Μακάρι να μπορούσες κι εσύ να ήσουν εδώ τώρα μαζί μου στην Ελλάδα.

to be

Breakdown of Μακάρι να μπορούσες κι εσύ να ήσουν εδώ τώρα μαζί μου στην Ελλάδα.

• τώρα: now
• εδώ: here
• εσύ: you

Questions & Answers about Μακάρι να μπορούσες κι εσύ να ήσουν εδώ τώρα μαζί μου στην Ελλάδα.

In the sentence Μακάρι να μπορούσες κι εσύ να ήσουν εδώ τώρα μαζί μου στην Ελλάδα, what exactly does μακάρι mean? Is it like hopefully or I wish?

Μακάρι expresses a strong wish, often about something that is not true or not very likely.
In English it usually corresponds to:

• I wish…
• If only…

So the sentence starts with something like “I wish / If only you could…”, not with the weaker “hopefully”.
It’s quite common and neutral in modern Greek, used both in speech and writing.

Why is να μπορούσες in the past tense (imperfect) if the wish is about now?

Greek often uses a past tense with να to express unreal or unlikely wishes about the present, similar to English using the past in I wish you *were here*.

• Μπορείς = you can (real, present ability)
• Να μπορείς = (subjunctive) that you can / for you to be able
• Να μπορούσες = that you could (but in fact you can’t → unreal / hypothetical)

So μακάρι να μπορούσες means “I wish you could (but you actually can’t)”.

What is the difference between να μπορείς and να μπορούσες here?

• would sound like a wish about something still or open: .