Learn Hardcore Greek: Προσπαθώ να χαλαρώσω το βράδυ χωρίς να σκέφτομαι το άγχος, για να ηρεμεί το κεφάλι μου. - I try to relax in the evening without thinking about the stress, so that my head calms down.

Word

Προσπαθώ να χαλαρώσω το βράδυ χωρίς να σκέφτομαι το άγχος, για να ηρεμεί το κεφάλι μου.

Meaning

I try to relax in the evening without thinking about the stress, so that my head calms down.

Part of speech

sentence

Pronunciation

Course

Lesson

Breakdown of Προσπαθώ να χαλαρώσω το βράδυ χωρίς να σκέφτομαι το άγχος, για να ηρεμεί το κεφάλι μου.

Why is να χαλαρώσω used instead of να χαλαρώνω?

Greek uses different aspects in the subjunctive to show whether you focus on the result (aorist) or the ongoing process (present).

να χαλαρώσω = aorist subjunctive: to (manage to) relax, focusing on achieving the state of relaxation.
- Προσπαθώ να χαλαρώσω = I try to relax / I’m trying to (finally) relax.
να χαλαρώνω = present subjunctive: to be relaxing (as an ongoing activity), focusing on the process or a repeated action.
- Προσπαθώ να χαλαρώνω would sound more like I try to be in the habit of relaxing (regularly).

In this sentence, the speaker wants to achieve relaxation in the evening, so the aorist να χαλαρώσω is the natural choice.

What does να do in this sentence?

να is a particle that introduces the subjunctive mood. It does not literally mean “to” like the English infinitive.

Here it appears three times:

Common triggers for να are:

So να here is a subordinator that forms “verb groups” like να χαλαρώσω, να σκέφτομαι, να ηρεμεί, all in the subjunctive.