Learn Hardcore Greek: Όποτε κάνει πολλή ζέστη, ξεχνάω τη δίαιτά μου γιατί παραγγέλνω πίτσα αντί για υγιεινό φαγητό. - Whenever it is very hot, I forget my diet because I order pizza instead of healthy food.

Όταν = when (more neutral, can be for a specific or repeated time)
- Όταν φτάσω, θα σου τηλεφωνήσω. = When I arrive, I’ll call you.
- Όταν κάνει ζέστη, ανοίγω το παράθυρο. = When it’s hot, I open the window.
Όποτε = whenever / any time that (more strongly suggests repeated / habitual situations)
- Όποτε κάνει πολλή ζέστη, πάμε στη θάλασσα. = Whenever it’s very hot, we go to the sea.
Αν = if (a condition, not just time)
- Αν κάνει πολλή ζέστη, δεν θα βγούμε. = If it’s very hot, we won’t go out.

In many everyday contexts, όταν and όποτε can both sound natural, but όποτε focuses more clearly on every time this happens.

Why do we say κάνει πολλή ζέστη and not use είναι (like “it is hot”)?

In Greek, to talk about the weather and temperature, common idiomatic expressions are:

κάνει ζέστη (literally “it makes heat”)
έχει ζέστη (literally “it has heat”)

Both are used and understood as “it is hot”.

We do not say ✗ είναι ζέστη for the weather. Instead:

Σήμερα κάνει ζέστη. / Σήμερα έχει ζέστη. = It’s hot today.
Σήμερα κάνει πολλή ζέστη. = Today it’s very hot.

So in your sentence:

Όποτε κάνει πολλή ζέστη…
= Whenever it is very hot…

The verb κάνει is just part of this fixed weather expression.

Why is it πολλή ζέστη and not πολύ ζέστη?

Πολύ and πολλή are related but not identical:

πολύ (without an extra -η) is usually an adverb: “very / a lot”.
πολλή is the feminine singular form of the adjective πολύς, πολλή, πολύ = “much / many”.

Ζέστη is a feminine singular noun, so when you say “a lot of heat”, the adjective must agree:

πολλή ζέστη = a lot of heat / very hot weather

You could also see:

πολλή δουλειά = a lot of work (δουλειά is feminine)
πολύς χρόνος = a lot of time (χρόνος is masculine)
πολύ νερό = a lot of water (νερό is neuter uncountable → often takes adverb-like πολύ)

Note: In spoken language, many people say πολύ ζέστη, and it’s widely heard, but πολλή ζέστη is the grammatically “correct” agreement form.

Why is it τη δίαιτά μου and not την δίαιτά μου?

This is about the “movable ν” (το τελικό ν) in Greek.

The feminine accusative singular article is:

την before a vowel or some consonants
τη (without ν) before most consonants in everyday speech and writing

Traditional rule: keep the final -ν (ν) before κ, π, τ, ξ, ψ, γκ, μπ, ντ and all vowels.
Otherwise, it’s often dropped:

την εξετάση (before vowel)
την πόρτα (before π)
τη δίαιτα (before δ)

So:

τη δίαιτά μου is standard modern usage.
την δίαιτά μου is also possible (more careful / older style), but τη here is completely normal.

Conclusion: τη δίαιτά μου is the everyday, natural form.

Why does the accent move in δίαιτα → δίαιτά μου?

This is caused by the enclitic pronoun μου (“my”).

Basic word:

η δίαιτα = the diet (accent on the third-from-last syllable: δί-αι-τα → proparoxytone)

Greek has a rule:
When a proparoxytone word (accent on the third-from-last syllable) is followed by an enclitic (like μου, σου, του, της, μας, σας, τους), an additional accent is added to keep the stress in a natural position.

So:

η δίαιτα
η δίαιτά μου (extra accent on the last syllable of the noun)

You see the same pattern in other words:

το σπίτι → το σπίτι μου (no change, accent is not on third-from-last)
η άσκηση → η άσκησή μου
το γράμμα → το γράμμα μου

In short: δίαιτά is stressed this way only because of the following enclitic μου.

Why do we need the article τη in τη δίαιτά μου? Why not just δίαιτά μου for “my diet”?

In Greek, possession with μου / σου / του / της / μας / σας / τους almost always uses the definite article:

το βιβλίο μου = my book
η φίλη μου = my (female) friend
το αυτοκίνητό μου = my car
τη δίαιτά μου = my diet

Saying ✗ δίαιτά μου without τη is unusual and sounds incomplete or poetic/marked in most contexts.

In English, “my” replaces “the”, but in Greek:

article + noun + possessive pronoun

That’s the default pattern. So τη δίαιτά μου is the normal way to say “my diet”.

What is the difference between ξεχνάω and ξεχνώ?

Both mean “I forget” and both are correct. They’re two forms of the same verb.

Many verbs in Greek have two present forms:

A longer -άω form (more common in speech)
A shorter -ώ form (slightly more formal / written, but also used in speech)

Examples:

ξεχνάω / ξεχνώ = I forget
μπορώ / μποράω (here mostly μπορώ)
αγαπάω / αγαπώ = I love
κρατάω / κρατώ = I hold / keep

In this sentence:

ξεχνάω τη δίαιτά μου = I forget my diet

You could also say:

ξεχνώ τη δίαιτά μου

Same meaning; ξεχνάω just feels a bit more colloquial in many people’s speech.

Does γιατί here mean “why” or “because”? How do I know?

Γιατί in Greek can mean both:

“Why” (question)
“Because” (answer / conjunction)

You know the function from context and punctuation:

As a question word (why):
- Γιατί παραγγέλνεις πίτσα; = Why do you order pizza?
  Usually with a question mark, and often at the beginning.
As “because”:
- Παραγγέλνω πίτσα γιατί κάνει πολλή ζέστη. = I order pizza because it’s very hot.

In your sentence:

…ξεχνάω τη δίαιτά μου γιατί παραγγέλνω πίτσα…
Here γιατί clearly introduces the reason, so it means “because”, not “why”.

Why is there no article before πίτσα? Why not μια πίτσα?

Πίτσα can be used:

Without an article to mean something like “pizza in general / pizza as a kind of food”, or as an indefinite quantity in a casual way.
With μια or την to refer to one specific pizza.

In your sentence:

παραγγέλνω πίτσα
→ “I order pizza” (in general, that’s what I tend to order)

If you say:

παραγγέλνω μια πίτσα
→ “I order a pizza” (one pizza, countable, more specific)

Since this sentence describes a habit (what you usually do whenever it’s hot), παραγγέλνω πίτσα without the article feels more natural and generic.

What does αντί για mean, and what case follows it?

Αντί για means “instead of”.

αντί για υγιεινό φαγητό = instead of healthy food

Grammatically:

αντί is a preposition meaning “instead of / in place of”.
για here softens it; αντί για is very common in everyday speech.
It is followed by the accusative case.

Examples:

Θέλω νερό αντί για αναψυκτικό. = I want water instead of a soft drink.
Πήρε ταξί αντί για λεωφορείο. = He/She took a taxi instead of a bus.

In your sentence, υγιεινό φαγητό is in the accusative (neuter singular), so it fits right after αντί για.

What’s the difference between υγιεινό φαγητό and words like υγιής? Why υγιεινό here?

Greek has two related words:

υγιής = healthy (usually for people, organisms, systems)
- Είναι υγιής. = He/She is healthy.
υγιεινός, υγιεινή, υγιεινό = healthy / healthful (for food, habits, environment)
- υγιεινό φαγητό = healthy food
- υγιεινός τρόπος ζωής = a healthy lifestyle

In υγιεινό φαγητό:

φαγητό = food (neuter singular)
υγιεινό = neuter singular adjective agreeing with φαγητό

So υγιεινό φαγητό is the natural phrase for “healthy food” (food that is good for your health).

Why do we use the present tense παραγγέλνω and ξεχνάω with Όποτε? Is it talking about now or about a habit?

Here, the present tense expresses a habitual / repeated action, not just something happening “right now”.

Όποτε κάνει πολλή ζέστη, ξεχνάω τη δίαιτά μου γιατί παραγγέλνω πίτσα…
= Whenever it’s very hot, I (tend to) forget my diet because I (tend to) order pizza…

This is a common Greek pattern:

Όποτε βαριέμαι, ανοίγω το κινητό μου. = Whenever I’m bored, I open my phone.
Όταν βρέχει, μένουμε στο σπίτι. = When it rains, we stay at home.

So the simple present in Greek often corresponds to English “present simple for habits” (I go, I eat, I order) in such whenever/when clauses.

Why is it τη δίαιτά μου and not something like a separate possessive adjective (like “my” in English)?

Modern Greek doesn’t use separate possessive adjectives like English my, your, his…. Instead, it uses clitic pronouns in the genitive:

μου = my
σου = your (singular)
του / της / του = his / her / its
μας = our
σας = your (plural / formal)
τους = their

These come after the noun and usually after the article:

το σπίτι μου = my house
η μητέρα σου = your mother
τη δίαιτά μου = my diet

Thus μου is not a separate word like English “my” that comes before the noun; it is a clitic pronoun that follows the noun, almost like “the diet of-me”.

Is the comma before γιατί necessary? How does punctuation work with this kind of sentence?

Yes, the comma before γιατί is natural here because we are separating:

The main clause:
- Όποτε κάνει πολλή ζέστη, ξεχνάω τη δίαιτά μου
The subordinate reason clause introduced by γιατί:
- γιατί παραγγέλνω πίτσα αντί για υγιεινό φαγητό.

Greek usually uses commas:

After dependent time clauses at the beginning:
- Όταν τελειώσω, θα φύγω.
- Όποτε κάνει πολλή ζέστη, ξεχνάω τη δίαιτά μου…
Before γιατί when it introduces a reason clause:
- Δεν ήρθα, γιατί ήμουν άρρωστος. = I didn’t come because I was sick.

So the comma structure in your sentence is standard and helps show the logical pauses.