Τα μπουκάλια και το χαρτί θα πεταχτούν στον κάδο ανακύκλωσης μετά την εκδρομή.

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Breakdown of Τα μπουκάλια και το χαρτί θα πεταχτούν στον κάδο ανακύκλωσης μετά την εκδρομή.

• θα: will
• μετά: after
• το μπουκάλι: the bottle

Questions & Answers about Τα μπουκάλια και το χαρτί θα πεταχτούν στον κάδο ανακύκλωσης μετά την εκδρομή.

What exactly does θα πεταχτούν mean grammatically? Is it future, passive, something else?

Θα πεταχτούν is:

• Future: formed with θα
  • a verb form.
• Passive voice: something is being thrown, not doing the throwing.
• 3rd person plural: the subject is they (τα μπουκάλια και το χαρτί).

More technically:

• The verb is from πετάω / πετώ (to throw).
• The form πεταχτούν is the aorist subjunctive passive, 3rd person plural, which with θα is used as the simple future passive: they will be thrown.

So θα πεταχτούν = they will be thrown (once / as a single event).

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Why is the passive θα πεταχτούν used instead of an active form like θα πετάξουν?

• Θα πεταχτούν (passive) = they (the bottles and the paper) will be thrown.
• Θα πετάξουν (active) = they will throw (someone/something).

Here we care about what happens to the bottles and the paper, not who is doing the throwing. Greek, like English, often uses the passive when:

• The doer is obvious, not important, or not mentioned (e.g. the students, we, people in general).
• The focus is on the objects affected.

So the sentence is naturally in the passive: The bottles and the paper will be thrown in the recycling bin…

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Why is the verb plural (θα πεταχτούν) when το χαρτί is singular?