Breakdown of Τον Αύγουστο θέλω να πάω σε ήσυχο χωριό.
Questions & Answers about Τον Αύγουστο θέλω να πάω σε ήσυχο χωριό.
In Greek, time expressions like “on Sunday”, “in August”, “this year” are very often put in the accusative case without a preposition:
- Την Κυριακή = on Sunday
- Το καλοκαίρι = in the summer
- Τον Αύγουστο = in August
So Τον Αύγουστο is the accusative of ο Αύγουστος (August), and it functions as an adverbial expression of time: “in August / this August / during August.”
Αύγουστος is grammatically masculine in Greek:
- Nominative: ο Αύγουστος
- Accusative: τον Αύγουστο
Τον is the masculine accusative singular definite article.
Το is the neuter accusative (and nominative) article, which would be wrong here because Αύγουστος is not neuter.
Greek word order is more flexible than English:
- Τον Αύγουστο θέλω να πάω σε ήσυχο χωριό.
- Θέλω τον Αύγουστο να πάω σε ήσυχο χωριό.
- Θέλω να πάω τον Αύγουστο σε ήσυχο χωριό.
All are grammatically correct.
Putting Τον Αύγουστο at the beginning makes the time the “topic” of the sentence: “As for August, I want to go to a quiet village.”
Moving it later just changes the emphasis slightly, not the basic meaning.
In Modern Greek, verbs like θέλω (I want) are normally followed by να + subjunctive:
- Θέλω να πάω. = I want to go.
- Θέλω να φάω. = I want to eat.
- Θέλω να διαβάσω. = I want to read / study.
Saying θέλω πάω without να is ungrammatical in standard Modern Greek.
Θα πάω means “I will go / I am going to go”, i.e. a future action, not a desire.
So:
- Θέλω να πάω = I want to go.
- Θα πάω = I will go.
Both are forms of the verb “to go,” but they are used differently:
να πάω = subjunctive of πάω, used for one complete trip (aorist subjunctive):
- Θέλω να πάω στο χωριό. = I want to go (there once / on that occasion).
να πηγαίνω = subjunctive of πηγαίνω, used for ongoing / repeated going (present subjunctive):
- Θέλω να πηγαίνω στο χωριό κάθε Σαββατοκύριακο.
= I want to go to the village every weekend (repeatedly).
- Θέλω να πηγαίνω στο χωριό κάθε Σαββατοκύριακο.
In your sentence, a single trip in August is meant, so να πάω is the natural choice.
You need σε because πάω in the sense of go to takes the preposition σε:
- πάω στο χωριό = I go to the village
- πάω στην Αθήνα = I go to Athens
- πάω σε ήσυχο χωριό = I go to a quiet village
Leaving σε out (θέλω να πάω ήσυχο χωριό) is incorrect in standard Greek.
Think of σε here as the equivalent of English “to” (in the directional sense).
Both are possible:
- σε ήσυχο χωριό
- σε ένα ήσυχο χωριό
The meaning is very similar: “to a quiet village.”
In Greek, when a noun is indefinite and singular, especially after σε, the indefinite article ένα is often omitted if the identity of the place is not important.
So σε ήσυχο χωριό feels a bit more general or vague: “to some quiet village (doesn’t matter which).”
Σε ένα ήσυχο χωριό can feel slightly more concrete: “to a (particular) quiet village.”
Ήσυχο is an adjective meaning “quiet”.
It must agree with χωριό in:
- gender: neuter
- number: singular
- case: accusative (because of σε)
Χωριό (village) is neuter: το χωριό.
So the adjective also takes neuter singular accusative: ήσυχο.
Other forms of the same adjective:
- Masculine singular accusative: ήσυχο (e.g. βλέπω έναν ήσυχο άντρα)
- Feminine singular accusative: ήσυχη (e.g. σε ήσυχη πόλη)
- Neuter singular accusative: ήσυχο (e.g. σε ήσυχο χωριό)
Χωριό here is in the accusative singular:
- Nominative: το χωριό
- Accusative: το χωριό (same form, but different function)
After the preposition σε, the noun always goes into the accusative:
- σε χωριό
- σε πόλη
- σε σπίτι
- σε ήσυχο χωριό
So grammatically this is “(to/in) quiet village”, and context + the verb πάω show that “to a quiet village” is meant.
In English, you normally say “go to a village”, not “go in a village”.
In Greek, σε χωριό can cover both ideas to a village and in a village, depending on the verb and context:
- Θέλω να πάω σε ήσυχο χωριό. → go to a quiet village
- Μένω σε ήσυχο χωριό. → live in a quiet village
So the Greek preposition σε corresponds to English to / in / at, depending on the situation. Here, with πάω (go), English uses to.
Yes, a nuance of politeness and tentativeness:
Θέλω να πάω… = I want to go…
Direct, neutral statement of desire.Θα ήθελα να πάω… = I would like to go…
More polite, softer, less demanding; often used when being courteous or making a suggestion.
Grammatically, both are correct; the difference is in tone.
In this sentence Αύγουστο is at the beginning of the sentence, so it must be capitalized for that reason alone.
In traditional Modern Greek spelling rules, names of months are usually written with a lowercase initial letter in the middle of a sentence (e.g. τον αύγουστο). In practice, many speakers now capitalize them by analogy with English and other languages.
So in the middle of a sentence you might see either:
- τον Αύγουστο (influenced by English)
- τον αύγουστο (more traditional school rule)
At the start of a sentence, it is capitalized anyway: Τον Αύγουστο…
A rough phonetic guide (stress marked with ˈ):
- Τον → [ton]
- Αύγουστο → [ˈavɣusto]
- αυ before a voiced consonant (γ) → av
- γ before ου → a voiced fricative [ɣ]
- θέλω → [ˈθelo] (θ like th in think)
- να → [na]
- πάω → [ˈpa.o] or [ˈpa.o̞] (often sounds like two syllables, pa-o)
- σε → [se]
- ήσυχο → [ˈisixo] (η → [i], χ before ο → , like German Bach)
- χωριό → [xorˈʝo] (χ like , γι [ʝ] like a soft y)
All together (smoothly):
[ton ˈavɣusto ˈθelo na ˈpa.o se ˈisixo xorˈʝo]
You would make the noun phrase definite by adding the article:
- Τον Αύγουστο θέλω να πάω στο ήσυχο χωριό.
Here:
- σε + το → στο (contraction)
- το ήσυχο χωριό = the quiet village (a particular one both speaker and listener can identify)
So:
- σε ήσυχο χωριό = to a (some) quiet village
- στο ήσυχο χωριό = to the quiet village (a specific village)