Breakdown of Το καλοκαίρι πρόκειται να πάω σε ένα σεμινάριο ελληνικών στην Ελλάδα.
Questions & Answers about Το καλοκαίρι πρόκειται να πάω σε ένα σεμινάριο ελληνικών στην Ελλάδα.
πρόκειται να literally comes from an impersonal verb πρόκειται (“it is intended / it is going to happen”) plus να + a verb in the subjunctive.
πρόκειται να πάω ≈ “I’m going to go / I’m planning to go / I’m about to go.”
It often implies:- something already arranged or planned
- a fairly near or expected future
- a slightly more formal or careful tone
θα πάω = simple future: “I will go / I’m going to go.”
This is the neutral, most common way to talk about future events.
In most everyday contexts, Το καλοκαίρι θα πάω… would also be perfectly natural. πρόκειται να just puts a bit more emphasis on the idea that this is a scheduled or intended plan.
After πρόκειται, you use να + subjunctive; you do not use θα there.
- πρόκειται already carries the future-like meaning (“is going to / is about to”),
- να πάω is the subjunctive form of πάω (“to go”).
So, grammatically the pattern is:
- πρόκειται να
- subjunctive
- πρόκειται να πάω – I’m going to go
- πρόκειται να φύγει – He/She is going to leave
- Πρόκειται να βρέξει – It’s going to rain
- subjunctive
πρόκειται να θα πάω would be wrong because you’d be doubling the future marker (πρόκειται + θα).
Both relate to “go,” but they differ in aspect and usage:
πηγαίνω
- imperfective aspect: ongoing, repeated, habitual
- “I go / I am going / I usually go”
πάω
- aorist (perfective) stem, used here in subjunctive after να
- focuses on the single, complete act of going
- “(to) go (once, as a whole event)”
In πρόκειται να πάω, the point is that you will go (once) to that seminar, not that you go there habitually, so πάω is the natural choice.
(You can say θα πάω for a single future trip, but να πάω is the form required after να in this meaning.)
Greek often uses the definite article with:
- seasons: το καλοκαίρι, τον χειμώνα, την άνοιξη, το φθινόπωρο
- days, parts of the day, etc., in many time expressions
Here, Το καλοκαίρι literally is “the summer,” but it functions like an adverbial phrase: “in (the) summer.”
You can sometimes omit the article (Καλοκαίρι θα πάω…), but Το καλοκαίρι… is very standard and sounds natural.
Yes, Greek word order is fairly flexible, especially with adverbials like time expressions.
All of these are correct and natural:
- Το καλοκαίρι πρόκειται να πάω σε ένα σεμινάριο ελληνικών στην Ελλάδα.
- Το καλοκαίρι θα πάω σε ένα σεμινάριο ελληνικών στην Ελλάδα.
- Θα πάω το καλοκαίρι σε ένα σεμινάριο ελληνικών στην Ελλάδα.
The differences are about emphasis, not basic grammar. Putting Το καλοκαίρι at the beginning just highlights the time frame.
ένα is the indefinite article (“a / an”).
- σε ένα σεμινάριο = “to a seminar” (one, non‑specific seminar)
- σε σεμινάριο (without ένα) is possible, but:
- it sounds more generic or abstract (“in seminar-mode,” “in a seminar context”)
- in everyday speech, people usually keep the article for a specific, countable event
So if you have a particular seminar in mind (even if you’re not naming which one), σε ένα σεμινάριο is the natural form.
- σε is the preposition “to / in / at.”
- σεμινάριο is neuter, singular, accusative.
- ένα is the neuter accusative singular form of the indefinite article.
In Greek, after most prepositions (like σε) you use the accusative case. So:
- σε
- ένα (neuter, acc.) + σεμινάριο (neuter, acc.)
You don’t need to memorize “accusative” every time, but it explains why the form is ένα and not something like ένας or μία.
Here, ελληνικών is in the genitive plural and acts like “of Greek (language)”:
- σεμινάριο ελληνικών = “seminar of Greek (language)”
i.e. Greek‑language seminar / Greek course
If you said σεμινάριο ελληνικά, that would sound incomplete or wrong in this structure. A few contrasts:
- σεμινάριο ελληνικών – a seminar of Greek (language).
- μάθημα ελληνικών – a lesson of Greek.
- μιλάω ελληνικά – “I speak Greek.” (here ελληνικά is neuter plural, used adverbially)
So, with nouns like σεμινάριο, μάθημα, βιβλίο, you usually see ελληνικών (genitive) to mean “of Greek (language).”
In Greek:
- Proper names of countries, cities, people, etc. are capitalized:
- Ελλάδα, Κύπρος, Αθήνα, Γιάννης
- Adjectives derived from them are not capitalized:
- ελληνικός, ελληνικών, ελληνικά
- κυπριακός, αθηναϊκός
So στην Ελλάδα (in Greece) has a capital, but σεμινάριο ελληνικών (seminar of Greek language) does not.
στην is the contracted form of:
- σε
- την = στην
Details:
- σε – preposition “in / to / at”
- η Ελλάδα – feminine noun, nominative
- In the phrase “to/in Greece” after σε, Ελλάδα moves to accusative: την Ελλάδα
- Then σε + την usually contracts to στην in both speech and writing.
So:
- στην Ελλάδα = “in Greece / to Greece”
- Similarly:
- στο σπίτι = σε + το σπίτι
- στους φίλους μου = σε + τους φίλους μου
No, not in this meaning. You need σε with πάω when you mean “I go to a place/event”:
- πάω σε ένα σεμινάριο – I’m going to a seminar
- πάω στο σχολείο – I’m going to school
- πάω στην Αθήνα – I’m going to Athens
Without σε, πάω ένα σεμινάριο would sound like “I go a seminar” and is ungrammatical in standard Greek.
You can have πάω directly with some infinitive‑like structures (e.g. πάω να φάω – I’m going to eat), but for places or events you normally need σε.
Stress is marked with the accent:
πρόκειται – PRO-ke-te
- IPA: /ˈpro.ce.ti/
- Stress on the first syllable πρό.
σεμινάριο – se-mi-NA-rio
- IPA: /se.miˈna.rio/
- Stress on νά (the third syllable).
In both words, all written vowels are pronounced; there are no silent letters as in English.