Breakdown of Μου αρέσει να κολυμπάω στη θάλασσα μπροστά από την παραλία.
Questions & Answers about Μου αρέσει να κολυμπάω στη θάλασσα μπροστά από την παραλία.
In Greek the verb αρέσω works “backwards” compared with English:
- Μου αρέσει… literally means It pleases me…
- μου = to me (indirect object, genitive)
- αρέσει = pleases (3rd person singular)
So the thing you like is the grammatical subject, and the person who likes it is in the genitive (μου).
You do not normally say Εγώ αρέσω … to mean I like ….
Εγώ αρέσω would mean I am pleasing (to someone), e.g. Του αρέσω = He likes me (literally: I please him).
Μου is the 1st person singular weak pronoun in the genitive case, meaning to me / for me.
With αρέσω, the person who experiences the liking is always expressed with this genitive pronoun:
- Μου αρέσει… = I like…
- Σου αρέσει… = You (sg.) like…
- Του/Της αρέσει… = He/She likes…
- Μας αρέσει… = We like…
- Σας αρέσει… = You (pl./formal) like…
- Τους αρέσει… = They like…
The normal, neutral position of μου in an affirmative sentence is before the verb: Μου αρέσει, not Αρέσει μου (though Αρέσει μου is possible for emphasis or certain styles).
The verb αρέσει agrees with its subject, not with the person who likes something.
In Μου αρέσει να κολυμπάω στη θάλασσα…, the subject is the whole να-clause:
- να κολυμπάω στη θάλασσα μπροστά από την παραλία
= swimming in the sea in front of the beach
This whole idea is grammatically singular, so the verb is 3rd person singular: αρέσει.
Compare:
- Μου αρέσει η ταινία. – I like the movie. (singular: η ταινία → αρέσει)
- Μου αρέσουν οι ταινίες. – I like the movies. (plural: οι ταινίες → αρέσουν)
Να is a particle that introduces a subjunctive verb form. Modern Greek has no infinitive, so where English uses to + verb, Greek often uses να + subjunctive.
- να κολυμπάω ≈ to swim (as an activity, in general)
So after Μου αρέσει, a common pattern is:
- Μου αρέσει να + [subjunctive]
Μου αρέσει να κολυμπάω. – I like to swim.
You cannot say Μου αρέσει κολυμπάω without να; that would be ungrammatical.
All of these exist, but they are not equivalent:
να κολυμπάω
- Present subjunctive, imperfective aspect
- Very common spoken form, slightly more colloquial than να κολυμπώ
- Focuses on the activity in general or repeated habit (swimming as something I like doing).
να κολυμπώ
- Same tense/aspect as να κολυμπάω, but shorter stem
- Often felt as a bit more formal or “careful speech”, but fully correct.
- You could replace να κολυμπάω with να κολυμπώ here with no real change in meaning.
να κολυμπήσω
- Aorist subjunctive, perfective aspect
- Refers more to a single, complete event: to have a swim (once).
- With Μου αρέσει, you generally want the activity in general, so να κολυμπάω / να κολυμπώ is the normal choice.
So in your sentence, να κολυμπάω is used because we are talking about liking the activity of swimming in general, not one specific instance.
Functionally, yes: in this context να κολυμπάω corresponds to English to swim or swimming.
More technically:
- να marks the subjunctive.
- κολυμπάω is the 1st person singular present subjunctive form.
Greek uses να + verb where English might use:
- to swim
- swimming (as a gerund)
- that I swim in some constructions
In Μου αρέσει να κολυμπάω, you can translate it as:
- I like to swim or I like swimming.
στη θάλασσα is a contraction of:
- σε (in, at, to)
- την θάλασσα (the sea)
So σε + την → στη(ν).
In practice:
- Before a consonant, especially non-stop consonants, the final -ν of στην is often dropped in writing and speech, becoming στη.
- θ is a fricative consonant, so στη θάλασσα without the final ν is very common and completely standard.
Meaning-wise:
- στη θάλασσα = in the sea / at the sea (here, in the sea is the natural translation).
Writing στην θάλασσα is not wrong; it’s just less common in modern usage, and στη θάλασσα is what you will typically see.
The usual way to say in front of X in Greek is:
- μπροστά από + [noun phrase]
So:
- μπροστά από την παραλία = in front of the beach
The από is part of this prepositional expression; you generally cannot drop it.
Compare:
- μπροστά από το σπίτι – in front of the house
- μπροστά από το σχολείο – in front of the school
You might also see μπροστά στην παραλία, but that tends to have a more location-oriented sense like at the front part of the beach or down at the beach, depending on context. For a clear in front of the beach, μπροστά από την παραλία is the straightforward form.
Greek uses the definite article much more often than English, even where English might use no article or a/an.
- την παραλία = the beach
But in Greek, this often just means the beach in that area / the beach we’re talking about, not necessarily a specific, previously mentioned beach.
Without an article (μπροστά από παραλία), it would sound incomplete or unnatural in this sentence.
So:
- μπροστά από την παραλία is the normal, idiomatic way to say in front of the beach here.
They refer to two different things:
- η θάλασσα = the sea, the body of water.
- η παραλία = the beach, the stretch of sand/pebbles at the edge of the sea.
So στη θάλασσα μπροστά από την παραλία means:
- in the sea, in front of the beach
You are physically in the water, not on the sand. The beach is a landmark that indicates where in the sea you are (right in front of where the beach is).
Greek word order is fairly flexible, but some orders are more neutral/natural.
Original:
- Μου αρέσει να κολυμπάω στη θάλασσα μπροστά από την παραλία.
Possible variations:
Μου αρέσει να κολυμπάω μπροστά από την παραλία στη θάλασσα.
– Understandable, but the original order (στη θάλασσα μπροστά από την παραλία) sounds more natural.Αρέσει μου να κολυμπάω στη θάλασσα μπροστά από την παραλία.
– Grammatically possible, but Αρέσει μου is marked/less neutral and often carries emphasis or appears in specific styles. Μου αρέσει is the standard.
The safest, most natural order for a learner is very close to the original: keep μου before αρέσει, and keep the place phrases after the verb phrase να κολυμπάω.
Yes, that’s another correct way to express a very similar idea:
- Μου αρέσει το κολύμπι στη θάλασσα μπροστά από την παραλία.
= I like swimming in the sea in front of the beach.
Differences:
Μου αρέσει να κολυμπάω…
– Uses a verb clause (to swim). Very common and natural.Μου αρέσει το κολύμπι…
– Uses a noun (το κολύμπι = swimming as an activity).
– Slightly more “nominal” style, but also very natural.
Both are good; να κολυμπάω is probably the more frequent everyday pattern.
Normally, no. You need μου to indicate who likes the activity.
- Μου αρέσει να κολυμπάω… – I like to swim…
- Σου αρέσει να κολυμπάς… – You like to swim…
If you say only Αρέσει να κολυμπάω στη θάλασσα…, it sounds incomplete and unnatural because the experiencer (who likes it) is missing.
You can drop εγώ (the subject pronoun I) because μου already shows the person:
- (Εγώ) μου αρέσει… → Μου αρέσει… is enough.