Learn Hardcore Greek: Δεν τρώω συχνά τηγανητές πατάτες, γιατί δεν είναι πολύ υγιεινές. - I don’t often eat fried potatoes, because they are not very healthy.

Greek is a “pro-drop” language: subject pronouns like εγώ (I), εσύ (you), etc. are usually omitted, because the verb ending tells you who the subject is.

τρώω = I eat
τρώς = you eat
τρώει = he/she/it eats

So δεν τρώω already means “I don’t eat”.
You would add εγώ only for emphasis or contrast:

Εγώ δεν τρώω συχνά τηγανητές πατάτες
= I don’t often eat fries (implying maybe others do).

Why is the verb τρώω and not τρώγω or some other form?

The basic verb is τρώω = I eat.

τρώω is the 1st person singular, present tense, active: “I eat / I am eating”.
Forms like τρώγω are old-fashioned or very formal; in modern everyday Greek you use τρώω.
Other forms:
- τρώμε = we eat
- τρώτε = you (plural/polite) eat
- τρώνε / τρών(ε) = they eat

So in this sentence it’s τρώω because the subject is “I”.

What does συχνά mean, and can it go in other places in the sentence?

Συχνά means “often / frequently”. It is an adverb of frequency.

In this sentence:

Δεν τρώω συχνά τηγανητές πατάτες
= I don’t often eat french fries.

Common possible positions:

Δεν τρώω συχνά τηγανητές πατάτες. (very natural, neutral)
Συχνά δεν τρώω τηγανητές πατάτες. (focuses more on “often it happens that I don’t eat fries” – slightly different nuance)
Δεν συχνά τρώω τηγανητές πατάτες. (possible but less natural in everyday speech)

The most natural for “I don’t often eat fries” is the original: Δεν τρώω συχνά τηγανητές πατάτες.

Why is it τηγανητές πατάτες and not something like οι τηγανητές πατάτες or τις τηγανητές πατάτες?

Τηγανητές πατάτες is indefinite plural: “(some) french fries”, “chips” in general, not specific fries.

Greek often uses no article when speaking in general about plural countable things:
- Τρώω μήλα. = I eat apples (apples in general).
- Δεν τρώω τηγανητές πατάτες. = I don’t eat french fries (in general).

With the article τις (accusative plural, definite):

Δεν τρώω τις τηγανητές πατάτες.
= I don’t eat the french fries (those specific fries that we both know about).

So the version without the article here means fries as a general food, not a specific portion.

Why does τηγανητές come before πατάτες, and why does it have this -ές ending?

Τηγανητές πατάτες literally = “fried potatoes”.

Order: adjective before noun
In Greek, the normal order is adjective + noun:
- τηγανητές πατάτες = fried potatoes
- κόκκινο αυτοκίνητο = red car
Agreement (gender, number, case)
- πατάτα is feminine, singular: η πατάτα
- In the sentence we have plural πατάτες (accusative, but fem. plural nominative and accusative look the same).
The adjective τηγανητός must agree with πατάτες:
- masculine plural: τηγανητοί
- neuter plural: τηγανητά
- feminine plural: τηγανητές ← matches πατάτες

So τηγανητές πατάτες = feminine plural adjective + feminine plural noun, grammatically matching.

Why is πατάτες plural? Could you say it in the singular?

In Greek, as in English, this food is normally referred to in the plural:

τηγανητές πατάτες = “french fries / chips” (the dish in general)

You could use the singular πατάτα (potato) in contexts like:

μια τηγανητή πατάτα = one fried potato (one piece, or conceptually one potato)

But for the usual dish “fries”, the natural form is τηγανητές πατάτες (plural), just like English “fries” or British “chips” are usually plural.

What is γιατί doing here? I thought γιατί means “why”.

Γιατί has two main uses:

Question word “why”:
- Γιατί δεν τρως τηγανητές πατάτες;
  = Why don’t you eat french fries?
Conjunction “because”:
- Δεν τρώω συχνά τηγανητές πατάτες, γιατί δεν είναι πολύ υγιεινές.
  = I don’t often eat french fries, because they’re not very healthy.

So in this sentence γιατί means “because”, introducing the reason.
You can usually replace this “because-γιατί” with επειδή without changing the meaning much:

… επειδή δεν είναι πολύ υγιεινές.

What does πολύ mean here? Is it “much”, “very”, or “a lot”?

Πολύ can mean “very” (before adjectives/adverbs) or “much/a lot” (before verbs or some nouns).

Here it comes before an adjective (υγιεινές), so it means “very”:

πολύ υγιεινές = very healthy

Other examples:

πολύ καλός = very good
πολύ γρήγορα = very quickly

When used with verbs or as a pronoun, it means “much / a lot”:

Τρώω πολύ. = I eat a lot.
Δεν έχω πολύ χρόνο. = I don’t have much time.

But in this sentence it clearly modifies υγιεινές, so it’s “very”.

What does υγιεινές mean exactly, and why not υγιείς?

Greek has two different adjectives that both translate as “healthy” in English:

υγιεινός, -ή, -ό
- Used mainly for food, habits, environments = “healthful, good for your health”.
- υγιεινές is the feminine plural form of this:
  - υγιεινός (masc. sing.)
  - υγιεινή (fem. sing.)
  - υγιεινό (neut. sing.)
  - υγιεινοί (masc. pl.)
  - υγιεινές (fem. pl.) ← matches πατάτες
  - υγιεινά (neut. pl.)
υγιής, -ής, -ές
- Usually for people, living beings = “in good health”.
- Είναι υγιής. = He/She is healthy (not sick).

Since we’re talking about a type of food (french fries), the natural adjective is υγιεινές (“healthful”), not υγιείς (“in good health”).

How does the adjective υγιεινές agree with πατάτες in this sentence?

πατάτες is:
- gender: feminine
- number: plural
- case: accusative (object of τρώω)

In the second clause, the subject is still (τηγανητές) πατάτες, understood from context, and the predicate adjective must match it:

υγιεινές is:
- feminine
- plural
- (nominative/accusative feminine plural have the same form)

So πατάτες … είναι υγιεινές = “potatoes are healthy”, with full gender/number agreement.

Could I change the word order and say Δεν συχνά τρώω τηγανητές πατάτες or Συχνά δεν τρώω τηγανητές πατάτες?

Greek word order is fairly flexible, but not all positions sound equally natural.

Δεν τρώω συχνά τηγανητές πατάτες.
→ Most natural, neutral: “I don’t often eat fries.”
Συχνά δεν τρώω τηγανητές πατάτες.
→ Possible, but shifts the focus: “Often, I don’t eat fries” (it emphasizes “often” as a comment about your behavior).
Δεν συχνά τρώω τηγανητές πατάτες.
→ Grammatically possible but sounds awkward / marked in everyday speech.

For the simple idea “I don’t often eat french fries”, keep συχνά after the verb:
Δεν τρώω συχνά τηγανητές πατάτες.