στο πιάτο (accusative)
- στο πιάτο μου keeps the accusative: πιάτο (not πιάτου or something else)
So both:
- ένα λαχανικό (what I put = direct object)
- στο πιάτο μου (where I put it = prepositional phrase)
are in the accusative case, as required by the verb and the preposition.