Learn Hardcore Greek: Δύο φορές την εβδομάδα κάνω βόλτα στο πάρκο με τη φίλη μου. - Twice a week I go for a walk in the park with my friend female.

δύο φορές την εβδομάδα – two times the week → twice a week / two times per week
μία φορά την ημέρα – once a day
τρεις φορές τον μήνα – three times a month
δέκα ευρώ την ώρα – 10 euros an hour

So την εβδομάδα is grammatically the week, but in this construction it functions like English “a week / per week.” It’s a fixed, very common pattern with frequency expressions.

Why is it κάνω βόλτα to say “I go for a walk”? Can’t I just use a verb like περπατάω?

You can use περπατάω (I walk), but the nuance is a bit different.

κάνω βόλτα
Literally: I do a walk / outing
Meaning: I go for a walk / I go for a stroll / I go out for a little outing
It typically suggests a leisurely walk or outing, not just the act of moving your feet.
περπατάω (στο πάρκο)
Literally: I walk (in the park)
This focuses more on the action of walking, e.g. as exercise or simply as movement.

Compare:

Κάθε πρωί κάνω βόλτα στο πάρκο.
Every morning I go for a walk in the park (for pleasure / relaxation).
Κάθε πρωί περπατάω στο πάρκο.
Every morning I walk in the park (could be for exercise, commuting, or pleasure – context decides).

In everyday speech, κάνω βόλτα is the most natural way to say go for a walk / stroll.

What is στο πάρκο grammatically, and what does στο stand for?

στο is a contraction:

σε – in / at / to (very general preposition)
το – the (neuter, accusative, singular)

σε + το → στο

So:

στο πάρκο = σε + το πάρκο → in/at/to the park

Grammatically, πάρκο is neuter, accusative, singular, governed by the preposition σε.
In practice, στο πάρκο here means “in the park” (location), but σε can also mean “to” depending on context.

Why is it τη φίλη μου and not την φίλη μου or just φίλη μου?

Three points are involved: the article form, the dropping of ν, and when you need the article.

Which article?
φίλη is feminine, so the feminine article is used:
- Nominative: η φίλη – the friend (subject)
- Accusative: την φίλη – the friend (object)
After με (with), Greek uses the accusative, so the “full” form would be με την φίλη μου.
Why τη and not την?
In modern spelling, the final ν of την / τον / έναν is often dropped when the next word starts with certain consonants.
Rule (standard school grammar): keep ν before κ, π, τ, ξ, ψ, μπ, ντ, γκ, τσ, τζ and before vowels; drop it before other consonants.
Since φίλη starts with φ, which is not in that list, you normally write:
- τη φίλη μου, not την φίλη μου.
Why not just φίλη μου without the article?
- η φίλη μου / τη φίλη μου = my (specific) friend – a particular, known person.
- φίλη μου (no article) is more like a friend of mine (less specific) and, after με, usually sounds incomplete or unusual:
  με φίλη μου ≈ with a female friend of mine (and it feels a bit elliptical).

In this sentence, the speaker means a specific friend, so με τη φίλη μου is the natural choice.

Does φίλη specifically mean a female friend? What if the friend is male, or a boyfriend/girlfriend?

Yes:

φίλη = (female) friend
φίλος = (male) friend

So:

η φίλη μου – my (female) friend
ο φίλος μου – my (male) friend

In modern Greek, φίλος / φίλη can also mean boyfriend / girlfriend, depending on context, just like English “my friend” can sometimes imply more. For clarity, people also use:

το αγόρι μου – my boyfriend
η κοπέλα μου – my girlfriend

But in a neutral sentence like κάνω βόλτα στο πάρκο με τη φίλη μου, it will usually be understood as “(female) friend”, unless context suggests a romantic partner.

Why does μου (“my”) come after φίλη instead of before it, like in English?

In Greek, the common pattern is:

article + noun + possessive pronoun

So you say:

η φίλη μου – my friend (literally: the friend my)
το βιβλίο μου – my book
ο αδελφός σου – your brother

Here:

τη φίλη μου – my friend in the accusative (because of με).

The possessive pronouns μου, σου, του, της, μας, σας, τους are enclitics: they usually come after the noun they modify, not before like English my, your, his….

Is κάνω here present simple or present continuous? How do I know it’s a habitual action?

Modern Greek has one present tense form (κάνω) that covers both:

English present simple: I do / I walk / I go
English present continuous: I am doing / I am walking / I am going

So κάνω βόλτα on its own could mean either I’m taking a walk (now) or I (regularly) go for a walk.

In this sentence, the time phrase decides:

Δύο φορές την εβδομάδα – twice a week

That clearly indicates a habitual, repeated action, so in English we translate:

Twice a week I go for a walk in the park with my friend.

If the speaker wanted to emphasize right now, they’d add something like:

Τώρα κάνω βόλτα στο πάρκο με τη φίλη μου.
Right now I’m taking a walk in the park with my friend.

Can the time phrase Δύο φορές την εβδομάδα be moved to another position in the sentence?

Yes. Greek word order is fairly flexible, especially for adverbial phrases like time expressions. All of these are correct:

Δύο φορές την εβδομάδα κάνω βόλτα στο πάρκο με τη φίλη μου.
Κάνω βόλτα στο πάρκο με τη φίλη μου δύο φορές την εβδομάδα.
Κάνω δύο φορές την εβδομάδα βόλτα στο πάρκο με τη φίλη μου.

They all mean essentially the same thing: I go for a walk in the park with my friend twice a week.

Placing it at the beginning (as in the original) slightly emphasizes how often.
Placing it at the end feels very natural in spoken Greek, mirroring English: …twice a week.

What’s the difference between Δύο φορές την εβδομάδα and Δύο φορές κάθε εβδομάδα?

Both can be translated as “twice every week” and are usually interchangeable.

Δύο φορές την εβδομάδα
This is the most common, neutral way to say twice a week.
Δύο φορές κάθε εβδομάδα
Literally: two times each/every week.
It can sound a bit more emphatic or explicit, stressing that it happens every single week, but in many contexts the difference is minimal.

Most of the time, if you just mean twice a week, you’ll use Δύο φορές την εβδομάδα.

Could I say Πάω βόλτα στο πάρκο instead of Κάνω βόλτα στο πάρκο? Is there any difference?

Yes, you can; both are common and natural.

κάνω βόλτα στο πάρκο
Literally: I do a walk in the park
Very common, slightly more focused on the activity of walking/strolling.
πάω βόλτα στο πάρκο
Literally: I go for a walk to the park
Often sounds like you go somewhere (the park) for a walk/outing.

In many everyday situations they’re effectively synonymous:

Κάθε απόγευμα κάνω βόλτα στο πάρκο.
Κάθε απόγευμα πάω βόλτα στο πάρκο.

Both: Every afternoon I go for a walk in the park.

How do you pronounce βόλτα and εβδομάδα? Where is the stress?

Stress in Greek is marked by the accent (΄) and falls on one syllable.

βόλτα – walk, outing
- Stress on the first syllable: ΒΌΛ‑τα
- Approximate pronunciation: VOHL‑tah
- IPA: [ˈvolta]
εβδομάδα – week
- Stress on the third syllable from the end: ευ‑βδο‑ΜΆ‑δα
- Approximate pronunciation: ev‑dho‑MA‑dha
  - ευ here sounds like ev
  - βδ is pronounced together, like vd
  - δ is like the th in this
- IPA: [evðoˈmaða]

So the whole phrase:

Δύο φορές την εβδομάδα κάνω βόλτα στο πάρκο με τη φίλη μου.
Approximate: THEE‑o fo‑RES tin ev‑dho‑MA‑dha KA‑no VOL‑ta sto PAR‑ko me ti FEE‑li mu.

Why is εβδομάδα singular (την εβδομάδα) even though this happens over many weeks?

This is similar to English expressions like:

twice a week
three times a day
10 euros an hour

You use the singular to refer to a typical period, not to count how many weeks there are.

Greek does the same:

δύο φορές την εβδομάδα – two times the week → twice a week
τρεις φορές τη μέρα – three times a day
μία φορά τον χρόνο – once a year

So την εβδομάδα is singular because you’re talking about a type of period (one week) in a per‑week sense, not counting multiple individual weeks.

If I want to say “twice a month” or “three times a day” in Greek, do I use the same structure?

Yes, you use the same “number + φορές + article + time period (singular)” pattern.

Some common examples:

Δύο φορές τον μήνα. – Twice a month.
- τον μήνα = the month (masculine, accusative, singular)
Τρεις φορές τη μέρα. – Three times a day.
- τη μέρα (or more formally την ημέρα) = the day (feminine, accusative, singular)
Τέσσερις φορές τον χρόνο. – Four times a year.
- τον χρόνο = the year (masculine)

So by analogy with the original sentence, you could say:

Δύο φορές τον μήνα κάνω βόλτα στο πάρκο με τη φίλη μου.
Twice a month I go for a walk in the park with my friend.