Questions & Answers about Θέλεις να κάνουμε κάτι μαζί αύριο;
What does each word in Θέλεις να κάνουμε κάτι μαζί αύριο; literally mean?
Word by word:
- Θέλεις – you want (2nd person singular of θέλω = I want)
- να – particle that introduces a verb in the subjunctive (often corresponds to to or that in English)
- κάνουμε – we do / we make (1st person plural of κάνω)
- κάτι – something
- μαζί – together
- αύριο – tomorrow
So very literally: You want that we do something together tomorrow?
Natural English: Do you want to do something together tomorrow?
Why is there να after Θέλεις? Can’t I just say Θέλεις κάνουμε?
In Modern Greek, after verbs like θέλω (I want), πρέπει (I must), μπορώ (I can), you normally use να + verb, not a bare verb.
- Greek does not use an infinitive like English to do.
- Instead, it uses να + a finite verb:
- θέλω να κάνω – I want to do
- θέλεις να κάνουμε – you want (that) we do
So να is obligatory here.
Θέλεις κάνουμε is incorrect in standard Modern Greek.