Learn Hardcore Greek: Αυτή τη χρονιά θέλω να διαβάζω ελληνικά κάθε μέρα. - This year I want to read Greek every day.

Greek often uses the accusative case for time expressions:
- κάθε μέρα – every day
- όλη τη βδομάδα – all week
- αυτή τη χρονιά – this year

If you say Αυτή η χρονιά, that’s a subject (nominative):

Αυτή η χρονιά είναι δύσκολη. – This year is difficult.

In your sentence, “this year” is not the subject; it just tells you when you want to read. So it goes in the accusative: αυτή τη χρονιά.

What are the gender and case of χρονιά, and how is it different from χρόνος?

χρονιά is feminine, and here it’s in the accusative singular:
- nominative: η χρονιά
- accusative: τη χρονιά
χρονιά vs χρόνος:
- χρόνος (masculine) is the more neutral word for “time / year” (also the grammatical word for tense).
- χρονιά (feminine) is more colloquial and everyday when you mean “year” in the calendar/life sense:
  - Καλή χρονιά! – Happy New Year!
  - Πώς πήγε η χρονιά; – How did the year go?

In your sentence Αυτή τη χρονιά θέλω…, χρονιά fits very naturally because we’re talking about this particular year of someone’s life and plans.

Why is it τη χρονιά and not την χρονιά?

The full feminine accusative article is την, but modern spelling allows dropping the final -ν before most consonants.

Before consonants like χ, it’s common to write τη:
- τη χρονιά, τη μέρα, τη δουλειά

The -ν is usually kept:

before vowels (την ώρα, την ημέρα)
and before certain consonants (κ, π, τ, ξ, ψ, μπ, ντ, γκ, τσ, τζ) to keep pronunciation clear (την πόρτα, την τάξη).

So:

την χρονιά is not “wrong”, but τη χρονιά is the usual modern spelling.

Could I just say Φέτος θέλω να διαβάζω ελληνικά κάθε μέρα instead of Αυτή τη χρονιά…? Is there a difference?

Yes, you can, and φέτος is very common and sounds very natural.

φέτος = this year (adverb, fixed word)
αυτή τη χρονιά = this year (literally this year as a noun phrase in the accusative)

Both are correct. Nuance:

φέτος is more compact and everyday.
αυτή τη χρονιά can sound a bit more emphatic, like “this particular year (as opposed to other years)”.

In casual speech, many Greeks would indeed say:

Φέτος θέλω να διαβάζω ελληνικά κάθε μέρα.

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

This is about aspect (type of action), not about tense in the English sense.

διαβάζω (present subjunctive here) = imperfective aspect
→ action ongoing or repeated: to be reading / to read regularly
διαβάσω (aorist subjunctive) = perfective aspect
→ action single, complete, one-off: to read once / to finish reading

So:

Θέλω να διαβάζω ελληνικά κάθε μέρα.
= I want to be reading / to read Greek regularly every day (a habit).
Θέλω να διαβάσω αυτό το βιβλίο.
= I want to read/finish this book (one action).

Because the sentence talks about a habit (every day), διαβάζω (imperfective) is the natural choice.

If the meaning is about the future (this year), why is διαβάζω in the “present”?

In Greek, after να, the form is called subjunctive, and it uses the present stem or aorist stem, not future forms.

The future meaning here comes from:

θέλω – I want (a present wish about the future)
context: αυτή τη χρονιά / φέτος, κάθε μέρα

So:

θέλω να διαβάζω literally = I want that I read / I want to read (regularly)
but in context it means “I want to read (regularly) this year”, i.e. a future habit.

Greek doesn’t have a “future subjunctive” form, so present–aorist aspect combined with context covers that meaning.

Why don’t we say εγώ θέλω? Is leaving out εγώ normal?

Yes, leaving out εγώ is completely normal in Greek.

Verbs are conjugated and show the person:
- θέλω clearly means “I want”.
- θέλεις = you want, θέλει = he/she/it wants.

You usually add εγώ only for:

emphasis or contrast:
- Εγώ θέλω, αλλά αυτός δεν θέλει. – I want, but he doesn’t.
or sometimes in very formal or emotional speech.

In your sentence, θέλω alone is natural and correct.

What exactly is ελληνικά here? Why not ελληνική or ελληνική γλώσσα?

ελληνικά here is:

grammatically: neuter plural of the adjective ελληνικός, -ή, -ό (Greek)
used as a noun meaning “the Greek language”.

Greek often uses neuter plural adjectives as abstract nouns:

τα ελληνικά – Greek (the language)
τα γαλλικά – French
τα νέα – the news
τα μαθηματικά – mathematics

So:

διαβάζω ελληνικά = I read/study Greek.
διαβάζω την ελληνική γλώσσα is grammatical but sounds formal/odd in everyday speech.

For learning/speaking a language, ελληνικά is the standard word.

Why is there no article before ελληνικά? Could I say τα ελληνικά?

Both forms exist, but they’re used slightly differently.

διαβάζω ελληνικά
→ no article; this is normal when you talk about knowing/using/learning a language in general:
- μιλάω ελληνικά – I speak Greek
- γράφω ελληνικά – I write in Greek
τα ελληνικά is used when the language is treated more clearly as a noun and often as a topic/subject:
- Τα ελληνικά είναι δύσκολα. – Greek is difficult.
- Τα ελληνικά μου δεν είναι πολύ καλά. – My Greek isn’t very good.

In your sentence, with διαβάζω, the article is normally omitted, so διαβάζω ελληνικά is the natural choice.

What does κάθε μέρα literally mean, and are there alternatives?

κάθε = every/each
μέρα = day (colloquial form of ημέρα)

So κάθε μέρα = “every day”.

Alternatives:

κάθε ημέρα – same meaning, a bit more formal or written.
καθημερινά – an adverb meaning “daily / every day”:
- Θέλω να διαβάζω ελληνικά καθημερινά.

All are correct; κάθε μέρα is the most common in casual speech.

Can the word order change? For example: Θέλω αυτή τη χρονιά να διαβάζω ελληνικά κάθε μέρα?

Yes, Greek word order is relatively flexible, and your example is fine.

Some natural options:

Αυτή τη χρονιά θέλω να διαβάζω ελληνικά κάθε μέρα.
Θέλω αυτή τη χρονιά να διαβάζω ελληνικά κάθε μέρα.
Θέλω να διαβάζω ελληνικά κάθε μέρα αυτή τη χρονιά.

Differences are mostly emphasis:

Putting Αυτή τη χρονιά first emphasizes “This year (in particular), I want…”.
Putting it after θέλω slightly emphasizes your wish first: “I want, this year, to…”.

All are grammatically correct.

Why is ελληνικά not capitalized? In English we write Greek with a capital G.

In Greek, adjectives of nationality or language are not capitalized in normal usage.

So we write:

ελληνικά, αγγλικά, γαλλικά, γερμανικά
έλληνας, αγγλίδα, etc.

Proper nouns (country names, cities, people) are capitalized:

Ελλάδα, Αθήνα, Κώστας, Μαρία.

So ελληνικά in your sentence is correctly written with a lowercase ε.

How do you pronounce Αυτή τη χρονιά? Why is αυτή pronounced like “af-tee”?

Pronunciation (roughly in English terms):

Αυτή → /afˈti/ → like “af-TEE”
- The combination αυ is:
  - /av/ before vowels or voiced consonants (β, γ, δ, λ, μ, ν, ρ, ζ)
  - /af/ before voiceless consonants (π, τ, κ, φ, θ, χ, σ, ξ, ψ)
- Since τ is voiceless, αυ becomes /af/ → αυτή = af-TEE.
τη → /ti/ → “tee”
χρονιά → /xroˈɲa/
- χ = a rough “h” in the throat (like German Bach)
- νι
  - α (νιά) is a palatal “nyah” sound.

Put together: Αυτή τη χρονιά ≈ af-TEE tee hro-NYAH.