Learn Hardcore Greek: Συνεχίζω να διαβάζω ελληνικά, ακόμα κι αν είμαι κουρασμένος. - I continue to study Greek, even if I am tired.

Yes, in a way να often corresponds to the English “to” before a verb, but it’s not an infinitive marker in the strict English sense (Greek doesn’t have an infinitive).

Here, συνεχίζω να διαβάζω literally is “I continue to read”.
Grammatically:

συνεχίζω = I continue (1st person singular, present)
να διαβάζω = a subjunctive-like construction used after many verbs, including συνεχίζω

So:

να introduces a subordinate verb (here διαβάζω) that depends on συνεχίζω.
You almost always need να after συνεχίζω when it’s followed by a verb:
- ✅ Συνεχίζω να διαβάζω. = I continue reading.
- ❌ Συνεχίζω διαβάζω. (ungrammatical in this meaning)

You can think of συνεχίζω να + verb as a fixed pattern: “I continue to + verb.”

Why is it διαβάζω and not διαβάσω after συνεχίζω να?

This is about aspect (kind of action) in Greek.

διαβάζω = imperfective aspect (ongoing, repeated, or habitual action)
διαβάσω = aorist aspect (single, complete event)

With συνεχίζω, you want to express continuation of an ongoing activity, so you naturally use the imperfective:

Συνεχίζω να διαβάζω.
= I keep on reading / I continue reading.

Using συνεχίζω να διαβάσω would sound strange or wrong in modern Greek, because συνεχίζω and “completed one-off action” don’t really match. You continue something in progress, not a single completed event.

So, with συνεχίζω, you should always expect να + present tense form (imperfective aspect), not the aorist stem.

In διαβάζω ελληνικά, why is there no article? Why not διαβάζω τα ελληνικά?

When talking about languages after verbs like:

μιλάω (I speak)
διαβάζω (I read / study)
γράφω (I write)
μαθαίνω (I learn)

Greek usually omits the article:

Μιλάω ελληνικά. = I speak Greek.
Μαθαίνω γαλλικά. = I’m learning French.
Διαβάζω ελληνικά. = I read/study Greek.

If you say τα ελληνικά, it can sound more like “the Greek course/material/subject” in a school-like context:

Δεν καταλαβαίνω τα ελληνικά.
= I don’t understand Greek (as a language), still okay, but more “the Greek [language]” as a whole.

In your sentence, διαβάζω ελληνικά is the natural, neutral way to say “I’m reading/studying Greek (language)” with no article.

Why is ελληνικά written with a lowercase ε? Aren’t names of languages capitalized?

In modern Greek, usage is a bit different from English.

In English: Greek, French, English are capitalized.
In Greek, for everyday use, language names used like this are usually lowercase:
- ελληνικά (Greek)
- αγγλικά (English)
- γαλλικά (French)

The word ελληνικά here is an adjective used as a noun: literally “Greek (things)” → understood as “Greek (language)”. It’s not treated like a proper noun in this context, so lowercase is standard: διαβάζω ελληνικά.

You would capitalize it if it began the sentence:
Ελληνικά διαβάζω κάθε μέρα.

What exactly does ακόμα κι αν mean, and how is it different from just αν?

αν by itself means “if”:
- Αν είμαι κουρασμένος, θα κοιμηθώ.
  = If I’m tired, I’ll sleep.
ακόμα κι αν means “even if / even though (if)”, adding an idea of concession:
“in spite of the fact that this might be true”.

In your sentence:

Συνεχίζω να διαβάζω ελληνικά, ακόμα κι αν είμαι κουρασμένος.
= I continue to read Greek, even if I’m tired.

So:

αν → neutral condition: “if X, then Y”.
ακόμα κι αν → stronger sense: “even if X (which might normally stop me), I still do Y.”

What is κι in ακόμα κι αν? Why not και?

κι is just a shortened, phonetic form of και (“and”, and also part of “even” in this expression).

Greek often uses κι instead of και when the next word begins with a vowel sound, to make pronunciation smoother and faster:

κι αν instead of και αν
κι εγώ instead of και εγώ
κι εσύ, κι έτσι, etc.

So:

ακόμα και αν and ακόμα κι αν are the same in meaning.
In normal spoken and written Greek, ακόμα κι αν is more natural and common.

It’s similar to English using “an” before vowels (an apple) or how we contract “and” in fast speech (“rock ’n’ roll”).

What’s the difference between ακόμα κι αν, αν και, and παρόλο που?

All three can express something like “even though / although”, but they’re used slightly differently:

ακόμα κι αν = even if / even though (if)
- Stresses “even if this condition is true, still ...”
- Often followed by a verb in the present or subjunctive:
  - Συνεχίζω να διαβάζω, ακόμα κι αν είμαι κουρασμένος.
αν και = although / even though
- More like a straightforward “although”:
  - Αν και είμαι κουρασμένος, συνεχίζω να διαβάζω.
    = Although I am tired, I keep reading.
παρόλο που = even though / despite the fact that
- Strong concessive, very close to “even though”:
  - Παρόλο που είμαι κουρασμένος, συνεχίζω να διαβάζω.

Your sentence could be rephrased as:

Συνεχίζω να διαβάζω ελληνικά, αν και είμαι κουρασμένος.
Συνεχίζω να διαβάζω ελληνικά, παρόλο που είμαι κουρασμένος.

All are correct, but ακόμα κι αν emphasizes the idea: even in the case that I’m tired.

Why does the sentence use είμαι κουρασμένος (“I am tired”) and not a verb like “I feel tired”?

Greek typically uses είμαι + adjective to express states like being tired, hungry, bored, etc.:

είμαι κουρασμένος = I am tired
είμαι πεινασμένος = I am hungry
είμαι νευρικός = I am nervous

You can say things like:

Νιώθω κουρασμένος. = I feel tired.

But in this kind of general statement (“I keep reading, even if I’m tired”), είμαι κουρασμένος is the most natural and common form.

So the structure is:

είμαι (I am) + κουρασμένος (tired – adjective)

Why κουρασμένος and not another form like κουρασμένη or κουρασμένο?

Κουρασμένος/-η/-ο is an adjective meaning “tired”. Like most Greek adjectives, it agrees in:

Gender
Number
Case

with the noun or pronoun it describes. Here the subject is “I” (εγώ), grammatically understood as masculine singular:

(Εγώ) είμαι κουρασμένος.
= I am tired. (said by a man)

Other forms:

(Εγώ) είμαι κουρασμένη. = I am tired. (said by a woman)
Το παιδί είναι κουρασμένο. = The child is tired. (neuter singular)
Είμαστε κουρασμένοι. = We (masc. or mixed group) are tired.
Είμαστε κουρασμένες. = We (all women) are tired.

So κουρασμένος matches a male speaker or a grammatically masculine subject.

Could a woman say this sentence? What would change?

A woman would change only the adjective to the feminine form:

Συνεχίζω να διαβάζω ελληνικά, ακόμα κι αν είμαι κουρασμένη.

Everything else stays the same:

συνεχίζω να διαβάζω (I continue to read)
ελληνικά (Greek)
ακόμα κι αν (even if)
είμαι (I am)

The only agreement needed is between είμαι and the adjective describing the speaker:
κουρασμένη (feminine), instead of κουρασμένος (masculine).

Can διαβάζω ελληνικά mean “I study Greek”, not just “I read Greek texts”?

Yes. In Greek, διαβάζω can mean both:

to read (a text, book, etc.)
to study / to do one’s homework

So:

Διαβάζω ένα βιβλίο. = I’m reading a book.
Πρέπει να διαβάσω για το σχολείο. = I have to study for school.
Διαβάζω ελληνικά.
- could be “I read Greek (texts)”
- or very naturally “I study Greek (as a subject/language)”.

Context usually clarifies which meaning is intended. In your sentence, both “I keep reading Greek” and “I keep studying Greek” are reasonable interpretations.

Is the word order fixed? Could I say Συνεχίζω, ακόμα κι αν είμαι κουρασμένος, να διαβάζω ελληνικά?

Greek word order is fairly flexible, especially for adverbial phrases like ακόμα κι αν είμαι κουρασμένος.

All of these are grammatical, with slightly different emphasis:

Συνεχίζω να διαβάζω ελληνικά, ακόμα κι αν είμαι κουρασμένος.
Ακόμα κι αν είμαι κουρασμένος, συνεχίζω να διαβάζω ελληνικά.
Συνεχίζω, ακόμα κι αν είμαι κουρασμένος, να διαβάζω ελληνικά.

The last one (with commas around the clause) is more written / formal in style and emphasizes the interruption:
“I continue, even if I am tired, to read Greek.”

But your original order is the most neutral and natural for everyday use.

Why is it αν είμαι κουρασμένος and not αν θα είμαι κουρασμένος for “if I will be tired”?

In Greek, after αν (if), you normally do not use the future tense the way English does.

English: If I *am tired / If I **will be tired* (less common).
Greek:
- Αν είμαι κουρασμένος, ... (present form used, but can refer to present or future)

So αν είμαι κουρασμένος can mean:

If I’m tired (now), or
If I’m tired (at that future time),

depending on context.

You almost never say αν θα είμαι κουρασμένος; it sounds unnatural. After αν, Greek prefers present or subjunctive forms, not θα + verb.

How do you pronounce συνεχίζω and κουρασμένος? Where is the stress?

Stress is marked by the accent (´) in Greek:

συνεχίζω → συ-νε-χί-ζω
Pronounced roughly: see-neh-HÍ-zo
- Stress on the χί syllable.
κουρασμένος → κου-ρα-σμέ-νος
Pronounced roughly: koo-rah-SMÉ-nos
- Stress on the σμέ syllable.

Remember, in Greek:

Each word has one main stress.
The accent mark shows exactly where it falls.