Learn Hardcore Greek: Προσωπικά προτιμώ να διαβάζω το πρωί, γιατί τότε συγκεντρώνομαι κυρίως στις γλώσσες. - Personally I prefer to study in the morning, because then I concentrate mainly on languages.

The meaning would still be clear, but a bit less explicitly subjective. Προσωπικά just emphasizes that this is your own personal habit or opinion.

Why is it προτιμώ να διαβάζω and not προτιμώ να διαβάσω?

Greek makes a clear aspect distinction:

διαβάζω (imperfective aspect) – ongoing, repeated, or habitual action
διαβάσω (perfective aspect) – one whole, complete action

Here you are talking about a general preference / usual habit, so Greek uses the imperfective:

προτιμώ να διαβάζω το πρωί
I prefer (in general, as a habit) to read in the morning.

If you said:

προτιμώ να διαβάσω το πρωί

that would sound more like preferring one specific act of reading to be done in the morning, e.g. “For this particular case, I’d rather read in the morning.” It is possible, but the nuance changes.

What is the role of να in να διαβάζω? Is it like “to” in English?

να is not exactly like English to; it is a particle that marks the subjunctive mood.

Modern Greek does not have an infinitive form like English to read. Instead, it uses:

να
- a finite verb form → να διαβάζω, να φάω, να πάμε, etc.

After verbs like προτιμώ, θέλω, μπορώ, you typically use να + verb:

προτιμώ να διαβάζω – I prefer to read
θέλω να διαβάσω – I want to read

So να is required here by the grammar of modern Greek; it’s not just a direct equivalent of English to.

Why is διαβάζω in the present tense if this is a general habit?

In Greek, the present tense often expresses:

Current actions
Regular / habitual actions
General truths

So διαβάζω here means:

I read / I am reading (as a habit)

There is no separate “simple present” vs “present continuous” form, like in English. Context tells you whether it’s about now or about a general habit. Because προτιμώ clearly expresses a preference, we understand να διαβάζω here as a habitual action.

Why is it το πρωί and not just πρωί?

Both are possible, but they have slightly different tendencies:

το πρωί – literally the morning, commonly used adverbially: in the morning
πρωί – literally morning, used more bare, like early / in the morning in a looser way

For times of day, Greek very often uses the definite article:

το πρωί – in the morning
το απόγευμα – in the afternoon
το βράδυ – in the evening / at night

You can also hear πρωί διαβάζω in some contexts, but το πρωί is the standard, neutral way to say in the morning here.

Why is there a comma before γιατί?

γιατί here means because and introduces a subordinate clause:

… προτιμώ να διαβάζω το πρωί, γιατί τότε συγκεντρώνομαι…

In Greek, it is normal to separate the main clause from a γιατί-clause with a comma, much like in English:

I prefer to read in the morning, because…

So the comma marks the boundary between:

Main clause: Προσωπικά προτιμώ να διαβάζω το πρωί
Reason clause: γιατί τότε συγκεντρώνομαι κυρίως στις γλώσσες

What is the difference between γιατί and επειδή here?

Both γιατί and επειδή can mean because.

In many everyday contexts, they are interchangeable.
γιατί is also used to mean why, depending on word order and intonation.
Some speakers feel επειδή is a bit more “formal” or neutral as because, while γιατί can sound slightly more conversational, but this is subtle.

In your sentence, you could also say:

… γιατί τότε συγκεντρώνομαι…
… επειδή τότε συγκεντρώνομαι…

Both sound natural.

What exactly does τότε refer to in this sentence?

τότε means then / at that time.

Here it refers back to το πρωί:

προτιμώ να διαβάζω το πρωί, γιατί τότε…
→ I prefer to read in the morning, because then…

So τότε is pointing to that time period (the morning) previously mentioned. It avoids repeating το πρωί:

… γιατί το πρωί συγκεντρώνομαι… would also be correct, just more repetitive.

What does συγκεντρώνομαι mean, and why does it end in -ομαι?

συγκεντρώνομαι means I concentrate / I focus.

The -ομαι ending shows that this is the middle/passive form of the verb:

Active: συγκεντρώνω – I gather / I concentrate something
Middle: συγκεντρώνομαι – I concentrate (myself), I focus, I get concentrated

In practice, we just learn συγκεντρώνομαι as the normal verb meaning to concentrate (mentally). It usually takes the preposition σε:

συγκεντρώνομαι σε κάτι – I concentrate on something
συγκεντρώνομαι στις γλώσσες – I concentrate on languages

What does κυρίως mean, and can it go in another position?

κυρίως means mainly, mostly, primarily.

In the sentence:

… γιατί τότε συγκεντρώνομαι κυρίως στις γλώσσες.

it modifies the whole phrase στις γλώσσες: you mainly focus on languages (perhaps as opposed to other subjects).

You can move κυρίως around a bit without changing the meaning much:

… γιατί τότε κυρίως συγκεντρώνομαι στις γλώσσες.
… γιατί τότε συγκεντρώνομαι στις γλώσσες κυρίως.

The original position (συγκεντρώνομαι κυρίως στις γλώσσες) is very natural and clear.

Why is it στις γλώσσες and not just σε γλώσσες?

στις is the contraction of σε + τις (preposition + definite article):

σε
- τις γλώσσες → στις γλώσσες

So you literally have:

συγκεντρώνομαι στις γλώσσες – I concentrate on the languages.

Greek often uses the definite article where English uses a general plural:

Μου αρέσουν οι γλώσσες. – I like languages.
Συγκεντρώνομαι στις γλώσσες. – I concentrate on languages.

Using στις γλώσσες here sounds natural and generic: it doesn’t mean specific languages already mentioned, but “languages” as an area of study. σε γλώσσες without the article is possible but less idiomatic in this generic statement.

Why is γλώσσες in the plural? Could it be singular?

γλώσσα means tongue or language. Here γλώσσες is plural: languages.

Plural is used because you are talking about languages as a subject area (e.g. English, Greek, Spanish, etc.), not a single language.

You could say:

… συγκεντρώνομαι κυρίως στη γλώσσα. – I mainly focus on the language (one specific language, probably one that was already mentioned in context).

So the plural fits better for “language learning / languages” in general.

Why is there no εγώ in the sentence? How do we know it is “I”?

In Greek, the subject pronoun (εγώ, εσύ, αυτός, etc.) is usually omitted, because the verb ending already shows who the subject is.

προτιμώ – I prefer
συγκεντρώνομαι – I concentrate

So:

Προσωπικά προτιμώ… → we know it’s I from the verb form and from προσωπικά (personally).

You would include εγώ only for emphasis or contrast:

Εγώ προσωπικά προτιμώ να διαβάζω το πρωί…
As for me personally, I prefer to read in the morning… (implying others might not).

Is the word order fixed, or can the elements move around?

Greek word order is relatively flexible, but not all rearrangements sound equally natural.

Possible, natural variants include:

Προσωπικά, προτιμώ να διαβάζω το πρωί, γιατί τότε κυρίως συγκεντρώνομαι στις γλώσσες.
Προσωπικά προτιμώ να διαβάζω το πρωί, γιατί κυρίως τότε συγκεντρώνομαι στις γλώσσες.

These keep:

Verb near the subject
Adverbs (προσωπικά, κυρίως, τότε) close to what they modify.

Something like:

Προσωπικά προτιμώ το πρωί να διαβάζω…

is also possible, but the original order:

προτιμώ να διαβάζω το πρωί

is the most straightforward and neutral.