Learn Hardcore Greek: Θέλουμε να κρατάμε καθαρό το περιβάλλον για τα παιδιά μας. - We want to keep the environment clean for our children.

Θέλουμε – we want (1st person plural, present)
να – particle that introduces a verb in the subjunctive; often corresponds to English to (in “to do something”) or sometimes that.
κρατάμε – we keep / we are keeping (1st person plural, present subjunctive here)
καθαρό – clean (adjective, neuter singular accusative)
το – the (neuter singular article, accusative)
περιβάλλον – environment (neuter singular noun, accusative)
για – for
τα – the (neuter plural article, accusative)
παιδιά – children (neuter plural noun, accusative)
μας – our (weak possessive pronoun, “our children”)

So very literally:

We want to keep clean the environment for the children our.
→ “We want to keep the environment clean for our children.”

What is the role of να here? Is it like “to” in English?

Να is a particle used before a verb in the subjunctive. In this sentence:

θέλουμε να κρατάμε ≈ we want to keep

English uses the infinitive to keep after want. Greek uses να + verb instead of an infinitive. So:

θέλω να πάω – I want to go
θέλουμε να κρατάμε – we want to keep

Grammatically, να marks the verb κρατάμε as subjunctive, but in many practical contexts you can simply think of να here as introducing the action that is wanted: “to keep”.

Why is it κρατάμε and not κρατήσουμε after να?

Greek distinguishes between present and aorist subjunctive:

να κρατάμε – present subjunctive → ongoing / repeated / continuous action
we want to be keeping / we want to keep (habitually, in general)
να κρατήσουμε – aorist subjunctive → single, complete action
we want to keep (it) once / we want to manage to keep it (achieve it)

In this sentence, the idea is a general, continuous attitude:

Θέλουμε να κρατάμε καθαρό το περιβάλλον…
We want to (continually, as a principle) keep the environment clean…

If you said:

Θέλουμε να κρατήσουμε καθαρό το περιβάλλον…

it would sound more like one specific effort or achievement: we want to (succeed in) keep(ing) the environment clean (in this instance / over a particular period). Not wrong, but subtly different.

Is κρατάμε the same as κρατούμε?

They are the same verb form (1st person plural, present), but:

κρατάμε – the colloquial / everyday form
κρατούμε – the more formal / literary form

Meaning in both cases: we keep / we hold.

So you could also say:

Θέλουμε να κρατούμε καθαρό το περιβάλλον…

It just sounds more formal or written; in normal spoken Greek, κρατάμε is far more common.

Why is καθαρό in the neuter form? Why not something like καθαρός?

Greek adjectives agree with the noun they describe in:

gender
number
case

Here the noun is:

το περιβάλλον – neuter, singular, accusative.

Therefore, the adjective must also be:

neuter
singular
accusative

The adjective καθαρός (clean) has these forms (nominative):

masculine: καθαρός
feminine: καθαρή
neuter: καθαρό

Since περιβάλλον is neuter, you must use καθαρό:

το περιβάλλον (είναι) καθαρό – the environment (is) clean
να κρατάμε καθαρό το περιβάλλον – to keep the environment clean

So καθαρό matches το περιβάλλον in gender, number, and case.

Why is the word order κρατάμε καθαρό το περιβάλλον and not κρατάμε το περιβάλλον καθαρό?

Both word orders are correct:

να κρατάμε καθαρό το περιβάλλον
να κρατάμε το περιβάλλον καθαρό

In Greek, adjectives can often appear:

before the noun: καθαρό το περιβάλλον
after the noun: το περιβάλλον καθαρό

The difference here is very slight; both mean keep the environment clean. Sometimes:

Adjective before the noun can lightly emphasize the quality (clean).
Adjective after the noun can sometimes feel a bit more like a resulting state.

In everyday speech, both are natural; choice is often stylistic. The given order is very common in this kind of sentence.

Why do we say το περιβάλλον with the? Could we drop the article?

Greek uses the definite article much more often than English.

Here, το περιβάλλον means “the environment”, just like English usually says the environment (not just environment).

Correct: θέλουμε να κρατάμε καθαρό το περιβάλλον
Without the article: θέλουμε να κρατάμε καθαρό περιβάλλον
This sounds unusual here; without the article, it feels more like “we want to keep some environment clean” or “keep an environment clean” – not the general, shared environment.

So in this general, global sense, το περιβάλλον with the article is the normal, idiomatic choice.

What exactly does για mean here? Could I use προς or σε instead?

In this sentence, για means “for” in the sense of for the benefit of:

για τα παιδιά μας – for our children (for their sake / for their benefit)

Για is the normal preposition for this meaning.

Other prepositions:

προς – more like towards, to, often with direction or orientation (προς το σπίτι – towards the house).
σε – in, at, to; different usage, not expressing “for the benefit of” here.

You would not say:

✗ προς τα παιδιά μας (here)
✗ σε τα παιδιά μας (also wrong; should be στα παιδιά μας but that still doesn’t mean “for our children”)

So in this sentence, για is the correct and natural choice to mean “for”.

What form is παιδιά? What case is it in?

Παιδιά is the plural of παιδί (child).

Singular: το παιδί – the child
Plural: τα παιδιά – the children

In this sentence, τα παιδιά μας is in the accusative case, because it is the object of the preposition για (for).

Forms of παιδί (article + noun):

Nominative: το παιδί, τα παιδιά
Accusative: το παιδί, τα παιδιά

For this particular noun, nominative and accusative look the same; context (and the preposition για) tells us the function.

What exactly is μας here? Is it “we” or “our”, and where does it go?

Μας here is a weak (clitic) possessive pronoun meaning “our”.

εμείς – we
μας – our / us

In possessive use, μας typically comes after the noun:

τα παιδιά μας – our children
το σπίτι μας – our house
ο φίλος μας – our friend

You don’t normally put μας before the noun like English our children; instead, Greek prefers:

noun + article + μας: τα παιδιά μας

So in this sentence, μας is “our”, attached to τα παιδιά.

How would I say this more politely, like “we would like to keep the environment clean for our children”?

Use θα θέλαμε instead of θέλουμε:

Θα θέλαμε να κρατάμε καθαρό το περιβάλλον για τα παιδιά μας.
We would like to keep the environment clean for our children.

Notes:

Θα θέλαμε is more polite / softer, similar to English we would like.
You can still choose να κρατάμε (ongoing / general) or να κρατήσουμε (more like achieve/maintain it).

For a slightly more formal verb for “keep”, you might also see:

να διατηρούμε καθαρό το περιβάλλον – to preserve / maintain the environment clean

How is this sentence pronounced?

A practical phonetic guide with stress in CAPS on the stressed syllable:

Θέλουμε → THÉ-lou-me
- θ like th in think
- ου like oo in food
να → na (short “a” as in father)
κρατάμε → kra-TÁ-me
- κρ like kr in cry
- ά is stressed “a”
καθαρό → ka-tha-RÓ
- θ again like th in think
το → to (like “toh”)
περιβάλλον → pe-ri-VÁ-lon
- stress on VÁ
- double λλ is just a normal “l”, not strongly doubled in modern speech
για → ya (like ya in yard)
τα → ta (short “a”)
παιδιά → pe-THIÁ
- αι here pronounced like “e”
- δ in παιδιά is like the th in this (voiced)
μας → mas

Full line (approximate phonetic line):

THÉ-lou-me na kra-TÁ-me ka-tha-RÓ to pe-ri-VÁ-lon ya ta pe-THIÁ mas.