Learn Hardcore Greek: Ανυπομονώ να πάω ξανά στην Ελλάδα και να μιλήσω ελληνικά με τους φίλους μου. - I can’t wait to go to Greece again and speak Greek with my friends.

In your sentence, Ανυπομονώ να πάω... is very natural and friendly, not negative (not “I’m annoyed”); it expresses positive excitement about the future.

Why do we say Ανυπομονώ να πάω instead of something like Ανυπομονώ να θα πάω or using a future tense?

In Greek, after many verbs that express desire, intention, emotion, or necessity (like θέλω, μπορώ, πρέπει, σκέφτομαι, ανυπομονώ), you don’t use θα. You use να with the subjunctive form of the verb:

Ανυπομονώ να πάω. – I can’t wait to go.
Θέλω να πάω. – I want to go.
Πρέπει να πάω. – I must go.

Using θα here would be ungrammatical:
✗ Ανυπομονώ να θα πάω – wrong.

The future idea is already implied by ανυπομονώ + να + verb; you don’t need θα as well.

Why is it να πάω and not something like να πηγαίνω? What’s the difference?

Greek verbs have aspect: aorist vs imperfective.

πάω here is the aorist subjunctive of πηγαίνω.
να πάω = to go (once, as a single event / trip)
να πηγαίνω = to be going / to go repeatedly / habitually

In this sentence:

Ανυπομονώ να πάω ξανά στην Ελλάδα
⇒ You’re excited about the specific trip back to Greece.

If you said:

Ανυπομονώ να πηγαίνω στην Ελλάδα.
That would suggest something like I can’t wait to be going to Greece (regularly / all the time), which is a different idea and sounds odd here.

What’s the difference between ξανά and πάλι? Could I say να πάω πάλι στην Ελλάδα?

Both ξανά and πάλι can mean again, and in this sentence you can say:

Ανυπομονώ να πάω πάλι στην Ελλάδα... – correct and natural.

Nuances (not strict rules):

ξανά is a bit more neutral and is very common with verbs:
να πάω ξανά, να το κάνω ξανά.
πάλι is extremely common in speech and can also mean “again (annoyingly)” in some contexts:
Πάλι άργησε. – He’s late again (and that’s annoying).

In your sentence, ξανά and πάλι are both fine; ξανά might feel slightly more “neutral” or “standard”.

Why is it στην Ελλάδα and not just σε Ελλάδα? What’s happening grammatically?

στην is a contraction:

σε (in / to / at) + την (feminine accusative singular article)
→ στην

Ελλάδα (Greece) is:

feminine
singular
usually treated as a definite place (like the country)

So:

στην Ελλάδα literally = to the Greece / in the Greece
but in English we say to Greece / in Greece (no article).

You must use the article with country names in Greek:

στην Ιταλία, στη Γαλλία, στον Καναδά, στις ΗΠΑ

Why is να repeated: να πάω... και να μιλήσω...? Could I omit the second να?

Greek often repeats να before each verb when you have two actions:

να πάω ξανά στην Ελλάδα και να μιλήσω ελληνικά...

This is the most natural and clear form.

You can sometimes drop the second να in fast speech:

...να πάω ξανά στην Ελλάδα και μιλήσω ελληνικά...

but this sounds less standard and can feel a bit rushed or colloquial.
In writing and careful speech, it’s better to repeat να for each verb in the series.

Why is it να μιλήσω ελληνικά and not να μιλήσω τα ελληνικά?

With languages, Greek usually omits the article when the language is the direct object of verbs like μιλάω, μαθαίνω, ξέρω:

Μιλάω ελληνικά. – I speak Greek.
Ξέρω ισπανικά. – I know Spanish.
Μαθαίνω γαλλικά. – I’m learning French.

So:

να μιλήσω ελληνικά = to speak Greek (the language).

If you say τα ελληνικά, it usually has a slightly more “thing-like” feeling and is more common with verbs like μαθαίνω τα ελληνικά, ξεχνάω τα ελληνικά μου. With μιλάω, the no-article version is more natural in this exact context.

Could I say να μιλήσω στα ελληνικά instead of να μιλήσω ελληνικά? Is there a difference?

Both are correct, but the nuance changes slightly:

να μιλήσω ελληνικά
– literally: to speak Greek (as a language), more direct.
να μιλήσω στα ελληνικά
– literally: to speak in Greek, focusing on the medium / language used.

In many everyday contexts, they’re almost interchangeable.
Your sentence would still be natural as:

...και να μιλήσω στα ελληνικά με τους φίλους μου.

The original να μιλήσω ελληνικά is perhaps a bit shorter and more neutral.

Why is it να μιλήσω (aorist) and not να μιλάω or να μιλάω ελληνικά?

Again, this is about aspect:

να μιλήσω = aorist subjunctive → one complete event (to speak, have a conversation)
να μιλάω = imperfective subjunctive → continuous / repeated action (to be speaking, to speak regularly)

In your sentence:

να μιλήσω ελληνικά με τους φίλους μου
focuses on having those conversations in Greek (as events you’re looking forward to).

If you said:

Ανυπομονώ να μιλάω ελληνικά με τους φίλους μου.
it would sound more like I can’t wait to be (generally) speaking Greek with my friends (as an ongoing state). Not wrong, but a slightly different emphasis. The original aorist fits better for specific future occasions.

Why is it με τους φίλους μου and not something like με οι φίλοι μου? What’s going on with τους and μου?

Breakdown:

με = with
ο φίλος (singular, nominative) → οι φίλοι (plural, nominative)
In this sentence we need the object form (accusative plural), because με takes the accusative:
- τους φίλους

So:

με τους φίλους = with the friends

Then we add μου (my):

In Greek, possessives like μου, σου, του, της, μας, σας, τους go after the noun:
- ο φίλος μου – my friend
- οι φίλοι μου – my friends
- τους φίλους μου – my friends (as object)

So με τους φίλους μου = with my friends (literally: with the friends my).

There is no word for I in the sentence. How do we know it means “I can’t wait”?

Greek is a pro‑drop language: the subject pronoun (εγώ, εσύ, αυτός, etc.) is often omitted because the verb ending already shows the person.

Ανυπομονώ is 1st person singular:
- εγώ ανυπομονώ – I can’t wait / I’m looking forward
- εσύ ανυπομονείς – you can’t wait
- αυτός/αυτή/αυτό ανυπομονεί – he/she/it can’t wait

So Ανυπομονώ by itself clearly means I can’t wait, even without εγώ.

You can say Εγώ ανυπομονώ... but you only add εγώ if you want to emphasize I specifically (e.g. contrast: I can’t wait, but someone else maybe can).

Can I change the position of ξανά? For example, say να ξαναπάω στην Ελλάδα?

Yes, and in fact να ξαναπάω is extremely common and very natural:

Ανυπομονώ να ξαναπάω στην Ελλάδα...

Compare:

να πάω ξανά στην Ελλάδα
να ξαναπάω στην Ελλάδα

Both mean to go again to Greece / to go back to Greece.
With many verbs, Greek likes to attach ξανά right in front of the verb:

ξαναβλέπω, ξαναδιαβάζω, ξαναπάω, ξαναλέω.

So να ξαναπάω στην Ελλάδα might sound even more idiomatic in everyday speech.

Is this sentence formal or informal? Would it be okay in all contexts?

The sentence is:

Standard
Neutral
Friendly

It’s perfectly fine in:

conversation with friends
a message or email
even relatively informal writing (blog post, personal letter, social media).

For a more formal or written style, you might see:

Ανυπομονώ να επισκεφθώ ξανά την Ελλάδα και να μιλήσω ελληνικά με τους φίλους μου.

Here να επισκεφθώ (to visit) sounds slightly more formal than να πάω (to go), but your original version is completely correct and natural.

Could this also mean “I miss Greece” or does it only mean “I can’t wait to go”?

The verb ανυπομονώ focuses on looking forward to something in the future, not directly on missing something from the past.

So:

Ανυπομονώ να πάω ξανά στην Ελλάδα...
= I can’t wait to go back to Greece... (future-oriented)

If you want to say I miss Greece, you’d use:

Μου λείπει η Ελλάδα. – Greece is missing from me → I miss Greece.
Μου λείπουν οι φίλοι μου στην Ελλάδα. – I miss my friends in Greece.

Of course, in context, someone who says Ανυπομονώ να πάω ξανά στην Ελλάδα probably also misses Greece, but grammatically the sentence expresses eagerness about the future, not missing.