Learn Hardcore Greek: Αφού δεις την ταινία, θέλω να μου πεις τη γνώμη σου. - After you see the movie, I want you to tell me your opinion.

Temporal (time) – “after, once, when (you’ve finished)”
- That’s the meaning in this sentence:
  Αφού δεις την ταινία = After you see the movie / Once you’ve seen the movie.
Causal (reason) – “since, because”
- e.g. Αφού είσαι εδώ, έλα να φάμε. = Since you’re here, come eat.

When αφού is followed by a verb in the subjunctive (like δεις) and refers to the future, it usually has the temporal meaning: after / once.
When it refers to a present or past fact with an indicative verb (e.g. είσαι, ήρθες), it often means since / because.

Why is it δεις and not βλέπεις after αφού?

Δεις is the aorist subjunctive of βλέπω (“to see”). Greek often uses the subjunctive aorist after conjunctions like αφού, όταν, μόλις when talking about a single, completed future event.

Αφού δεις την ταινία = After you have seen the movie (one complete action in the future)
If you said αφού βλέπεις την ταινία, it would sound wrong or very odd here; βλέπεις is present indicative, not the right form for this kind of future-time clause.

So:

δεις = “see (once, as a whole)” in a future / hypothetical way
βλέπεις = “you see / you are watching” (present, ongoing, factual)

The pattern “[αφού/όταν/μόλις] + subjunctive” is very common for future time in Greek.

Why is there no να before δεις? I thought the subjunctive always needs να.

Subjunctive in Greek is usually introduced by να, but it can also be triggered by some other conjunctions that “take over” the role of να.

Common ones are:

όταν (when)
αφού (after/once)
μόλις (as soon as)
πριν (να) (before)

So:

Αφού δεις την ταινία… (no να, but still subjunctive)
Όταν έρθεις, θα φύγουμε. (no να)
Θέλω να έρθεις. (here, να is needed because θέλω requires it)

In short: αφού itself selects the subjunctive, so Greek does not add an extra να.

What is the nuance of θέλω να μου πεις? Is it literally “I want that you tell me”, or is it just future?

Θέλω να μου πεις literally is:

θέλω = I want
να πεις = (that you) tell (subjunctive)
μου = to me

So literally: “I want you to tell me.”

Nuance:

It expresses a desire / request rather than a pure future fact.
In English, you might say:
- I want you to tell me your opinion (afterwards).
- More naturally in everyday speech: Once you’ve seen the movie, tell me what you think.

Compare with:

Αφού δεις την ταινία, θα μου πεις τη γνώμη σου.
This focuses more on a future event (you will tell me), less on the speaker’s wish.

In many contexts θέλω να + subjunctive can feel softer or more personal (a wish / request), while θα + verb is more neutral future.

Why do we say να μου πεις and not να πεις μου?

Greek pronoun clitics (short unstressed pronouns like μου, σου, τον, την, το) have fixed preferred positions:

In simple clauses: they usually come right before the verb.
With να
- verb: they come between να and the verb, or directly before the verb if να is omitted in some structures.

Here:

να μου πεις is the normal order:
- να (subjunctive marker)
- μου (to me)
- πεις (you tell)

✗ να πεις μου is ungrammatical in standard modern Greek.

Other examples:

Θέλω να σου μιλήσω. = I want to talk to you.
Πρέπει να μας βοηθήσεις. = You must help us.

Why is it πεις and not λες? Aren’t both from λέω (“to say”)?

Yes, both forms come from λέω, but they are different aspects and moods:

λες = present indicative, imperfective aspect
“you say / you are saying / you (generally) say”
πεις = aorist subjunctive, perfective aspect
“(that) you say / you tell (once, as a whole action)”

In θέλω να μου πεις, we are talking about one specific future act of telling (after you see the movie), so Greek naturally uses the aorist subjunctive: πεις.

Compare:

Μου λες πάντα την αλήθεια. = You always tell me the truth. (habitual)
Θέλω να μου πεις την αλήθεια. = I want you to tell me the truth (this time).

What does μου add? Isn’t “your opinion” already personal?

Μου is the indirect object: “to me”.

να μου πεις τη γνώμη σου = (for you) to tell me your opinion.

Without μου, it would just be:

να πεις τη γνώμη σου = (for you) to say your opinion (not specified to whom).

So μου is essential here to express who you are telling your opinion to.

Why is it τη γνώμη σου and not η γνώμη σου? What’s the role of τη?

Τη is the definite article in accusative feminine singular.

Nominative (subject): η γνώμη (the opinion)
Accusative (object): τη γνώμη (the opinion)

In the sentence:

να μου πεις τη γνώμη σου
- τη γνώμη is the direct object of πεις, so it must be in the accusative case.
- σου is the possessive pronoun: your.

So:

η γνώμη σου = your opinion as subject
e.g. Η γνώμη σου είναι σημαντική. = Your opinion is important.
τη γνώμη σου = your opinion as object
e.g. Θέλω τη γνώμη σου. = I want your opinion.

Why do both την ταινία and τη γνώμη have την/τη? Are those the same word?

Yes, they are both forms of the feminine definite article “the” in the accusative singular:

την ταινία
τη γνώμη

They are the same article (την), often written as την before consonants and τη in less careful writing/speech, but grammatically it’s την.

Both ταινία (movie) and γνώμη (opinion) are:

Feminine
Singular
Direct objects of verbs (δεις, πεις)

So they take the accusative article την:

βλέπω την ταινία = I’m watching the movie
λέω τη γνώμη μου = I say my opinion

Could the sentence also be written as Αφού δεις την ταινία, πες μου τη γνώμη σου? What’s the difference?

Yes, that’s perfectly correct and very natural:

Αφού δεις την ταινία, πες μου τη γνώμη σου.

Difference in nuance:

θέλω να μου πεις τη γνώμη σου
- Emphasizes the speaker’s desire / wish: I want you to tell me…
- Slightly more indirect or explanatory.
πες μου τη γνώμη σου
- This is a direct imperative: tell me your opinion.
- Sounds more like a plain instruction or request.

Both are everyday, friendly. The original is a bit more “framed”:
After you see the movie, I want you to tell me what you think.
The imperative version is:
After you see the movie, tell me what you think.

Is this sentence casual, polite, or formal? How would I say it politely to someone I don’t know well?

The sentence as written (Αφού δεις…, θέλω να μου πεις…) uses 2nd person singular (δεις, πεις, σου) so it’s:

Informal / familiar: to a friend, family member, someone your age etc.

For polite/plural you, you’d say:

Αφού δείτε την ταινία, θέλω να μου πείτε τη γνώμη σας.
- δείτε = 2nd person plural subjunctive of βλέπω
- πείτε = 2nd person plural subjunctive of λέω
- σας = your (plural/polite)

Or imperative style:

Αφού δείτε την ταινία, πείτε μου τη γνώμη σας.

Why does Greek use present θέλω even though in English we say “I’ll want” or “you will tell me” (future)?

Greek often uses the present tense with θέλω + subjunctive to talk about future desires or plans:

Θέλω να φάω αργότερα. = I want to eat later.
Θέλω να πάω στην Ελλάδα του χρόνου. = I want to go to Greece next year.

In English, we might express that in various ways (I want to… / I’d like to… / I’m going to…), but we don’t say I will want unless it’s something different.

Here:

θέλω να μου πεις τη γνώμη σου
uses present θέλω, but the subjunctive clause and the context (Αφού δεις…) clearly place the action in the future.

Time reference in Greek often comes from:

Conjunctions (αφού, όταν)
Aspect (aorist vs present)
Context
rather than from “future tense” marking on every verb like in English.

Could αφού here mean “because you see the movie”? How can I tell it’s “after” and not “since/because”?

In this sentence, αφού is temporal, not causal. Reasons:

Verb form: δεις is subjunctive, referring to a future event.
- Temporal αφού
  - subjunctive is common for future after/once.
- Causal αφού is more often with indicative forms about a fact:
  - Αφού είδες την ταινία, ξέρεις την ιστορία.
    Since you saw the movie, you know the story. (past fact)
Meaning with the rest of the sentence:
- After you see the movie, I want you to tell me your opinion
  is natural.
- Because you see the movie, I want you to tell me your opinion
  sounds odd in English and in Greek as a causal reading here.

So context + verb form (δεις) point clearly to “after/once” rather than “since/because”.