Με πονάει η κοιλιά μου, γι’ αυτό δεν θέλω να φάω τώρα.

Because Greek often expresses pain as something hurts me.

So:

• με = me
• πονάει = hurts
• η κοιλιά μου = my stomach

Literally, the structure is closer to My stomach hurts me, even though natural English usually says My stomach hurts.

Yes. All of these are natural Greek.

• Με πονάει η κοιλιά μου = a very common way to say it, with me explicitly included
• Πονάει η κοιλιά μου = also very common and slightly simpler
• Η κοιλιά μου πονάει = also correct, with the body part placed first

Greek word order is more flexible than English word order, so these variations are normal.

Greek does not have as rigid a word order as English. The sentence can begin with the experience, Με πονάει..., and then name what hurts, η κοιλιά μου.

Starting with Με πονάει can make the feeling of pain more immediate. English usually prefers My stomach hurts, but Greek can naturally say the equivalent of It hurts me, my stomach.

μου here means my.

In Greek, possession is often expressed with:

• the definite article
• the noun
• a weak possessive pronoun

So:

• η κοιλιά μου = my stomach
• literally something like the stomach of me

This is very normal Greek structure. English puts the possessive before the noun, but Greek often puts it after.

γι’ αυτό means so, therefore, for that reason, or that’s why.

In this sentence, it connects the two ideas:

• Με πονάει η κοιλιά μου
• γι’ αυτό δεν θέλω να φάω τώρα

So the meaning is: My stomach hurts, so I don’t want to eat now.

Because it is a shortened form of για αυτό.

The apostrophe shows that a vowel has been dropped in pronunciation and writing. This shortened form is very common, especially in everyday writing:

• για αυτό → γι’ αυτό

As a connector meaning therefore / that’s why, γι’ αυτό is extremely common.

Because Modern Greek does not use an infinitive the way English does.

English says:

• I want to eat

Greek says:

• θέλω να φάω

So να is the normal word used before the verb after verbs like θέλω. It introduces the action that is wanted, planned, possible, etc.

Because Greek is using the perfective form here.

The verb to eat has two common stems:

• τρώω = present/imperfective stem
• φάω = aorist/perfective stem

After να, Greek often chooses between these two depending on the kind of action meant.

Here, να φάω means to eat once / to have something to eat / to perform the act of eating. That is the natural choice in this sentence.

If you said να τρώω, it would sound more like:

• to be eating
• to eat habitually
• an ongoing action

So δεν θέλω να φάω τώρα is the normal way to say I don’t want to eat now.

No. They belong to the same verb.

This is very common in Greek: one verb can have different stems for different aspect forms.

For eat:

• present/imperfective: τρώω
• perfective/aorist stem: φά-
• so after να, you often get να φάω

So a learner should think of τρώω / φάω as two forms of the same verb, not as unrelated verbs.

Because δεν negates the main finite verb, and here the main verb is θέλω.

So:

• δεν θέλω = I do not want

That is exactly what the sentence needs.

μη(ν) is used with subjunctive and imperative forms, for example:

• να μην φάω = not to eat

So:

• δεν θέλω να φάω = I don’t want to eat
• θέλω να μην φάω = I want not to eat

The second one is grammatically possible, but it means something slightly different and is less natural in this everyday situation.

τώρα means now or right now.

It shows that the speaker does not want to eat at this moment. It does not necessarily mean they never want to eat; it only applies to the present situation.

So the sentence means:

• My stomach hurts, so I don’t want to eat now.

Yes. Greek allows some movement of adverbs like τώρα.

For example:

• Δεν θέλω να φάω τώρα
• Τώρα δεν θέλω να φάω

Both are possible. The version in your sentence, with τώρα at the end, is very natural and neutral.

Yes. Both are common forms in Modern Greek.

So you may hear both:

• Με πονάει η κοιλιά μου
• Με πονά η κοιλιά μου

They mean the same thing. The -άει form is very common in everyday speech, and learners should recognize both.