Breakdown of Μακάρι να έχουμε μόνο επιτυχίες αυτή τη χρονιά.
Questions & Answers about Μακάρι να έχουμε μόνο επιτυχίες αυτή τη χρονιά.
Μακάρι is not a verb; it’s an unchangeable particle used to express a strong wish or hope.
In English it usually corresponds to expressions like:
- “I hope (that)…”
- “If only…”
- “May it be that…”
It’s almost always followed by να + a verb in the subjunctive:
- Μακάρι να έχουμε… – I hope we (will) have… / May we have…
- Μακάρι να πετύχεις. – I hope you succeed.
After μακάρι, Greek requires να plus the subjunctive form of the verb.
So you must say:
- Μακάρι να έχουμε… ✅
not - Μακάρι έχουμε… ❌
Να έχουμε here is subjunctive (even though it looks like the present indicative έχουμε).
The pattern is:
- μακάρι + να + subjunctive = expressing a wish about something that hasn’t happened yet or is not certain.
Formally, έχουμε is the present tense, first person plural of έχω.
When it appears after να, it functions as the subjunctive mood, not the indicative.
So:
- έχουμε alone = present indicative (we have).
- να έχουμε = present subjunctive (that we may have / (for us) to have).
In this sentence, να έχουμε expresses a wish about the future, even though it’s called “present” subjunctive.
Yes, you can say:
- Θα έχουμε μόνο επιτυχίες αυτή τη χρονιά. – We will have only successes this year.
The difference is:
- Μακάρι να έχουμε… = wish / hope. It doesn’t state a fact; it expresses desire.
- Θα έχουμε… = prediction or confident statement about the future.
So μακάρι να έχουμε is more like “I hope we will have”, while θα έχουμε is “we will have”.
In Greek, επιτυχία (success) is normally a countable noun:
- μία επιτυχία – one success
- πολλές επιτυχίες – many successes
So μόνο επιτυχίες literally means “only successes” (only successful events / achievements).
In English you can say:
- May we have only success this year (uncountable)
or - May we have only successes this year (countable)
Greek naturally prefers the plural επιτυχίες in this kind of phrase.
In μόνο επιτυχίες, μόνο functions as an adverb meaning “only” / “nothing but”.
It restricts what we are talking about:
- μόνο επιτυχίες – only successes (and nothing else)
You can use μόνο in similar ways:
- Θέλω μόνο νερό. – I want only water.
- Έχω μόνο δύο ευρώ. – I have only two euros.
Both relate to the idea of “year,” but they’re used differently:
χρόνος
- basic word for time and also year
- more general / abstract
- e.g. Ένας χρόνος έχει δώδεκα μήνες. – One year has twelve months.
χρονιά
- more specific to a particular year as a period of life, events, experiences
- often used when talking about this year, last year, a good/bad year
- e.g. Είχαμε δύσκολη χρονιά. – We had a difficult year.
In αυτή τη χρονιά, the speaker is focusing on this particular year as a lived period, full of events and experiences, not just the abstract unit of 12 months.
The full form of the feminine accusative article is την:
- την χρονιά
However, in standard modern spelling, ν (nu) is dropped before many consonants, including χ, so we write:
- τη χρονιά
So:
- αυτή τη χρονιά – this year (literally: this the year)
You will still sometimes see την kept for clarity or emphasis, but τη χρονιά is the usual, correct spelling.
In Greek, demonstratives like αυτή (“this”) almost always go together with the definite article before a noun.
The usual pattern is:
- αυτή η χρονιά – this year (nominative)
- αυτή τη χρονιά – this year (accusative)
Saying αυτή χρονιά without the article sounds incomplete or ungrammatical in standard Greek.
So in this sentence, αυτή τη χρονιά is the correct form.
Yes, very naturally. You could say:
- Μακάρι να έχουμε μόνο επιτυχίες φέτος.
Φέτος means “this year” in a time sense. The nuance:
- φέτος = “this year (the year we are in now)”
- αυτή τη χρονιά = also “this year,” but can sound a bit more emphatic or specific, almost like “this particular year.”
Both are correct; φέτος is shorter and very common in everyday speech.
Μακάρι is:
- Neutral in register – used in both spoken and written Greek.
- Emotionally stronger than just ελπίζω (I hope).
Comparison:
- Ελπίζω να έχουμε μόνο επιτυχίες αυτή τη χρονιά. – I hope we have only successes this year.
- Μακάρι να έχουμε μόνο επιτυχίες αυτή τη χρονιά. – If only we could have / May we have only successes this year.
The μακάρι version sounds more like a heartfelt wish.
You keep μακάρι and add να μην before the verb:
- Μακάρι να μην έχουμε αποτυχίες αυτή τη χρονιά.
– I hope we don’t have any failures this year.
Structure:
- μακάρι + να μην + verb = I strongly wish that X does not happen.
You could combine positive and negative:
- Μακάρι να έχουμε μόνο επιτυχίες και να μην έχουμε αποτυχίες αυτή τη χρονιά.
– May we have only successes and not have failures this year.
Yes. Greek word order is flexible. These are all grammatical:
- Μακάρι να έχουμε μόνο επιτυχίες αυτή τη χρονιά.
- Μακάρι αυτή τη χρονιά να έχουμε μόνο επιτυχίες.
- Μακάρι να έχουμε αυτή τη χρονιά μόνο επιτυχίες.
The basic meaning stays the same. Different orders can slightly shift emphasis:
- αυτή τη χρονιά earlier in the sentence puts a bit more focus on “this year in particular”.
- μόνο επιτυχίες kept together keeps strong focus on “only successes.”
Yes, there is a subtle difference in time and degree of possibility:
Μακάρι να έχουμε μόνο επιτυχίες αυτή τη χρονιά.
– wish about the future / something still possible (I hope we will have).Μακάρι να είχαμε μόνο επιτυχίες αυτή τη χρονιά.
– more hypothetical or regretting something that is not (or was not) the case; like “If only we had / could have had…”
In your sentence, because we’re talking about the upcoming or current year, μακάρι να έχουμε is the natural choice.