Learn Hardcore Greek: Σήμερα υπόσχομαι να περάσω λιγότερο χρόνο στο κινητό. - Today I promise to spend less time on my phone.

περνάω / περνώ = present tense (“I am spending / I spend”).
πέρασα = aorist indicative (“I spent”).
να περάσω = aorist subjunctive (“that I spend / to spend (once, as a whole event)”).

Here, να περάσω λιγότερο χρόνο = “to spend less time (as a single overall action / habit over the day)”.

Why is it να περάσω and not να περνάω? What’s the difference in meaning?

Both are possible, but they have different aspect (how the action is viewed):

να περάσω (aorist subj.) = single, complete action / overall outcome
- Focus on the result: the total amount of time you will spend today is less.
να περνάω (present subj.) = ongoing, repeated or habitual action
- Focus on the process: spending time (in general) less, often sounds like a more general habit.

In this sentence:

Σήμερα υπόσχομαι να περάσω λιγότερο χρόνο στο κινητό.
= Today, I promise the overall time I spend on my phone will be less.

If you said:

Σήμερα υπόσχομαι να περνάω λιγότερο χρόνο στο κινητό.

it would sound more like promising a habitual change (“I promise I will generally be spending less time on my phone”), which is also possible but a bit different in feel. The aorist (να περάσω) is the most natural here.

Why do we need να at all after υπόσχομαι? Why not just say υπόσχομαι περάσω?

Some Greek verbs (like “promise”, “want”, “try”, “can’t wait”, etc.) almost always take a να-clause to introduce what you’re promising / wanting / trying.

υπόσχομαι να περάσω… = “I promise to spend… / I promise that I will spend…”

In modern standard Greek, you cannot say:

✗ υπόσχομαι περάσω λιγότερο χρόνο…

You need the να to form the subordinate clause:

να περάσω λιγότερο χρόνο στο κινητό
= “(that) I spend less time on the phone”.

So να is grammatically necessary here.

What is the verb υπόσχομαι exactly? It looks passive, but the meaning is active (“I promise”).

You’re right; υπόσχομαι looks like a middle/passive form, but it has an active meaning. This is very common in Greek and these verbs are often called deponent verbs.

Dictionary form: υπόσχομαι (“to promise”).
Present tense (middle/passive forms, active meaning):
- εγώ υπόσχομαι – I promise
- εσύ υπόσχεσαι – you promise
- αυτός/αυτή/αυτό υπόσχεται – he/she/it promises
- εμείς υποσχόμαστε – we promise
- εσείς υπόσχεστε – you (pl.) promise
- αυτοί/αυτές/αυτά υπόσχονται – they promise

Past (aorist, active meaning, but still middle/passive form):

υποσχέθηκα – I promised

So:

Σήμερα υπόσχομαι… = “Today I promise…” (present tense, deponent verb).

Why is it υπόσχομαι and not future like θα υποσχεθώ (“I will promise”)?

υπόσχομαι is present tense and describes what you’re doing right now: you are making a promise now.

If you said:

Θα υποσχεθώ να περάσω λιγότερο χρόνο στο κινητό.

that means “I will promise to spend less time on my phone (at some later moment).”
You’re talking about a future act of promising, not about the promise you are making now.

In English we also normally say “I promise I will…”, not “I will promise…”, so the Greek present υπόσχομαι matches that.

How does λιγότερο χρόνο work grammatically? Why λιγότερο and not something like λιγότερος?

Let’s break it down:

χρόνος = “time” (masculine noun)
- nominative singular: ο χρόνος
- accusative singular: τον χρόνο (often spoken/written as το χρόνο)
λιγότερος = “less” (comparative of λίγος, “little / few”)
- masculine nominative singular: λιγότερος
- masculine accusative singular: λιγότερο

In the sentence, χρόνο is in the accusative because it’s the direct object of περάσω. Therefore the adjective must also be in masculine accusative:

λιγότερος χρόνος (nom.) = less time (as subject)
λιγότερο χρόνο (acc.) = less time (as object)

So λιγότερο here is the masculine accusative singular form, agreeing with χρόνο.

Why is there no article before λιγότερο χρόνο? Why not τον λιγότερο χρόνο?

In Greek, when you talk about time in general, especially quantities like much / little / less / more time, you usually omit the article:

πολύ χρόνο – a lot of time
λίγο χρόνο – a little time
λιγότερο χρόνο – less time
περισσότερο χρόνο – more time

Using the article here (τον λιγότερο χρόνο) would make it sound very specific, like “the least time (of some fixed set of times)”, which doesn’t fit the normal meaning of “spend less time (in general)”.

So no article is the natural choice:

να περάσω λιγότερο χρόνο = “to spend less time”.

Could I say λιγότερη ώρα instead of λιγότερο χρόνο?

Yes, you might hear:

Σήμερα υπόσχομαι να περάσω λιγότερη ώρα στο κινητό.

Differences:

χρόνος = time in a general / abstract sense (amount of time).
ώρα = hour / a period of time, often more concrete.

Both sentences are understandable and correct.

λιγότερο χρόνο is more neutral and slightly more general.
λιγότερη ώρα can feel a bit more everyday / concrete, like “fewer hours / not as many hours”.

What exactly does στο κινητό mean? Why this form and what is it short for?

στο κινητό comes from:

σε (preposition “in / at / on / to”)
το (neuter singular definite article: “the”)
→ σε + το = στο (“in/on the”).

κινητό literally means “mobile”, and in everyday Greek it’s short for:

κινητό τηλέφωνο – mobile phone / cell phone.

So στο κινητό = “on the mobile (phone)”, i.e. “on my phone”. Greek often drops τηλέφωνο because it’s understood from context.

Grammatically:

κινητό is neuter (το κινητό) and here it’s in the accusative (same form as nominative in neuter).

Shouldn’t it be στο κινητό μου (“on my phone”)? Is μου optional here?

Both are possible:

στο κινητό
στο κινητό μου

In many everyday contexts, Greek omits the possessive pronoun when it’s obvious whose thing it is, especially with:

body parts: έπλυνα τα χέρια (I washed my hands),
close personal items: πήρα το κινητό (I took my phone), έβαλα τα γυαλιά (I put on my glasses).

Here, it’s naturally understood you’re talking about your own phone, so στο κινητό is perfectly normal and idiomatic.

Adding μου:

στο κινητό μου

just makes the possession explicit. It can sound a bit more careful or emphatic (“on my phone (not someone else’s)”), but often the “my” is just redundant.

Can I change the word order? For example: Υπόσχομαι σήμερα να περάσω… or Υπόσχομαι να περάσω λιγότερο χρόνο στο κινητό σήμερα?

Yes. Greek word order is fairly flexible, and all these versions are grammatically correct, with slight differences in emphasis:

Σήμερα υπόσχομαι να περάσω λιγότερο χρόνο στο κινητό.
- Emphasis starts with σήμερα (Today, I promise…).
- Slight focus on today as the time when the promise is made / applies.
Υπόσχομαι σήμερα να περάσω λιγότερο χρόνο στο κινητό.
- Slightly more focus on the act of promising, with “today” modifying the promise.
Υπόσχομαι να περάσω λιγότερο χρόνο στο κινητό σήμερα.
- “Today” is more clearly attached to spending less time, i.e. I promise that today I’ll spend less time on my phone.

All are acceptable; the original order is probably the most neutral and natural-sounding.

Could I use ξοδέψω instead of περάσω, like να ξοδέψω λιγότερο χρόνο στο κινητό?

Yes, this is also grammatically correct:

Σήμερα υπόσχομαι να ξοδέψω λιγότερο χρόνο στο κινητό.

Differences in nuance:

περνάω / περάσω (χρόνο) = literally “to pass time”, idiomatic “to spend time”.
- Very common with time, especially in neutral or positive contexts:
  - Πέρασα όμορφα. – I had a good time.
  - Περνάω πολύ χρόνο στη δουλειά. – I spend a lot of time at work.
ξοδεύω / ξοδέψω (χρόνο) = literally “to spend (waste) time / money”.
- Stronger sense of using up a limited resource, sometimes with a hint of waste.

In your sentence:

να περάσω λιγότερο χρόνο στο κινητό sounds natural and neutral.
να ξοδέψω λιγότερο χρόνο στο κινητό slightly emphasizes not wasting so much time on the phone.

Both are understandable; περάσω is a bit more typical for this kind of self-promise.