Learn Hardcore Greek: Μπορείς να φας ό,τι θέλεις στη γιορτή, δεν είναι πολύ αλμυρό. - You can eat whatever you want at the celebration; it is not very salty.

Μπορείς = you can / you are able (2nd person singular of μπορώ)
να φας = to eat (literally: that you eat; φας is the aorist subjunctive of τρώω, “I eat”)
ό,τι = whatever / anything that
θέλεις = you want (2nd person singular of θέλω)
στη = at / in the (contraction of σε
- τη)
γιορτή = celebration / name day / party
δεν είναι = it is not
πολύ = very / not very
αλμυρό = salty (neuter singular form of the adjective αλμυρός)

So structurally:

Μπορείς να φας
→ You can eat

ό,τι θέλεις
→ whatever you want

στη γιορτή, δεν είναι πολύ αλμυρό.
→ at the party, it’s not very salty.

Why is it να φας and not να τρως?

Both are from τρώω (to eat), but they express different aspect:

να φας = aorist subjunctive → focuses on the completed action (“to eat (once / as an event)”)
να τρως = present subjunctive → focuses on ongoing / repeated action (“to be eating / to keep eating”)

In this sentence:

Μπορείς να φας ό,τι θέλεις
→ You can eat whatever you want (the focus is just on the act of eating those things, not on the process).

If you said:

Μπορείς να τρως ό,τι θέλεις
it would sound more like “You can be eating whatever you want / You’re allowed to (habitually) eat whatever you want,” which is less natural here for a specific party.

What is the difference between ό,τι and ότι?

This is a classic point of confusion:

ό,τι (with a comma and an accent) = “whatever / anything that”
- It introduces something like “no matter what”:
  - Ό,τι θέλεις = whatever you want
  - Ό,τι και να γίνει = whatever happens
ότι (no comma) = “that” (like English “that” in reported speech)
- Μου είπε ότι θα έρθει. = He told me that he will come.

In your sentence:

ό,τι θέλεις must be ό,τι, because it means “whatever you want”, not “that you want”.

Why is θέλεις (present) used after ό,τι? Shouldn’t it be some special subjunctive form?

In modern Greek, the present subjunctive of most verbs looks the same as the present indicative in the 2nd person singular.

Indicative: θέλεις = you want
Subjunctive (present): also θέλεις after να, ας, ό,τι, etc.

So in form it’s identical, but grammatically, after ό,τι the verb functions like a subjunctive:

ό,τι θέλεις ≈ “whatever you (may) want”

You don’t need a different spelling; θέλεις is correct here.

What does στη mean, and how is it formed?

Στη is a contraction of the preposition and article:

σε (in / at / to) + τη (the, feminine singular accusative)
→ σε τη γιορτή → στη γιορτή

So:

στη γιορτή = “at the party / at the celebration”

Compare with:

στο σπίτι = σε + το (neuter) → στο
στην Αθήνα = σε + την (feminine, with ν kept before a vowel or some consonants) → στην Αθήνα

Why is it στη γιορτή and not στο γιορτή?

The noun γιορτή is:

Gender: feminine
Singular nominative: η γιορτή
Singular accusative: τη γιορτή

With σε + τη, you must use the feminine contraction στη:

στη γιορτή = at the party

στο is σε + το (neuter), used only with neuter nouns:

στο σχολείο (at school)
στο σπίτι (at home)

So στο γιορτή would be grammatically wrong because γιορτή is not neuter.

Where is the subject “it” in δεν είναι πολύ αλμυρό?

Greek often omits subject pronouns when they are obvious from context.

δεν είναι πολύ αλμυρό literally just says: “is not very salty.”

The implied subject is “it”, referring to the food at the party (often an unspoken neuter like φαγητό = food).

So the full idea is:

(Το φαγητό) δεν είναι πολύ αλμυρό.
→ The food is not very salty.
→ It’s not very salty.

The pronoun αυτό (“it”) is normally left out unless you want to emphasize it.

Why is αλμυρό neuter singular? What is it agreeing with?

Αλμυρό is the neuter singular form of the adjective αλμυρός (salty):

Masculine: αλμυρός
Feminine: αλμυρή
Neuter: αλμυρό

In Greek, adjectives must agree in gender, number, and case with the noun they describe. Here, the noun is understood, not written:

(το φαγητό) είναι πολύ αλμυρό
- το φαγητό = food (neuter singular)
- → αλμυρό must be neuter singular.

If you were speaking about, say, πατατάκια (chips), which is neuter plural (τα πατατάκια), you would say:

Τα πατατάκια δεν είναι πολύ αλμυρά.
(they are not very salty)

What is the function of πολύ here? Why isn’t it πολλή?

Πολύ in this sentence is an adverb meaning “very”:

δεν είναι πολύ αλμυρό = it is not very salty.

As an adverb, πολύ is invariable (it doesn’t change for gender/number).

Πολλή / πολλός / πολύ (with different endings) are adjectives meaning “much / many”, and they do change:

πολλή ζάχαρη = a lot of sugar (feminine)
πολλοί άνθρωποι = many people (masculine plural)
πολλά φαγητά = many foods (neuter plural)

Here we are not saying “much salty,” but “very salty,” so we need the adverb: πολύ αλμυρό.

Is it normal in Greek to have a comma between the two parts: ... στη γιορτή, δεν είναι πολύ αλμυρό?

Yes. In Greek, it is quite common to join two related clauses with just a comma, where English would typically use:

a period:
- You can eat whatever you want at the party. It’s not very salty.
or a conjunction:
- … at the party, because it’s not very salty.
- … at the party, it is not very salty.

So:

Μπορείς να φας ό,τι θέλεις στη γιορτή, δεν είναι πολύ αλμυρό.

is acceptable everyday written Greek. In more formal writing, some might prefer a period or a connector (γιατί, επειδή, etc.), but the comma as written is very common.

How do you pronounce the whole sentence?

Approximate pronunciation (stressed syllables in caps; English-like approximation in slashes):

Μπορείς → mbor-ÍS (/bo-REEs/)
να → na (/na/)
φας → fas (/fas/)
ό,τι → Ó-ti (/O-tee/)
θέλεις → THÉ-lis (/THEH-lees/; θ as in “think”)
στη → sti (/stee/ or /sti/)
γιορτή → yor-TÍ (/yor-TEE/; γιο like “yo” in “yoga”)
δεν → then (/then/; δ as in “this”)
είναι → Í-ne (/EE-neh/)
πολύ → po-LÍ (/po-LEE/)
αλμυρό → al-mi-RÓ (/al-mee-ROH/)

Spoken smoothly:

Μπορείς να φας ό,τι θέλεις στη γιορτή, δεν είναι πολύ αλμυρό.
/bo-REEs na fas O-tee THEH-lees sti yor-TEE, then EE-neh po-LEE al-mee-ROH/