Χρειάζομαι βίζα για να περάσω τα σύνορα αυτής της χώρας.

this

Breakdown of Χρειάζομαι βίζα για να περάσω τα σύνορα αυτής της χώρας.

• χρειάζομαι: to need
• περνάω: to cross
• η χώρα: the country

Questions & Answers about Χρειάζομαι βίζα για να περάσω τα σύνορα αυτής της χώρας.

Why does the verb appear as χρειάζομαι and not just χρειάζω? What is that -μαι ending doing?

Χρειάζομαι is one of those Modern Greek verbs that look passive/reflexive (because of -μαι) but have an active meaning.

• χρειάζομαι = I need
• Form: present tense, 1st person singular, so literally “I am in need of”, but in practice it just means “I need”.
• You almost never use χρειάζω on its own in everyday speech; the common form when a person needs something is χρειάζομαι
  • object:
    • Χρειάζομαι βίζα. = I need a visa.
    • Χρειάζομαι βοήθεια. = I need help.

So, even though the form looks middle/passive, you should simply memorize χρειάζομαι as the normal way to say “I need” in Greek.

Why is there no word for “a” before βίζα? Shouldn’t it be μια βίζα?

Greek does have an indefinite article (ένας, μία/μια, ένα), but it is used much less often than a/an in English.

In Χρειάζομαι βίζα, the bare noun βίζα already has an indefinite, non-specific meaning:

• Χρειάζομαι βίζα ≈ I need a visa (in general / some kind of visa).

You can say Χρειάζομαι μια βίζα, but that tends to sound a bit more like:

• I need *one specific visa / I need **a particular visa.*

In this sentence, the usual, natural phrasing is without μια: Χρειάζομαι βίζα…