Breakdown of Την Κυριακή έχουν αγώνα ποδοσφαίρου και θέλουν πολύ να κερδίσουν.
Questions & Answers about Την Κυριακή έχουν αγώνα ποδοσφαίρου και θέλουν πολύ να κερδίσουν.
Greek usually expresses on + day / part of the day by putting the time word in the accusative with the definite article, without a preposition:
- Την Κυριακή = on Sunday
- Τη Δευτέρα = on Monday
- Το βράδυ = in the evening
So Την Κυριακή is just the normal way to say on Sunday.
Η Κυριακή (nominative) would be Sunday (as a subject), e.g. Η Κυριακή είναι μέρα ξεκούρασης (Sunday is a day of rest).
Στην Κυριακή would only make sense if Κυριακή were a person’s name or a place (e.g. to/at Kyriaki), not a day of the week.
You can hear both with and without the article, but:
- Την Κυριακή έχουν αγώνα… is the most natural, neutral way to say on Sunday they have a match…
- Κυριακή έχουν αγώνα… is also possible in speech, a bit more clipped or colloquial, but still understandable.
The article makes the time expression feel a bit more complete and specific. Leaving it out is not wrong, but Την Κυριακή is the default.
Both exist, but they mean slightly different things:
έχουν αγώνα ποδοσφαίρου = they have a football match (a specific, probably official game)
- αγώνας = match / game / contest
- So this focuses on the event.
παίζουν ποδόσφαιρο = they play football / they are playing football
- This can be general (“they play football as an activity”) or describe what they are doing at some moment, and doesn’t necessarily imply a formal match.
In your sentence, because it’s about a scheduled, concrete match on Sunday, έχουν αγώνα ποδοσφαίρου is the idiomatic choice.
Greek often omits the indefinite article (ένας / μία / ένα) when it’s clear that we’re talking about one of something, especially with objects of verbs like έχω, θέλω, etc.
- Έχουν αγώνα ποδοσφαίρου. = They have a football match.
- Έχουν έναν αγώνα ποδοσφαίρου. = Also correct, but έναν gives a bit more emphasis on “one (single) match” or introduces it as new, specific information.
In everyday speech, έχουν αγώνα ποδοσφαίρου is simpler and very natural.
αγώνα is the accusative singular of αγώνας (masculine noun).
- It’s the direct object of the verb έχουν.
- Nominative: ο αγώνας (the match)
- Accusative: τον αγώνα (the match, as object) → here without the article.
ποδοσφαίρου is the genitive singular of ποδόσφαιρο (neuter noun).
- It works like of football, specifying what kind of match it is: a match of football.
So the whole phrase αγώνα ποδοσφαίρου literally is a match of football, which we translate as a football match.
ποδόσφαιρο is a regular neuter noun ending in -ο. Its singular forms are:
- Nominative: το ποδόσφαιρο (football, as subject)
- Accusative: το ποδόσφαιρο (football, as object)
- Genitive: του ποδοσφαίρου (of football)
In αγώνας ποδοσφαίρου, we need the genitive to express a match of football, so ποδόσφαιρο becomes ποδοσφαίρου.
Greek is a “pro‑drop” language: the subject pronoun is usually omitted when the verb ending already shows the person and number:
- έχουν = they have (3rd person plural)
- θέλουν = they want (3rd person plural)
So the subject “they” is understood from the endings -ουν.
You would only add αυτοί (they) if you really want to emphasize they in particular:
- Αυτοί την Κυριακή έχουν αγώνα… = They (as opposed to others) have a match on Sunday.
πολύ here is an adverb modifying the verb θέλουν:
- θέλουν πολύ ≈ they really want / they very much want
So θέλουν πολύ να κερδίσουν means they really want to win.
Position matters:
- Θέλουν πολύ να κερδίσουν. → natural: they strongly want to win.
- Πολύ θέλουν να κερδίσουν. → same meaning but puts stronger emphasis on πολύ (“they really want to win”).
- Θέλουν να κερδίσουν πολύ. → sounds more like they want to win a lot (of something) and is not what we usually mean here, so it’s avoided.
Both are subjunctive forms of κερδίζω (to win), but they have different aspect:
- να κερδίσουν = aorist subjunctive, focuses on the result, a single, complete event (to win once).
- να κερδίζουν = present subjunctive, focuses on an ongoing or repeated action (to be winning / to keep winning / to win repeatedly).
In the sentence, we are talking about one match on Sunday and the wish to win that match, so Greek uses the aorist:
- θέλουν πολύ να κερδίσουν = they really want to win (that game).
If you said θέλουν να κερδίζουν, it would sound more like “they want to be (in general) winning, to keep winning”, which doesn’t fit one specific match as well.
Yes, Greek word order is quite flexible. All of these are grammatically correct:
- Την Κυριακή έχουν αγώνα ποδοσφαίρου.
- Έχουν αγώνα ποδοσφαίρου την Κυριακή.
- Την Κυριακή, αγώνα ποδοσφαίρου έχουν. (more marked/emphatic)
Placing Την Κυριακή at the beginning is very common because time expressions often come first.
If you move την Κυριακή to the end (Έχουν αγώνα ποδοσφαίρου την Κυριακή), you slightly shift the emphasis towards the fact that they have a football match; Sunday becomes extra information at the end. But both versions are natural.
Greek often uses the present tense with a future time expression to talk about scheduled or fixed future events, similar to English “On Sunday they have a match”:
- Την Κυριακή έχουν αγώνα ποδοσφαίρου. = On Sunday they have a football match.
(understood as a set arrangement)
You could also say:
- Την Κυριακή θα έχουν αγώνα ποδοσφαίρου.
This is also correct and a bit more explicitly future, but for planned events the plain present is extremely common and sounds natural.
Greek does not normally use a preposition for calendar days and many time expressions. Instead, it uses the accusative (often with an article):
- Την Κυριακή = on Sunday
- Τη Δευτέρα = on Monday
- Το Σάββατο = on Saturday
- Το πρωί = in the morning
- Το βράδυ = in the evening
Prepositions like σε are used in other time expressions:
- σε μία εβδομάδα = in a week (from now)
- από την Κυριακή = from Sunday (onwards)
But for on Sunday in your sentence, the correct form is simply Την Κυριακή, no preposition.