Breakdown of Μην κόβεις τα λαχανικά πολύ γρήγορα, γιατί μπορεί να κόψεις το χέρι σου.
Questions & Answers about Μην κόβεις τα λαχανικά πολύ γρήγορα, γιατί μπορεί να κόψεις το χέρι σου.
Μην is used for negative commands / prohibitions and with να-clauses (subjunctive). It corresponds to don’t in English.
Όχι is the general word for no/not (answering a question, contradicting, etc.), but you normally don’t use όχι to form “Don’t + verb” commands.
Greek negative commands use μην + subjunctive, not the positive imperative form.
So you say μην κόβεις / μην κόψεις, not μην κόψε.
It’s mainly aspect:
- Μην κόβεις (present subjunctive) = “Don’t be cutting / don’t cut (in an ongoing/continuous way)” → focuses on the process, e.g. don’t keep doing it fast.
- Μην κόψεις (aorist subjunctive) = “Don’t cut (even once) / don’t make that cut” → focuses on a single completed action.
Both can translate as Don’t cut, but the nuance differs.
In Modern Greek, many verbs have identical forms for the present indicative and the present subjunctive (the subjunctive is signaled mainly by να or μην).
So κόβεις after μην is understood as subjunctive because μην requires it.
τα λαχανικά means the vegetables (the ones you’re working with). Greek commonly uses the definite article in contexts where English might say just “vegetables.”
You can omit it in some contexts, but with a concrete, immediate situation (cutting specific vegetables), τα sounds natural.
λαχανικά is the general word for vegetables. It can include leafy vegetables too, but greens specifically can also be expressed with words like χόρτα (edible wild greens/leafy greens, depending on context).
πολύ = “very/too/a lot,” and γρήγορα = “quickly,” so πολύ γρήγορα = “very/too quickly.”
The normal order is πολύ + adverb/adjective. γρήγορα πολύ is possible but more marked (often more emphatic or colloquial).
Yes. γιατί can mean:
- because (introducing a reason) — that’s what it does here.
- why? (asking a question), e.g. Γιατί το έκανες; = “Why did you do it?”
Context and punctuation help you tell which meaning is intended.
Here μπορεί is used impersonally: μπορεί να... = “it’s possible that...” / “you might...”.
You can also say μπορείς να... (“you can / you might be able to...”), but the impersonal μπορεί να is extremely common for “might.”
να introduces the subjunctive. After verbs like μπορεί (“it’s possible”), Greek typically uses να + verb rather than an infinitive.
So μπορεί να κόψεις literally works like “it may be that you cut…”.
Because cutting your hand is viewed as a single event (a one-time accident), Greek prefers the aorist subjunctive: να κόψεις.
να κόβεις would suggest something more continuous or repeated (e.g., “you might keep cutting…”), which doesn’t fit as well here.
Greek commonly expresses “hurt yourself / cut yourself” with a body-part noun + possessive, e.g. κόβω το χέρι μου/σου/του.
So κόψεις το χέρι σου = “(you) cut your hand,” which functions like “cut yourself” in meaning, but it’s phrased more literally with the body part.
σου is the genitive form of “you” used as a possessive:
- το χέρι μου = my hand
- το χέρι σου = your (singular) hand
- το χέρι σας = your (plural or polite) hand
It usually comes after the noun in Modern Greek.
It’s very common (and often recommended) to use a comma before γιατί when it introduces a full reason clause:
..., γιατί μπορεί να κόψεις... = “..., because you might cut...”
In very short sentences it may be omitted sometimes, but here the comma is standard.
Yes, that’s also grammatical. Greek word order is flexible, and moving πολύ γρήγορα earlier can add emphasis to the speed.
The original order (Μην κόβεις τα λαχανικά πολύ γρήγορα) is very natural and keeps τα λαχανικά closely tied to the verb κόβεις.