Breakdown of Προσπαθώ να αντιδρώ πιο αργά, για να έχω χρόνο να σκεφτώ την αντίδρασή μου.
Questions & Answers about Προσπαθώ να αντιδρώ πιο αργά, για να έχω χρόνο να σκεφτώ την αντίδρασή μου.
In Modern Greek there is no infinitive (“to react”) like in English.
Instead, Greek uses να + verb (subjunctive) to play that role.
- Προσπαθώ να αντιδρώ literally = “I try that I react (more slowly)” → “I try to react more slowly.”
After verbs like προσπαθώ, θέλω, μπορώ, you almost always need να before the second verb:
- Θέλω να φύγω. – I want to leave.
- Προσπαθώ να μάθω ελληνικά. – I’m trying to learn Greek.
You cannot say προσπαθώ αντιδρώ without να – that would be ungrammatical.
Yes, both are correct and mean “I react.”
They are just two parallel forms of the same verb:
- αντιδρώ – more standard / slightly more formal or neutral
- αντιδράω – a bit more colloquial in style
They conjugate in slightly different “patterns,” but speakers freely mix them:
- Εγώ αντιδρώ / αντιδράω
- Εσύ αντιδράς
- Αυτός αντιδρά etc.
In your sentence, να αντιδρώ is the standard, fully natural choice.
You could also hear να αντιδράω in everyday speech with no real change in meaning.
This is an important aspect difference (present vs aorist subjunctive):
να αντιδρώ – present subjunctive → repeated / habitual / ongoing behavior
- “I’m trying in general to react more slowly (as a habit / new way of behaving).”
να αντιδράσω – aorist subjunctive → one reaction / a single whole event
- “I’m trying to react more slowly this time / on this occasion.”
So:
Προσπαθώ να αντιδρώ πιο αργά.
= I’m working on my overall pattern of reacting.Προσπαθώ να αντιδράσω πιο αργά.
= I’m trying to react more slowly in a specific situation.
αργός is an adjective = slow (describes nouns: a slow car, a slow person).
αργά is an adverb = slowly (describes verbs: how you do something).
πιο αργός = “slower” (as an adjective)
- Έχω ένα πιο αργό αυτοκίνητο. – I have a slower car.
πιο αργά = “more slowly” (as an adverb)
- Μιλάω πιο αργά. – I speak more slowly.
- Προσπαθώ να αντιδρώ πιο αργά. – I’m trying to react more slowly.
Since the sentence talks about how I react (modifying a verb), the adverb πιο αργά is needed.
για να introduces a purpose clause: it means “in order to / so that.”
- Προσπαθώ να αντιδρώ πιο αργά, για να έχω χρόνο…
= I try to react more slowly, in order to have time…
You can sometimes see just να used where English has “so that,” but:
- για να is the normal, clear way to express purpose.
- να alone can be more neutral (just a complement), not clearly “in order to.”
Here, για να έχω χρόνο very naturally and explicitly means “so that I have time.”
Again, this is the present vs aorist aspect:
- να σκέφτομαι – present subjunctive: ongoing / continuous thinking
- να σκεφτώ – aorist subjunctive: one complete act of thinking / deciding
In να έχω χρόνο να σκεφτώ the idea is:
- “to have enough time to think something through / to form a reaction.”
That’s a single mental act, so the aorist να σκεφτώ is more natural.
If you said να έχω χρόνο να σκέφτομαι, it would sound more like:
- “to have time to be thinking (to be in a state of thinking),”
less about reaching a specific conclusion and more about just spending time thinking.
Both are grammatically possible, but να σκεφτώ fits the intended meaning better.
Both are possible:
- χρόνο να σκεφτώ
- χρόνο για να σκεφτώ
They’re both idiomatic and mean almost the same: “time to think.”
Patterns you’ll see:
χρόνο να + verb
- Δεν έχω χρόνο να διαβάσω. – I don’t have time to read.
χρόνο για να + verb
- Δεν έχω χρόνο για να διαβάσω. – Same meaning; perhaps a bit more explicit.
χρόνο για + noun
- Δεν έχω χρόνο για διάβασμα. – I don’t have time for reading.
In your sentence, χρόνο να σκεφτώ is short and natural; adding για would also be correct, just slightly more wordy.
In Greek, when you use a possessive pronoun (μου, σου, του, της, μας, σας, τους), you almost always keep the definite article:
- το βιβλίο μου – my book (literally: the book my)
- η αδελφή του – his sister
- την αντίδρασή μου – my reaction
So την αντίδρασή μου is the normal way to say “my reaction.”
If you wanted to say “a reaction of mine” (one of my possible reactions), you could say:
- μια αντίδρασή μου – a reaction of mine
But dropping the article altogether (*αντίδρασή μου) is not normal in standard Greek.
This is due to how enclitics like μου affect stress.
Base word: αντίδραση
- Accent on the antepenultimate syllable: αν-τί-δρα-ση
When you add an enclitic (μου), Greek accent rules say:
- A word stressed on the antepenultimate
- enclitic
→ keeps its original accent and gets an extra accent on the last syllable.
- enclitic
So:
- αντίδραση
- μου → αντίδρασή μου
You see two accents in writing: one on τί, one on σή.
This is normal with many such combinations:
- άνθρωπος → άνθρωπός μου
- άσκηση → άσκησή μου
Yes, that’s grammatically correct, but the nuances shift slightly.
αντιδράω instead of αντιδρώ
→ more colloquial, same basic meaning.να σκέφτομαι instead of να σκεφτώ
→ emphasizes being in the process of thinking rather than reaching a specific conclusion.
So:
…να έχω χρόνο να σκεφτώ την αντίδρασή μου.
= to have time to think (it) through and decide my reaction.…να έχω χρόνο να σκέφτομαι την αντίδρασή μου.
= to have time to be thinking about my reaction (perhaps repeatedly, over time).
The original sentence with να σκεφτώ strongly suggests “time to think and then react,” which matches the idea of slowing down before responding.
The normal word order is exactly as in the sentence:
- να σκεφτώ την αντίδρασή μου
You generally keep:
- article + noun + possessive clitic:
- την αντίδρασή μου
- το σπίτι σου
- η ιδέα μας
You cannot move μου before the noun in standard Greek (\μου αντίδραση, *μου η αντίδραση* are not normal in this context).
So:
- ✅ να σκεφτώ την αντίδρασή μου
- ❌ να σκεφτώ μου την αντίδραση
- ❌ να σκεφτώ η αντίδρασή μου (wrong structure here)
The order in the original sentence is the natural one.