Breakdown of Στον φάκελο βάζω και μια κάρτα με τη διεύθυνσή μου, για να μου τον στείλουν αν χαθεί.
Questions & Answers about Στον φάκελο βάζω και μια κάρτα με τη διεύθυνσή μου, για να μου τον στείλουν αν χαθεί.
Στον is a contraction of σε + τον.
- σε = “in / into / to” (preposition)
- τον = “the” (masculine accusative singular article)
So: σε τον φάκελο → στον φάκελο.
Modern Greek almost always uses these contracted forms:
- σε + τον → στον
- σε + τον φάκελο → στον φάκελο
- σε + το σπίτι → στο σπίτι
- σε + την πόλη → στην πόλη
Also, σε always takes the accusative case, which is why we have φάκελο (accusative) and not φάκελος (nominative).
Because prepositions in Greek (like σε) take the accusative case.
- Nominative: ο φάκελος (subject form)
- Accusative: τον φάκελο (object / after prepositions)
Since στον = σε + τον, you must use the accusative:
- Στον φάκελο = “in the envelope” (literally “into the envelope”).
Here και means something like “also / as well”, not a simple “and” joining two full clauses.
- βάζω μια κάρτα = I put a card
- βάζω και μια κάρτα = I also put a card / I put a card too
This και is very common in Greek to mean “also / too” when it comes before the word being added.
Both μια and μία are forms of the feminine “one / a”.
- μια κάρτα: usually just “a card” (indefinite article, neutral tone)
- μία κάρτα: can emphasize the number “one card” (exactly one), though in practice many writers don’t keep a strict distinction.
Pronunciation is often the same in everyday speech; the spelling μία is often used when you want to stress the idea of “one (single)”. Here, μια κάρτα fits well as a simple “a card”.
In Greek, when you have a noun with a possessive pronoun (like μου, σου, του), you normally still keep the definite article.
- η διεύθυνση = the address
- η διεύθυνσή μου = my address
- με τη διεύθυνσή μου = with my address
So, the pattern is:
[prep] + [definite article] + [noun] + [possessive clitic]
You would not usually drop the article here. Saying just με διεύθυνσή μου is ungrammatical in standard modern Greek.
The base word is διεύθυνση (accent on the -εύ- syllable).
When you add an enclitic pronoun like μου, Greek often adds a second accent on the last syllable to keep proper stress rules:
- η διεύθυνση
- η διεύθυνσή μου
So διεύθυνσή μου is just the normal accented form of “my address”. The extra accent mark appears because of the following enclitic μου.
Greek doesn’t use an infinitive the way English does. Instead, it often uses να (or για να) plus a finite verb in the subjunctive.
- να στείλουν ≈ “to send” / “(that) they send”
- για να στείλουν = “in order to send / so that they send”
So για να introduces a purpose clause:
- βάζω κάρτα …, για να μου τον στείλουν
→ I put in a card … so that they can send it to me.
In meaning, για να + subjunctive corresponds closely to English “in order to + verb”.
After να / για να, Greek normally uses the subjunctive, not the indicative.
- Present indicative: στέλνουν = they send / they are sending
- Aorist subjunctive: στείλουν = (that) they send (as a whole event)
Για να μου τον στείλουν focuses on the single future event of sending the envelope back to you. The aorist subjunctive is the normal choice for a one-time, completed action in such purpose clauses.
Here μου is an indirect object pronoun meaning “to me” / “for me”.
Greek usually expresses indirect objects with a genitive clitic instead of a separate preposition:
- μου τον στείλουν = (that) they send it to me
- literally: “they-send me-GEN it-ACC”
So μου here does the job that English does with “to me”. It is genitive because that’s the standard case for these object pronouns (μου, σου, του, της, μας, σας, τους).
Τον is a masculine accusative singular direct object pronoun. In this sentence, it refers back to τον φάκελο (“the envelope”).
So:
- Στον φάκελο = in the envelope
- Later: να μου τον στείλουν = so that they send it (the envelope) to me
Greek drops the noun and replaces it with τον when it’s clear from context what “him/it” refers to.
Greek has a fixed preferred order for clitic pronouns before the verb. When you have both a genitive and an accusative clitic, the genitive normally comes first:
- Genitive (indirect object)
- Accusative (direct object)
- Verb
So the normal order is:
- μου τον στείλουν, σου την έδωσα, μας το είπαν, etc.
τον μου στείλουν is ungrammatical in standard modern Greek.
Greek often uses the third person plural with no explicit subject to mean “people in general / whoever is responsible”, similar to English “they” or “you” in general statements.
Here στείλουν in 3rd person plural can be understood as:
- “so that they (whoever finds it / the post office people / whoever) send it to me”
It’s an indefinite “they”, not a specific group already mentioned.
Χαθεί is the aorist passive subjunctive of the verb χάνομαι (“to get lost”).
- Active: χάνω = I lose (something)
- Passive: χάνομαι = I get lost / I am lost
- Aorist passive subjunctive (3rd sg): (να) χαθεί
With αν (“if”), modern Greek typically uses the subjunctive, especially for future or uncertain events:
- αν χαθεί = if it gets lost / if it should get lost
Using αν χάνεται would sound like a repeated or habitual action (“if it is habitually getting lost”), which is not what is meant here.
In standard modern Greek, after αν (if), you almost always use subjunctive without θα:
- Correct: αν χαθεί, αν έρθει, αν φύγουν
- Generally avoided in standard speech: αν θα χαθεί
Some dialects or informal styles may occasionally use αν θα + verb, but in good standard Greek you should stick to:
- αν + subjunctive → αν χαθεί = if it gets lost.
They are the same form (genitive clitic μου), but they play different roles:
τη διεύθυνσή μου:
- μου = possessive: my address
να μου τον στείλουν:
- μου = indirect object: to me
Grammatically, Greek uses the same clitic set (μου/σου/του…) both for possession (my/your/his) and for indirect objects (to me/to you/to him), and context tells you which is which.