Learn Hardcore Greek: Μπορείς να μου περιγράψεις την ημέρα σου με μια μικρή περιγραφή στα ελληνικά; - Can you describe your day to me with a short description in Greek?

In Modern Greek, when one verb depends on another (like “can do,” “want to do,” “must do”), the second verb usually appears in the subjunctive form introduced by να.

Μπορείς = “you can”
να περιγράψεις = “(that you) describe”

Greek no longer has an infinitive like English “to describe,” so να + verb replaces the infinitive:

English: “Can you describe your day?”
Greek: Μπορείς να περιγράψεις την ημέρα σου;

You cannot say ✗ Μπορείς περιγράψεις; it sounds ungrammatical. You need the να to introduce the subjunctive clause.

Why is the pronoun μου placed before περιγράψεις and not after, like in English “describe your day to me”?

Μου is an unstressed object pronoun. In Greek, these usually appear right before the verb (or attached to it in some forms), not after it:

να μου περιγράψεις = “to me you-describe”

Word order:

Greek: Μπορείς να μου περιγράψεις την ημέρα σου;
Very literal: “Can you to-me describe your day?”
English: “Can you describe your day to me?”

You cannot normally say:

✗ Μπορείς να περιγράψεις την ημέρα σου σε με;
(You’d have to say σε μένα, and even then it’s less natural here.)

So μου before the verb is the standard placement for “to me / for me” as an indirect object.

Why do we say την ημέρα σου with the article την? In English we say “your day,” not “the your day.”

In Greek, when you use a possessive pronoun like μου, σου, του, you almost always also use the definite article:

η μέρα μου = “my day”
η μητέρα σου = “your mother”
το σπίτι του = “his house”

So:

την ημέρα σου literally “the day of-you”
Meaning: “your day”

Leaving out the article (✗ ημέρα σου) is usually wrong or sounds very poetic/archaic. The combination article + noun + possessive pronoun is the normal, everyday pattern.

Why is the possessive σου placed after ημέρα, not before, like in English “your day”?

Greek possessive pronouns normally follow the noun instead of coming before it:

ημέρα σου = “your day”
το βιβλίο μου = “my book”
η φίλη μας = “our friend”

Structure:

Greek: την ημέρα σου
Literal: “the day your”
English order: “your day”

So ημέρα σου is the standard word order for “your day.”

What is the difference between ημέρα and μέρα? Could we say την μέρα σου instead of την ημέρα σου;

Both are correct, but they differ in style:

μέρα
- More common in everyday, spoken Greek
- Feels more casual / neutral
- Very frequent
ημέρα
- More formal or written
- Used in official language, schedules, announcements, etc.

So:

την ημέρα σου is a bit more formal.
την μέρα σου (often written τη μέρα σου in modern spelling) is very natural in spoken Greek.

In this sentence, την ημέρα σου and τη μέρα σου both work; the meaning is the same.

Why is περιγράψεις in this form? What tense/aspect is it, and why not περιγράφεις;

Περιγράψεις here is:

Aorist subjunctive, 2nd person singular
Introduced by να: να περιγράψεις

In Greek:

να + aorist subjunctive usually focuses on the whole action as a single event (“do it once / complete it”).
να + present subjunctive (e.g. να περιγράφεις) would focus on something ongoing or repeated.

Here we want: “Can you (once) describe your day?”, a single completed act. That’s why να περιγράψεις is used, not να περιγράφεις.

The indicative περιγράφεις (“you describe / you are describing”) wouldn’t fit with να, and on its own it would mean something like “(you) describe your day,” more like a statement or instruction, not “Can you describe…?”

Why is the phrase με μια μικρή περιγραφή needed if we already have the verb περιγράψεις? Isn’t it redundant?

Literally, με μια μικρή περιγραφή means “with a small/short description.”
So the sentence is literally something like:

“Can you describe your day to me with a small description in Greek?”

Yes, it is a bit redundant in Greek too, because περιγράψεις and περιγραφή come from the same root. A more natural alternative could be:

Μπορείς να μου περιγράψεις την ημέρα σου στα ελληνικά με λίγα λόγια;
(“…in Greek, in a few words?”)

However, με μια μικρή περιγραφή is still grammatically correct. It just strongly emphasizes “briefly / with a short description.”

How does με work in με μια μικρή περιγραφή? Is it like English “with” or something else?

Με is a preposition that here means “with / by means of.” It is followed by the accusative case:

με
- μια
  - μικρή
    - περιγραφή (all in the accusative)

So:

με μια μικρή περιγραφή = “with a small description,” i.e. “using a short description / in a short way.”

This is similar to English:

“Explain it with a simple example.”
Greek: Εξήγησέ το με ένα απλό παράδειγμα.

Why is it μια μικρή περιγραφή and not something else? How do μια, μικρή, and περιγραφή agree?

Περιγραφή (“description”) is a feminine noun in Greek. So:

Feminine singular indefinite article: μια
Feminine singular adjective: μικρή
Feminine singular noun: περιγραφή

All three must agree in:

Gender: feminine
Number: singular
Case: accusative (because of the preposition με)

So we get:

με μια μικρή περιγραφή

You couldn’t say ✗ με ένα μικρή περιγραφή or ✗ με μια μικρό περιγραφή; the endings must all match the noun’s gender/number/case.

What exactly does στα ελληνικά mean, and why do we use στα instead of just σε ελληνικά;

Στα ελληνικά is a very common fixed phrase meaning “in Greek (language)”.

Grammatically:

σε (“in / at / to”) + τα (neuter plural definite article)
→ στα (contraction)

And ελληνικά is the neuter plural form used for “Greek (as a language).”

So:

στα ελληνικά = “in (the) Greek (language)”

You don’t say ✗ σε ελληνικά on its own in this sense. When talking about languages, Greek usually uses this pattern:

στα ελληνικά = in Greek
στα αγγλικά = in English
στα γαλλικά = in French

Could we move μου somewhere else, like Μπορείς να περιγράψεις την ημέρα σου μου;

No, that word order is not natural.

The unstressed pronoun μου normally goes:

Right before the verb, or
Attached to certain verb forms (like imperatives or gerunds)

In this sentence the natural order is:

Μπορείς να μου περιγράψεις την ημέρα σου…

You cannot put μου after την ημέρα σου in standard speech:

✗ Μπορείς να περιγράψεις την ημέρα σου μου → wrong

If you wanted to say it with a stressed form, you could say:

Μπορείς να περιγράψεις την ημέρα σου σε μένα;
(“…to me”), but σε μένα is a different, stressed form, and it still usually goes earlier in the sentence than in English.

Why is it Μπορείς (2nd person singular) and not Μπορείτε? What is the difference?

Both mean “can you”, but:

Μπορείς = 2nd person singular
- Used when talking to one person informally (friends, family, people your age, children).
Μπορείτε = 2nd person plural
- Used for more than one person,
- Or as a polite singular (to show respect / formality, e.g. to a stranger, teacher, client, etc.).

So:

To a friend: Μπορείς να μου περιγράψεις την ημέρα σου…;
To a teacher or a group: Μπορείτε να μου περιγράψετε την ημέρα σας…;

Why are there accent marks on Μπορείς and ημέρα? Do they change the meaning?

In Greek, every word of more than one syllable has a written stress accent on the stressed syllable:

Μπορείς: stress on -ρείς
ημέρα: stress on -μέ-

The accent shows which syllable is stressed in pronunciation. It usually does not change the basic meaning by itself in this sentence, but:

Leaving accents out (✗ Μπορεις, ✗ ημερα) is considered wrong spelling in standard Greek.
In some word pairs, accent position can change the meaning (e.g. πόνος vs πονό), but that’s not the case here.

So the accents help you pronounce words correctly and are required in correct writing.