Questions & Answers about Θέλεις κάτι άλλο;
Θέλεις comes from the verb θέλω = to want.
- θέλω = I want (1st person singular)
- θέλεις = you want (2nd person singular, informal)
So Θέλεις on its own means “you want”, and in this sentence Θέλεις κάτι άλλο; it functions as “Do you want…?” in English.
It is:
- Tense: present
- Person: 2nd person
- Number: singular
- Mood: indicative (normal statement form, just used with question intonation/punctuation)
Greek usually drops subject pronouns because the verb ending already shows the person:
- θέλω = I want (so the subject I is clear)
- θέλεις = you want (so you is clear)
- θέλει = he/she/it wants, etc.
So:
(Εσύ) θέλεις κάτι άλλο;
Both are correct, but:- Θέλεις κάτι άλλο; is the normal, neutral way to say it.
- Εσύ θέλεις κάτι άλλο; puts extra emphasis on you, like:
- “Do you want anything else?” (as opposed to someone else)
That’s why in everyday speech εσύ is usually omitted here.
Both mean roughly “Do you want anything else?”, but:
Θέλεις κάτι άλλο;
- 2nd person singular
- Used with one person, informally (friend, relative, someone your own age, a child, etc.)
Θέλετε κάτι άλλο;
- 2nd person plural
- Used for:
- Talking to more than one person, or
- Polite/formal “you” to one person (customer, stranger, older person, etc.)
In a shop or restaurant, staff will typically say to a customer:
- Θέλετε κάτι άλλο; (more polite/formal)
In Greek typography:
- The Greek question mark is written as ; (looks like the English semicolon).
- The English-style question mark ? is not used in Greek.
So Θέλεις κάτι άλλο; is correctly punctuated in Greek and means:
- “Do you want anything else?”
If you wrote Θέλεις κάτι άλλο? in Greek, it would look wrong or foreign-influenced to a native speaker.
Approximate pronunciation (stressed syllables in CAPS):
Θέλεις → THEH-lis
- Θ θ = like th in think
- έ = “eh” sound, stressed
- final -εις sounds like -is
κάτι → KÁ-tee
- κ = k
- ά = “ah” sound, stressed
- τι = “tee”
άλλο → Á-lo
- double λλ is like an English l (just slightly longer)
- ο = short “o” as in top
Full phrase: THEH-lis KÁ-tee Á-lo?
Intonation rises at the end, as in English yes/no questions.
Word by word:
- Θέλεις = you want
- κάτι = something
- άλλο = other / else
Literal: “You want something else?”
Natural English translations:
- “Do you want anything else?” (most common)
- “Would you like anything else?” (more polite in English, but still matches the Greek meaning well)
Greek uses the simple present θέλεις where English often prefers do you want or would you like.
Both κάτι and τίποτα can appear in questions, but they’re used differently:
κάτι = “something”
- more positive / neutral
- suggests the speaker expects there may be something
τίποτα = “anything” (in questions), “nothing” (in negatives)
- more open-ended / neutral
- often used when you don’t assume there is something
In this fixed phrase Θέλεις κάτι άλλο;, κάτι άλλο has become the standard expression for:
- “something else / anything else?” in service contexts (shops, cafés, restaurants)
You can hear Θέλεις τίποτα άλλο;, but Θέλεις κάτι άλλο; is very common and sounds slightly more “service formula / standard phrase.”
Άλλο comes from the adjective άλλος, -η, -ο = other / another / else.
Greek adjectives agree in gender, number, and case with the noun they describe:
- κάτι (“something”) behaves like a neuter singular noun.
- So the adjective must also be neuter singular → άλλο.
That’s why we have:
- κάτι άλλο = literally “something other” → “something else / anything else”.
You’d see other forms of άλλος with other nouns, for example:
- άλλος άνθρωπος (masc.) = another man/person
- άλλη γυναίκα (fem.) = another woman
- άλλο πράγμα (neut.) = another thing
For this exact meaning, the standard chunk is:
- Θέλεις κάτι άλλο; (most natural and idiomatic)
- Θέλεις κάτι ακόμη; (“Do you want anything more?”) – also correct and natural.
But:
- Θέλεις άλλο κάτι; sounds awkward or wrong in this context.
Greek does allow flexible word order, but some combinations are set phrases.
κάτι άλλο is the usual, fixed way to say “something/anything else”.
Θέλεις is not an imperative here; it’s the indicative present:
- Statement form: Θέλεις κάτι άλλο. = “You want something else.”
- Question form: Θέλεις κάτι άλλο; = “Do you want something else?”
Greek forms yes/no questions simply by:
- Using statement word order, and
- Adding question intonation and the question mark (;).
So Θέλεις κάτι άλλο; is grammatically a question, not a command.
Greek does have an imperative for θέλω (θέλε), but it’s rare and not used here.
English often needs “do” to form questions:
- You want something else. → Do you want something else?
Greek doesn’t use such an auxiliary:
- Statement: Θέλεις κάτι άλλο.
- Question: Θέλεις κάτι άλλο;
The verb form θέλεις already carries the meaning of “you want,” and Greek just relies on:
- intonation (rising at the end) and
- question punctuation (;)
to turn the statement structure into a question. No extra word like “do” is required.
It’s very common in everyday situations where someone is offering more of something or checking if you need anything else. For example:
- In a café / restaurant (waiter, barista, etc.)
- In a bakery, shop, or supermarket counter
- At home when someone is serving you food or drink
- Among friends or family if someone is offering help, food, or items
In a shop or restaurant to a customer, the more usual polite form is:
- Θέλετε κάτι άλλο; (formal/plural “you”)
But between friends, family, or with children, you’ll hear:
- Θέλεις κάτι άλλο;
Modern Greek uses one accent mark (´) to show the stressed syllable of a word with two or more syllables.
In this sentence:
- Θέλεις → stress on the first syllable: ΘΈ-λεις
- κάτι → stress on the first syllable: ΚΆ-τι
- άλλο → stress on the first syllable: Άλ-λο
The accent does not change the vowel’s basic quality very much; it mainly shows:
- Which syllable is stressed in pronunciation
- Helps distinguish between some words that are otherwise spelled the same
So the accents guide you to say:
- THEH-lis KÁ-tee Á-lo? rather than misplacing the stress.