Πέρσι πήγα διακοπές στην Ελλάδα.

Last year I went on vacation to Greece.

Breakdown of Πέρσι πήγα διακοπές στην Ελλάδα.

• σε: to
• η Ελλάδα: Greece
• πάω διακοπές: to go on vacation
• πέρσι: last year

Questions & Answers about Πέρσι πήγα διακοπές στην Ελλάδα.

Why is there no word for I in the Greek sentence?

Modern Greek usually drops subject pronouns because the verb ending already shows who is doing the action.

• πήγα is 1st person singular past: I went.
  So εγώ (I) is not needed.

You can add it for emphasis or contrast:

• Εγώ πέρσι πήγα διακοπές στην Ελλάδα.
  = I (as opposed to someone else) went on vacation to Greece last year.

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What is the difference between πέρσι and πέρυσι?

They mean the same thing: last year.

• πέρυσι is slightly more formal / standard.
• πέρσι is more colloquial, but very common and correct.

You can use either in everyday speech:

• Πέρυσι πήγα διακοπές στην Ελλάδα.
• Πέρσι πήγα διακοπές στην Ελλάδα.

Both are fine.

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Why is it πήγα and not something like πηγαίνω?

πήγα is the simple past (aorist) form of the verb πηγαίνω (to go).

• πηγαίνω = I go / I am going (present)
• πήγα = I went (past, completed action)

In this sentence you are talking about a completed event in the past (you went there and that’s over), so Greek uses the aorist: πήγα.

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How is πήγα formed from πηγαίνω? It looks quite different.

This is an example of an irregular aorist.

• Present: πηγαίνω (I go)
• Aorist stem: πήγ-
• 1st person singular aorist ending: -α

So: πήγ + α → πήγα.

You just need to memorize πήγα as the past form of πηγαίνω, like English go → went.

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What is the difference between πήγα and πήγαινα?

Both are past, but they show different aspect:

• πήγα (aorist) = simple past, a whole, completed event:

  • Πέρσι πήγα διακοπές στην Ελλάδα.
    = Last year I went (once, as a complete trip).

• πήγαινα (imperfect) = ongoing / repeated / habitual in the past:

  • Παλιά πήγαινα κάθε καλοκαίρι στην Ελλάδα.
    = I used to go / I was going every summer to Greece.

In your sentence, it’s one specific trip, so πήγα is correct.

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Why is διακοπές in the plural and not singular?

In Greek, holidays / vacation is normally expressed in the plural:

• διακοπές = holidays, vacation (literally "breaks")

The singular η διακοπή means interruption, cut, break in a different sense (e.g. διακοπή ρεύματος = power cut).

So for vacation you almost always use the plural διακοπές:

• Πήγα διακοπές. = I went on vacation.
• Πότε έχεις διακοπές; = When do you have holidays?

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Why is there no article before διακοπές? Why not τις διακοπές?

Here διακοπές is used in a very general way, like a set phrase πάω διακοπές = I go on vacation.

When you talk about holidays in general, especially with πάω (go), Greek often omits the article:

• Πήγα διακοπές. = I went on vacation.

You can add an article when you mean some more specific holidays:

• Πήγα στις διακοπές των Χριστουγέννων.
  = I went (somewhere) during the Christmas holidays.

But the basic "go on vacation" expression is πάω διακοπές (no article).

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Is διακοπές the direct object of πήγα?

Syntactically, διακοπές is in the accusative and functions a bit like an object, but idiomatically this is better seen as a fixed expression:

• πάω διακοπές ≈ "go on vacation"

You could think of it like English "go camping", where camping is not exactly a place; it forms a unit with go.

So, yes, grammatically it is accusative and object-like, but in practice you just learn the chunk πάω διακοπές.

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In στην Ελλάδα, what exactly is στην?

στην is the combination of:

• preposition σε (to / in / at)
• feminine definite article την (the)

So: σε + την → στην.

Because Ελλάδα (Greece) is feminine:

• η Ελλάδα (nominative)
• την Ελλάδα (accusative)

Therefore: στην Ελλάδα = "to/in Greece".

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Why does Greek use an article with Ελλάδα (στην Ελλάδα), when English just says “to Greece”?

In Greek, most country names take a definite article, even when English does not:

• η Ελλάδα = (the) Greece
• η Ιταλία, η Γαλλία, η Ισπανία etc.

With the preposition σε, you still keep the article:

• στην Ελλάδα = to/in Greece
• στην Ιταλία = to/in Italy

This is just a normal feature of Greek; you almost always say την Ελλάδα (or στην Ελλάδα), not bare Ελλάδα after σε.

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Could you say σε Ελλάδα instead of στην Ελλάδα?

In standard modern Greek, no. You need the article:

• ✅ στην Ελλάδα
• ❌ σε Ελλάδα (sounds incomplete / incorrect in normal speech)

The article is part of how you refer to countries in Greek.

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Can the word order change? For example, can I say Πήγα πέρσι διακοπές στην Ελλάδα?

Yes, Greek word order is flexible. All of these are possible and natural, with slightly different emphasis:

• Πέρσι πήγα διακοπές στην Ελλάδα.
• Πήγα πέρσι διακοπές στην Ελλάδα.
• Πήγα διακοπές πέρσι στην Ελλάδα.
• Πήγα διακοπές στην Ελλάδα πέρσι.

Starting with Πέρσι puts more emphasis on last year. Moving πέρσι later can make it sound a bit more like extra information at the end. But all are grammatically correct.

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Is there a difference between πήγα διακοπές στην Ελλάδα and πήγα για διακοπές στην Ελλάδα?

Yes, there is a nuance:

• πήγα διακοπές στην Ελλάδα
  = neutral, idiomatic way to say I went on vacation to Greece. Very common.

• πήγα για διακοπές στην Ελλάδα
  = literally I went for vacation to Greece.
  This can sound a bit more purposeful or contrastive in some contexts (e.g. not for work, but for vacation), and is used less routinely than the simple πήγα διακοπές.

In everyday speech, πήγα διακοπές στην Ελλάδα is the default.