Breakdown of Για να κερδίσω την υποτροφία, πρέπει να συμπληρώσω προσεκτικά όλα τα έντυπα.
Questions & Answers about Για να κερδίσω την υποτροφία, πρέπει να συμπληρώσω προσεκτικά όλα τα έντυπα.
Για να introduces a purpose clause and usually translates as “in order to / so as to / to (for the purpose of)”.
- Για να κερδίσω την υποτροφία → In order to get/win the scholarship
- It answers the question “Why? For what purpose?”
By contrast, plain να usually just introduces a subjunctive clause without necessarily expressing purpose:
- Θέλω να κερδίσω την υποτροφία. → I want to win the scholarship.
- Πρέπει να συμπληρώσω τα έντυπα. → I must fill in the forms.
So:
- να = links to a verb in the subjunctive (after verbs like θέλω, πρέπει, μπορώ etc.).
- για να = explicitly gives the goal/purpose of an action.
Κερδίσω is the aorist subjunctive (1st person singular).
Κερδίζω is the present indicative (and also the present subjunctive form in modern Greek).
Here, για να κερδίσω expresses achieving a single, complete result in the future (winning the scholarship once), not an ongoing or repeated process. Greek uses the aorist in such cases:
- για να κερδίσω → for me to win (once, achieve the result)
- για να κερδίζω would sound like so that I may be (habitually/continuously) winning, which doesn’t fit this context.
So the aorist subjunctive κερδίσω is natural when the focus is on reaching a specific goal.
Την υποτροφία uses the definite article (την, feminine accusative singular), so it means the scholarship – a specific one that both speaker and listener know about (e.g. the particular scholarship being applied for).
- την υποτροφία → the scholarship (that we’ve been talking about)
- μια υποτροφία → a scholarship, some scholarship (not specified)
You could say:
- Για να κερδίσω μια υποτροφία… → In order to win a scholarship…
That would mean any scholarship, not a particular one already identified. In most real-life contexts (a specific scholarship application), την υποτροφία is more natural.
The sentence has two parts:
- Για να κερδίσω την υποτροφία → a subordinate clause of purpose (in order to…)
- πρέπει να συμπληρώσω προσεκτικά όλα τα έντυπα → the main clause (I must…)
When a clause like Για να… comes first, Greek normally separates it from the main clause with a comma, just as English does:
- Για να κερδίσω την υποτροφία, πρέπει να…
- In order to win the scholarship, I must…
If you reversed the order, you would usually not use a comma:
- Πρέπει να συμπληρώσω προσεκτικά όλα τα έντυπα για να κερδίσω την υποτροφία.
(No comma needed here.)
Πρέπει is an impersonal verb meaning “it is necessary / one must / have to”.
Να introduces the following verb in the subjunctive.
So:
- πρέπει να συμπληρώσω → literally: “it is necessary that I complete/fill in”
and in normal English: “I must / I have to fill in”.
After πρέπει να, Greek almost always uses a subjunctive form (aorist or present), not the indicative. Here:
- συμπληρώσω = aorist subjunctive, 1st person singular
- It expresses that I must complete the action once, to achieve a result (fill in the forms fully).
Compare:
- Πρέπει να συμπληρώσω τα έντυπα. → I must (completely) fill in the forms (one-time task).
- Πρέπει να συμπληρώνω τα έντυπα. → I must be (habitually) filling in the forms (sounds like a repeated/ongoing obligation, e.g. part of a job).
They are different aspects of the same verb:
- συμπληρώνω → present (and also present subjunctive form), imperfective aspect
Focus on duration, repetition, process: I fill in / I am filling in / I keep filling in. - συμπληρώσω → aorist subjunctive, perfective aspect
Focus on completion/result: for me to (fully) fill in / complete.
In this context, filling in all the forms is a single task to be completed, so Greek prefers the aorist subjunctive:
- πρέπει να συμπληρώσω… (not να συμπληρώνω)
→ I must complete filling them in.
Προσεκτικά is an adverb meaning carefully. Its default, very natural position is after the verb it modifies:
- να συμπληρώσω προσεκτικά → to fill in carefully
Other options are possible, but may sound slightly more marked or emphatic:
- να συμπληρώσω όλα τα έντυπα προσεκτικά
(emphasis a bit more on all the forms as a group) - να συμπληρώσω προσεκτικά όλα τα έντυπα
(the original and most neutral-sounding word order) - να τα συμπληρώσω προσεκτικά όλα
(more spoken, more emphasis, “to fill them all in carefully”)
Putting προσεκτικά before the verb (προσεκτικά να συμπληρώσω) is possible but tends to sound more emphatic or stylistic, less neutral.
Έντυπα is the neuter plural of έντυπο.
- έντυπο literally: printed material / printed document / form
- έντυπα: printed documents / forms
In bureaucratic or administrative contexts, έντυπο is often very close to English “form” (like a paper you fill in with your details). So:
- όλα τα έντυπα → all the forms / all the printed forms/documents
Another more colloquial option for forms is φόρμες, but έντυπα is very natural in official or semi-formal contexts.
In Greek, when you have όλα (all) before a countable noun, you almost always use the definite article too:
- όλα τα έντυπα → all the forms
- όλες τις πόρτες → all the doors
- όλους τους μαθητές → all the students
So the pattern is:
- όλα + definite article + noun (in the right case)
Saying όλα έντυπα would be ungrammatical in this context. The article τα is required.
They are both direct objects of their respective verbs, and Greek marks direct objects with the accusative case.
κερδίσω την υποτροφία
- verb: κερδίσω
- direct object: την υποτροφία (accusative feminine singular)
συμπληρώσω… όλα τα έντυπα
- verb: συμπληρώσω
- direct object: όλα τα έντυπα (accusative neuter plural)
In English, word order alone usually shows what is the object. In Greek, both word order and case endings/articles show which noun is the object.
Yes, you can say Για να πάρω την υποτροφία and it is grammatically correct and common.
Nuance:
- κερδίζω την υποτροφία → to win/earn the scholarship
It suggests competition or merit: you “win” it because you deserve it (grades, performance, etc.). - παίρνω την υποτροφία → to get/receive the scholarship
More neutral; it focuses on obtaining/receiving, not on the “winning” aspect.
Both are used, but κερδίσω slightly emphasizes achievement/merit, while πάρω just says get.
Greek usually omits subject pronouns when the verb ending already shows the person.
- κερδίσω and συμπληρώσω are both:
- 1st person singular
- subjunctive
- aorist
Those endings tell us the subject is “I”, so you don’t need εγώ:
- Για να κερδίσω την υποτροφία… → In order (for me) to win the scholarship…
- πρέπει να συμπληρώσω… → I must fill in…
You could say Εγώ πρέπει να συμπληρώσω… for emphasis (I must fill them in, not someone else), but in neutral style it’s omitted.
Yes, you can reorder it:
- Πρέπει να συμπληρώσω προσεκτικά όλα τα έντυπα για να κερδίσω την υποτροφία.
The meaning is essentially the same:
I must carefully fill in all the forms in order to win the scholarship.
Differences:
- Original: Για να κερδίσω την υποτροφία, πρέπει να…
→ slightly more emphasis on the goal/purpose (winning the scholarship). - Reordered: Πρέπει να… για να κερδίσω την υποτροφία.
→ starts with the obligation and then adds the purpose.
Both are completely natural Greek.