Προσπαθώ να πολεμήσω την αναβλητικότητα, γιατί για εμένα είναι εχθρός των στόχων μου και μπορεί να γίνει εθισμός.

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Breakdown of Προσπαθώ να πολεμήσω την αναβλητικότητα, γιατί για εμένα είναι εχθρός των στόχων μου και μπορεί να γίνει εθισμός.

• και: and
• μπορώ: to be able
• να: to
• μου: my
• γιατί: because
• για: for
• προσπαθώ: to try
• γίνομαι: to become
• εμένα: me
• ο στόχος: the goal
• η αναβλητικότητα: the procrastination
• ο εχθρός: the enemy
• πολεμάω: to fight
• ο εθισμός: the addiction

Questions & Answers about Προσπαθώ να πολεμήσω την αναβλητικότητα, γιατί για εμένα είναι εχθρός των στόχων μου και μπορεί να γίνει εθισμός.

Why do we say προσπαθώ να πολεμήσω and not something like an infinitive (like English “I try to fight”)?

Modern Greek no longer has an infinitive form like English to fight.

Instead, it uses να + verb in the subjunctive to express things that English often uses the infinitive for.

So:

• προσπαθώ να πολεμήσω = I try to fight
• θέλω να φύγω = I want to leave
• πρέπει να διαβάσω = I have to study

The particle να is necessary here; you cannot say ✗ προσπαθώ πολεμήσω.
So the structure is:

προσπαθώ + να + (subjunctive verb)

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Is πολεμήσω a future tense? I know θα πολεμήσω means “I will fight”.

πολεμήσω by itself is not “future”; it is the aorist subjunctive form of the verb πολεμάω / πολεμώ (to fight).

• θα πολεμήσω → θα + aorist subjunctive = I will fight (future)
• να πολεμήσω → να + aorist subjunctive = (that I) fight / to fight (subjunctive)

So the same stem πολεμήσω is used in different constructions:

• With θα → future meaning
• With να → subjunctive meaning (after verbs like προσπαθώ, θέλω, πρέπει etc.)

In the sentence:

Προσπαθώ να πολεμήσω την αναβλητικότητα…

πολεμήσω is there because of να, not because of future tense.

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Why is it να πολεμήσω (aorist) and not να πολεμάω / να πολεμώ (present)? What’s the difference?

Greek distinguishes aspect (how you view the action):

• Present subjunctive (e.g. να πολεμάω/να πολεμώ) = ongoing, repeated, or habitual action.
• Aorist subjunctive (e.g. να πολεμήσω) = a whole action seen as a single effort or event.

Here:

Προσπαθώ να πολεμήσω την αναβλητικότητα…

using να πολεμήσω presents the fight against procrastination as a single, goal‑oriented effort: I’m trying to (really) beat it / overcome it.

If you said:

Προσπαθώ να πολεμάω την αναβλητικότητα

it would sound more like: I’m trying to be in a state of constantly fighting procrastination (emphasising the ongoing activity).

Both are grammatically possible; να πολεμήσω is just the more natural choice when you think of it as a decisive effort to overcome something.

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Why is it την αναβλητικότητα with the article την? In English we just say “procrastination”, usually without “the”.

Greek uses the definite article much more than English, especially:

• with abstract nouns (like procrastination, love, freedom)
• when they act as general concepts or are being talked about concretely.

So:

• την αναβλητικότητα = procrastination (as a specific thing/concept I’m dealing with)

Leaving out the article:

• πολεμήσω αναβλητικότητα

would sound either wrong or at least very unnatural in standard Greek.

Compare:

• Μισώ την αδικία. = I hate injustice.
• Αγαπάω τη μουσική. = I love music.

In English you normally omit “the”, but in Greek the article is expected.

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Why is αναβλητικότητα in the form την αναβλητικότητα here? What case and gender is it?

Αναβλητικότητα is:

• gender: feminine
• base form (nominative singular): η αναβλητικότητα
• accusative singular: την αναβλητικότητα

The verb πολεμάω / πολεμώ (to fight) is transitive, so it takes a direct object in the accusative case:

να πολεμήσω + τι; → την αναβλητικότητα
(to fight + what? → procrastination)

So την αναβλητικότητα is simply the feminine accusative singular form required after a transitive verb.

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What is the difference between γιατί and επειδή here? Could I say επειδή για εμένα είναι εχθρός… instead?

Both γιατί and επειδή can mean “because” in causal clauses:

• Προσπαθώ να πολεμήσω την αναβλητικότητα, γιατί…
• Προσπαθώ να πολεμήσω την αναβλητικότητα, επειδή…

Both are grammatically fine in this sentence.

Differences:

• γιατί has two main uses:
  • why (question) → Γιατί αργείς; (Why are you late?)
  • because (answer) → Γιατί είχε κίνηση. (Because there was traffic.)
• επειδή means only because (never why), and often feels a bit more neutral or slightly more formal/explicit as “because”.

In everyday speech, γιατί is extremely common in both questions and answers, so the original sentence feels very natural and conversational.

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Why is it για εμένα? Could I say για μένα, or just leave it out?

All of these are possible; they just differ in formality and emphasis.

Forms of the 1st person singular pronoun:

• εγώ = I
• εμένα (or colloquial μένα) = me (stressed form)

In the phrase:

για εμένα = for me / in my opinion

• για εμένα sounds a bit more careful or emphatic.
• για μένα is the most common spoken form; perfectly natural.

• Completely omitting it:

  …γιατί είναι εχθρός των στόχων μου…

  would mean because it is an enemy of my goals in a more general way, not clearly marked as my personal view.

So:

• για εμένα / για μένα → for me, personally / in my view
• Leaving it out → more general statement

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In είναι εχθρός των στόχων μου, why is εχθρός without an article? Why not είναι ο εχθρός των στόχων μου?

Greek articles work much like English a / the in such cases.

• είναι εχθρός των στόχων μου
  = it is an enemy of my goals (one of the enemies, or in general “an enemy”)

• είναι ο εχθρός των στόχων μου
  = it is the enemy of my goals (the main or unique enemy)

The original sentence:

…γιατί για εμένα είναι εχθρός των στόχων μου…

presents procrastination as an enemy of the speaker’s goals, not necessarily the one and only enemy.

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Why is it των στόχων μου and not something like τους στόχους μου? What case is this?

Στόχος (goal, target) declines like this:

• ο στόχος (nom. sg.)
• τον στόχο (acc. sg.)
• οι στόχοι (nom. pl.)
• τους στόχους (acc. pl.)
• των στόχων (gen. pl.)

After nouns like εχθρός (enemy), Greek uses the genitive case to express “of”:

• εχθρός των στόχων μου = enemy of my goals
• φίλος του πατέρα μου = friend of my father

So:

• των στόχων = genitive plural “of the goals”
• μου = my (unstressed possessive clitic)

Putting them together:

εχθρός των στόχων μου = enemy of my goals

Using τους στόχους μου would be accusative and would not fit this structure.

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Why does μου come after στόχων (as των στόχων μου) and not before, like English “my goals”?

In Greek, the unstressed possessive pronouns (μου, σου, του, της, μας, σας, τους) normally come after the noun:

• το βιβλίο μου = my book
• οι φίλοι σου = your friends
• τα πράγματά μας = our things

So:

οι στόχοι μου = my goals
των στόχων μου = of my goals

If you want to put a possessive before the noun, you usually use a stressed form with the article:

• οι στόχοι μου (normal)
• οι δικοί μου στόχοι (more emphatic: my own goals)

So των στόχων μου follows the normal pattern: noun in genitive plural + postposed possessive μου.

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What does μπορεί να γίνει εθισμός literally mean, and why is it γίνει and not είναι?

Literally:

• μπορεί = it can / it may
• να γίνει = (that it) become
• εθισμός = addiction

So:

μπορεί να γίνει εθισμός = it can become an addiction

Why γίνει?

• γίνει is the 3rd person singular aorist subjunctive of γίνομαι (to become, to turn into).
• The structure μπορεί να + subjunctive expresses possibility / ability:
  • Μπορεί να φύγει. = He/She can/might leave.
  • Μπορεί να αλλάξει. = It can/might change.

Here, using είναι would change the meaning:

• μπορεί να είναι εθισμός = it may be an addiction (already)
• μπορεί να γίνει εθισμός = it can become an addiction (in the future)

So γίνει is used because we’re talking about becoming, not about already being something.

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What exactly is the form γίνει? I know έγινα is “I became”.

The verb γίνομαι (to become, to happen) has:

• past tense (aorist, 1st person sg.): έγινα = I became
• aorist subjunctive stem: γίνω

From that stem we get:

• να γίνω (1st sg. subj.) = (that) I become
• να γίνει (3rd sg. subj.) = (that) it/he/she become

So:

μπορεί να γίνει εθισμός
= it may / can become an addiction

Here γίνει is:

• 3rd person singular
• aorist subjunctive
• used after να in the μπορεί να construction.

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Could I say Προσπαθώ να καταπολεμήσω την αναβλητικότητα instead of να πολεμήσω? Is there a difference?

Yes, you can say:

Προσπαθώ να καταπολεμήσω την αναβλητικότητα…

and it sounds very natural.

Difference in nuance:

• πολεμώ (να πολεμήσω) = fight, wage war against (more general “fight”)
• καταπολεμώ (να καταπολεμήσω) = combat, fight effectively, try to overcome / eliminate

So:

• να πολεμήσω την αναβλητικότητα = to fight procrastination
• να καταπολεμήσω την αναβλητικότητα = to combat / overcome procrastination (slightly stronger sense of trying to defeat it)

Both are correct; καταπολεμήσω just sounds a bit more “targeted” and often a bit more formal.