Breakdown of Ο φίλος μου θέλει να γίνει εθελοντής στο ίδιο πρόγραμμα της οργάνωσης.
Questions & Answers about Ο φίλος μου θέλει να γίνει εθελοντής στο ίδιο πρόγραμμα της οργάνωσης.
In Greek, the unstressed possessive pronoun (my, your, his, etc.) usually comes after the noun:
- Ο φίλος μου = my friend
- Το σπίτι σου = your house
- Η μητέρα του = his mother
You cannot say ο μου φίλος; that sounds wrong in Greek.
Putting the possessive before the noun is only possible with the stressed forms (used for emphasis):
- Ο δικός μου φίλος = my friend (as opposed to someone else’s)
So the normal, neutral way to say “my friend” is ο φίλος μου.
Φίλος is the masculine form of “friend.” Its nominative singular form is:
- ο φίλος = the (male) friend
If the friend is female, you use the feminine form:
- η φίλη μου θέλει να γίνει… = my (female) friend wants to become…
So:
- Masculine: ο φίλος μου
- Feminine: η φίλη μου
The article (ο / η / το) always agrees in gender, number, and case with the noun.
Modern Greek does not use an infinitive the way English does.
Instead, Greek uses να + subjunctive verb after verbs like “want” (θέλω):
- Θέλω να φάω. = I want to eat.
- Θέλει να γίνει εθελοντής. = He wants to become a volunteer.
So:
- English: wants to become
- Greek: θέλει να γίνει
The να introduces a subordinate clause with the verb in the subjunctive mood.
Γίνει is the aorist subjunctive, 3rd person singular of the verb γίνομαι (“to become / to get / to turn into / to be made”).
Key forms (just the relevant ones):
- Present: γίνομαι = I become / I am becoming
- Aorist subjunctive (1st sg.): να γίνω = (that) I become
- Aorist subjunctive (3rd sg.): να γίνει = (that) he/she/it become
In the sentence:
- …θέλει να γίνει…
→ literally: “…he wants that he become…”
The aorist subjunctive is used to express the event of becoming, not an ongoing process.
Here, εθελοντής is not a direct object. It’s a predicate noun (a complement) after the verb γίνομαι (“to become”), just like after είμαι (“to be”):
- Είναι εθελοντής. = He is a volunteer.
- Θέλει να γίνει εθελοντής. = He wants to become a volunteer.
With verbs like είμαι and γίνομαι, the noun that describes the subject stays in the nominative case, not the accusative.
So:
- Nominative: ο εθελοντής → (he is / becomes) εθελοντής
- Accusative (direct object) would be τον εθελοντή, but that’s not what we need here.
The feminine form of εθελοντής is εθελόντρια.
So:
Ο φίλος μου θέλει να γίνει εθελοντής…
= My (male) friend wants to become a volunteer…Η φίλη μου θέλει να γίνει εθελόντρια στο ίδιο πρόγραμμα της οργάνωσης.
= My (female) friend wants to become a volunteer in the same program of the organization.
You adjust:
- ο φίλος → η φίλη
- εθελοντής → εθελόντρια
Στο is a contraction of:
- σε (in, at, to) + το (the, neuter singular) → στο
Greek commonly contracts σε + definite article:
- σε + το → στο (neuter singular)
- σε + τον → στον (masculine singular)
- σε + την → στη(ν) (feminine singular)
- σε + τους → στους (masculine plural)
- σε + τις → στις (feminine plural)
- σε + τα → στα (neuter plural)
So with το πρόγραμμα (neuter singular), you naturally get:
- στο πρόγραμμα = in / at the program
Adjectives in Greek must agree in gender, number, and case with the noun they describe.
- Πρόγραμμα is neuter, singular, accusative: (το) πρόγραμμα
- The adjective ίδιος / ίδια / ίδιο (“same”) in neuter accusative singular is ίδιο.
Forms of ίδιος (nominative singular for reference):
- Masculine: ίδιος (ο ίδιος φίλος)
- Feminine: ίδια (η ίδια φίλη)
- Neuter: ίδιο (το ίδιο πρόγραμμα)
So, because πρόγραμμα is neuter, you must say:
- στο ίδιο πρόγραμμα = in the same program
Της οργάνωσης is in the genitive case and literally means “of the organization.”
The base noun is:
- η οργάνωση = the organization (nominative singular)
Genitive singular of feminine nouns like this is formed with -ης:
- της οργάνωσης = of the organization
So:
- στο ίδιο πρόγραμμα της οργάνωσης
= in the same program of the organization
The genitive in Greek often corresponds to English “of …” or possessive “’s”.
Της οργάνωσης is definite because of the article της (“the”).
- της οργάνωσης = of the organization
- μιας οργάνωσης = of an organization
In context, της οργάνωσης usually refers to some known or previously mentioned organization.
If you wanted to make it clearly indefinite, you would say:
- …στο ίδιο πρόγραμμα μιας οργάνωσης.
= …in the same program of an organization.
Both are grammatically correct, but they sound different:
Θέλει να γίνει εθελοντής
→ He wants to become a volunteer (change of state, starting something new).Θέλει να είναι εθελοντής
→ He wants to be a volunteer (emphasizes the state of being, more general/ongoing).
In most contexts where someone is joining a program, θέλει να γίνει εθελοντής is more natural, because it focuses on the act of becoming a volunteer.
Greek word order is relatively flexible, though some orders sound more natural. Your sentence is the most neutral and common order:
- Ο φίλος μου θέλει να γίνει εθελοντής στο ίδιο πρόγραμμα της οργάνωσης.
You could move the prepositional phrase for emphasis:
- Ο φίλος μου θέλει να γίνει εθελοντής στην οργάνωση, στο ίδιο πρόγραμμα.
(slightly different nuance, focusing more on “in the organization” first)
However, you cannot break fixed units unnaturally, e.g.:
- ✗ θέλει να γίνει στο ίδιο εθελοντής πρόγραμμα (wrong)
The core structure:
- [Subject] Ο φίλος μου
- [Verb] θέλει
- [Subordinate clause] να γίνει εθελοντής
- [Prepositional phrase] στο ίδιο πρόγραμμα της οργάνωσης
should generally be kept in that logical order for clarity and naturalness.