Breakdown of Σήμερα λέω να μείνω σπίτι· έχω να διαβάσω ελληνικά και ίσως χτυπήσει το κουδούνι για ένα πακέτο.
Questions & Answers about Σήμερα λέω να μείνω σπίτι· έχω να διαβάσω ελληνικά και ίσως χτυπήσει το κουδούνι για ένα πακέτο.
Literally, λέω να μείνω σπίτι is “I say (that) I stay at home,” but in modern Greek this is an idiomatic structure.
λέω να + subjunctive (λέω να + να + verb) usually means:
- “I’m thinking of / I’m planning to / I feel like (doing something)”
So:
- Σήμερα λέω να μείνω σπίτι ≈ “Today I’m thinking of staying home / I guess I’ll stay home.”
It’s softer and more tentative than a straight decision. Compare:
- Θα μείνω σπίτι. – “I will stay home.” (clear decision)
- Λέω να μείνω σπίτι. – “I’m thinking I’ll stay home.” (more casual / tentative)
Greek often uses the present tense for:
- decisions, plans, or arrangements about the near future, especially when combined with adverbs like σήμερα (today), αύριο (tomorrow), etc.
So:
- Σήμερα λέω να μείνω σπίτι.
Literally: “Today I say ‘to stay home’.”
Meaning: “Today I’m (now) deciding / saying to myself that I’ll stay home.”
The decision is in the present; the staying home is in the near future. This is similar to English:
- “I think I’ll stay home today.”
(Present “think” about a future action.)
Greek verbs distinguish aspect: roughly, ongoing vs single/complete event.
- μένω – present subjunctive/indicative, imperfective aspect (ongoing, repeated, habitual)
- μείνω – aorist subjunctive, perfective aspect (one whole action/event)
In the expression λέω να + verb, you normally use the aorist subjunctive (perfective), because you’re talking about doing X as a whole action:
- λέω να μείνω σπίτι – “I’m thinking of staying home (for the day / as a single decision).”
If you said λέω να μένω σπίτι, it would sound like:
- “I’m thinking of living / staying at home (habitually, as a general pattern).”
So here να μείνω is correct because it’s about today’s single action / decision.
In Greek, when you talk about being at home in a general sense, you often use σπίτι with no article and no preposition:
- Είμαι σπίτι. – “I’m at home.”
- Θα μείνω σπίτι. – “I’ll stay (at) home.”
Compare a few options:
- μένω σπίτι – “I stay home / I live at home” (generic “home” idea)
- μένω στο σπίτι – “I stay in the house / at the house” (more concrete location, can feel more physical)
- μένω σπίτι μου – “I stay at my home / my place.”
In your sentence, μείνω σπίτι uses the idiomatic “at home” meaning, so no article or preposition is needed.
That raised dot is the άνω τελεία (literally “upper dot”).
Functionally, it’s somewhere between a semicolon and a colon in English:
- It separates two clauses more strongly than a comma, but less than a full stop.
- Often it suggests a slight pause and a close logical connection (like “because,” “since,” “and”).
In your sentence:
- Σήμερα λέω να μείνω σπίτι· έχω να διαβάσω ελληνικά...
You can read it like:
“Today I think I’ll stay home; I have to study Greek...”
In everyday modern writing, people often just use a comma or a full stop instead of the άνω τελεία, but it’s the more “correct” punctuation here.
έχω να + verb literally is “I have to + verb,” but it carries the idea of:
- “I have (something) to do; I have this on my to‑do list / as a pending task.”
So:
- Έχω να διαβάσω ελληνικά.
≈ “I have Greek to study / I have some Greek I need to study.”
Compared with:
- Πρέπει να διαβάσω ελληνικά. – “I must / I should study Greek.” (focus on obligation/necessity)
Subtle nuance:
- έχω να διαβάσω → emphasizes that there is some work pending, something you’re supposed to get through.
- πρέπει να διαβάσω → emphasizes duty/necessity.
Both can often be translated as “I have to study Greek”; the difference is very slight in many contexts.
Again, this is about aspect:
- διαβάζω – present subjunctive/indicative, imperfective (ongoing, repeated, process)
- διαβάσω – aorist subjunctive, perfective (a whole task, completed event)
With έχω να + verb, Greek normally uses the aorist subjunctive, because we think of the task as a bounded unit of work to get done:
- Έχω να διαβάσω ελληνικά.
→ There is a chunk of studying I must do.
If you said έχω να διαβάζω ελληνικά, it would sound odd or non‑standard; it might suggest “I have to be in a state of constantly studying Greek,” which is not what you mean here.
ελληνικά is the neuter plural of the adjective “Greek” and is used as a noun: “(the) Greek language.”
In many contexts, language names in Greek are used:
- without an article when they act as a general, abstract object:
- Διαβάζω ελληνικά. – “I study Greek.”
- Μιλάω ελληνικά. – “I speak Greek.”
You can say τα ελληνικά, but that slightly shifts nuance:
- Διαβάζω τα ελληνικά. can mean
“I’m reading the Greek (texts)” or “I’m studying the Greek (course/material),”
focusing more on specific material, not just the language as an abstract skill.
In your sentence, έχω να διαβάσω ελληνικά = “I have to study Greek (the language),” so no article is the natural choice.
ίσως means “maybe / perhaps.”
In modern Greek, ίσως is usually followed by:
- a subjunctive form (with or without an explicit να), or
- sometimes an indicative, especially in colloquial speech.
Here:
- ίσως χτυπήσει το κουδούνι
uses χτυπήσει = aorist subjunctive of χτυπάω.
You normally do not combine ίσως with θα in standard modern Greek:
- ✗ ίσως θα χτυπήσει το κουδούνι (not natural/standard)
- ✓ ίσως χτυπήσει το κουδούνι – “maybe the doorbell will ring.”
- ✓ μπορεί να χτυπήσει το κουδούνι – “it might ring (it’s possible).”
So ίσως + subjunctive is the standard pattern for “maybe (something will happen).”
χτυπήσει is:
- 3rd person singular
- aorist subjunctive
- of the verb χτυπάω / χτυπώ (“to knock, to ring, to hit”).
Why aorist subjunctive?
- The aorist (perfective) aspect presents the action as a single event – one ring/incident.
- In contexts of possibility, intention, purpose etc., Greek typically uses the subjunctive:
after να, ίσως, μπορεί να, θέλω να, etc.
Here, ίσως χτυπήσει το κουδούνι means:
- “Maybe the doorbell will ring (at some point),”
where the ringing is a single possible event in the future.
In Greek, the definite article is used:
- much more often than in English,
- with things that are uniquely identifiable in the situation, even if not previously mentioned.
το κουδούνι here means “the doorbell” of the speaker’s home. In the context “I’m at home; the bell might ring,” there is a clear, context‑specific bell, so Greek naturally uses the definite article:
- χτυπάει το κουδούνι. – “The doorbell is ringing.”
- Άκουσα το κουδούνι. – “I heard the doorbell.”
Using ένα κουδούνι (“a bell”) would sound like you mean some random bell, not the doorbell at your house.
για is a very common preposition, one of its core meanings is “for” (indicating purpose or reason).
- για ένα πακέτο = “for a package / for a parcel.”
In context:
- ίσως χτυπήσει το κουδούνι για ένα πακέτο.
→ “the doorbell may ring for a package,” i.e.,
“the bell might ring because a package is coming / because of a delivery.”
Using με ένα πακέτο would mean “with a package” (describing what someone is carrying), not the reason for ringing.
So για + noun here introduces the reason/purpose of the action.
Greek is a pro‑drop language: subject pronouns are usually omitted when the verb ending already tells you who the subject is.
- λέω → 1st person singular → “I say / I’m thinking” → εγώ is understood.
- μείνω (after λέω να) → also 1st person singular → “(that) I stay.”
- χτυπήσει → 3rd person singular → subject must be το κουδούνι.
So:
- Σήμερα λέω να μείνω σπίτι
literally: “Today (I) say (that I) stay at home.” - No need to say εγώ λέω unless you want to emphasize I (as opposed to someone else).
Similarly, Greek doesn’t use an explicit “it”:
- ίσως χτυπήσει το κουδούνι – “maybe the doorbell will ring,”
no “it” required.
Yes, Greek word order is fairly flexible, and both of these are possible:
- ίσως χτυπήσει το κουδούνι
- ίσως το κουδούνι χτυπήσει
They both mean “maybe the doorbell will ring,” but there are slight differences in rhythm and emphasis:
- ίσως χτυπήσει το κουδούνι is the most neutral and common order.
- ίσως το κουδούνι χτυπήσει puts a bit more weight on το κουδούνι, as if you contrast it with some other noise/thing.
In everyday speech, the original order sounds most natural in this context.
Yes, you could say:
- Σήμερα λέω να μείνω σπίτι μου.
Both:
- να μείνω σπίτι and
- να μείνω σπίτι μου
can mean “stay at home (my home)” in this context.
Nuance:
- σπίτι alone already implies “my home” when you’re talking about your own plans:
μένω σπίτι → “I stay home (where I live).” - σπίτι μου explicitly marks “my home,” adding a bit of personal or contrastive emphasis (as opposed to someone else’s place, the office, etc.).
In your sentence, σπίτι alone is perfectly natural and idiomatic; σπίτι μου is also correct but slightly more explicit.
Yes, there is a tonal difference.
Σήμερα λέω να μείνω σπίτι...
→ sounds casual, tentative, reflective.
Like: “Today I’m thinking I’ll stay home…” / “I guess I’ll stay home today…”Σήμερα θα μείνω σπίτι, έχω να διαβάσω ελληνικά...
→ sounds more definite and determined.
Like: “Today I will stay home, I have Greek to study…”
So λέω να softens the statement and presents it more as a current idea/plan, not as a firm resolution.